Call Waiting: A Novel [Hardcover]

Dianne Blacklock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2003

Ally Tasker is trapped in a dead-end teaching job and a relationship that's going nowhere. Her dreams of a fulfilling life after art college didn't include cleaning up after bored school children and being a doormat for her yuppie boyfriend. What she really wants is to be more like her friend Meg - at least she has turned her art training into a lucrative job in computer design, not to mention having a doting husband and a gorgeous baby son to complete the package.

But when Ally's grandfather and sole relative dies, she returns to the Southern Highland home of her childhood where she must confront painful issues from her past that her safe life in the city has allowed her to ignore. Meanwhile, Meg is not as happy as Ally imagines. Dissatisfied with her picture-perfect life, a restless Meg longs to inject more passion and spontaneity into her days - but at what cost to her family's happiness?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ally Tasker and Meg Lynch, best friends since art school, are searching for "happily ever afters" but turning up complications instead in Australian novelist Blacklock's bright American debut. Blacklock develops her likable characters in some depth while making wry observations on the difficulties inherent in any married or "singlet" life. Ally, wary of relationships and stubbornly independent, has just ended a long affair with Bryce, her driven but dull real estate agent boyfriend ("Success comes in cans, not can'ts!"). About to turn 35 ("surely the most desolate of all ages"), Ally begins to think she might be happier if her life looked more like ad executive Meg's-with a stable marriage, career and child. Meg, on the other hand, envies Ally's freedom, especially after Ally leaves Sydney for the rugged Southern Highlands to prepare her grandfather's estate for sale. Meg dabbles in infidelity with a hot young model and gets more excitement than she bargained for when her husband moves out. Ally meets Matt, a carpenter and contractor with a teenage daughter. He's handsome and charming, but he also has the nerve to be helpful and concerned when Ally just wants to be left alone. Lively, always believable dialogue and vivid descriptions of Sydney and the surrounding countryside give the pleasantly predictable plot some added oomph.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

First-time novelist Blacklock has crafted a funny, fresh, and fast-paced novel of love, friends, and the anguish of heartfelt self-examination. Meg and Ally, two friends since college days in Sydney, Australia, face their mid-thirties and find that their lives are not what they think they should be. Meg, employed in the perfect job, married to the perfect man, and raising a perfect child, finds herself bored and restless. A chance encounter with a hunky free-spirit named Jamie tempts her in illicit directions and puts into peril the perfection of her life. Ally, for whom nothing is perfect, struggles against the weight of a boring job, a boring lover, and lifelong feelings of abandonment. The death of her last remaining relative sets the stage for a painful passage back to her hometown and an opportunity for a new life. As Meg's and Ally's lives intertwine, Blacklock uses each as a foil for the other. Imbued with an unusually appealing mix of gentleness and forthrightness, Blacklock's is one of those novels that friends will recommend to each other. Neal Wyatt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (April 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312303483
• ISBN-13: 978-0312303488
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,130,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reading here, April 8, 2003

By 

Detra Fitch (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Call Waiting: A Novel (Hardcover)

Ally Tasker had a quiet life with steady income and a comfortable boyfriend. Yet more and more she found herself hating her life style. When Ally's father died, she must return to the rustic house in which she was raised. She kept an eye on the place while Lillian was elsewhere. It was there that she met Matt. His free spirit attitude had Ally rethinking her entire life style.

Meg Lynch (Ally's best friend) had an eighteen month old son, a loving husband, and the perfect job. But the entire routine was becoming boring. Meg craved some excitement. She wanted to be spontaneous. A younger male model with a zest for life entered her life and Meg began a web of lies to be with him.

Even though Ally and Meg were far aprat, distance wise, the two kept the phone lines hot as they tried to help each other cope through their personal life crises.

**** I found this story to be fun and witty as the plot unfolded. It seemed to me as though Meg and Ally craved what the other already had. This tale clearly showed me that just because the grass LOOKS greener on the other side, does not mean that it is.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Australian Chick Lit, March 5, 2007

By 

Virginia Allain "(retired librarian)" (Poinciana, FL) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Call Waiting: A Novel (Hardcover)

Friends, Ally and Meg, reach turning points in their lives. Ally leaves her teaching job and her manipulative yuppie boyfriend, retreating to the Southern Highlands when her grandfather dies. Issues from her childhood overshadow the development of a new relationship as she develops a new career path that uses her creativity.
At the same time, her friend, Meg, rebels against her too perfect marriage and too successful career in the city. Tempted to try a fling, she puts it all at risk. This part of the book bogged me down for awhile, but I'm glad I picked it up again.
The characters show a lot of growth and I really enjoyed the Australian scenery, lifestyles and way of talking. All works out satisfactorily in the end.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars delightful chic lit, April 12, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Call Waiting: A Novel (Hardcover)

In Sydney, Australia, Ally Tasker is not excited being an art teacher, but likes the steady income her job provides. The same can be said about her dependable but significant other, dull as most of her students boyfriend, yet likes the idea of steady dating him. When her grandfather dies, Ally goes to the Highlands to settle the estate. There she meets Matt and his teenage daughter. She likes both, but at thirty-five is not sure she wants a man helping her.

Ally's best friend since they met attending art school together, ad exec Meg Lynch seems to have it all (at least to Ally) with a solid marriage, a strong career and a precocious child. However, Meg envies Ally's lack of ties that enable her to leave town without a looking back even if it is to only attend a funeral. Meg begins an affair that requires lies and alibis until her husband leaves her. Two hours apart, Ally and Meg use CALL WAITING to help one another work through their personal landmines in a quest to obtain nirvana.

Though the story line follows the typical path of chic lit, CALL WAITING is a delightful tale due to the charming but confused lead characters enhanced by a wonderful look at Sydney and the rugged Australian Highlands. The antics and angst of Ally and Meg are amusing though somewhat overkilled, as they seem to land in one problem after another in their quest for happiness. Dianne Blacklock provides an entertaining Aussie chick lit tale.

Harriet Klausner