Kelley

I'm a huge Linda Howard fan and this book did not disappoint. The heroine was strong and sympathetic, the hero was charming and only modestly flawed, the villainous climax was tense, and the sexual heat was set on high.

I'd give it five stars but I want to leave her room to outdo herself.

Be grateful for everything your body's done for you and get ready to die.

Seriously. That's the meditation. In predictable eyes to toes progression.
"Your eyes are a miracle. They've helped you to see all these years. Be grateful."

If that sounds good to you, be my guest. But I was kind of hoping to hear my life *wasn't* over - so I was appalled.

Also - not for atheists. Be warned.

It's a great story. I side with the defense on evidence, so I enjoyed listening to Ashton lose again.

Be warned: If you want more incriminating evidence to be part of this book, you'll be disappointed. Nothing new is here revealed.

I loved the book, but I also loved the verdict. If your mind is made up against Casey, I can't imagine you'd enjoy this book very much. If you're open to the defense, I think you'll find the book thought provoking and enjoyable. Even, dare I say, persuasive.

This is one of my favorite audio books ever. Whether or not you like it will probably depend on two things:
1. Did you watch the trial and do you have strong negative feelings about the verdict? (I didn't and I don't.)
2. Are you intrigued by phrases like - "deprived of emotional oxygen". (I am.)

I think what I like most about this book is how organic it feels. It doesn't at all read like a paint-by-numbers, cash in on the trial rush job, but like a passionate, uncensored, genunine opinion. What someone really thinks. Hot!
And there's new information here as well-- my favorite being the timeline of Casey's ricocheting false selves: All the boys she claimed to love or want to love in 32 days.
The weak daddy and controlling mommy are less interesting, but necessary, I suppose. For me they're just the wormy soil underneath their daughter's wild, poisonous bloom.

Peter Capaldi is a BRILLIANT actor and the stories are both excellent. Don't Look Now is troubling. The Birds is terrifying. Du Maurier did a great job on both.

Buy It!!!

I got hooked on the John Edwards story in Game Change. For my money, all other political scandals pale in comparison.

But wait! Should you get this much pleasure out of the misfortunes of flawed mortals? Definitely not. But if you're going to do it anyway, this book is good!

First - Cassandra Campbell's narration is flawless. She found the perfect tone and did an amazing job with it.

Also - The writing's great.Easy prose. Story has good pace and flow. It tells you everything you want to know and not much you don't (I'm not a huge fan of the "How childbirth changed my life" narrative, but it passes).

If you read, "The Politician", this is a fascinatingly different perspective on the same events. It gave me a total Rashomon buzz.

As to who to believe, I'm going with Rielle. Here's why: She is SPECTACULARLY shameless. Her lack of guilt about that whole adultery thing is just jaw dropping. Not so much as a tickle of remorse. So, why would she lie? About what?

Which brings me to my final point: If there's not enough speaking ill of the dead going on in your life, you can fill up here. Not a lot of (any) sympathy for Elizabeth, but crazy, screaming shrew stories galore.

Dig in.

I thought the book had great content, flow, pace - everything you could ask for. If, like me, you occasionally lose your cool and live to regret it, this should be a good book for you.

As for the narration, here's a trick I learned: If you have a player that allows it (iphone, newer ipods do) speed the narration up to 1.5. The book's still fine to understand, and the narrator-itis disappears completely. Try it!

(If you can't, you may wanna think twice, because that poor, sweet guy did try a little too hard and it is pretty annoying.)

A married school teacher drives to Home Depot on a rainy night and buys the hatchet she will soon use to kill her husband.

Interesting story, right?

No. It's actually really dull. I began listening to the audiobook because I wanted an answer to the question, "How do couples get to hatchet murder?". (I'm still not sure.)

I kept listening to the audiobook to answer the question, "How and why did Joyce Maynard write such a lousy book." That, for me, became a much more interesting mystery.

Here's what I think: Maynard knew fairly early on that she had no angle on the story and no affinity with the people involved, but she had bills to pay and was reluctant (as anyone would be) to eat all the time she'd spent researching with no payday. So she did what writers do - she put words on pages. What to include? Everything.Want to know what game the five year old daughter of the woman who now lives in the house where the murder was committed was playing when Maynard finally got the owners to agree to let her see the place? It's in there! Along with an account of every unreturned phone call and every interview request refused.

And there are lots and lots of those. Virtually no one with anything to say about the murder wants to say it to Joyce Maynard.

Desperate to convince people to open up, Maynard keeps sending the dittohead sportsfans she's trying to win over copies of her books. She wants them to believe (and to believe herself) that she will elevate their story with the power of her prose.

"Get away from my Escapade," say the sportsfans. They suspect she might be an elitist, feminist, liberal*.

And they're totally right.

If Maynard can't see or comprehend that the car enthusiast, sportsfans she's writing about DON'T READ, there is no way in hell she could ever tell this story. I mean, she can forgive the hatchet murder thing, but "Faulkner who?" blinds her to their humanity.

In other words, there is a class and culture disconnect in this book you can't believe. Maynard can make no judgment about anyone, or come down on any side, because she's judged everyone. She just can't admit it. She sounds like an earnest teen coming back from the retirement home saying, " Awwwww. Those old people were so sweet." She might as well be writing about Ewoks for all the depth and variation she's given them.

But that's just me getting something off my chest.

For the book, I thought it was dull-- all detail, no organizing prinicple or insight. Not captivating for either the characters or the deed. Go nowhere long.

For the narration - Appropriately midwestern. Good, workman-like job that doesn't call attention to itself. I've no idea why anyone would have a problem with it.

*Not that there's anything wrong with being an elitist, liberal, feminist- I do it all the time :-)

Write your problems down on a scrap of paper. Tear the paper into bits and flush it down the toilet. Ta DA! Your depression is cured. You're welcome!

I should have rated this book higher because I think it's going to become a cult favorite of mine. It is such incredible nonsense. And it's actually written in a sort of infomercial-ese that makes it sound even more like snake oil than it actually is.

Look in the mirror and imagine yourself happy.
Clap your hands together to increase your energy.
Listen to some upbeat music.
Eat right
Exercise.

If any of those ideas have floored you with their insight, by all means, buy this book.

If your meds are kicking in and you want a good laugh, you might also enjoy it.

If, however, you're in a bad slump and looking for genuine hope, I wish you something infinitely better.

This audiobook is like having someone read a handful of wikipedia pages to you. Not bad but... weird.