Customer Reviews

Breakup

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've enjoyed all the Kate Shugak books but this one rates as the best. Kate faces charging bears, tourists from Beacon Hill, falling jet engines, the Alaskan version of the Hatfields and McCoys and the obligatory murder. And in the process the real Kate Shugak suddenly comes together and shows us the person we always knew was there. She once again demonstrates that Kate is not a person to be messed with (the more descriptive expression is not one I will write where anyone of any age can read it). But in all the daring do, in all the life and death experiences she goes through, those of us that love her know that the hardest for her to face, the one that takes the most courage is when Kate stands at a meeting of the tribal elders and acts as an advisory. She has begun to accept the heritage left to her by her grandmother. The only 'bad' thing about this book is that if you haven't followed Kate through her other books, you can't see what a victory this is for her. Thank you Dana Stabenow for giving us not just a female sleuth but a well-rounded person we can enjoy reading about and admire.

Having read one Kate Shugak mystery some years ago (which I enjoyed), I decided to try more recently. I'm enjoying them all, but have seldom laughed as hard over anything as I did over BREAKUP. I'm guessing that Stabenow collected all the wildest tales she'd heard about breakup mishaps and adventures and rolled them together into this marvellous story. There is a mystery, and Kate does work it through most capably, but don't try to read this volume in a situation that requires quiet. This is definitely a laugh-out-loud book, or even a shriek-out-loud one. (Obviously) I loved it.

It seems that Dana Stabenow touches on a different aspect of Alaskan life in each book of this wonderful series. In Breakup, we are entertained with descriptions of springtime, when the ice and snow are breaking up and all sorts of weird things happen. Kate seems philosophical through it all--from airplanes falling from nowhere to grizzlies appearing in her path. She attributes every situation to the time of year. This book has all the attributes of the previous novels in this series--great descriptions of the scenery and lifestyle of Alaska,and an intriguing murder, but it also includes side-splitting humor. I recommend it!

This is the first book of Dana Stabenow's that I bought. Within minutes, I giggled. A few more pages, I laughed. Before the book was finished, I had to stop and wipe the tears from laughing so hard.

I could relate to Kate's experiences. Maybe it takes living through an Alaskan break up to understand what humans and fate are really capable of that made this so funny. Perhaps it was recognizing former headlines from the newspapers. Irregardless, it was the first Kate Shugak book I read, but not my last. I immediately went out and bought the rest and I have a copy of each new one, too.

It's not your typical mystery. The murder does appear secondary to other activities: falling 747 engines, grizzly bear encounters, parents from Outside visiting daughters. If you want a slice of authenic Alaska from a real Alaskan, you can't go wrong with Ms. Stabenow. If you want pure entertainment, you can't go wrong with BREAK UP.

Why have I bought five copies of this book? Because each time I loaned it out, I never received it back. It's one of those books that I read again and again. But please don't ask to borrow my copy. I know a lovely bookstore that will sell you your own copy.

I have been reading the Kate Shugak series in order this fall and just finished Breakup. By the time I finished the first chapter, I was already laughing. As each chapter continued, I just laughed harder and harder. This is one of the best female sluth series I've read yet (other good ones are Nevada Barr, Sue Grafton, etc.).

In Breakup, Kate experiences a neverending series of unfortunate events that are guaranteed to make you laugh. The mystery plot is not as prominent in this story as in the previous ones, but the humor and action more than make up for it. I definitely recommend this book and series to anyone who enjoys mysteries set in exotic and/or natural locations. My only hope is that you will start at the beginning of the series and read them in order. It's worth it!

As readers of this hilarious entry in the wonderful Kate Shugak series now know, Breakup is the time between the frozen solid Alaska winter and the spring--a time when the potholes reach several feet deep, the slush competes with the mud, the weather is unpredictable--and the bears wake up crabby and hungry from their long hibernation. It's also a time, apparently, when the locals take leave of their senses, and the most mundane errand is run at one's own risk.

Kate sees most of the action in this novel from the floor of her local pub, where stray bullets from angry housewives are flying at random; in the mud, where she is knocked down several times by everyone from friend to foe to bear; and from her house, which just happens to be partially demolished by an engine that has dropped from the sky off a jetliner. And that's just in the first few pages!

Even wonder-dog Mutt is cranky in this truly funny look at all the regulars as they emerge--like the bears--from their long winter hibernation. There's a serious undertone dealing with Kate's new and unwanted position as head of tribal affairs, but mostly it's just a wild romp as we get to know our favorite Alaskans maybe a bit too well.

Much recommended!

Stabenow manages to capture perfectly the chaotic feel of Alaska life. I worked up there several summers and it felt like I was back in one of the frontier towns that I remember fondly. This is pretty far into the Shugak series, but a librarian recommended that I start with this book. I found that I did not need to read any of Stabenow's other books in order to fall in love with Shugak and the series. Since then I have pretty much read them all and I would say that none of them quite matches this one. So if you have not read any Shugak mysteries yet, this might be a good place to start.

What's so unusal about this book while comparing it to both others in the series as well as other mysteries, is that it pretty much doesnt have a mystery. Instead what makes this such a fun read is that you are lead on an excursion into the life of the protagonist that is well worth following along upon.

Terrific book! 7th in Stabenow's series featuring Kate Shugak, a resourceful, independent, courageous, and beautiful Aleutian descendant of Wonder Woman - remember Wonder Woman, anybody? This is Stabenow's funniest book yet - in my mind, it invites comparison to Janet Evanovich's books about Jersey. The heroines are not that much alike but the zany characters are similar - another writer who comes to mind in this context is Carl Hiassen. My previous favorite among Dana's books was Blood Will Tell, which has a much more serious focus, with an unforgettable portrait of Alaskan Indians and of Kate's grandmother/tribal leader, Ekaterina Shugak (Emaa). But I loved this one too, even though it's quite a different reading experience.

Compared to Hiassen and Evanovich, Stabenow's humorous mode is less over the top...her style in dialogue and description is wry with a touch of the laconic cowboy. The title refers to the season when Alaska "melts into a 586,412-square-mile pile of slush" - not quite winter and not quite spring - "it's too late for the snow machine and too early for the truck." And everyone with cabin fever comes out to play, including the bears, the neighbors feuding over the boundary between their farms, the parents from Massachusetts determined to lure their precious daughter (Kate's friend) back from her unfashionable life as a sleddog trainer and racer in Alaska.

We in Pennsylvania know about this season, but fortunately we don't have it quite as long. Pennsylvanians will get a kick out of the brief description of Pa. tourists kicking back in Bernie's Roadhouse, where the décor features a severed middle finger preserved in a bottle of Jose Cuervo Gold. Stabenow's characters and dialogue zing off the page and bring the whole crazy crew to roaring life.

There IS a murder in this book, but that story is so skillfully woven into the comedy that it seems like a subplot. Discovery of the murderer is no surprise, and neither is the independent action that Kate takes to bring frontier justice. But the final scenes, in which we see Kate reluctantly fulfilling her Emaa's wishes by becoming involved in working for the good of the Native American community, connects us back to the earlier books and points to an interesting future for Kate. Can't wait to read it, Dana! Thank you!

With the combination of humor, suspense and mystery, Dana Stabenow has once again produced a winning story. I particularly liked the reference to Jamie Fraser (from the series by Diana Gabaldon). The only thing I didn't like about this book was the "art work" (?) on the chapter pages. I was wondering how I had managed to mess up the first page without even opening the book when I realized it was a continuing theme on all the chapter pages.

Kate Shugak, whose life is NEVER out of her control, and who, in previous books, was becoming something of a superwoman, finally has a day we can all relate to--starting with the jet engine falling on her homestead, the bear attacks, and much to her disgust, far too many people asking her to find out something, or worse yet, annoying her by materializing at the homestead. Her problems with a borrowed truck are myriad--and make the worst day in commuter traffic a breeze by comparison! This is the book to read when you've had a terrible day--you will smile by the end of it!!