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A review by bargainsleuth
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal
3.0
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Supper clubs are such a Midwest thing, and I have been in my share of them over the years. While they are dying out, many have fond memories of time spent in them, enjoying a Wisconsin Old Fashioned and broasted chicken and all the accoutrements. So, for me, the Midwest setting and “up north” atmosphere was very familiar to me, and I think they are very accurate. One thing, though, don’t be like me and listen to the audiobook unless you’re not from the upper Midwest: the narrator butchered the pronunciations of places and products. You’d really think there’d be some quality control in that department.
However, the book is not so much about supper clubs as it is about several generations of women. Now, the author is a man, but I think he did an admirable job getting inside women’s psyche to bring that out on the page. There was humor to the book, as well as incredible sadness and poignancy. I thought it was fairly balanced, but more melancholy than humor. And I think that’s why I didn’t LOVE the book and just liked it. I’d recommend it to anyone curious about the famed Midwest supper club and how it used to be every Friday and Saturday night in the Northwoods.
I do have to admit that part of the reason I didn’t love the book was because the opening scene was something I’m not a fan of. I won’t say what it is, but it was an immediate jolt that I found unnecessary, although it is does happen quite a bit up north.
Supper clubs are such a Midwest thing, and I have been in my share of them over the years. While they are dying out, many have fond memories of time spent in them, enjoying a Wisconsin Old Fashioned and broasted chicken and all the accoutrements. So, for me, the Midwest setting and “up north” atmosphere was very familiar to me, and I think they are very accurate. One thing, though, don’t be like me and listen to the audiobook unless you’re not from the upper Midwest: the narrator butchered the pronunciations of places and products. You’d really think there’d be some quality control in that department.
However, the book is not so much about supper clubs as it is about several generations of women. Now, the author is a man, but I think he did an admirable job getting inside women’s psyche to bring that out on the page. There was humor to the book, as well as incredible sadness and poignancy. I thought it was fairly balanced, but more melancholy than humor. And I think that’s why I didn’t LOVE the book and just liked it. I’d recommend it to anyone curious about the famed Midwest supper club and how it used to be every Friday and Saturday night in the Northwoods.
I do have to admit that part of the reason I didn’t love the book was because the opening scene was something I’m not a fan of. I won’t say what it is, but it was an immediate jolt that I found unnecessary, although it is does happen quite a bit up north.