Customer Reviews

Dear Catastrophe Waitress: A Novel

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

 

 

I am not usually drawn to male authors, but the idea seemed interesting when reading the back cover. I loved this book. I loved Mark. he's the kind of guy that a girl would love to end up with and i loved Stacey. Phillipa was a complete mess, but Stacey was beautiful. I loved how her relationship with her daughter was not perfect, how she doubted herself, how he doubted himself, never seeing the greatness that they each possessed. It was a little predictable in some ways, but it's what readers want. It's what makes a happy ending. I highly recommend this book. If you like Nick Hornby, you'd like this, except i actually identify with this book more b/c the author seemed more intuned with a woman's mind.

The Belle and Sebastian song of the same name seems to have provided the basic structure of this story of the convergence and romance of two damaged but likeable protagonists. The characters' extensive backstories are to some extent schematic (certain patterns from the past reassert themselves rather too obviously in the present), but the novel is enjoyable and absorbing, pop-literate without being obnoxious, and funny enough, with a voice that is always decent and humane.

My only complaint is that I wish the book were longer. I read it in two nights and didn't want it to be over. Halpin's characters are likeable and understandable. The book is incredibly readable. And he conveys the message that despite how hard life is, if you keep going day by day, trying to do better -- you just might!

i love halpin's writing and the way he builds characters. this unlikely romance spends most its real estate developing two separate stories, which, in an ending that is just slightly too expected (by the time you get to it), weave into each other. still, great writing and worth reading.

I really wanted to completely like this book. The story and the characters were entertaining and likeable. Unfortunetly, the author included WAY too much of himself. Meaning, evidently, the author believes that women should only be described by how great their body is (specifically their chests) and refer to it CONSTANTLY. This guy even used a child crying to create the image of crying into breasts! Totally unnecessary....you've told us about her boobs 50 times in 25 different ways! Often in this book, conversations that characters have are supplemented by side notes on what they were actually thinking. This is a good way to round out a story and make a character multi-dimensional. However, according to the author, more often than not, personal thoughts are usually just cheap sex jokes. They weren't clever and they were once again, UNNECESSARY! I have no problem with sex in books. I don't mind references to people's bodies and I don't mind sexual jokes/innuendos. I just don't want them to be repeated over and over and over and over........
The bottom line is, this was a frustrating read. Maybe it should be read only by immature men who can appreciate the horndog author butting into his characters. Or it should be edited so women readers can read this without feeling like walking boobs. Too bad because I really did like the characters on their own.