Any Place I Hang My Hat

Okay, so it's chick lit -- one of my first and few forays into this genre. But I found Amy's wisecracks (though she comes across as annoyingly whiny at times) and those of her best friend enjoyable. I really got caught up in the plot of the eccentric broken family, with the pieces available - dad Chickie, his mom, and his sister - wacky yet lovable, and the missing pieces -- the mother who abandoned her found to be a moral pygmy and the coolish maternal grandmother remarkably sympatico. Overall, I think the book was more enjoyable to listen to than it would have been to read it.

Amy Lincoln is a New York magazine political reporter. One of the politicians she is covering is confronted by a son he had long ago abandoned. This brought Amy to the point in her life when it was time to find answers about the mother who had left her as an infant. The story is actually way more interesting and compelling than that sounds. And Isaacs style is like munching your way through a box of your favorite candy. I actually listened to the unabridged CD version of this and it was delightful.

Abandoned by her mother, raised by a zany grandmother while her father spent most of his time behind bars, and now a successful journalist, Amy Lincoln is intrigued when a man claims to be the illegitimate son of a presidential candidate. As she investigates this claim, Amy is inspired to look into her own past to discover the mother she never knew.

I couldn't stand this book. The narrator was too accomplished to be so insecure, and I never believed for a minute that the protagonist might actually fail to find her mother or get the guy. Isaacs uses the type of clunky storytelling that stops the action right before the climactic scene to describe what the characters are wearing or the color they've painted their nails. I didn't so much as smirk. But my mom thought this was the funniest book she ever read, so there is no accounting for taste.

I like Susan Isaacs. She always creates the same world - smart Jewish girl prevails, but you like hanging out with her characters and wish your friends were that funny... Except this book was actually a bit sadder than that because it was all about fundatmental lonliness, and how Amy is essentially family less - with her father who pretends to be 36 and her best friend who befriends her between marriages. So she comes to an age (nearly 30) where she breaks up with her boyfriend and finally decides to look for her mother, who abandoned her at birth, and we follow her journey.

A great heroine: witty, smart, tough, sweet, real. It’s a love story, and also a story about rediscovering one’s roots. The plot isn’t real original, but the character is definitely fun to hang out with. It’s worth the time, a good light read.

It never grabbed me, and I'm taking it back to the library after barely getting started on it. To me, that's a one-star book. If I don't even want to finish it, then that's that.