ctiner7's review
3.0
This book was a little odd. It was a sweet story, of love, friendship and strength though.
I won this book on Goodreads First Reads.
I won this book on Goodreads First Reads.
bosicbyi's review
4.0
I won a copy in a first reads giveaway.Great writing! Lots of twists! Enjoyable read! Can't wait to read the sequel!
carriejewell80's review
1.0
I found this book to be ridiculous. Not only was it unrealistic and depressing but it contained too many life tragedies all revealed within a short timespan. I also didn't enjoy how the author spoke about one character in one paragraph using the word "she" and then used that same word to describe an entirely different person in the next paragraph. I will not be reading any more books in this series and would not recommend this one to any of my friends.
eviebookish's review
4.0
When it comes to picking up self published books there is always a certain degree of reluctance on my part. Seems to me that the safest way to go is: hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Thankfully, Pam of Babylon proved to be way better a read than I ever dreamed it would be. Emotionally engaging, full of interesting observations, clever and ultimately moving, it's a tale of love and betrayal, death and how it affects those left behind, grief, pain, and finding strength to move on. With some truly heart-breaking moments and inspiring reflections on life and relationships, Pam of Babylon is sure to please a wide variety of readers, even the picky ones!
Pam's world crumbles to pieces when she receives a call from the hospital informing her that her husband died from a heart-attack. At the hospital she runs into a young and good-looking woman, who -- as it later turns out -- was Jack's mistress of almost one year. Along with that discovery comes the realization that Pam never truly knew her husband, and their seemingly peaceful and complete life was built around lies and deceit. What will she do when she finds out that what she just discovered is merely a tip of an iceberg?
Some parts of this book were really upsetting, others inspiring and heart-warming. In the end, I was left sitting in my room and thinking about what I just read for quite a long while. It's difficult to explain how much this book has affected me without giving away too much of the plot, but let me just tell you that there was a lot to absorb. The writing style was good for a debut novel, maybe a little bit too conversational at times, but overall very engaging and dynamic. Suzanne Jenkins did a fantastic job dissecting the soul of a newly widowed, middle-aged woman, giving the reader a phenomenal insight into her thoughts, feelings and motivations. At times I questioned some of Pam's actions, they seemed erratic to me, improbable even, but in the end all those little things that might have seem a little bit crazy or bizarre added to her interesting personality. She felt very real, with all her worries, doubts, fears, dreams and needs. And while I can't say I sympathized with her, I certainly got a very good understanding of what her life was like and how she got to that point in her life.
Jack, too, was a fascinating character. All the glimpses into his past helped me understand some of his decisions, and while I can't say that there was a redeemable quality to them, they definitely made him seem more human. More of a lost soul than a heartless, lust-driven cheater. If there is one thing I loved about this book, it's that all the characters were complex and brilliantly fleshed out, and the difficult situation they found themselves in was not by any means a black-and-white one. There is no good guy and bad guy, just a group of people who made some bad decisions in their lives. And that makes this story all that more tragic and depressing.
Overall, while I often shook my head at the way Pam reacted to the discovery of her husband's triple life (yes, triple!), I also found this book to be quite fascinating and exciting to read. Observing the dynamics between Jack's wife and his two mistresses, seeing them turn to each other for comfort and support - that was just as unexpected as it was intriguing, and just as moving as it was weirdly disturbing. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading Pam Of Babylon. It's truly a great read!
Pam's world crumbles to pieces when she receives a call from the hospital informing her that her husband died from a heart-attack. At the hospital she runs into a young and good-looking woman, who -- as it later turns out -- was Jack's mistress of almost one year. Along with that discovery comes the realization that Pam never truly knew her husband, and their seemingly peaceful and complete life was built around lies and deceit. What will she do when she finds out that what she just discovered is merely a tip of an iceberg?
Some parts of this book were really upsetting, others inspiring and heart-warming. In the end, I was left sitting in my room and thinking about what I just read for quite a long while. It's difficult to explain how much this book has affected me without giving away too much of the plot, but let me just tell you that there was a lot to absorb. The writing style was good for a debut novel, maybe a little bit too conversational at times, but overall very engaging and dynamic. Suzanne Jenkins did a fantastic job dissecting the soul of a newly widowed, middle-aged woman, giving the reader a phenomenal insight into her thoughts, feelings and motivations. At times I questioned some of Pam's actions, they seemed erratic to me, improbable even, but in the end all those little things that might have seem a little bit crazy or bizarre added to her interesting personality. She felt very real, with all her worries, doubts, fears, dreams and needs. And while I can't say I sympathized with her, I certainly got a very good understanding of what her life was like and how she got to that point in her life.
Jack, too, was a fascinating character. All the glimpses into his past helped me understand some of his decisions, and while I can't say that there was a redeemable quality to them, they definitely made him seem more human. More of a lost soul than a heartless, lust-driven cheater. If there is one thing I loved about this book, it's that all the characters were complex and brilliantly fleshed out, and the difficult situation they found themselves in was not by any means a black-and-white one. There is no good guy and bad guy, just a group of people who made some bad decisions in their lives. And that makes this story all that more tragic and depressing.
Overall, while I often shook my head at the way Pam reacted to the discovery of her husband's triple life (yes, triple!), I also found this book to be quite fascinating and exciting to read. Observing the dynamics between Jack's wife and his two mistresses, seeing them turn to each other for comfort and support - that was just as unexpected as it was intriguing, and just as moving as it was weirdly disturbing. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading Pam Of Babylon. It's truly a great read!
cocktailsandbooks1's review
3.0
When I read the blurb for this book, I thought it was going to be an interesting read into how a family deals with the aftermath of death and infidelity. Instead, what I found were three women who were affected by Jack's indiscretions and none of them acted the way I would have thought they would given the circumstances.
Pam Smith lives the idyllic life out in Long Island. She has her fabulous beach house, two wonderful children and her husband of 20+ years. She lives for her husband and her children while being sequestered away from all of them. But her somewhat naive life starts to crumble when her husband, Jack, has a heart attack on the train to Long Island. With Jack gone, Pam soon discovers that she really didn't know the man she was married to or the depth of his betrayal.
So Pam spent all her time in Long Island. She read books on her veranda, walked the beach, worked out in the gym and was ran errands for whoever in her family needed them run. She only spent the weekends with her husband and even then, she would sit off by herself while he was active with her little sister, their kids or his friends. So it's not surprising to find that Pam has no clue as to what Jack was really up to when he was in New York all week. What was surprising was the fact that Pam hardly showed any emotion to Jack's death or the revelation that he's been cheating on her (with a woman slightly older than their kids who works in his office and her little sister). Given everything, I would have expect some kind of outburst from Pam, but she never did it. Instead she embraced her husband's mistress and wanted to be friends with her. WHAT?!?!?
And let's talk about the mistress. Sandra admits that she's not sure she was ever really in love with Jack, which was evident by the fact that she wouldn't allow him in her house or vice versa, so that her living area wasn't tainted by Jack should they break up. But what I'm still trying to wrap my head around is the fact that she would be willing to be friendly with the wife of the man she was sleeping with. Why would she want that? Would she feel horrible each time she saw her? Was she looking for a mother figure and figured she was as good as any? And why was she not a little more upset about finding out that Jack had a previous long term relationship with someone else? I'm not sure, but even if you're the current mistress, don't you get a little upset when you find out he was less than truthful about his past discretions?
And then there was Maria. She was the only one of the three woman who reacted like I would expect someone to grieve Jack. She flipped out, she snapped on people, and was just downright messy. Maria had some severe emotional scars when it came to Jack, but it she doesn't seem to have the capacity to deal with them herself or the foundation within her family to support her. Even after Pam found out about the long term affair, she sent Maria off to her room like a misbehaving child and went about being self-absorbed.
I get that people handle a situation in a different way, but all three of these women seemed so one dimensional that it was hard to feel sorry for any of them for what they were going through. While they all were supposed to have cared for Jack in some way shape or form, their reaction to his death and lies should have illicit some kind of strong reaction. Get pissed, scream, yell...throw something (hell, when I spill something on the kitchen floor my reaction is stronger than these women's).
We get some idea of the type of person Jack was by the reminiscing of the woman or the discovery of more of his secrets. The only thing I can say is I wish Jack had stuck around in the story because those were the only points in the story where I felt we had an actual character that I wanted to follow. He had a horrible childhood and endured unspeakable acts against him, yet it appeared (through some of the items discovered and his mother's musings) that he was willing to stand up for himself and what he believed in. So that would lead me to question why he went down the path that he did with the three woman. Unfortunately, that is a question we don't get answered in this installment of the series.
I wish I could really like this book, but the way the three women were portrayed makes them unlikable to me. I tend to not be sympathetic to anyone who doesn't stand up for themselves and that's the way these women seemed to me. However, this is my opinion and someone else may love these woman. It's for that reason that I'm giving this a three Cocktails rating.
Pam Smith lives the idyllic life out in Long Island. She has her fabulous beach house, two wonderful children and her husband of 20+ years. She lives for her husband and her children while being sequestered away from all of them. But her somewhat naive life starts to crumble when her husband, Jack, has a heart attack on the train to Long Island. With Jack gone, Pam soon discovers that she really didn't know the man she was married to or the depth of his betrayal.
So Pam spent all her time in Long Island. She read books on her veranda, walked the beach, worked out in the gym and was ran errands for whoever in her family needed them run. She only spent the weekends with her husband and even then, she would sit off by herself while he was active with her little sister, their kids or his friends. So it's not surprising to find that Pam has no clue as to what Jack was really up to when he was in New York all week. What was surprising was the fact that Pam hardly showed any emotion to Jack's death or the revelation that he's been cheating on her (with a woman slightly older than their kids who works in his office and her little sister). Given everything, I would have expect some kind of outburst from Pam, but she never did it. Instead she embraced her husband's mistress and wanted to be friends with her. WHAT?!?!?
And let's talk about the mistress. Sandra admits that she's not sure she was ever really in love with Jack, which was evident by the fact that she wouldn't allow him in her house or vice versa, so that her living area wasn't tainted by Jack should they break up. But what I'm still trying to wrap my head around is the fact that she would be willing to be friendly with the wife of the man she was sleeping with. Why would she want that? Would she feel horrible each time she saw her? Was she looking for a mother figure and figured she was as good as any? And why was she not a little more upset about finding out that Jack had a previous long term relationship with someone else? I'm not sure, but even if you're the current mistress, don't you get a little upset when you find out he was less than truthful about his past discretions?
And then there was Maria. She was the only one of the three woman who reacted like I would expect someone to grieve Jack. She flipped out, she snapped on people, and was just downright messy. Maria had some severe emotional scars when it came to Jack, but it she doesn't seem to have the capacity to deal with them herself or the foundation within her family to support her. Even after Pam found out about the long term affair, she sent Maria off to her room like a misbehaving child and went about being self-absorbed.
I get that people handle a situation in a different way, but all three of these women seemed so one dimensional that it was hard to feel sorry for any of them for what they were going through. While they all were supposed to have cared for Jack in some way shape or form, their reaction to his death and lies should have illicit some kind of strong reaction. Get pissed, scream, yell...throw something (hell, when I spill something on the kitchen floor my reaction is stronger than these women's).
We get some idea of the type of person Jack was by the reminiscing of the woman or the discovery of more of his secrets. The only thing I can say is I wish Jack had stuck around in the story because those were the only points in the story where I felt we had an actual character that I wanted to follow. He had a horrible childhood and endured unspeakable acts against him, yet it appeared (through some of the items discovered and his mother's musings) that he was willing to stand up for himself and what he believed in. So that would lead me to question why he went down the path that he did with the three woman. Unfortunately, that is a question we don't get answered in this installment of the series.
I wish I could really like this book, but the way the three women were portrayed makes them unlikable to me. I tend to not be sympathetic to anyone who doesn't stand up for themselves and that's the way these women seemed to me. However, this is my opinion and someone else may love these woman. It's for that reason that I'm giving this a three Cocktails rating.
lsmoore43's review
5.0
I finished this wonderful book and loved every single page. At no time did I get bored or confused like some books do. There was just enough description to make you feel you could see what Pams varanda looked like, her house, and other things. I loved how sweet she was to everyone but hated how some treated her. This book has made me really appreciate my Jack. lol There are parts that in ways I could relate to where her sister was concerned and I felt sorry for her at times and angry at her at times. I loved it though and can't wait to get the rest of the books to read the whole series and find out more about each character and what else happens and who else comes into Pams life via Jack. If you haven't read it you need too. It is great, a 5 star book or higher if I could give it more stars. I am reading the second book, "Don't You Forget About Me" and am over half finished. It is even better. I can't write anymore about it though because I haven't finished it and I want to write a review on it after I finish it.. You will love it though as I am so far.. :)
nferre's review
3.0
Fun and easy read about a woman who loses her husband to a sudden heart attack and finds out (very early in the book - so no spoilers here) that he had a mistress whom she befriends and even invites to the funeral. As Pam grieves, she grows out of her doormat-persona and takes on her mother-in-law, the lawyers, the mistress and her little sister. She learns more about her husband through his death than she knew while he was alive.
booksuperpower's review
3.0
I've had this book in my TBR list for awhile. I believe I picked this one up in the kindle store for free. The story of a woman that loses her husband suddenly, then finds out he was leading a secret life is always compelling . This one was not like anything I would have expected though. This was one messed up family. It's all still a mess at the end of the book, but we see that each of the ladies the story centers around will get a new chance to make something of a really bad situation.
I would rate this more of a 3.5. The writing is good and the story is absorbing, but very disturbing. Overall a B-
I would rate this more of a 3.5. The writing is good and the story is absorbing, but very disturbing. Overall a B-
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