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A review by thain
Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
3.0
I enjoyed the intriguing premise of a ranch near Reno for women seeking quickie divorces in the 1930s and found the setting and most of the secondary characters entertaining.
Ward, who worked there as a sort of cowboy escort, tells the story in his old age to an unnamed visitor whose identity is not revealed until the end. The narrative is too complex to really be someone speaking, but while usually one can gloss over the authenticity of this format, the way he constantly breaks the fourth wall to address the visitor makes this impossible.
It was an interesting choice to make the narrator a man rather than one of the women, but he was the only main character I liked. Three-time divorcee Nina had a Mean Girl/cooler-than-thou vibe, while Emily, the love interest, faded into the background and her awful brat of a daughter did something that upset me, as an animal lover, more than anything else in the book.
Overall a good concept somewhat lacking in execution.
Ward, who worked there as a sort of cowboy escort, tells the story in his old age to an unnamed visitor whose identity is not revealed until the end. The narrative is too complex to really be someone speaking, but while usually one can gloss over the authenticity of this format, the way he constantly breaks the fourth wall to address the visitor makes this impossible.
It was an interesting choice to make the narrator a man rather than one of the women, but he was the only main character I liked. Three-time divorcee Nina had a Mean Girl/cooler-than-thou vibe, while Emily, the love interest, faded into the background and her awful brat of a daughter did something that upset me, as an animal lover, more than anything else in the book.
Overall a good concept somewhat lacking in execution.