Livia grew up in London with rather distant parents, but has good memories of the hours she and her mother spent perusing bridal magazines. Livia and her mother would look at the dresses and cakes and flower arrangements, and mom would talk about the wonderful wedding she and her husband would make Livia one day.
Livia dreamed about this wedding all through adolescence, making plans for the wonderful celebration.
Then Livia got pregnant at seventeen, and not only was there no big wedding, but Livia's parents cut her off completely. Instead of a lavish affair, Livia and her boyfriend Adam had a 15-minute ceremony in the local registry office.
Livia felt cheated out of her extravagant shindig, and by the time she was twenty, started making plans for a big bash on her fortieth birthday. Livia saved up money, little by little, and - over the years - made plans for the festivities: food, drinks, decorations, clothing, guests, and so on.
Now Livia's fortieth birthday has arrived, and the party is a go.
In their private lives Livia and her husband Adam are happily married after a rough start.
They have two grown children: 22-year-old Josh, who's in digital marketing.....
.....and 19-year-old Marnie, who's studying in Hong Kong. Unfortunately Marnie has finals and can't get back for her mom's party, but promises to visit when the semester ends.
Adam - who feels guilty about his immature behavior early in the marriage - is totally on board with his wife's celebration. Adam helps with the preparations, buys Livia a lovely gift, and even plans a HUGE surprise for the evening of the wingding.
As things turn out, both Adam and Livia are harboring BIG secrets on the day of the party, secrets that might derail the festivities. Thus, the spouses are determined to stay mum until the celebration ends. Adam wants Livia to have the party of her dreams, and Livia wants to enjoy this last blowout with her best friends....one of whom has multiple sclerosis.
The narrative unfolds in one-hour-increments on the day of the party, in the alternating voices of Livia and Adam. Livia spends the afternoon at a spa with her friends, then tries to enjoy the evening.....
.....and Adam frets all through the day and night.
The premise of the book is intriguing, but I have several problems with the plot.
⦿ Outside of a novel, I don't think people would behave like Livia and Adam. In real life, people would spill the beans pretty quickly.
⦿ Whenever Adam or Livia is about to disclose something important, they're distracted by someone or something. This seems like the dramatic version of a comedy farce.
⦿ The details about the protagonists' minute to minute activities gets a bit tedious.
That said, I'm in the minority, and many people loved this book. So you might want to give it a try if the premise interests you.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author (B.A. Paris), and the publisher (St. Martin's Press) for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3 stars
Gabourey Sidibe
Gabourey
Sidibe (Gabby) is an American actress who starred in the film
'Precious', co-starred in several seasons of the television series
'American Horror Story', and co-stars in the musical drama series
'Empire.'
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Gabourey Sidibe in American Horror Story
Gabourey Sidibe in Empire (with Jussie Smollett)
Gabby
was a struggling young woman trying to make ends meet when she was
offered the starring role in the 2009 movie 'Precious.' And the rest is
history! Gabby's talent, drive, and winning personality propelled her
into a rewarding show business career and worldwide fame.
In this memoir Gabby talks about her life - and what led up to her success - with humor, candor, and modesty.
Gabby was born and raised in New York City.
Gabourey Sidibe as a baby visiting her grandmother in Senegal
Her mother, Alice Tan Ridley, worked as a professional singer and
schoolteacher, and was a devoted mom to Gabby and her older brother
Ahmed. Gabby notes that Alice "shines as bright as a diamond because she
is a goddamned STAR."
Gabourey Sidibe and her mother Alice
Gabby's
father, Ibnou Sidibe, is a Muslim from Senegal. He worked as a
cabdriver and never smiled or laughed. To Gabby, he "seemed like the
most boring man in the world" - who brought gloom and darkness into the
home. Alice and Ibnou had an unhappy marriage.
In
Senegal, men are allowed to have multiple wives, and Ibnou (secretly)
followed his native traditions. He married his Senegalese cousin Tola,
had a child with her, and inveigled Alice to invite Tola to stay with
them. So Ibnou had two wives in the same apartment....for a while. When
Alice caught on, she happily left with Gabby and Ahmed (who were about
nine and ten at the time).
Money was tight and Alice, Gabby, and Ahmed squeezed into a single room in the home of Alice's sister Dorothy.
Young Gabourey Sidibe
They stayed for two years before scoring a subsidized studio apartment
in a Harlem high rise. Space was still scarce, and the family shared a
bunk bed: Alice and Ahmed on the bottom and Gabby on top. The rest of
their belongings consisted of a couch, dresser, and table to hold their
TV, VCR, and Super Nintendo. They had one chair that Gabby sat on to do
homework and look out at the skyline. Five years later the family got a
two-bedroom apartment in the building, and Ahbed and Gabby got their own
rooms....while Alice slept on a sofa in the living room.
As
a child, Gabby didn't realize they were poor but knew they weren't rich
because they weren't white. Gabby thought being rich was "only for
white people and Michael Jackson." As Gabby got older she started to
worry about money, and was floored when Alice quit her school job to
sing in the subway. She thought, "Are you fucking crazy? Quit your
job!!!!????"
Alice singing in the subway
Ironically,
Alice's subway vocals netted about 800 to 900 dollars a week, much more
than her teaching job. But Gabby was still uneasy, concerned that Alice
might lose her voice. Gabby became very anxious, and this may have
contributed to her problems in later life, when she suffered from an
eating disorder, panic attacks, and depression.....plus she flunked out
of school.
Gabby
was never very close to her father, even as a small child. When Ibnou
told six-year-old Gabby that he would live with her when he got to be an
old man - and she would care for him like a good Muslim woman - she
thought 'HELL NO' and decided not to be a Muslim anymore. Gabby's
decision was probably reinforced the next year, when Ibnou took young
Gabby and Ahmed to Senegal, to see his family.
Gabby
writes, "The first two weeks of the trip were magical", with lots of
fun and games. Then Ibnou left, and his family "went from being
welcoming to being monsters." Grandma became cold and cruel and let the
uncles hit Gabby and Ahmed. And the girls called Gabby 'Patapoof', which
is Wolof (the Senegalese language) for fat. When Alice sent packages to
her kids, the relatives took everything for themselves. Gabby longed to
go home and when she finally got back to New York vowed never to set
foot in Senegal again (though she's softening that stance now that she's
an adult).
When
Gabby was 21 and completely unemployable, she saw an ad for a 'phone
actress' (phone sex worker) and went for an interview.
Gabby
expected to see "a dungeon with girls in ripped underwear talking into
phone receivers", but found a normal office with phone talkers, a
receptionist, and a trainer for the ladies. Gabby notes that the 'phone
girls', usually plus-size black women, portrayed themselves as "good ol'
American white" - since most callers expected this. Gabby did well at
the job, earned promotions, and finally became the person who trains
applicants.
Gabby
says that she took what she learned on the phone sex job and applied it
to the real world. She learned "to talk to people, to flirt with
everyone, to lead with her personality, and to deal with
rumors"....because her co-workers whispered that she was a lesbian who
slept her way up the ladder. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Gabourey Sidibe likes boys 💕
Gabby
was 'boy crazy' since junior high school. However - since she's 'fat'
(her words) - Gabby thinks most guys she meets are out of her league.
Moreover, the issue of men has gotten even more complicated with fame.
According to Gabby, before she became an actress she had her league
figured out. She was probably going to marry a cabdriver since "her
league included cabbies, sanitation workers, security guards, and maybe
grocery-story managers."
Now
that Gabby's a Hollywood bigwig, her league is all messed up. She
doesn't have to marry a cabbie anymore, but she's pretty sure she "can't
date the Liam Hemsworths and Michael B. Jordans" either. So she's
thinking.....maybe she can date a high school teacher or something? LOL
Gabby
has a great sense of humor and makes fun of herself. However, she
doesn't like for other people to call her a 'fat bitch' or to stuff
pillows in their clothing to 'be Gabby' for Halloween. The actress is
offended that people's opinions are based on her body. She says, "It
seems as if I cured cancer or won a Nobel Prize someone would say, "Sure
that's great but her body is just disgusting." Gabby blows this
criticism off, however, and notes "I am dope at any and every size. I am
smart. I am funny. I am talented. I am gorgeous, I am black. I am a bad
bitch." (You go Gabby!)
After
years of trying to get ahead, Gabby went back to college (a few times)
and finally got lucky when a friend tipped her off to an audition for a
movie called Push (the original title of Precious). Gabby was skeptical,
but tried out for the part. The film was a huge success, Gabby was
nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award, and her career took
off from there.
One
of the proudest moments of Gabby's life was at the White House
Correspondents Dinner when President Obama was in office. Gabby got in a
line of people waiting to meet POTUS and FLOTUS, carrying a slip of
paper with her name....to be given to a woman who would announce her to
the first couple. When the woman began to say Gabby's name, President
Obama cut her off and said, "I know who she is!" He told Gabby, "You're
the BOMB, girl!", and hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. Gabby
writes, "Yeah....the President of the U.S. said I was the bomb! What
else do you need to know." Ha ha ha
Gabourey Sidibe with President Obama
In
addition to the topics I've mentioned above, Gabby writes about many
other things, including: Twitter (she's an avid Tweeter); virgins (and
not being one); psychics (who predicted her success); hair (her mother
spent hours braiding her hair on weekends); dating (not so easy);
boyfriends (not so great); award shows (you need nice clothes); death
rumors (she supposedly died from an asthma attack); therapy (which
helped her); weight-loss surgery (which she's had)....as well as
friends, relatives, and more. And it's all entertaining and fun.
Gabby's
a natural writer with a unique voice and I very much enjoyed the book.
I'd highly recommend it to readers who like celebrity memoirs.
Rating: 4 stars
Unlike Lisa Lutz's comic novels about the Spellman family, this novel focuses on three women who become friends in college and remain in each other's lives for decades.
Anna, Kate, and George (short for Georgiana) meet at the University of California at Santa Cruz and become roommates.
Like many college students, these prank-loving girls drink and party almost as much as they study.
In time the girls graduate and go their separate ways, but they remain close, and are usually ready to help when called upon.
*****
Anna Fury comes from a well-to-do, but dysfunctional, Boston family. Her banker father is distant; her socialite mother is controlling; and - when teenage Anna was still living at home - she started hiding out and running away.
After Anna becomes 'an emancipated woman' at college, she acts out in roguish ways that slow down, but don't derail, her plans to become a doctor.
Once Anna enters the medical profession, her access to drugs, continued drinking, and reckless behavior has unfortunate repercussions. Anna has very little conscience, and seems almost oblivious to the harm her behavior does to others.
One night, Anna's careless actions lead to an event that has profound repercussions for everyone involved.
*****
Kate Smirnoff was orphaned at the age of eight, and raised by her Czech grandfather, who runs a diner in Santa Cruz. Kate intends to take over the diner when her grandpa retires, so she takes business and restaurant classes to further that goal.
When Kates's plans don't work out as she'd hoped, she reacts badly, and her troubles escalate after a tragic event. All this affects Kate's outlook and behavior, and - in time - leads to a unique mission.
Kate is the most immature and self-indulgent of the three women, and needs a real 'kick in the pants' to get going.
*****
George Leoni is a tall athletic beauty who loves the outdoors and majors in forestry.
George is close to her father Bruno- a personable man who sometimes visits George and her friends at school, bringing ingredients for a delicious meal.
After graduation, George becomes a forest ranger, and is happy with her job until she's sidetracked by a handsome man. In fact George's irresistible attraction to sexy men is the driving force in her life, and leads her down paths she didn't anticipate.
Of the trio of friends, George is the most likely to ask for help, though she almost never takes the good advice others offer.
*****
The two decades after college are challenging for all three women, and we learn about their lives in snippets that jump around in time. I think the author chose this scattershot approach to heighten the suspense. For example, when we meet Anna she's a thirtysomething paralegal with a medical degree, and we wonder how she got there. I wasn't overly bothered by the time-hopping, but many reviewers find it confusing and unnecessary.
Secondary characters add interest to the book, and there are some adorable children whose antics made me smile.
I think most people would find it hard to be best friends with these women. Kate and George have bad judgment that affects everyone around them, and Anna is flat out selfish and unlikable. Still, the story is engaging, and the women are interesting to read about.
Rating: 3 stars
This novel harks back to the very early days of detective fiction, when crimes were usually solved by observation and deduction rather than forensics.
The story: Grant McAllister, a retired mathematician from Scotland, now resides on a beautiful Mediterranean island.
In 1937, when McAllister was a graduate student, he wrote a research paper called 'The Permutations of Detective Fiction', in which he posited that every detective story has characters in four categories: victim(s), suspect(s), detective(s), and killer(s). The categories can overlap, however, so a detective can be the killer, etc. McAllister illustrates this with a Venn diagram:
To illustrate his ideas, McAllister wrote seven detective stories, and published them in a book called 'The White Murders.'
Twenty-five years later, a publisher called 'Blood Type Books' wants to re-issue McAllister's stories, with an introduction explaining the mathematical basis of the tales. To this end, the publisher sends editor Julia Hart to interview McAllister.
At each session with the author, Julia reads one story aloud, and then she and McAllister discuss it in detail.
The seven detective stories, respectively, have the following victims:
◆ a man murdered in his bedroom.
◆ a woman who dies when she goes off a cliff.
◆ a young woman who's drowned in a tub.
◆ a man killed at a private party in a restaurant.
◆ ten people killed on a tiny island.
◆ an old woman smothered in her bed.
◆ a victim who comes back as a ghost.
As Julia and McAllister discuss each of these tales, it's clear the editor has an agenda. She thinks McAllister killed a woman called Elizabeth White decades ago, a crime the press dubbed the 'White Murder.' Furthermore, Julia thinks McAllister left clues about this in his stories....which she tries to winkle out. Thus, it's a bit of a cat and mouse game between Julia and McAllister, with each one keeping secrets.
The Eighth Detective is an entertaining read, with some clever surprises. However I felt like I was REALLY reading stories published in the early 1900s....stories that had very unrealistic premises.
For instance, more than one character in the book finds a dead body (or bodies) and never bothers to call the police. Instead, they proceed to investigate the crime themselves. Moreover there's an instance of police brutality that's over the top for me.
That said, fans of old timey detective stories would enjoy this book.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Alex Pavesi), and the publisher (Henry Holt and Company) for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3 stars
