The Cure for Modern Life

Beach Read, woo-hoo! I like buying light reading in the summer; somehow calling them "beach reads" makes me feel less of a light-weight.

Matthew, Ben and Amelia have been friends/lovers/enemies/frienemies since college; Matthew and Amelia even planned to get married once, before her hatred of Matthew's job with a big pharmaceutical company demolished the relationship. Now Ben and Amelia are in love, and Matthew is planning to use their relationship to shelter his pet drug, Galavan, from Amelia's public attacks on his company. So Matthew's a real creep, huh? Well, maybe. But maybe things are not quite what they seem. Matthew's life is complicated, and the advent of 10 year old Danny and his silent sister Isabelle, children of crack addict show more Kim, is making his already complex life into a real-life version of an Escher drawing.

I picked this book off the bargain shelves at Barnes and Noble, figuring $5 was a reasonable price to pay for a book I wasn't sure I would like. Turns out I did like it; it kept me reading enthusiastically for several hours. There were lots of plot twists - not very plausible, perhaps, but who cares? They were deliciously twisty! I was rooting for Matthew to be a good guy! I was thrilled for Danny and Isabelle to get comfy beds and delicious food, instead of sleeping on roachy floors with crack whores! Okay, I could quibble about the remarkably trauma-free emotional adjustment made by the two formerly homeless kids. I could carp about ridiculously adult way everyone gets over former mortal insults. But really, why fret? It's summer! Let's be happy! I'm going to read some other Lisa Tucker books and get EVEN HAPPIER. show less

Not a bad book, but probably could've been better. Matthew is a power-hungry single guy. Ben is his genius best friend. Amelia had a prior relationship with Matthew, then several years later, hooked up with Ben. Matthew & Amelia no longer like or respect each other. In the meantime, Matthew happens upon a young kid & his younger sister, children of a junkie mom, and an interesting sort of relationship develops there.

I rarely despise a character as much as I did Amelia in this story. I disliked her from the outset, and the author's attempt to make her likeable in the last few pages of the book did nothing to salvage that for me. Matthew & Ben weren't particularly likeable either, but somehow they were more bearable than Amelia. The show more plotline of this story was somewhat original, and I liked that about it, but I can't say I found the ending very satisfying or believable. show less

I spotted this book as a used book sale and was drawn in because of the cover. The summary didn't REALLY seem like my kind of book, but I decided to step outside my comfort zone, and I'm glad I did. Not the most amazing book, but there's something about it that just captivated me. Well worth the read.

This was a fun read and an ok way to while away some time but the story was way too predictable. I found Danny and Isabelle to be much to responsible and mild mannered for kids rescued from the streets and the arms of an addict mom. But all that aside it was a sweet story with a happy ending.

A slightly-less-predictable-than-average romance. I had hoped for more.

um, a rising science superstar - and Amelia's new boyfriend. That balance begins to crumble one night when, on his way home to his upscale Philadelphia loft, Matthew finds himself on a desolate bridge face-to-face with a boy screaming for help. Homeless for most of his life, 10-year-old Danny is as streetwise as he is world-weary, and his desperation to save his three-year-old sister means he will do whatever it takes to get Matthew's help.
What follows is an escalating game of one-upmanship between Matthew, Amelia, and Danny, as all three players struggle to defend what is most important to them - and are ultimately forced to reconsider what they truly want.
Dazzlingly written, Lisa Tucker's The Cure for Modern Life is a smart, humorous, show more big-hearted novel about what it means in the 21st century to be responsible, to care about other people, and to do the right thing. show less

Das ist ein erstaunlich süßes Buch über Matthew und Amelia, die sich einst sehr geliebt hatten und nun erbitterte Feinde sind. Matthew nimmt zwei obdachlose Kinder auf und Amelia wird schwanger von Ben, Matthews bestem Freund, so dass sie sich wieder annähern. Das Buch könnte sehr seicht sein, aber durch das Thema Medizinethik gewinnt es erstaunlich viel Tiefgang, bis hin zu der Frage der Abtreibung von Kindern mit Down Syndrom. Ben erschien mir etwas zu platt, allerdings kenne ich von meiner Tätigkeit an der Uni genau solche Typen. Und die Kinder, v.a. Danny, sind einfach phantastisch. Ein schönes Buch!