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Such A Pretty Face

af Cathy Lamb

MedlemmerAnmeldelserPopularitetGennemsnitlig vurderingOmtaler
23912111,558 (3.68)10
After losing 150 pounds from bariatric surgery, Stevie Barrett finds that life isn't so easy as a thinner person, as she contends with a jealous friend, bad romantic relationships, and a difficult family dynamic.
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Viser 1-5 af 12 (næste | vis alle)
Stevie’s mother was mentally ill and did a bad thing when Stevie was still a child (that I don’t want to give away in my review, even though we found out at the beginning what happened there). Stevie’s grandparents had done their best to take care of Helen (their daughter; Stevie’s mother) and protect her, while also taking care of Stevie and her sister, Sunshine. As an adult, the events of the book take place some months after Stevie had bariatric surgery; she has since lost 170 lbs.

She is trying to figure out who the new skinnier Stevie is, as she tries to deal with the lawyers where she works and the case she hates helping defend; her best friend who is still very overweight seems to have changed toward Stevie; the neighbour down the street, Jake (who only moved in just after Stevie’s surgery), is just way too good-looking and Stevie is completely tongue-tied around him, so she tries to avoid him altogether; and Stevie is trying to help her cousins plan her horrible uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary…

There is a lot going on in this book, and a lot of characters, but I really liked it. There is also a huge mix of very “weighty” (pun not intended initially, but when I realized it was punny, I decided to leave it!) issues in book: mental illness, obesity, abuse, and so much more, but mixed in with the occasional bit of humour. I found myself being horrified by Helen, Stevie’s uncle, her “friend”, and the lawyer defending that case, but then the author would turn around and put Stevie in some ridiculous situation (usually trying to avoid Jake!), and I’d be laughing. I thought she did that very well. II think a bunch of very quirky characters made it “easy” to throw in the humour. At the same time, the author did a good job of showing the struggle that Helen went through with her schizophrenia.

I was surprised at the lower ratings, but on reading the reviews, I can see why they rated it what they did, but it wasn’t enough to bring my rating or enjoyment of the book down (although some of the quirky characters were a bit too quirky for me!). I think all the emotions were in this book (there was also a lot of love). ( )
  LibraryCin | Sep 7, 2021 |
This book seemed rushed to publication in my opinion. There were only a few glaring spelling/typo-type errors, but it was poorly edited for overall story, character development, and dialogue.

The villain - and I feel that's a very apt word to describe him, is an abusive adoptive uncle. He's a very flat character. He reminds me of a Disney villain. It's hinted that he's done truly awful things, but (for the most part) his villainous ways are pretty non-threatening and his impact on the other characters, severe as it is, just isn't believable. I'm not saying it's not realistic - I've known men just like him, who have severely damaged other human being's psyches- but a writer should try and make her characters as believable as possible to really engage the audience.
The love interest was also pretty flat/too perfect. And the supporting family characters were severely overdone with the constant weeping and banging on their chests.

The book could have been quite a bit shorter, and with better editing, more impactful. The end drags on, and the last line feels like it was pulled out of another book; or tied into something that was taken out from the middle, but it's removal forgotten.

Overall, I like the author's voice, and the topic is unique and insightful regarding mental health issues - though I'm not sure science backs up the notion that schizophrenics are more homicidal than the average person. At least not without comorbid issues of substance abuse and/or issues like poverty and lack of support.(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2718581/)

I think the writer has some real talent, and the themes are interesting, but it's unfortunate that the book didn't go through a few more phases of editing to really polish the story-telling and characters.

( )
  MorganDax | Jan 28, 2020 |
Found this on a book exchange shelf, and took it to possibly register for BookCrossing. After reading, I noticed the book had a Charleston County Public Library inventory sticker and no "discard" stamp, which was odd for something on a book give-away shelf. So, good citizen (and sometimes-library volunteer) that I am, I checked with circulation. Sure enough, the book has been marked "lost" since 2014, and the lose-ee has already paid to replace it. It's a little tattered and battered, with indications that it may have been to the beach or stuffed in a backpack since going missing, but all pages were intact. I wonder what adventures it had while on walk-about.

As to the story itself, I liked it. Lamb has chosen to explore a number of illnesses of the mind, and done it in a loving and thoughtful manner. Almost all central characters are wounded, but not in a "poor pitiful me" way. The exploration of coming back to health (for the main character) after PTSD and after a gastric bypass (and other health issues) was so beautifully handled. What also resonated with me was the artistic expression of so many of the characters, growing into self through art, whether it be knitting, drawing, making chairs, or planting a garden. It's not often that I get teary reading a book, but there was a moment in this one, where the author had me laughing, and my eyes tearing up as my heart swelled, at the same moment. Nice.

Tags: bookcrossing, didn-t-want-to-put-it-down, i-liked-it, made-me-look-something-up, read, read-in-2015, thank-you-charleston-county-library, thought-provoking, what-s-another-name-for-chick-lit, will-look-for-more-by-this-author ( )
  bookczuk | May 20, 2015 |
This will be a, largely, negative review. I just couldn't enjoy the book (I will get into why I say "couldn't" instead of "didn't" a bit later). The good things first- I liked the story line and the ideas behind it. I liked the abstract of the book- Stevie, her coworkers and her family. Her struggle to accept her new body. The execution is what I had a problem with.
I liked the good characters. It is impossible not to. The author paints them as such good, wonderful, and kindhearted people that you would have to be without a heart or brain to dislike them. She tells you over and over how good they are- sure she does show you how good they are (remember telling vs showing when writing?) but in between the showing, she interjects and tells you too. The bad characters are so thoroughly evil and bigoted it is unbelievable- and there are so many of them in Stevie's life. Her best friend might be the worst because we are suppose to believe that her cruelty stems from her jealousy (the author tells us as much) but it comes out that she has always been a terrible person (which undermines the whole jealousy angle). These characters are good vs evil- their is no grey (except for Stevie's mentally ill mother who gets a pass considering that she was so tortured mentally).
The result, of these contrasting characters, is that The reader is incapable of misinterpreting the characters because they (we) are never given a chance to interpret them. The characters actions don't speak louder then the authors words. Everything is explained, even during passages with heavy dialog, when information can be written in, the author is cutting in and explaining the reasoning behind the characters actions/words. The story is narrated by the main character, Stevie, so I guess you can say that Stevie interjects and explains everything (weather it needs explaining or not) except it doesn't feel like it is Stevie. I counted three times (3!!!- but their may have been more) where the readers are referred to as "folks", usually it's after one of Stevie's proclamations/observations (sometimes they are a page long or longer) that an extra sentence with "folks" is thrown in to sum it up. It took me completely out of the story.
There was even a part where the author Stevie stated out right that her garden was a metaphor for her life. I wanted to see the garden grow as Stevie grew but all we get are some scenes with her garden (insisting that she can't grow corn) and the author telling us that it stands for Stevie's life. And there was a part where Lance, Stevie's cousin (good guy), is telling her that he had a graphic designer make the invitations for his mother (Stevie's aunt- good) and his father's (BAD) anniversary dinner. He used the same graphic design for the invitations to his blowup doll buisness' launch party- a party that takes place the night after the anniversary party. Now I could see where this was going- and I was looking forward to it (an invitation mix-up in case you missed it). But the author proceeded to drop hints about what was going to happen instead of just letting it happen naturally.
I felt like I couldn't enjoy the book because the author wouldn't allow me to just read the story. She kept trying to make points without letting it come out naturally. When we learn that Stevie's cousin has an eating disorder (anorexia) we are told that their issues stem from the same problem- they both want some control. I would like to be able to see that for myself. unfortunately this book, which could have been amazing, doesn't reach it's potential because it lacks subtlety. People are never completely good, or completely bad we all have sides. Lamb doesn't show those sides and the book suffers. ( )
  Rebecca790 | Sep 21, 2013 |
I'm done reading Cathy Lamb... as I've stated before, she uses a ridiculous amount of blatant foreshadowing that only pisses me off as I'm reading.

( )
  TeenieLee | Apr 3, 2013 |
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After losing 150 pounds from bariatric surgery, Stevie Barrett finds that life isn't so easy as a thinner person, as she contends with a jealous friend, bad romantic relationships, and a difficult family dynamic.

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