Usually my mother and I don't share the same taste in books, and she didn't like this one at all. She said, and I quote, "I don't understand how someone could be so obsessed." And while I disagree with that point, I thought Emily Giffin's 4th novel just lacked the character development that could make you believe someone could be so obsessed. I really liked her first two books, I thought Baby Proof was good but not great, and this one falls into the average Chick Lit category. I'm not sure now I will be so enthused to pick up her next book.
I almost always fold down pages that have some thought - a new vocabulary word, an idea - that I want to go back to and remember. Not this book, though. I only folded down pages that contained examples of things I wanted to point out here. This book just lacked substance; the characters were so cookie-cutter and one-dimensional.
Here's the basic set-up (with the spoiler, sorry): Our heroine Ellen dates Leo, a committment-phobic man, in NYC. She's devastated when he dumps her, and basically can't forget about him - even though she ends up marrying the rich, handsome, but boring brother of her best friend. She pretends like she's happy, and she is, at least passably. Until she runs into Leo on the street. He wants to revive their friendship, she starts fantasizing, she sees him in secret, and this time around, he treats her like a princess, telling her everything she ever wanted to hear. It eventually comes to a head: She has to choose between her husband and Leo. What does she do? She's about to do the dirty deed when her sister calls and tells her it's the wrong decision. So she leaves. And then spends the remaining 5 pages justifying why, in fact, she had never settled in the first place, despite the previous 200-odd pages to the contrary. So predictable, so boring!
Ugg. Seriously.
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