Customer Reviews

You Gotta Have Balls

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This is a wonderful book and follows on to the book Too Many Men by Lily Brett. In this first book, Ruth's mother and father served time in a Nazi prison camp and her mother did not survive. Her first novel takes us back to Poland to explore her roots with her very old father. It was a very poignant story. I could relate very well as my mother is from Eastern Europe as well but got out before it turned ugly.

This follow-on book is what happens when her father comes to New York to live and help his daughter in her business. All she can do is complain that he's in the way! It's not about a women's group. It's a hilarious story about the will to live life to the fullest regardless of the circumstances one has been through and its about forgiveness, because the Polish women they met while visiting Poland (though not Jewish) follow Edek to New York must to Ruth's chagrin. Ruth cannot seem to get over what happened to her parents in the concentration camp and Edek teaches her, at age 82 or so, that life goes on, one must not blame everyone for what happened to the Jews, and that forgiveness brings release and a new lease on life.

My father is 83, served in World War II, and lost my Mother 3 years ago. I wish he had half the drive and will to create, as does Edek with his funny accent and eccentric ways. This is a rollicking read, I found myself laughing out loud so many times, my husband and father thought I had lost my mind! And, I did, I lost my mind and my heart to this heart warming, forgiving, and life-affirming novel.

Don't let the other review frighten you. This is a book I will go back to many times and now have it loaned out to my sister-in-law. If she doesn't think it's hysterical, I will be surprised. Regardless of what you thought the book might be about, it was funny. I don't remember any hype about a professional women's group when I bought the book. Should this have happened to my father, I would only dream that he could be so resilient.

The women's group is something Ruth finds so important, but learns throughout the story where the real drama in life can be found. Even though her children readily accept the new woman in Edek's life, it is with some trepidation that Ruth can finally embrace her father's happiness. And, that's what the book is about.

I finished this book 5 days ago and still find myself recalling different parts and chuckling out loud.

Edek is a wonderful, one in a million, character.

Ruth, I'm pulling for you !!!

Zofia, I'm in love with you.

Brilliant novel.

After reading Lily Brett's novel "Too Many Men," I immediately ordered "Uncomfortably Close" (which was originally titled "You Gotta Have Balls"), which is billed as the sequel. What is very odd is that the main character, Ruth Rothwax, in "Too Many Men," was unmarried but apparently in love with Garth, who was married to someone else. At the end of that novel, one is led to believe that she and Garth will get together when she returns from Poland to New York.

The so-called sequel takes place only a year later, but Ruth and Garth have apparently been married for years and have three grown children. Pretty fast work! It's disconcerting, to say the least, and yet so far I have found any mention of this inconsistency in the reviews. Other than this, the novels are both very funny and poignant.

This is touted as a sequel to "Too Many Men," but several key characters from that one are slightly altered or disappear in this one and two important plot "cliff-hangers" are dropped altogether. After reading "Balls," I feel cheated and annoyed. Those cliff-hangers are the only reason I wanted to read this one. What's more, the constant kvetching from the privileged protagonist, Ruth Rothwax got on my nerves after a while. No wonder she can't find women to populate her women's group. Never once does she contemplate after pages of lamentations, her faithful assistant, Maxine as a potential member. Some champion of women's rights...she's not! In "Men" there were fanciful plot devices and long diatribes sure, but they drove the plot, so they were forgiven. The characters were fully-realized and recognizable. That novel had a clearly-defined purpose. This one doesn't. In "Balls" the plot devices drive nothing in particular and the main characters seem more like cartoon super heroes than people. I wanted to love this book. I think Brett is very talented, but this one is a disappointment.

I bought this book at an airport book shop. It looked good! And the reviews on the back talked about how funny it was. And said it was about a business woman who was starting her own group of successful business women who could help each other.

Unfortunately, that subject was less than 1% of the pages of the book, and the rest was a straggling tale about the main character and her father. All I could think of as I read it was how badly edited it was, given the write up it had, and my expectation of a reading about the exploits of a group of business women.

I'm sorry. It read like a part autobiography with useless details as it went along. I blame the publishers mostly. I feel completely duped and I want my money back!

This is the first book I've read by the author and I won't buy another. I didn't laugh once during the read, and was just confused as to the direction of the whole thing.

The back cover should have read, "the meandering journey of a business woman's relationship with her elderly ex-POW father when he moves to the US."