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Didn’t Like It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Easy to read fluff. Vandever apparently wants to write something deep, but never makes it there. Instead, this reads like a piece of undergraduate creative writing indulgence, straining to be clever and philosophical. Vandever has the good sense to have read Juliet Barker's massive and wonderful...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“One of my earlier Bookmooched books, I was expecting some chick-lit fluff a'Ia Plum Sykes. As my expectation were low, I liked this one. And no, it's too "scholarly" to be chick-lit a'la Plum Sykes.”
Annabelle wrote this review Sunday, July 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The subtitle for the book is "a novel of passion, desire and good PR".
Tulsa wrote this review Saturday, January 31 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Passion...the main character Sara is doing research on Charlotte Bronte. She is looking for th lost letters that Charlotte wrote to people, in particular a married professor that she was in love with.
Desire...I'm not sure but I think it might mean the desire to change, the desire to be loved.
Good PR... There is a "glamorous and self-promoting Princess Diana expert", Claire. Sarah doesn't like her from the start (neither do I), a total opposite of Sara....or is she? Claire has a half brother who says he is "a poem" and everyone he meets is in his "poem" (he gets free lunches by talking to tabloids about his sitster, then there is a guy you can't leave out when it comes to LA and PR...the movie producer...lol
There are also many other interesting characters in the book. Paul, Sara's boyfriend...I don't want to say too much, but if he were real, I'd like to slap him across the face.
I myself am not much of a Bronte (any of them) fan and I've only read a handful of chick lit (I think....) but if you like chit lit, or like to read about Hollywood and glamour then you might like this too. ”
“I was expecting more Bronte, less personal journey of self-discovery with this novel. As a first novel, it was an interesting concept, but about halfway through, it seemed to fall prey to its own pronouncement that the Bronte sisters simply didn't live "cinematic" lives; the novel seemed to let them trail away after this. Charlotte stayed present in the quotes from her letters at the beginning of each chapter, but Sara Frost's personal journey broke away from any Charlotte parallels. Overall, I liked this less than my Austen spinoffs. Less happy, less loss of oneself in past times, too much trying-too-hard-to-be-academically-overintellectual.”
Alethea wrote this review Thursday, October 16 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Easy to read fluff. Vandever apparently wants to write something deep, but never makes it there. Instead, this reads like a piece of undergraduate creative writing indulgence, straining to be clever and philosophical. Vandever has the good sense to have read Juliet Barker's massive and wonderful biography of the Brontes, yet she misdates Anne Bronte's date of death.
Lady Dixie wrote this review Sunday, April 20 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Save your money.”
“Read the first third of this book and skip the rest--you'll get the best of it.
sweetafton wrote this review Tuesday, March 4 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The arrival of Claire Vigee, public relations and media savvy Diana Studies scholar (Vandever owes a huge debt of creative gratitude to Don DeLillo, without whose Jack Gladney, chair of Hitler Studies, Claire could not exist) on the scene of a New York university's uptight English department that is seeking 'sexier' work, upsets the relationship of one Sara Foster and her fiancé Paul. Sara is pursuing the lost letters of Charlotte Brontë as her doctoral thesis work; Paul is pursuing Therese in Paris and a larger life than he thinks he would have had with Sara. Sara gets embroiled in a plot to bring Charlotte's morose little life to the silver screen and resolves her own romantic woes in the process. There are, my dears, fluffier pillows on which to rest one's head.”
“Good book. I think the ending could have been a little better but all in all I liked it. ”
queenjuliette wrote this review Saturday, July 28 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Is it just me, or does anyone else picture Claire as being the Ann Coulter type? And by that I mean blond, thin, loud and abrasive! LOL! ”
Care Bear wrote this review Sunday, May 20 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I didn't love this book, but I did like it. It's about Sara, a graduate student who is trying to track down lost letters written by Charlotte Bronte. She is engaged to Paul, another grad student with a much more workable thesis proposal. They are planning to get married within the year, when suddenly Paul decides that he needs some space to decide if Sara is really the one for him. Sara suspects that Paul was motivated by flirtatious comments from Claire, the sexy French "Diana Studies" expert (yes, that's Diana as in the princess who died in the car accident...). So Paul departs for some sexy research project in France and Sara comes unglued and discovers that a bad breakup removes one's sense of irony. For example, she had never realized what a deep and profound meaning could be found in REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Loving You". From there the plot gets sort of lame... Sara hooks up with a movie producer, realizes he's a jerk, goes to France to find Paul, blah blah blah. Chicklit ending. But Vandever is a good writer, and there were several bits of this book that made me laugh out loud. There was the REO Speedwagon revelation, and there was Sara's teenage devotion to "Wuthering Heights" and her therapist parents' response: "Now how could Cathy and Heathcliff used their communication skills to improve their relationship?" If she writes another book, I'll check it out. I just hope she improves her plot-writing skills a bit first. http://www.emilyskinner.com/blog/2007/01/book-report-bront-project.html”
emilysk wrote this review Tuesday, October 9 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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