Customer Reviews

Lily White

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked this book because I thought it sounded like a murder mystery -- a female defense attorney trying to prove her client -- who is probably guilty -- innocent. I thought this book might be comparable to Ed McBain.

This book, however, was more character study than murder mystery, in my opinion. The mystery was still there -- with lots of great twists and turns -- some guessable and some not.

But the thing about Lily White, the book and the person, that made me give the novel 4 stars is that I identified with Lee (AKA Lily White). Sure, Lee is an ambitious attorney. Her family (at first I felt I knew too much about them, but this only made the end that much more heartfelt) is nothing like my own (thankfully loving family). The differences are night and day. And yet, there is something there, some part of Lee, that I would bet is in all of us. By the end of the book, I was cursing those who had wronged and conned Lee White, cheering her new beginning at the end and every struggle she had won.

As this book drew toward the end, I could not put it down! And then, when it ended, I wanted to know what was next for Lee White. I could have read another 500 pages. She had become a real person to me, someone I thought of as a friend.

And that, to me, is the mark of a good book.

What a fun book! The New York Times isn't lying when it calls this book "a big, fat happy feast of a book..." It makes the perfect beach, vacation, airplane book (especially those coast-to-coast flights).

The author's slightly sardonic tone works well here and drew me in from the first sentence. How refreshing to identify with a novel's character because she is FALLIBLE in many all-too human ways. The author also deftly meshes the current story with an engrossing and wonderfully written backstory then brings them together wonderfully at the end.

While the heroine is in truth one of those Danielle Steele characters of beauty, brains, and wealth, it takes you a while to figure that out. Her flaws and dysfunctional history make her believable and enjoyable. I never once wanted to BE the heroine, but I sure enjoyed reading about her. Along the way, Isaacs makes some rather interesting observations of what makes a family and what "family" really means, especially in today's society. What an unusual thing to find in a "mass market paperback."

I read Isaacs' Compromising Positions a fews years back and stumbled across Lily White in the library. (incidentally, i found Compromising to be excellent.) Lily has it all. Suspense, intrique, emotion, laughs. The first time I read this book, I read it like it's written, starting with Lee White as a lawyer who is handling an interesting case while ex-DA office coworkers give her dirty looks for going to "bat for the bad guys". All the goings on of looking into the lives of some very strange people who will con their way out of a paper bag. This storyline gets swapped back and forth every chapter with Lee's parent's marriage, her childhood, her marriage (and ultimately it's demise), leading up to the moment she finds herself secure enough to live a happy-ending life. The style of this book was different and Isaacs takes care to not make it confusing to the reader. Her words are intelligent and the story kept me going til I put it down. A while after I read it through the first time, I picked it up and read every other chapter to follow that story, then went back and read all the opposite chapters. Different tone, but just as delicious. You get more for your money with Lily White.

I read this book over a long weekend. I didn't want anyone to talk to me because I couldn't put it down. I did not realize until a few chapters into it that there were two parallel story lines, both so interesting that I wanted to finish each chapter as soon as possible. Everyone will love this book.

Sometimes I had to reread lines when she uses a few cutesy terms but that is my only criticism.

Although I usually enjoy Isaacs' books immensely, this one lost my interest early on, and I found myself plugging through it in the hope that it'd get better (it never did). The plot is full of enough interesting twists to keep you going, and the characters are (as usual) well drawn and complex. Also, she's very good at dissecting the complications of family relationships, and Lily's family was horrifyingly believable. What spoiled it for me, I think, was her device of alternating first-person narrative by Lily herself, and third-person narrative by some eye-in-the-sky (Lilycam?). What "makes" Isaacs' novels for me (and I suspect for a lot of other readers) is the feisty, funny narrators -- and every time the Disembodied Voice started in, I found my attention wandering. I hope Isaacs goes back to what she does best; this isn't it.

There is no one quite like Lee White. Although everyone finds a part of themselves in Lee White, Susan Isaacs incredibly realistic character. Witty, funny, intelligent reading. Recommended to anyone who enjoys really knowing the characters they read and being engrossed in their lives. Lee finds that perhaps the best way to make yourself happy is to be not quite perfect. Being, not the damsel in distress nor the perfect feminist model, Lee's wit and point- blank look at life make her character incredibly relatable. Isaacs leaves you feeling like looking back after a long trip, complete with u-turns and potholes, but glad you bought your ticket.

I didn't think the author was trying to emasculate anyone; I think she was trying to throw the reader a major curve. There were some nice, unpredictable twists towards the end.

Isaacs has never really hit the big time as a novelist, though every one of her dozen-plus novels has made the New York Times best seller list, and -- in my opinion -- she has never produced less than a very good story. But this one may be her best. Lee White is a middle-aged Long Island criminal defense attorney (and ex-assistant DA) with a client she can't quite figure out. Norman Torkelson, a talented con man who has had a long and reasonably successful career stealing the life savings of lonely women, is awaiting trial for the strangulation of his latest scam victim. He insists he's innocent and Lee -- even with years of experience in being lied to by clients -- tends to believe him, because he has no history of violent behavior and no motive that she can discover. All he had to do was take the money and run, as he always did. Norman also has a girlfriend named Mary, who is rather sweet as well as stunningly beautiful, . . . and dumb and self-involved and jealous and selfish. And her hands are nearly as big and strong as Norman's. Is the love-addled Norman covering for her? Naturally, it's a great deal more complicated than that.

Meanwhile, in alternating sections, a third-person omniscient narrator -- an interesting tactic on Isaacs's part -- begins telling us about how Lee came to be the person she is, starting with her grandparents (lower middle class Jewish on her father's side, wealthy Manhattan Protestant on her mother's) and continuing with her father's rise in the New York fur business to self-made millionaire. There's her down-to-earth Grandma Bella, and her high-maintenance little sister, and her father who yearns to be accepted as the old-money WASP he'll never be. And then there's Jazz, literally the boy next door, whom she has had the hots for since she was fifteen. And there's the "man in her life," who turns out not to be who the reader thinks he's going to be, but he's definitely a Good Guy. The story unreels rather slowly but with considerable depth, painting skillful generational portraits, giving you some characters you'll root for, some you'll cringe at, and others you'll despise, but all of them are fully developed and interesting. A book to immerse yourself in.

Although the first chapters are a little slow in developing the character, the author eventually succeeds at riveting the reader to Lee's plight. My favorite elements of this book are the way Ms. Isaacs incorporates the present(Norman Torkelson)with Lee's past (family history and relationships.) . I enjoyed this book immensely.

I absolutely loved this book! I don't know anything about the author's other books, but this one had me engrossed from the start and I didn't want to put it down.