Books : The Friday Night Knitting Club

Rating: - Quick delivery of a book in mint condition
This is a book that is both a quick read AND a book that has some amazing insights into how many women think and deal with their personal and public lives. I cared about the characters and felt a connection to each one in some area of their story. The clever ties between how to knit to how to deal with issues was unique. A good read!

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Rating: - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Ugly first--
The whole time I was reading this, I had a real sense of being manipulated by the author. There were just too many stereotypes and character interactions that stretched credibility to the breaking point. For example--is there any chance at all that you wouldn't recognize your very best high school friend 15 year later, no matter what physical transformation she'd undergone? I saw a distant acquaintance in line at the market after almost 25 years and knew her within seconds! And how is it that Georgia still had money problems after saying early on that she had enough to send her daughter to Harvard and then being paid $30,000 plus for Cat's two dresses AFTER that? There's more, but those were the worst.

Bad--
Did Ms Jacobs not have an editor? I noticed several spelling errors--and they weren't typos. Konked, anyone?

Good--
As jejeune as some of the writing, as most of the characters, and as utterly predictable as some of the plot points, I got up at six in the morning to finish this book. I wanted to know what happened. That's very good!

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Rating: - As the cover says...
... This plays out as a "Steel Magnolia's set in Manhattan" and I was not let down. A nicely written account of how womens lives connect and develop into deep friendships. I was hanging on the writers every word, not being able to put the book down. I wish this would be made into a movie soon. I cannot say enough good things about this story.

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Rating: - Enjoyable but formulaic
I like a good chick-lit book once or twice a summer, and this one fit the bill. There were some likeable characters, and it was fun to see some different kinds of conflicts, like the 72 year old woman suddenly rediscovering her sexuality, and I loved the scene where James' mother gives him a dressing down. Some of the characters were too one-dimensional -- Georgia was just too good to be true much of the time, and Cat too stupid for redemption, and Darwin too annoying overall. I know I was supposed to cry when Georgia died, but honestly, her role seemd to be to be the catalyst for everyone else to get her life together, and once that happened, she kinda had to die because her purpose was served. The writer has obvious talent and some passages were either incredibly insightful (like why New Yorkers never invite you to their homes) or just plain lyrical. It's not great literature, but it's not bad, either, and she is definitely an author I would read again. But the book will go in my giveaway/trade pile because it's really not deep enough or satisfying enough for a second read.

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Rating: - Lukewarm
I just never really got into the characters. I can knit well, so I wanted to like this book. It seemed like there was something missing . . .