Customer Reviews

Arsenic Soup For Lovers: When Chicken Soup Doesn't Work

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a book containing 25 extremely short stories about relationships; lovers, spouses, parents and friends. The stories can be ironic and some are humorous, a little horrific and sometimes a bit silly.

With just 62 pages, the stories are extremely short; quick little blurbs and brief little glimpses into another life. An interesting change of pace to those perky chicken soup books.

The tales aren't very detailed and one story left me completely baffled, but each one was entertaining in its own way and sometimes more than amusing.

An interesting coffee table perusal for your guests, or dare I say it, a bathroom book to help kill the time. It is a quick and easy read, an excellent book to pick up and read a few pages when you can.

Cherise Everhard, December 2008

"Arsenic Soup" is a collection of 25 short stories, each less than two pages, each with a wicked twist.

The perfect couple has tired of each other. We find out just how compatible they are when they both choose the same murder method.

Twins separated from birth are reunited at the most unlikely point.

A woman whose husband admits cheating on her has a unique solution to get him to stop.

The stories are short, dark witty, with a serious punch. Some of them are sweet and some sharp, so there's always something for everyone.

Rebecca Kyle, October 2008

I got to read this book while I had a long wait at the doctor's office. It definitely was an entertaining distraction. Each story is very short, so if you are waiting somewhere, you don't have to worry about getting cut off. Created with devious ideas and dark humor, I found this book to be hysterically entertaining. Just by the title, the reader should know what to expect. To me, that is what made it so fun to read. Some of the stories made me ponder, "Now why didn't I think about that one when I was getting divorced?" Of course, if I had, I would still be in prison. Anyway, I definitely recommend "Arsenic Soup for Lovers" for those who are seeking a distraction and are tired of the inspirational fluff books.

The typical warm, feel good stories don't always live up to their purpose. "Arsenic Soup for Lovers: When Chicken Soup Doesn't Work" is a dose of humorous and viciously real tales for those in relationships which weren't crafted in heaven and are a bit more real. The stories, although not filled with happy endings, are meant to be read as couples to bond them and make them realize that although they have their problems, things could be much worse. "Arsenic Soup for Lovers" is brilliant and highly recommended reading.

I sat down to read just a few of these short-stories one night and ended up consuming the entire book. Yes, that is how good it is. Inside the pages we find twenty-five short stories that are for the most part, not soft and cuddly, but twisted, dark, unspeakable. Endings to life problems that thankfully are not often birthed.
The author has taken everyday life and pretty much written stories with endings that many perhaps would like to happen instead of what probably does in real life. At least I hope most of these do not actually occur, but after seeing the news each night, perhaps they do.

Take the couple who wanted a divorce and well, both ended up dead, but they did get their wish, they were no longer married. Several of the stories surprised me with their ending, I really didn't see it coming and that was fun.I liked this book. It was a quick read and was entertaining at the same time. It kept me guessing how each story would end, and even in the stories short form the development of the characters was just enough to give you a good mind's eye of each. All in all I recommend this book for a quick, quirky, entertaining, fun read. By the way, delightful cover - perfect for the tales that follow. Good job.

I loved this book. That is the first thing I need to put down in this review. The stories collected in this book are both funny and reflective. At the end of several of these stories I will admit that I started laughing out loud. Whenever I need a quick read to perk me up this will be the book that I grab. The stories themselves are only two to three pages in length and require no time to read but are delightful. I am going to be looking the author's first book, With Malice Toward Some.

Some of my favorite stories are:

Midlife Crises: This is the first story in the book and it starts the entire collection off with a bang. Woman scorned not wanting to give up on her man.

The Widow and the Leaking Toilet: Widow in need of plumbing help has toilet removed and left in yard laughter ensues.

Assisted Living: Gambling grandma need I say more.

Widow for Rent: Lonely widow looking for companionship.

All of these stories made me laugh while reading them. Again I have to say I love this book.

It's a clever title and I loved the book's cover...cute. And then the promise of something to read that is short and funny, or as the book is described on the back cover, a "tart and wickedly amusing collection", was hopeful. If you have read other reviews of mine, you will know that I love an amusing book. If only it were true in this case....

Now granted, humor is a personal thing, but I can't honestly say that I found any of the 25 two or three page stories in the collection funny. One, called "Valentines" was rather sweet but the word that came to mind after reading most of them was....well, creepy.
A lot of spouses cheating on each other with the offended spouse taking some sort of revenge, often in a quite nasty way. Now, maybe if you have found yourself in that situation, you might find some of the actions funny, but I can't say that I did. And while the stories are very short and granted, don't leave much room for development, I often found the endings to the stories needlessly abrupt.

As I said, humor is an individual thing, and there might be people out there that find this sort of thing funny, but I am sorry to say that it didn't do it for me.

The title and cover promise laughter, but in this small collection of twenty-five jokes, I merely smiled. I did not laugh. A subtitle states, Very Very Short Stories for Very Very Busy People. Rather, they read like lengthy risqué jokes.

I read two of them aloud to my husband, and he laughed--so maybe it's me. Someone else might find this booklet more humorous. Try it and see for yourself.

With a catchy title and marketed as a small book of short stories, I was anxious to read "Arsenic Soup for Lovers, When Chicken Soup Doesn't Work" by Georgia Z. Post. It's also subtitled "Very Very Short Stories for Very Very Busy People". And that's absolutely true; each story is no more than two pages and takes only a few minutes to read.

I found a few of these stories funny. I found a couple of them interesting. I found many of them disturbing. The author states in her forward that "Some of these stories are true, some are not. Some are both." After finishing the book, I find that statement disquieting. I'm hoping that none of the stories involving death and/or murder were the true ones! And as the author is married, I'm guessing they weren't from personal experience! I'm also hoping that some of the more disturbing ones were meant for people with a different sense of humor than me, as I could only scratch my head and say, "Huh?"

Arsenic Soup for Lovers: When Chicken Soup Doesn't Work is a self-published book by Georgia Z. Post. As the front cover states this 76 page book is full of "very, very short stories for very, very busy people."

Most stories are one or two pages long and they are perfect when you only have ten or fifteen minutes to spare reading - maybe on your lunchbreak, when you're stopped by a train, or when you're waiting on your children.

A few of my favorite stories were:

"Midlife Crisis" centers around a woman who learns her husband is having an affair, but she manages to turn the tables on her husband and his lover.

"Knees" is about a man with an obsession with other people's knees.

"Sex and the Widow" is what happens when a widowed woman is tired of the propositions by married men, especially the husbands of her friends.

"A Better Spouse Trap" is the story of those dog tracking "chips" you insert under the animal's skin - only these are not used for straying dogs ...

As I said, these stories are short and sweet, but they are truly funny.