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mattyzmom's review against another edition
3.0
This story isn't necessarily about revenge. It is about the hurt and drama that comes with divorce. Even though divorce hurts sometimes it is better.
The author is British and writes using British terms. It is a story that all can relate to. A New York Times Bestseller.
The author is British and writes using British terms. It is a story that all can relate to. A New York Times Bestseller.
kricketa's review against another edition
4.0
rose is a happily married features editor with two grown children when, suddenly, her life is turned upside-down. her husband is leaving her for her sexy young coworker, she loses her job (to the same sexy young coworker), her children make giant life changes, her mother gets sick, her cat gets sick, her ex-boyfriend comes to town, etc etc etc. but after all that, most surprising is how gracefully rose can adapt to the changes in her life and learn to live well again.
every so often i need to have drama-laden chicklit read to me in my car by a woman with a soothing british accent. i feel strange loving this book as much as i did when i am not middle-aged or divorced, but i found myself parked places and not wanting to leave the car because i had to find out what would happen next. next up i will be listening to "wives behaving badly" which tells the story of the sexy young coworker.
addendum: i just remembered something that pissed me off. a few months after rose & nathan have separated, he comes back and tells her he made a mistake. but rose says something along the lines of, "no, it was my fault too. i should have seen that you were unhappy and restless and done something about it." umm...what? so it's not the husband's job to tell you he's feeling this way, but it is the wife's job to magically guess and then fix it? i don't think so. but aside from a few old-fashioned notions of what marriage should look like (with everyone in their proper gender roles!) i still like this for all the above-mentioned reasons. end rant.
every so often i need to have drama-laden chicklit read to me in my car by a woman with a soothing british accent. i feel strange loving this book as much as i did when i am not middle-aged or divorced, but i found myself parked places and not wanting to leave the car because i had to find out what would happen next. next up i will be listening to "wives behaving badly" which tells the story of the sexy young coworker.
addendum: i just remembered something that pissed me off. a few months after rose & nathan have separated, he comes back and tells her he made a mistake. but rose says something along the lines of, "no, it was my fault too. i should have seen that you were unhappy and restless and done something about it." umm...what? so it's not the husband's job to tell you he's feeling this way, but it is the wife's job to magically guess and then fix it? i don't think so. but aside from a few old-fashioned notions of what marriage should look like (with everyone in their proper gender roles!) i still like this for all the above-mentioned reasons. end rant.
rhonadarling's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
angelica_jardinerica's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
2.75
I don't think this book added anything new to the story of the breakup of a long term marriage. All the clichés and stereotypes are present and I lost interest towards the end. I got the impression the author attempts to introduce shocking or surprising events at various points in the novel, I imagine to retain the reader's interest, but they just weren't shocking or surprising enough for me. I gave it almost three stars because it does convey quite well the hurt and betrayal involved in this kind of breakup and the difficulty (or impossibility) of completely leaving behind past relationships.
evaine13's review against another edition
2.0
One of the reviews here said the book should've been called Revenge of the middle-aged doormat. And I couldn't agree more. It seemed like everyone was wiping their dirt on the main character and she obediently let them have their way. As many other readers, I expected a stronger, bolder main character, someone I'd really root for, but that didn't happen. What I do approve of is the dignified way Rose dealt with the divorce and her husbands mistress and I appreciated the symbolism behind Parsley and Rose's garden - Parsley being Rose's marriage, something she kept trying to save but finally let go, and the garden being a reflection of herself and her self care.
yoannna's review against another edition
1.0
At some point it develops the familiarity of a sitcom but with much less going on. A detailed journey through the thoughts of a wronged woman. It's not a heavy read, some might describe it as a beach-read but I don't know who would want to unwind with the torments of a middle-aged woman. Probably another middle-aged woman. Since I'm not there yet, it doesn't quite do it for me.
It does however give good view over the life or a woman of a certain age which includes all the roles she has and how they compliment or interfere with each other.
It does however give good view over the life or a woman of a certain age which includes all the roles she has and how they compliment or interfere with each other.
anya_reading's review against another edition
3.0
This was another book I picked up from Mom's bookshelf. Another book set in England (like A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian).
I felt conflicted while reading this book, and that's why I had to put it down for a few weeks after starting it. The main character's husband leaves her for her younger assistant who seems to want everything in the main character's life. The husband seemed an awful jerk and didn't want the main character to have a job when the kids were young. Yet Rose, the main character, says she didn't realize how "restless" the husband was and that's how she admits both of them were at fault for the marriage breaking up (again, which was due to the husband having an affair with her co-worker, which is absolutely not Rose's fault)?
I felt like the double standards were too much to bear, and, like some folks have written here, Rose is far too "nice" to everyone while all of this is going on. (I guess I would be more her daughter's generation in my response, but so be it.) She's constantly ignored, not really supported by her family, yet she just accepts it and moves on. I suppose screaming and shouting about it won't change things, and Rose realizes this, too. However, it's hard to sympathize with a main character who just rolls over when all of the bad things happen and doesn't get allow herself to actually express her anger to anyone about it. Maybe it's a cultural thing in England? I just know that, in her place, I would act anything like what I was reading her doing.
My copy of this book included some book club discussion questions in the back, and one of the questions mentioned the book ending on an ambiguous note. For the longest time, I suspected that the ambiguity had to do with Rose and Nathan's marriage, and dreaded that "nice little Rosie" would actually take her ex-husband back - he seems to waffle and wail quite a bit after life with his tarty mistress isn't all it's cracked up to be. I knew I couldn't keep reading if that was the case, but did I care enough about Rose to even want to find this out? Finally, I decided that I'd either read through till the end, or until the author took back her husband, and then I'd drop this book in protest. Fortunately, when Nathan actually did try to make a move, Rose shot him down and he cried. I think that part, plus Rose turning down her old boss for her old job back, was what made this book the most satisfying. (Schadenfreude at its finest - sorry, I don't have much compassion for cheaters, no matter how "restless" they are. And her boss was a jerk for giving her job to her unqualified assistant - them's the breaks!)
Anyways, back to the ambiguous ending. The last few paragraphs suggest that Rose does indeed come to visit Hal at his olive farm in Italy. As a friend? As a lover? She gives the cat he gives her to her elderly neighbor because she doesn't want to feel indebted to Hal, but it's unclear whether she just wants to be friends with him and do her own thing, or if she's thinking of trying to rekindle their relationship but on her own terms. Regardless, as long as it didn't involve getting back with her ex, I was OK with it from a story standpoint.
So, was this book a Good Read? I don't know if I'd recommend Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman to others; most of the characters in the book I found quite aggravating (Rose's impetuous daughter, her son's rude high-powered girlfriend, her strangely unsupportive mother, her smug author ex-lover, her infuriating ex-husband, and last but not least, her comically evil ex-assistant). If there is any actual "revenge" in this book, it is a soft revenge, not a triumphant one. I'm not sure if I felt it was satisfying enough. Perhaps if you are closer to the main character's age, your feelings will be different.
I felt conflicted while reading this book, and that's why I had to put it down for a few weeks after starting it. The main character's husband leaves her for her younger assistant who seems to want everything in the main character's life. The husband seemed an awful jerk and didn't want the main character to have a job when the kids were young. Yet Rose, the main character, says she didn't realize how "restless" the husband was and that's how she admits both of them were at fault for the marriage breaking up (again, which was due to the husband having an affair with her co-worker, which is absolutely not Rose's fault)?
I felt like the double standards were too much to bear, and, like some folks have written here, Rose is far too "nice" to everyone while all of this is going on. (I guess I would be more her daughter's generation in my response, but so be it.) She's constantly ignored, not really supported by her family, yet she just accepts it and moves on. I suppose screaming and shouting about it won't change things, and Rose realizes this, too. However, it's hard to sympathize with a main character who just rolls over when all of the bad things happen and doesn't get allow herself to actually express her anger to anyone about it. Maybe it's a cultural thing in England? I just know that, in her place, I would act anything like what I was reading her doing.
My copy of this book included some book club discussion questions in the back, and one of the questions mentioned the book ending on an ambiguous note. For the longest time, I suspected that the ambiguity had to do with Rose and Nathan's marriage, and dreaded that "nice little Rosie" would actually take her ex-husband back - he seems to waffle and wail quite a bit after life with his tarty mistress isn't all it's cracked up to be. I knew I couldn't keep reading if that was the case, but did I care enough about Rose to even want to find this out? Finally, I decided that I'd either read through till the end, or until the author took back her husband, and then I'd drop this book in protest. Fortunately, when Nathan actually did try to make a move, Rose shot him down and he cried. I think that part, plus Rose turning down her old boss for her old job back, was what made this book the most satisfying. (Schadenfreude at its finest - sorry, I don't have much compassion for cheaters, no matter how "restless" they are. And her boss was a jerk for giving her job to her unqualified assistant - them's the breaks!)
Anyways, back to the ambiguous ending. The last few paragraphs suggest that Rose does indeed come to visit Hal at his olive farm in Italy. As a friend? As a lover? She gives the cat he gives her to her elderly neighbor because she doesn't want to feel indebted to Hal, but it's unclear whether she just wants to be friends with him and do her own thing, or if she's thinking of trying to rekindle their relationship but on her own terms. Regardless, as long as it didn't involve getting back with her ex, I was OK with it from a story standpoint.
So, was this book a Good Read? I don't know if I'd recommend Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman to others; most of the characters in the book I found quite aggravating (Rose's impetuous daughter, her son's rude high-powered girlfriend, her strangely unsupportive mother, her smug author ex-lover, her infuriating ex-husband, and last but not least, her comically evil ex-assistant). If there is any actual "revenge" in this book, it is a soft revenge, not a triumphant one. I'm not sure if I felt it was satisfying enough. Perhaps if you are closer to the main character's age, your feelings will be different.