Maria Semple

Hmmm.....where to start...I have a love/hate relationship with this book.....it could have been great..it should have been great....but it ended up being just ok.

The love: the characters are amazing, likable, and interesting....the humor was laugh out loud funny at times.......the family dynamics were entertaining.....the pace was good.

The hate: the style......I get where the writer was going here, and I even appreciate the idea.....it can be great when done correctly. I've read a few books in this correspondence style that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, Semple veered too far from reality...the correspondences....email, letters, etc.....were just unrealistically written......no one communicates the way thats used here. The plot....while I appreciate the premise.....again, Semple veers too far from real life .......in her quest for creating quirky, adventurous, and unique....she created outlandish, silly and quixotic. The ending......it was far too abrupt and anticlimactic.

I struggled with how to rate this book...I teetered between 2.5 stars and 3.....in the end, I felt that the interesting characters alone were worth the 3 stars.....I just would have loved to see them fleshed out abit more....and in a more true to life form.… (more)

So, I've read all three of Maria Semple's books. If I had to guess, she lost her mother at an early age, her father was an alcoholic who was involved in show business and loved Sondheim, she HERSELF loves Sondheim. She has a husband she idealizes but absolutely does not want to have sex with and who she is afraid will leave her. She has a child that she treats like a peer. She's been bored and rich in Seattle for too long.

Normally I wouldn't assume every book is semi-autobiographical but Semple keeps writing the same woman. I was surprised to see Violet Parry come up in this book, because she's so uncannily similar to Eleanor Flood.

I did like this book and find it charming, though. I think Semple is a really gifted writer. I just found the parts about New Orleans so so much more compelling and real than the story of another bored, snobby, rich Seattle wife.

P.S. I cannot decide what 'Looper Wash' was supposed to be. It was described like the early 90s MTV cartoons but I guess it was supposed to be like a riot grrrl version of 'The Simpsons'? Hopefully the characters frequently ate each others' shorts or I'm not sure why Americans would watch.… (more)