Sunday, March 14, 2010

Size Eight in a Size Zero World by Meredith Cagen

Book Details
Size Eight in a Size Zero World by Meredith Cagen
Paperback, 340 pages
2009, iUniverse
ISBN: 1440169748

Synopsis
Meet Lindsay Chandler-a 32 year-old New York working wife and mother with old-fashioned values who thinks she's living a fairy tale life (she's not). Then an unexpected friendship with her upstairs neighbor (he is smart, successful, sophisticated and sexy- she's not) unleashes her passion and re-ignites her sparkle. This liaison causes her to question the way she lives her life. Yearning for a storybook ending, she decides to make changes in her life, embarking on a quest for self re-invention.

Review
It's hard for me to review Size Eight in a Size Zero world because I have two very strong, very different opinions about it. I absolutely loved everything going on in the background of this book. I also could not stand the main character.

Everything that goes on around Lindsay, the main character, was fantastic. The look at high society, her kids, the school, her friends, everything else was truly fascinating. Then Lindsay would ruin it by speaking or thinking. Every single thing she did made me want to punch her in the neck. This isn't disagreeing with a character that makes the book phenomenal type of stuff. This was more along the lines of my thinking, are there women really like this? Women who love their verbally abusive husbands, yet cheat on them with emotionally vicious men? Women who completely change the way they live their lives so a man who they want to be friends with will like them? Women who are so pathetic that they'll take any kind of attention from a man and believe it gives their lives purpose? When Lindsay finally gets the guts to leave both of the men in her life, she chooses the dumbest reasons to do so. Lindsay is so grating in her supposed "love" that you want her to fail horribly at everything she does.

Reading about Lindsay was like spending untold hours with a weak, desperate, whiny friend that you wish would get her crap together or just shut the hell up about it. It was a shame, because the tiny glimpses beyond Lindsay's love life were the only thing keeping this book going. If the cliquey mothers and the charity events were the main focus of the book, it would have been extraordinary.

Rating

5 comments :

  1. Aw, too bad you didn't like this one! It sounds like it had so much potential. If the main character annoys you, then it'll definitely reflect in your opinion of the book. Thanks for the honest review!

    Emidy
    from Une Parole

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  2. Excellent review. I've be wondering about this one. You have me thinking I should maybe pass on it.

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  3. Lindsay has a big heart and grows as a character. I LOVED this book!

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  4. I have this to read for review. I'm interested in what I'll think of the character now!! Is it chick-litty?

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  5. :O I hate hating main characters but sometimes I just couldn't help it. Hating the main character is like making me love and hate the book. I hope if I ever get to read this I won't hate her!

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