Customer Reviews

A Desirable Residence

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Reading "Desirable Residence" was like going to a party and hearing the latest gossip about all your friends and neighbors. The plot was juicy and the characters likable. As a huge Maeve Binchy fan, I enjoyed reading another British author with a flair for characters and plots that connect them to each other. It was a fun and frothy book and made me want to read more of Wickham's work.

This review is written by my daughter for whom I obtained a copy of A Desirable Residence.

Being a huge Madeleine Wickham/Sophie Kinsella fan I was very excited to hear that a new book of hers was coming out. I jumped into reading A Desirable Residence with much excitement but that excitement faded pretty quickly! Usually when reading Wickham/Kinsella's books I get so deeply into them from page one that I can't seem to put it down. However, with A Desirable Residence I couldn't seem to ever want to pick it up! My only incentive to keep reading was so that I could finish the book and start on a new one. In her defense, Wickham did, as usual, a great job of getting the reader into the minds of the characters and understanding what they are thinking and feeling. Unfortunately, I found the overall story of the book to be quite uneventful and even boring. It wasn't until towards the end of the book that things started to get slightly interesting where I found myself wondering how things would turn out -- but then the ending turned out rather anti-climactic. The only excitement I got out of this book was completing it so I can move onto another that hopefully does a better job in keeping me captivated. Let me just clear up, though, that my status as a major Wickham/Kinsella fan has not changed at all! I would still highly recommend all of her books (minus this one) and will continue to read any new ones that come out in the future!

This was a great read, well worth the money I spent, which I can't say for every book I buy. I wish this author had more available, because this is the kind of book I like to take on trips. It has interesting characters, a compelling story line that moves along quickly, intelligent writing, and lots of charm.

Madeleine Wickham describes her characters in such a manner that you are drawn to each one..although they all have human failings.There were so many twists and turns and I couldn't see how it all would get together..much less turn out well.

But....everything came together in a very satisfying way. I loved this book and really was sorry to end it. If you're a fan of Rosamunde Pilcher, you will love this book too.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate". That line from the old Paul Newman movie Cool Hand Luke could just as easily apply to the characters in Madeline Wickham's A DESIRABLE RESIDENCE. Although this book was published in the UK several years ago, it is just now making its way into the US marketplace.

Ms. Wickham's book addresses several issues. We have overbearing, social climbing mothers, hen-pecked, wimpy fathers, underemployed actors, children seeking acceptance and friendship from teachers and household help, characters who are overextended financially, everyone worried about what everyone else will think, and of course the titillating extra-marital affair. Through all of these scenarios, most of the characters are looking for happiness and fulfillment, but no one is talking. It's obviously not "cool" to divulge your innermost feelings to your parents or your spouse. For me, Liz Chambers was a particularly unlikable character with Marcus Witherstone running a close second. Billed by the publishers as a "wicked comedy", RESIDENCE is more a social commentary that is melancholy rather than amusing. The book is, however, a quick, easy read that keeps you curiously fascinated.

Wickham previously authored the "Shopaholic Series" under the name Sophie Kinsella, but do not expect to find a Rebecca Bloomwood gracing the pages of this book.

I love Sophie Kinsella, so I decided to read all the Wickham books as well. I'm a little sorry I read this one (which I think was her first). I found most of the characters at best unpleasant and at worst reprehensible. Only Jonathan had any decency and deserved better than an adulterous wife who "deserved" her affair. And that's all it was. She wasn't in love. If she had been, I might have forgiven her. Anthea, I think, meant well, but she really didn't know how to go about motivating her sons. And Alice was a brat, although I could understand her loneliness when her best friend moved away. Ginny may have wanted the best for Piers, but she didn't really give him the support he needed. Marcus was a jerk. I admit to feeling bad for Piers at the end, and I hope things eventually went well for him. By the end, I really didn't care that much about what happened to the characters.

Wickham's later books, The Tennis Party, Swimming Pool Sunday, Wedding Girl, Cocktails for Three (although I have some issues with that as far as a pregnant woman/new mother having cocktails on a regular basis), and Sleeping Arrangements are better, but Kinsella has a light touch and sense of humor that Wickham lacks.

I've read all of Madeleine Wickham's books that have come out in the US as well as of all of Ms. Wickham's books written under the Sophie Kinsella name. I've enjoyed them all but I just don't think that "A Desirable Residence" lives up to her other books. It took me over a week to read this novel and it never takes me that long to read one of her books. The story just wasn't that compelling and none of the characters were that enjoyable to read about. Actually, apart from Jonathan, I found that the characters were rather unlikable.

Liz and Jonathan have bought a tutorial college but that haven't sold their old house yet and they are running low on money. Liz is told by Marcus Witherstone, one of the founders of the real estate company, that she can rent out the house to keep some income coming in. That meeting changes all of the lives of each character in the book. Ginny and Piers, along with their friend Duncan, move into the house. Liz and Jonathan's daughter Alice hides out in the garage at the house and eventually becomes friends with the group. Anthea, the wife of Marcus, is a shrewd woman who is bent on getting the son a scholarship to college. Marcus has several secrets to juggle. Actually, in one way or another, each character has a secret to keep.

Like I said before, none of the characters were that likeable. Liz was annoying from the start, Marcus was shallow, Alice was shown as a clingy and bratty teen, Ginny was alright in the beginning but became almost unbearable towards the end. The ending to the story wasn't that satisfying either. It seemed abrupt and unfinished. But because I didn't really care for the characters, it was hard for me to root for them or really, to want to read about them. So I certainly don't feel that "A Desireable Residence" is Madeleine Wickham's best but it certainly is not the worst book I've read.

I just finished this book and it was HORRIBLE! I thought maybe if I kept reading it would get better...guess what? It didn't, it got worse. It's described as being sharp and funny by Family Circle but I honestly think they read another book because there was absolutely nothing funny whatsoever about this thing. It's about a bunch of different people that are connected because of a house that the Chambers are trying to sell. The only people that I weren't annoyed with in this book were Jonathan Chambers, Witherstone's two boys, and Piers. The rest are shallow and superficial. I also hated the way one person is telling the story and in the next paragraph someone else is and it's all in first person. I don't understand! I love everything written under her other name (Sophie Kinsella)!

As much as I was initially engaged in Madeleine Wickham's A DESIRABLE RESIDENCE, all the attraction here is centered on unlikeable, misanthropic people finally getting their just desserts in the end. From scheming, bored Marcus to ungrateful, uncharitable Liz, I struggled to find one character with whom connect in this British novel.

Bratty Alice couldn't have been more unjust to Jonathan, her bumbling but sweet father, and more than once in the book I found myself wanting to reach in and slap her. She's a self-absorbed teenager, yes, and I could respect the fact that her behavior was realistic, but who wants to spend 293 pages reading about a rude, deluded 14-year-old? As she began forcing her presence on Ginny, Piers and Duncan, I became more and more agitated. Couldn't she see she wasn't wanted? That she was intruding? That she was annoying? Even if the new residents of her old house didn't feel that way, I certainly did.

What could have saved this book from becoming a soulless mess was a dash of humor, warmth or humanity. Demonstrating some growth. Some maturity. Some sincerity. And though I did find myself smiling inwardly toward the end at an unexpected turn of events, for the most part? The bad people stayed bad. The selfish people stayed selfish. Marcus redeemed himself slightly in my eyes, but Liz -- Liz, one of our central characters -- didn't get what she deserved. I wanted a blow-out, a reckoning . . . I wanted an epic battle complete with tears and revelations. I was disappointed.

Wickham is better known to most of us as Sophie Kinsella, the nom de plume under which she wrote the best-selling SHOPAHOLIC series. While her writing is fluid and enjoyable, her characters -- the anchors of any story -- were terrible. You won't find me complaining about any "distance" between myself and these people, because I definitely felt like I got to know them through the course of A DESIRABLE RESIDENCE. The real question is: would I actually want to know them?

And the answer to that is, of course, a resounding no.

With so much great women's fiction and chick lit out there just waiting to be devoured, I can't recommend this one. It was boring, lifeless, grating -- and, in the end, mediocre.

Let's just say I've been reading "A Desireable Residence" for months. The book has yet to really entice me to finish it. I've gotten other books and easily put this one away to read later.

I really wanted to love this book, the premise is so good... but it just hasn't held my attention. I think my least favorite character is the teen child Alice who is so boring to read, I find myself just putting the book down and going to sleep. I wish I could give it a better review, but I just don't feel compelled or even interested enough to finish.