Customer Reviews

Angry Housewives: Eating Bon Bons

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Good friends and good books---who could ask for anything more? Especially if you happen to throw in lots of good food featuring heavy doses of chocolate----and you have a fascinating neighborhood book club called Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons. Faith is a transplanted Southerner feeling out-of-place in the frozen wasteland of Minnesota when one night a power outage sends her outdoors to meet her neighbors in a snowball fight that will change her life. Years later, when a therapist asks her how she was able to hold things together for so long, she will reply "That's easy. I belong to a book club." For it is on that cold and snowy night that Faith and four of her neighbors conceive of a book club that will bind them for life and see them through their darkest traumas and most joyful events. Readers will be totally engrossed in the lives of these stay-at-home moms: Faith, who hides a past that shames her; Audrey, the proverbial sex kitten who can't hold her husband; Merit, the shy introvert who suffers physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her doctor husband; Slip, the antiwar activist who finds plenty to shout about during the Vietnam era; and Kari, the widowed elder of the group whose life takes on new meaning when an unexpected event gives her the child she has always longed for. From the sixties to the nineties you will follow these women and share their deep friendship, big laughs, and heart-breaking tears. The big bonus for book-lovers is that each chapter features the book title and author being discussed at the monthly meeting. Your interest will be piqued as you rediscover old favorites and may be inspired to read a few you missed along the way.

Lorna Landvik has created unforgettable characters, strong women who discover amazing things about themselves as they adapt to changing times and changing lives. I heartily recommend this most enjoyable book and only wish my own neighborhood had a chapter of Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons is the sort of tale that makes you laugh out loud, cry (repeatedly), reminisce, and feel privileged to be invited along for the ride. The story of five women on a cul-de-sac in Minneapolis, Minnesota, their adventures, their confessions, and their joys made me want to be part of their book club, their neighborhood, their lives.

Narrated in turn by each of the five, while the other four weave in and out of each chapter, AHEB covers 30 years' worth of book club meetings, and incidentally, their raising their children to adulthood. Each woman has traits to admire and to recoil from; most of us will identify with at least one of them. Motherly Kari (who has no child), Confident Audrey (sex on the brain, all the time), Terrified Merit (the beauty without power who rebels quietly), Indomitable Slip (small but powerful), Secretive Faith (whose casual lies keep all from knowing who she really is). Typical readers of the genre will find at least one to identify with and use the others as foils. We get to know all of them well enough to care.

It's not the emptiness of "chick lit" but it's not canonical either; this is 99.44% pure middlebrow. The housewives are upper-middle-class moms who are affected by cultural changes despite their priveleged place; by the early nineties all of them have returned to work. Some of the book is overly formulaic; by setting each chapter as a book club meeting, the author clearly used best-seller lists through the last 30 years. Would such a book club always be ahead, or even on, that curve? The sixties and early seventies seem more accurately researched and presented than the later seventies through early nineties; there was little sense of emotional presence or changed times in those chapters. Think about all the little things we can't live without now that weren't there in 1985, like drive-through espresso or cell phones or the Internet (which earns a very brief mention at the end); it's hard to tell 1978 from 1998 in this book other than the kids getting older.

This novel is reminiscent of similar group histories such as How to Make an American Quilt by way of Marilyn French's The Women's Room. While it is unfair to characterize the women of AHEB as merely a book club (since they all live on the same street, they are a community first and foremost), using literature as history is an interesting device. The little snips of each woman's lives around the monthly meetings are taken in like a box of bon-bons: sweet, enjoyable, yet too much of it may not be that good for you. by Maddi Hausmann Sojourner, 15 July 2004

Ok -- I'm not part of the sisterhood. I'm male and I'm straight and normally guys like me would be put off by a book like this. Yet, I was drawn to it by its goofy title and ended up enjoying the book because of its memorable characters. The short summary of the book is that you follow the lives of four housewives and neighbors who form a book club and meaningful friendships. Along the way, you get a taste of the way the world changed between the 1970's and 1990's and you get to feel as if you know the main characters quite well.

What I found amazing is that you even get to like and remember secondary and supporting characters such as husbands and children. Most importantly all of this happens with a lot of humor, some insight and the occasional sappy story that might draw a tear or two.

My only fault with the book is that it seemed much more richer at the beginning of the book as the characters first learned more about each other. Later on in the book, the human interaction seems to slow a bit. In fact, the book club even adds a gay male as a member whose role as a confidant is important but seems to distract at times.

As a whole I enjoyed it a great deal and found myself laughing out loud more than a few times. I also marveled at how close and important female friendships can be. Some other reviewers have mentioned that there are other books that cover this ground better. While that might be true, I would endorse this book to just about anyone.

Perhaps Lorna Landvik is not a parent so she doesn't realize that no group of children is as perfect as the Freesia Court children. Julia is biracial and adopted and floats thru life until she has a minor setback at 27. Bonnie is brilliant and apparently never talks back to her mother. Merit's girls are beautiful, talented, etc. and seem to suffer no problems due to the relationship of their parents. Even Beau is movie star handsome and finds the ideal mate. One of Audrey's sons does get into a little trouble, but it is not dealt with in this book. The husbands are either wonderful or horrible. There is no middle ground and no working through the ordinary problems that most couples face. These are all two dimensional characters and about as interesting as wallpaper.

When I read House of Curl I thought that while I didn't care for it all that much, this author has potential - I will try something else she's written. Bad idea: AHEB sucked wayyyy worse than House of Curl, and for many, many reasons:

- Characters are one-dimensional and beyond stereotypical
- More cliches per written page than I have ever encountered
- Men are bad, unless they're gay or at least effeminate
- Insulting to politically conservative readers
- Characters make many stupid life choices which get neatly straightened out
- 200 pages too long to read such drivel
- Far too many "who-cares" subplots
- Simplistic style of writing

One thing I learned from AHEB: Never pick up another book by this author again.

This book strives to be a sweeping, great novel, but it falls short. Although short does not describe the story, since it drags on for over 400 pages. The basic premise is good: five housewives and mothers from the same neighborhood meet in the late 1960's and start a book club, and their friendship and the book club stretch into the late 1990's. They meet at a time when things were very different for women, but were changing at a rapid pace.

The five main characters are Faith, a southern girl who is so ashamed of her past that she invents an entirely different one; Merit, the pretty minister's daughter who is being abused by her husband; Slip, the politically active woman who, true to her nickname, is merely a slip of a woman; Kari, the older, childless widow; and Audrey, the big, beautiful sex-obsessed and, possibly, the most interesting of the Angry Housewives. The characters are not that well fleshed out, and it is difficult to get an emotional connection going. At times, it is tough to discern who is who and whose children belong to whom. Then, the addition of a gay male character to the group toward the end of the book seems completely superfluous.

The book shows promise at the beginning, but drags on too long, and tries to do too much. The research into the time period is very good, since this was a time when women still made excuses for bruises and abuse, where the adoption of a bi-racial child was something unusual, where a gay son rarely came out to his mother, and where a slightly-shady past was something to be hidden. I wish I could have cared more about the characters and the outcome of the book, but there was just too much going on to find this book truly interesting.

ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS by Lorna Landvik

Heres a book that is somewhat reminiscent of THE SAVING GRACES by Patricia Gaffney, but only better. Five women who live in the same neighborhood become life-long friends in ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS, Lorna Landviks latest novel. If you loved PATTY JANES HOUSE OF CURL, you will certainly love BON BONS. Both books are very different, yet they have a distinctive Landvik flavor.

As the story opens, we are introduced to the women, who are sitting in a hospital room visiting Slip, who is one of the members of the Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons book club. The other members reminisce about their pasts: Audrey, the sexy one; Merit, the shy and beautiful one; Faith, the one with the many secrets; Kari, the older of the 5 women, widowed at a very young age. In this prologue, the reader is very aware that Slip is ill, and her friends watch vigilant, crying their eyes out.

From there, we move back to the past, when Faith Owens first encountered some of the other ladies on the block known as Freesia Court. Faith, who was still getting used to living in the cold Minnesota winter, finds herself without her husband one cold night, because he is out of town on business (again) and so shes left to fend for herself and her twins, Beau and Bonnie (mere babies). All of a sudden, the power goes out and shes left in the dark. As she freaks out, worrying about being attacked by a burglar, she notices that there are some of the neighborhood women playing outside in the cold snow: Four of them, in fact. And to her horror, they are playing with snowballs and throw one right at her window, as she is looking out at them. She goes outside to have a talk with them, but for some reason she decides to join in their fun, and before she knows it, shes having the best time ever.

After their snowball fight, Faith invites the women into her new home, the first time shes ever entertained there in Minnesota, and from that point her friendship with these women begins. And soon, they start a book club, where they meet once a month to share munchies, discuss books, but mainly to find an excuse to get together.

Each chapter starts off with the book of the month, the book moderator for that month, and the reason why the book was chosen. Each womans personality comes across on those first few lines, and it becomes more apparent as the reader gets to know each of the five women better. The five grow together, along with their children, and they go through myriads of events. They cry together, and they laugh together. They even fight together. But the bottom line is, they are friends through everything, and they experience and grow with the changing times, from the 1960s to the 21st century.

There isnt one main plot in ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS. However, there are many subplots, each one involving each of the five members of the club. I found that each story was interesting enough on its own, but they each added to the overall book about the friendships of these five women. I recommend this to everyone who likes a good womens lit book. Its probably not for everyone, but anyone who enjoyed THE SAVING GRACES by Patricia Gaffney will most likely enjoy this one!

I agree with the NY reader - a waste of time. I waited on the library reserve list for months and was very disappointed. The characters are not well developed and the writing is amateurish. I did finish it because I was curious about how it could get such rave reviews but found it a 'women's' book. The "holy whatever" comments of one character were idiotic. Can't fathom how anyone could say it's the best book they ever read.For a good read try Alison McGee's Shadow Baby, Losing Julia, or Peace Like a River.

Like other readers, the cover of the book caught my eye; every time I was in a bookstore I would pick it up, debate about buying it, and then, for some reason, put it back down. I haven't even finished reading the book, but I am so happy that my sixth sense told me not to purchase it--luckily, it was lent to me.

The characters are very contrived and one dimensional, without any redeeming or sympathetic qualities and fit right into stereotypes--the abused wife, the sexpot, the activist, the grieving widow, the one with a hidden past. In order to make things interesting, the author feels compelled to throw in all of sorts "incidents" and "hot issues of the day, or rather decade" for the characters to deal with, which they then easily do so without any sort of major residue or consequence--if only real life were like that. And, what was with the trip to Malibu--what point did that have to do with the story and what did it add? Nothing.

The author, for some reason, also has a problem with Republicans. The primary characters are all portrayed as Democrats in a positive manner, whereas anyone who is a Republican (mostly secondary characters)is portrayed in a negative light. Is the author really that opinionated?

The book is a very quick, easy read, but that might be because the writing style is not that complicated, and the reader can easily skim through it. I thought the chapter headings with each character's book choice would be reflected within the chapter and thought it would be a clever idea, but that was never really carried through.

If you want something that is a read and mindless, go for this book. Though, see if you can borrow it from the library or a friend instead of buying it.

This book is a fast, light read. Ms. Landvik tells a good story but I had several issues:

- Point of View (POV): There are six POVs in this book, some in first and some in third. The author isn't consistent in POVs throughout a chapter, and the jumps to other characters can be difficult to follow.
- Plot: Every plot line except the kitchen sink is thrown into this novel. Issues include spousal abuse, alcoholism, drug use, race relations, war, peace protests, car accidents, adultery, infertility, homosexuality, AIDS, and cancer. A crisis arises, it's dealt with, and the story moves on to another crisis. The author could have trimmed the scope and characters and focused more on a smaller list of issues.
- Slip: Slip was the most annoying character. The woman never met a rally she couldn't protest or a gathering she couldn't crash. Her political preaching was over the top. Standing up for the proletariat? Wouldn't the failure of socialism in the USSR, North Korea, Cuba, in fact every country it's been attempted, encourage the author to leave this plot line out of the novel? I nearly put the book down several times because all Republicans were portrayed as uptight and bad, and all Democrats (of course, all the characters are Democrats) were fun and good.
- Vietnam: The recycling of the psychologically-damaged Vietnam veteran was also irritating. Does Ms. Landvik know any men who actually served in Vietnam? I know several, including a medic who saw truly horrific fights and wounds, and all these men lead normal lives. All war leaves scars, both mental and physical, but most Vietnam veterans didn't come home and drift through life, lost. Every vet in this novel is a basketcase, unable to function in life.

I enjoyed parts of the story, but I wouldn't consider it a great book. There are more enjoyable books that deal with women's issues without throwing in EVERY problem. I recommend Fried Green Tomatoes.