Customer Reviews

Adelaide Einstein: A Novel By April L. Hamilton

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

April Hamilton bursts onto the scene with a sparkling little excerpt for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest with Chapter One of ADELAIDE EPSTEIN, and if character development has as much to do with the judging as it should, this entry should be a winner. Hamilton has apparently written a 'comic fiction' and in the best sense of that term this opener tests the reader's ability to judge between what is comedy and what is daily dull routine in the life of a housewife. When the author can induce laughs from introspective observations rather that pratfalls, then the reader can be assured that the story will develop well.

Adelaide is a housewife who gave up finishing college to get married and raise two children and who now faces the void of 'family out of the house' syndrome and tries to fill that sense of lack of purpose and importance by volunteering at the local hospital: she is assigned the 'bedpan brigade' type chores that are below the nurses and is repeatedly making judgment errors as well as committing faux pas situations that lead to her being fired - try being fired from a volunteer job! Depressed with her life and her station she leaves her volunteer blunder job and returns home to soak in a tub, trying to forget that she is a forty-six year old woman with excessive body tissue. While relaxing in her perfumed yet depressing tub, in pops her daughter unexpectedly, accompanied with her boyfriend - the two obviously planning an afternoon's 'diversion' in the empty house. How Adelaide is confronted by the nude couple in the bathroom and what transpires among the three is hilarious (and touching), and when she tries to share her life problems with her best friend Gywnnie (gorgeous, free spirited etc), she discovers that her husband is in flagrante in Gywnnie's bed. And the wheels start to spin on in this page-turner novel.

No doubt there are more beautifully drawn characters that will populate the following pages. Hamilton has a real gift for drawing credible people who have equal potential for being hilarious and tragic. She makes what some would find as an ordinary day into something that leaps into the extraordinary. Can't wait to see how Adelaide et al are worked out here! Grady Harp, January 08

I thoroughly enjoyed this. The characters are believable and engaging, one wants to find out what happens next, and best of all the author has a great sense of humour.

The bath scene made me laugh out loud several times. (I'd say there was a tad too much description of the bath products to start with). Poor Addie, in her consolatory bath, when the front door goes - isn't this always the way - then things get rapidly much worse. And Addie's choices of how to react are spot on. I did think the daughter would have been alerted the moment she opened the bathroom door by the scented steam, but this is a minor cavil.

The relationship Addie has with Patty is so authentic. The bit where Patty is defending her right to make her own decisions, then exchanges glances with her mother as Todd makes his feeble excuse is so true to life. Surely all mothers of teenagers have been there. It feels real.

The surprise development with Bob - well - it surprised me! I felt the author has plenty of interesting plot developments up her sleeve.

The prose is good, with nice observation; for instance, `that slightly condescending tone so typical of younger people who occupy positions of authority over the middle-aged'. Occasionally, you tell things that might be better shown; for instance, `In reality, both women had an idealized view of the other's life and each daydreamed about what it must be like to be the other from time to time.' This is both `tell' and authorial intrusion, and perhaps the information could be better conveyed through the women's dialogue.

An assured, easy and engaging read. Well done.

Lexi

This is the story of Adelaide (Addie), a middle aged woman who is living her dream. Addie's a stay-at-home mom, 2 kids, successful husband, house in the 'burbs, who does charitable volunteer work and hosts a lady's sewing circle. What could be more wonderful? But if she's living her idyllic girlhood dream, why it it so unsatisfying? Perhaps the fact that her son is a delinquent, her daughter thinks she's a dinosaur, her husband is a patronizing jerk, and she just got fired from her volunteer work has something to do with it. And the lady's sewing circle friends, well they're a whole 'nother can of worms.

The story traces Addie's path to growth and redemption. I don't want to say more and give away the plot, but the story is smart, funny and poignant.

This is the second book I've read by April L. Hamilton. There's something about her writing style that I find deeply engaging. With other works of fiction I feel like a voyeur, like I'm peering through a window observing someone else's life at a distance. With Ms. Hamilton's first book Snowball, and again with Adelaide Einstein, it's as if I'm in the room, inside the character's skin, seeing her world through her eyes and actually living her experience.

This is the sort of book that I didn't want to put down because I wanted to know how it ended, and was sad when it ended because I wanted it to go on forever.

An instructor once told me that one good line per page and the writer had a classic. As far as I'm concerned, this one line could stand alone, sell t-shirts, bumper stickers, and change some people's perceptions.

'Hen lit' is term the literazzi is using for women's novels past prime. Our heroine, Adelaide, is 46 and plump. She's married with children, but from the sound of things, going to have some 'coming of age' issues.

Adelaide is a sympathetic and amusing character. Her firing, from a volunteer position no less, was hilarious. The bathroom scene had me sputtering. That one could make a movie.

Good writing advice is starting where a character's life changes. This excerpt begins in retrospect with Adelaide believing her firing changed her life--though she didn't realize it at the time. This is a nice beginning and something of a life lesson as well.

This excerpt is extremely well-written and witty. It would deserve a 5 star rating save I believe it needs a quick editorial pass to strengthen its readability:

1. Start dialog with a new paragraph. Talk loses its importance in the middle of a sentence.

2. Shorten the paragraphs in the action sequences. Long paragraphs drag and shorter ones will propel the reader forward better.

The quick change of point of view where Gwynnie speaks to Addie's husband is somewhat distracting. You may want to put this in italics, so it stands out from the rest of the manuscript.

Small nits: Comptroller is the name of the bank position Addie's friend holds--Controller is a pretty good description of the function, though!

I had a delightful time meeting Adelaide and thank you for allowing me to read this novel.

The Bathroom scene was hilarious! The lead-up to the scene where we find out where her husband really is and who he is with is finely crafted. We know in out guts what is up ahead of time, at yet it is still a surprise. My only suggestion would be to have the bedpan scene be a little more evocative with attendant odors and spattered wall, etc. But, then, I'm a guy.

I thought the short story started out with a bang and kept me interested the whole time. I think it is a very modern, up to date story. It deals with current subjects and situations. It is fast moving and full of unexpected twist and turns that made me want to know what will happen next. This author shows that she has real ability as an author.

Adelaide is a bumbler. She can't seem to get much of anything right, even though she really tries. When she goes to the kitchen she sees "Today's menu specified pot roast and there simply wasn't enough time for it now." So funny, that her husband has requested dinner menus. Adelaide feels guilty for not being the best wife, the best cook, the best parent. The bathtub scene, all the way from the amount of work it actually takes to get in the tub, to the horrifying encounter with her topless daughter and naked boyfriend, make for a very funny read. That scene is a true gem. When the narrator summarizes relationships or past history, I don't stay as engaged. Could some of the more important information be dramatized into scene (which this author does so well)? A delightfully funny read!

This one would fit right in next to any published comedy novel on my shelf. I'm surprised it's not already published, and wish it was so I could read the rest.

The author doesn't waste a lot of time with set up and description but I could easily picture everything. In fact, reading this was like having a movie play in my mind. The characters are all so natural, not one of them reads like a 'type' from central casting. Like another reviewer said, the scene between Adelaide and her daughter in the bathroom is very realistic and believable, and very, very funny at the same time.

A plot that moves along at a good pace and characters I can care about would be enough to hook me into any book, and all the funny stuff makes it even more fun to read. On top of all that, near the end of the excerpt there's a big shock that really peaks my curiosity. I wanted to keep reading so much it was annoying to have it end.

Adelaide is a wife, mother, and volunteer whose life appears normal, even enviable, but Addie knows better. She's a total klutz and got fired from her job today after a disaster involving bedpans. Her marriage was never the romantic fairy tale she hoped for. Her seventeen-year old daughter is about to do the deed with a boy in the shower until they discover Addie's there. Her husband calls to say he'll be home late - again - (because he's having an affair with her best friend). What a day!

I liked Addie, but I can't relate to her passivity and need to justify everything. Her lack of outrage at her daughter's actions mystified me completely. (Maybe Addie will find some inner strength when she goes back to college to study physics.) The writing was funny, full of surprises, and the dialogue was good. (I do wish the paragraphs had been shorter.) Overall, I enjoyed this excerpt and would like to know what happens to Addie next.

She had a terrible headache and had to take an aspirin and when she bent over to drink some water she bumped the cart full of bed pans by mistake and accidentally knocked over the Chief of Surgery and he broke his tail bone and she got fired, and Adelaide could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Alone at home, she looked into the mirror and saw a forty-six year old woman about fifteen pounds overweight, all of it stowed below the waistline and above the knees, but she thought she looked like the Elephant Woman and Adelaide could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

She thought she'd have a long soak in the bathtub and then her teenaged daughter came home unexpectedly with male company and they wanted to get nekkid in the shower and then everybody screamed and Adelaide could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

On top of it all, she was late in getting dinner and then her husband called to say he was working late and her best friend was also going to be late for the embroidery club meeting, but little did she know that the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day was going to get much, much worse.

Judging from this excerpt, this is going to be a comedy, based on the trials and tribulations of Adelaide, who is distraught enough to seek refuge in the comparatively safe haven of a college physics class. Should be a fun read.

Note: This review is based on the available 14 pages of this story, submitted for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and awarded a place in the semi-finals.

Amanda Richards, January 24, 2008