Customer Reviews

The First Wives Club

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I loved "The First Wives Club" despite it being not my usual choice of reading. The characters were well developed & it was so much fun to read. You really root for the characters & it is an empowering novel. This novel was so funny & witty-----it is delicious. This is one of those novels oyu can breeze right thorugh, and have so much fun with it.The plot is so original & well done. I would definitely recommend this to anyone, if you usually read deep, very emotional novels---here is your break from that, & if you read easy, fun novels, then here's another one that you'll love.

...or so the saying goes. But there is also a woman behind every man's downfall...another saying goes.

This novel is a satire on society's double standard norms. But instead of sounding feminist, bitter & pathetic, our heroines are funny & witty despite their intense desire to seek revenge...nay justice. The book dealt on how Elise, Brenda & Annie formed the First Wives Club, how they connived to mete out punishments to erring husbands & how they discovered their own identities & happiness along the way.

Despite having a more serious tone compared with its movie version, Goldsmith's book is funnier & revenge tastes sweeter. Oh, I can't help but gloat over the ex-husbands' downfall.

This is a book guaranteed to cheer up any woman who has gone through a bitter divorce at one time or another in her lifetime! It's fun, raunchy, sexy and glamourous ~~ a perfect book to read on a hot summer day!!

Elise, Brenda and Annie are wives that have been dumped by their greedy husbands for younger and blonder models. When a mutual friend committed suicide in her devastation over her divorce by a greedy Wall Street mogul, the three women decided that enough was enough! And while plotting the perfect revenge for their ex-husbands, they also discover themselves and love along the way!

This is a comic read ~~ perfect to take to the poolside ~~ and it's perfect escapism from reality! I highly recommend this Goldsmith novel ~~ it's one of her finest and funniest!!...

This is definitely one of the best books I've ever read! As a woman I can relate to some of the experiences of these characters and what I found charming about it all was the way Ms Goldsmith was able to make me look at the humour in the situations. The book is very funny and "un-putdownable" and it helps you to change your outlook on life, it helps you to face up to the truth about yourself and your relationships (remember admission is the first step to a cure). It is not a men bashing book as I've heard people express, but it is one that aims to heighten women's awareness of what relationships may turn out to be but put in a light-hearted manner to make you laugh at yourself. This book scores high with me and I'd recommend the book (not the movie which was a total letdown) to anyone in a twinkle of an eye.

If you're in the mood for a good, fun read that's not too fluffy, I recommend this book. It's definitely a woman's book about revenge on the opposite sex. Cathartic. It's very funny and has some great twists. I also enjoyed how developed the characters were. Our hereos were not two-dimensional bitter women, they had substance.

By all means, avoid the movie and read the book instead.

This story was fun to read. Olivia Goldsmith does a nice job of giving the reader the excuse to root for the down fall of the so called "husbands" in this novel. Great book.

The First Wives Club is a wonderfully empowering story of nostalgia, mid-life changes, and female solidarity. Sexy, funny, and sad, the three lead characters become friends who engage us in their scheme and allow us to dream their dreams. This is one book I don't want to analyze; I prefer to enjoy it . . . over and over again.

The First Wives Club is great satire--only in America are millionaires and billionaires like Donald Trump congratulated for dumping the "old" wives for shallow blonde trophies. Some people might complain that this is a stereotype. The key word to remember here is "satire". Everything is slightly exaggerated just enough to be entertaining. As is the case with many nouveau riche businessmen, our antagonists Gil, Aaron, Morty and Bill suddenly get an inflated sense of their importance with their newfound wealth. All of them unceremoniously dump their first wives, who, not coincidentally, were largely influential in their success. The story begins with the news of Gil's wife, Cynthia, who couldn't take Gil's physical and emotional abuse over the years and finally committed suicide. Her friends get together to commiserate and eventually reflect upon their own shallow marriages. Gentle, eager-to-please Annie is still hoping against hope that her husband Aa! ! ron really will come back and magically change into a loving husband and father. Outspoken, emotional Brenda has long since ceased to love her husband, Morty; all she wants to do is wring his neck for cheating her out of millions. Cool, unapproachable Elise is contemplating whether or not she wants to stay married to her chronic cheating Don Juan husband, Bill.

Eventually, all four of the no-goodniks opt to marry their new young "reflections of their manhood", who are, predictably, all silly, shallow or bitchy. Aaron marries Leslie, the cold, hard-as-nails sex therapist who was supposed to improve Annie's marriage. Bill gets engaged to Phoebe, a drugged-out nut case with a large trust fund. Morty weds Shelby, a Southern barracuda who fancies herself a modern-age Scarlett O'Hara. And Gil, the epitome of evil, appears to have met his match in Mary, the blonde MBA with the ability to conquer the "big boys" in business.

One might expect the book to drone ! ! on until the inevitable "big get-even" plot comes! alive. However, Goldsmith is a skilled satirist, and her dialogue, particularly with fat, insecure Brenda, is masterful. She does less well with Annie, who spends a little too much time being the "good girl" and FWC philosopher, but Annie's close relationship with her children is touching, especially with her daughter Sylvie, a victim of Down's syndrome. Elise, the Grace Kelly clone, comes off as the least believable; one finds it hard to believe that a wealthy, former movie star would be so hard up that she would stay in a loveless marriage for nearly 20 years. However, all of them succumb to the wake-up call eventually, and decide to do something about their unfair situations.

As noted, Goldsmith does a wonderful job evoking the dialogue, and overdone parties and charity balls of the "privileged few". In a little inside joke, she even has Sherman McCoy of "Bonfire of the Vanities" make a brief appearance at a costume party. Although the endi! ! ng is certainly no surprise, it is actually believable--quite an achievement. I would have liked it a little better, however, if two of the women had NOT been overprivileged. How do POOR women handle this situation? None of the revenge could have happened without one of the perpetrators having control and money--that was my only frustration with the story. However, that minor setback is peanuts compared with that travesty of a movie. HOW COULD THEY TAKE OUT ALL OF THE WITTY DIALOGUE AND CHANGE THE STORY JUST SO THREE AGING COMEDIENNES COULD PLAY THEMSELVES IN A NOT-VERY-FUNNY MOVIE? Is this the "Strip Tease" rule of cinema?

Where the film adaptation of The First Wives Club was witty and made for fluffy entertainment and a showcase for three good actresses, the book is a 180 degree turn. For example, the wisecracking lesbian daughter of Diane Keaton's character is, in the book, a younger girl with Down's Syndrome, and the husband/father is far crueller than the one portrayed in the film. The entire subplot involving the husband of the friend who committed suicide is omitted from the film entirely.

The book is darker, as is the humor. One could tend to agree with another reviewer that The First Wives' Club comes off as a treatise on man-bashing; I believe Ms. Goldsmith had experienced a similar situation before writing the book, hence the inspiration. Nonetheless, I liked the book somewhat when I first read it; Goldsmith does display a good wit and can tell an interesting story. I read other works and believe this is still the best of the lot.

Annie Paradise, Brenda Cushman, and Elise Elliot knew each other but it was not until their friend Cynthia Swann Griffin committed suicide that they became real friends out of a need to get revenge on their ex-husbands as well as Cynthia's ex-husband

Annie's husband Aaron left her for her sex therapist and left her to raise Sylvie, their daughter with Down's syndrome. She wants to get back at him for this as well as spending their daughter's inheritance to buy stock that went belly up. Eventually she falls in love with Miguel who is investigating Gill Griffin.

Brenda's ex-husband Morty left her for a woman half her size and does not want to pay her alimony or child support. When she finds out that his company went public, she sees red. She eventually falls in love with the lawyer (a woman) who handles the case for her

Elise Elliot was left by her husband Bill for somebody considerably younger than her. To get him back she sells his antiques to Brenda for a dollar. She eventually falls in love with a man who is a lot younger than her.

They also try to get Gill back by stopping a big deal he has with a Japanese Company and defile his car that is the love of his life.

If you are a fan of the movie The First Wives Club be advised, the movie is almost nothing like the book. There are some similarities, but not many.