Ellen Hawley

2.5

Sadly, I didn’t like this book as much as I was hoping to. The idea was great, but I don’t know that it was executed well.

I really wanted to like Abigail. She definitely got the short end of the stick with her marriage, but she constantly acts like a child. She argues with her parents when all they are trying to do is help. It just rubbed me the wrong way. She’s also very repetitive, and that drove me nuts.

She did grow throughout the novel. I admired that she started to figure out what she wanted for herself, and realized that maybe she wasn’t all that happy with the way her life was before. I did like that her world revolved around her daughter. Although, I think that at times that was also what was holding her back.

Like I said before, I think the idea was good. But I think it could have been done a little bit better.


On to the Narrator…

I am not a fan of this book as an audiobook. I think it would be better with actually reading the book. It doesn’t mesh well with the flow of the story. Seems disjointed at times. I don’t think this one works well in audio. It’s more of a journal, and even though it would be possible to do audio with this type of book. I think the random entries in the diet journal are what throw off the narration. There are areas in the dialogue where she lists what she ate and what she does as exercise. These are the parts that don’t blend well. There isn’t really a format in these. It’s just listed throughout the day.

The narrator did a good job as far as reading goes. She has a strong voice, and puts inflection where it needs to be added. The best places where this happened is when she’s being sarcastic about the situation. Some of the characters couldn’t be distinguished very well, but I was able to pick up who was speaking after a few words. There were no background sounds. The only other thing that I think would have been better is if there were small spaces of silence between one scene and the next. They all just seem to blend in together.

Overall, the narrator did a good job, I just think this one would be better in physical format.… (mehr)

The style of this book seems simple and repetitive at first glance, but I was never bored. The style put me into the reality of Abigail as she goes through having been rejected by her husband and dealing with her new situation. The humor sprinkled in liberally made me laugh out loud more than any book I can recall. I knew from the author's blog that I enjoy her humor, and I was not let down with this book. The style is very different and very good for this story. It leads the reader through this time of change with the crazy thoughts, the fears and trials, and the tenderness of love that holds her together.… (mehr)