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pollyb23's review
2.0
I really would give this book 2.5 stars. It was good but not that interesting to me. Kind of slow. Not bad but not good enough for me to recommend to a friend
ir_sharp2's review
5.0
It's pretty good. Sweet old lady who was involuntarily irradiated in the 50s is trying to get revenge on the doctor who headed up the study, but he has dementia and can't remember any of the things she's doing to make him miserable. It's sweet and quite enjoyable. And you'll never guess the end.
nic_fish's review
3.0
Bit of a weird read - everyone seemed to be related. Over the top preacher/predator that gives most a bad name.
amseckman's review
1.0
TERRIBLE. I kept reading it thinking it would get better but it only got worse. A man with Alzheimer's suddenly remembers again? What?
christajls's review
4.0
A delightful and thoughtful book which examines grief, the idea of family and our co-dependence on one another. I really enjoyed the story and thought all the characters were extremely well put together.
At times the pacing seemed a bit off but it was only a small factor in the total package that was this book.
At times the pacing seemed a bit off but it was only a small factor in the total package that was this book.
k80bowman's review
1.0
I'm not going to finish this one. I usually don't just stop reading a book in the middle, but I'm halfway through this one and I just don't care about the characters at all. I don't know if it's just me or what (which it very well could be. Other people seem to have enjoyed this book, and I'm glad for them). But, you know it's bad when reading a book for pleasure becomes a chore.
kategci's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this quirky, southern novel about revenge, growth and forgiveness. Elizabeth Stuckey French perfectly captures the voices and thoughts of all her characters as they move through their daily lives, while getting drawn into each other's drama. Funny at times, but not always light and breezy, the book aptly captures what living is like with a family that you love, but may not always like.
thursday48's review
1.0
This book took me 4.5 months to read.
77 year old Marylou decides to kill the doctor who she blames for the premature death of her daughter. Marylou was given radioactive material while she was pregnant as part of a secret government and her daughter died at 8 from cancer. So 50 years later Marylou hunts down the doctor only to find he has dementia and lives with his daughter's family. Marylou instead plans to cause destruction there. However, the family has a bunch of issues already and they all end up saving each other.
This book was billed as a dark comedy so I picked it up. That is not what this book is at all. It is a mess. The first chapter was the best, that was the one that set up Marylou's backstory. Let's dig into the Doctor's family real quick. We have a husband who is flirting with having an affair with a lady from grad school, and is obsessed with hurricanes. They don't live an a hurricane area and all discussion of his time in grad school feels unrealistic. The wife is crippled by her mother leaving when she was like 2 or 3, and this apparently only started showing up in the last few years, but is now obsessed with going to college with her oldest daughter and has let herself go. Two of the 3 children have Asperger's, though it's nothing like Asperger's, its more like they kindergartners with love interests. The youngest child just doesn't seem to have human priorities or reactions to the events that unfold in this book.
I was really iffy about this book when they described a teen girl as a "he/she", and it just kept getting worse and worse. The only thing this book did well was setting up the groundwork for the events that take place at the end. That being said they were pretty bad plot choices but they weren't completely out of the blue.
77 year old Marylou decides to kill the doctor who she blames for the premature death of her daughter. Marylou was given radioactive material while she was pregnant as part of a secret government and her daughter died at 8 from cancer. So 50 years later Marylou hunts down the doctor only to find he has dementia and lives with his daughter's family. Marylou instead plans to cause destruction there. However, the family has a bunch of issues already and they all end up saving each other.
This book was billed as a dark comedy so I picked it up. That is not what this book is at all. It is a mess. The first chapter was the best, that was the one that set up Marylou's backstory. Let's dig into the Doctor's family real quick. We have a husband who is flirting with having an affair with a lady from grad school, and is obsessed with hurricanes. They don't live an a hurricane area and all discussion of his time in grad school feels unrealistic. The wife is crippled by her mother leaving when she was like 2 or 3, and this apparently only started showing up in the last few years, but is now obsessed with going to college with her oldest daughter and has let herself go. Two of the 3 children have Asperger's, though it's nothing like Asperger's, its more like they kindergartners with love interests. The youngest child just doesn't seem to have human priorities or reactions to the events that unfold in this book.
I was really iffy about this book when they described a teen girl as a "he/she", and it just kept getting worse and worse. The only thing this book did well was setting up the groundwork for the events that take place at the end. That being said they were pretty bad plot choices but they weren't completely out of the blue.
bookguyinva2022's review
5.0
That was one twisty roller coaster. I almost put it down and so glad I didn't.
beth_diiorio's review
4.0
Great convoluted story, darkly humorous and ironic...I was pleasantly surprised. Senior citizen hell bent on revenge (justifiably so), sets out to destroy a doctor and his family with surprises throughout.