Short & Sweet Review: The Widow's Guide to Sex and Dating by Carole Radziwill

The Widow's Guide to Sex and Dating by Carole Radziwill
Published by Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 978-080509846
Hardcover, $25, 320 pages

Genre: Fiction

The Plot: Claire Byrne is married to Charlie, a reknowned sexologist, author of many books on the subject. One day, he is killed by a huge statue falling from a crane on Fifth Avenue in New York. Claire finds herself a widow in her 30s and completely lost as to what to do next.

She goes to two different therapists, visits psychics and even follows a griot, a storyteller who travels the city sharing stories about famous New York City dwellers, to try and find her way to a new life. Then she meets Jack Huxley, the notoriously heterosexual movie star whom every woman wants, and has some sort of relationship with him.

Throughout the novel, Claire shares the rules she is learning about sex and dating for widows, like 

Rule #34- "Never discourage anyone who continues to make progress, no matter how slow" (Plato)

Rule #29- A boy says, "Have a good trip", a man says "Call me when you land."

Short & Sweet Review: I loved Carole's emotional and moving memoir What Remains, about losing her young husband to cancer and her two best friends, John F. Kennedy and his wife Carolyn in a plane crash. It is a brilliant book, and so I was interested to see what her fiction would be like.

This is definitely a book for anyone who loves to immerse themselves in the wealthy NYC culture; those who religiously watch The Real Housewives of New York City will love it (and Radziwill is a cast member of that show). 

Claire is an interesting character, a little snarky, and her journey through widowhood (the depression, the setups with widowers forty years older) rings true. She is trying to find her place after being in the shadow of her famous husband, what her friend describes as "Charlie's Sundance to Claire's Butch Cassidy. "He cheats at poker and shoots up the room" Sasha liked to say, "while she collects the money and tidies up." That is a fantastic description of their marriage.

The best part of the book are the Jack Huxley sections. Huxley clearly is meant to be George Clooney, and Radziwill dated Clooney years ago, which makes this novel all the more delicious. I'm not sure Clooney will be thrilled though.

Fans of Gigi Levangie's books (The Starter Wife) will like this one; there is the same mix of humor and poignancy.

rating 4 of 5

Carole Radziwill's website is here.

Short & Sweet Review- Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart

Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart
Published by Random House ISBN 978-0-679-64375-3
Hardcover, $27, 368 pages

Genre: Memoir, Humor

The Story: Shteyngart moved from Russia to Queens, New York with his parents in the late 1970s when he was seven years old. The author of three critically successful novels (The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story) hits another bullseye with his account of a young childhood spent in Russia and then the adjustment of moving to America, a place he was taught was much inferior to his homeland. This is a humorous and moving account of being a sickly, only child, an outsider in Hebrew school, college life at Oberlin and working towards his goal of being a writer, all the while trying to get his father to believe he is not a "little failure", one of his father's nicknames for him.

Short & Sweet Review: I hadn't read any of Shteyngart's novels, but have seen his howlingly funny book trailers online. This is such a rich, funny book, and anyone who enjoys reading about the immigrant experience should put this on their TBR list. His vivid writing brings his childhood in Russia to life and his stories of his parents fighting (he always feared they would divorce), his grandmother's fierce devotion to him, his striving for acceptance from his new American classmates and how that led him to a life as a writer are fascinating.

I think Americans take for granted how many people want to come here to live, the sacrifices they make and how hard they work to fit in and build a good life for their families. Reading Little Failure will remind you of that.

Shteyngart's book is brutally honest in quest for acceptance from his classmates, his search for love in college, and his many missteps on the road to writing success. He lays himself out there for all to see. At the end of the book, he takes his parents back to Russia, and this section of the book is very moving.

Shteyngart is a brilliant writer, each sentence perfectly constructed to convey his idea. Even if you haven't read his fiction (like me), if you like the memoir genre and you like to laugh, this book is for you.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Short & Sweet Review #4- The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

Book: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
Publisher: Riverhead ISBN 9781594488399
Hardcover, $27.95, 480 pages (Ebook available)

Genre: Literary Fiction

The Story: Jules Jacobson is a fifteen-year-old who just lost her father. Her mother sends Jules to a performing arts camp, hoping to get her away from the sadness. There Jules meets and falls in with a group of wealthy, artistic teens- siblings handsome Goodman and beautiful Ash, sad, introverted guitar player Josh, dancer Cathy and witty, geeky Ethan. They become a tight knit group and their lives become entwined until an incident occurs that threatens to tear them all apart and forces them to take sides. Ethan and Ash end up together and Ethan becomes wealthy and famous, while Jules struggles financially and artistically.

The Short & Sweet Review: As someone who came of age at the same time as Jules in the 1970s, I felt very connected to these characters. Wolitzer perfectly captures how it feels to be the outsider in a group, as well as the longing for success and what happens when the reality of your life doesn't meet the fantasy you have created. Wolitzer confronts what happens to young people when people expect too much- or not enough- from them. We all have roles that we end up playing, but what happens when they don't match up to who we really are inside?

The books covers much of the characters' adult lives, so we see them fall in love, start families, have career successes and failures. There is so much here, and Wolitzer's characters feel like people we could know in our own lives. The writing is so gorgeous, and the setting of New York City is the perfect place for this group of golden ones to explore life as young adults. My favorite character is Dennis, the only one who seems to be truly authentic and honest about himself.

The Interestings has been placed on many Best of 2013 lists, including Amazon's best literature and fiction, and is sure to be on many more before the end of the year.

5 of 5 stars 

Meg Wolitzer's website is here. 

Short & Sweet Review #3- Lost Girls by Robert Kolker

Book: The Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker
Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN 978-0062183637
Hardcover, $25.99, 416 pages

Genre: True Crime, Current Events

The Story: Kolker's book grew out of a New York magazine article he wrote about the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, a prostitute who ran into the dark of the isolated Oak Beach area of Long Island. Months after her disappearance, the bodies of four other young women, all prostitutes, were found buried in Gilgo Beach and a serial killer was on the loose. The book examines the lives of all five of the women, how they got involved in prostitution and what led them to their deaths.

 The Short & Sweet Review: Kolker does an amazing job examining this story from all angles. He talks to all of the families and friends, and draws sharp portraits of each of the women. These women had much in common: many of them were born to young women themselves, lived in poverty, dropped out of school, used drugs, had sex at a young age, did not use contraception and ended up having babies of their own at a young age and unable to support them. They turned to prostitution because they saw no other opportunities and because social media like Facebook and Craigslist made it easy.

After we meet all of the women, Kolker turns his attention to the place they disappeared and the police investigation. No one has been arrested for these murders, but Kolker interviewed people who lived in this unique oceanfront community, some of whom have been considered suspects at one time.

The Lost Girls is a meticulously researched piece of well-written narrative non-fiction. It reads like a good mystery novel and this is one of the best non-fiction books I have read. This year Publisher's Weekly chose it as one of their ten best books of 2013.

rating 5 of 5

Robert Kolker's website is here.

Short & Sweet #2- Self-Inflicted Wounds by Aisha Tyler

Book: Self- Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation by Aisha Tyler
Publisher: It Books, ISBN 978-0062223777
Hardcover, $24.99, 256 pages (Ebook available)

Genre: Humor, Memoir, Essays

Plot: Aisha Tyler is a standup comedienne, co-host of TV's The Talk, voices a character on FX's Archer, hosts Whose Line Is It Anyway and has a hugely popular podcast Girl on Guy. (She is a bit of an overachiever.) One of the features of her podcast is asking guests to recount a self-inflicted wound, something incredibly stupid that they have done in their lives. She turns the table on herself in this book, recounting her own self-inflicted wounds in humorous and touching essays.

Short & Sweet:  I have seen Tyler at her various jobs, and always thought she was funny, but I never realized how smart she was. She is a terrific writer, and her misadventures on the way through life had me laughing out loud. 

She says that she wants "this book to inspire you to be yourself. I hope this book will encourage you to follow your dreams." It does do that. If this too tall, intelligent, nerdy girl with a smart mouth can succeed in a business where women are not often welcomed, you may have a shot at success in life too.

She opens each chapter with a quote from someone smart, such as "The wound is the place where the light enters you"-Rumi, then one from her- "This thing is gonna need ointment", which opens the chapter "The Time I Cut Myself in Half", about the time when, as a child, she rode on a rusty, broken rocking horse she found in an alley and fell off, cutting her stomach wide open.

You'll laugh and feel empathy for Tyler, and even recall your own self-inflicted wounds and realize they weren't that bad after all, and just maybe they help to make you the person you became. (A note to anyone who goes to lunch with Tyler- she has been known to throw up on people. Consider yourself warned.)

I saw Tyler this summer at Bryant Park discussing her book, and she is as funny and direct in person as she is on the page.

rating 4 of 5

Aisha Tyler's website is here.

Short & Sweet: Indiscretion by Charles Dubow

I read so many books that I don't have time to post a full review for each one. To that, I will post shorter reviews on books titled "Short & Sweet". This is my first post.

Book: Indiscretion by Charles Dubow
Publisher: William Morrow, ISBN 978-0-062201065
Trade Paperback, $14.99, 400 pages

Genre: Literary Fiction

Plot: Harry and Maddy are a happily married middle-aged couple with a young son who has health issues. Harry is a famous author, Maddy the party hostess and friend everyone adores. They have a social circle that includes Walter, a lonely man who is our narrator. A beautiful young woman named Claire enters their lives and they take her under their wing, and all is well until their happy little world is shattered by an indiscretion.

The Short & Sweet: Most of these type of  novels are about the woman wronged, but I found this look at adultery from the male perspective intriguing. Walter, the friend, is the narrator and given that this takes place mostly on a summer place in the Hamptons and is about an obsessive love affair, it echoes The Great Gatsby. 
The characters are interesting, especially Maddy, and the plot keeps the reader invested in the story. The last few chapters are incredibly sad  and devastating, and I found myself impressed with Dubrow's ability to move the reader so deeply in his debut novel. There are some explicit (and well written) sex scenes, so if that offends you, this book may not be for you.

rating 4 of 5