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Live a Little [Paperback]

Kim Green
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)


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Paperback, August 15, 2008 --  
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Book Description

August 15, 2008
-What do you do if you have two bratty teenage kids who don't give you the time of day?
-What do you do if your husband is more interested in his remote than you?
-What do you do if you're forever being compared to your perfect sister--who just happened to marry your perfect boyfriend?
-And what do you do if you're told you have stage 4 breast cancer?
Well, if you're Raquel Rose, you tell your family your diagnosis, and then you watch them go from treating you like dirt to treating you like a queen. Then you go on to raise unprecedented amounts of money for breast cancer research. You fulfill your early artistic promise. And you find you love this new life of yours, no matter how fleeting it may be.

So when the doctor calls to tell her that there was a mistake and she's actually perfectly healthy, instead of sharing her good news, Raquel can't relinquish the sudden attention and love from her family. Soon Raquel's lie by omission snowballs and the wise-cracking 40-something becomes a sought-after figure on her sister's popular talk show, elevating her "illness" to local rock star status. Her mistaken diagnosis becomes the fated opportunity to fix the glaring problems in her life--her stalled career as an artist, her lackluster marriage, her unappreciative children, and her highly dysfunctional family.
And while she wants to tell the truth, she's afraid to give it all up--would her family go back to taking her for granted? Would the donors rescind their checks if they think she was a fraud? In the end, it's up to Raquel to find her real "cure": an ending that befits the second chance she's been granted.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Green's third novel displays a charming, acerbic wit unfortunately employed in the service of an unlikable character. Raquel Rose finds her diagnosis with terminal stage IV breast cancer to be unfair: she put her artistic dreams on hold to raise two kids and now she'll never become the sculptor she always wanted to be. Life after diagnosis isn't all bad, though: knowing she has only months to live, Raquel agrees to go on Living with Lauren! her sister's Bay Area talk show; her husband turns from couch potato to pink-ribbon activist; and her two sullen teenagers start confiding in her the way they never did before. But when a follow-up visit to the doctor reveals Raquel's biopsy results were switched with another woman's and she's actually cancer-free, she can't bring herself to fess up and lose all the local celebrity perks cancer has brought her. The lies snowball in sometimes funny fashion, but Green unfortunately doesn't bring any gravity to Raquel's quandary. Instead the gambit is played as ditsy and vapid. (Aug.) ""
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

Review

"Green's effervescent prose and pitch-perfect humor will surely charm readers. Her deeply imagined characters seem like old friends as their story unfolds with effortless grace." (Author of NOTES FROM THE BACKSEAT Jody Gehrman )

"Kim Green is a must-read! Live a Little is wise, winning, and funny,
with engaging characters that pull you in and pages that crackle with
wit and insight." (author of MASTER OF THE HIGHLANDS Veronica Wolff )

Product Details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: 5 Spot; 1ST edition (August 15, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0446697931
  • ISBN-13: 978-0446697934
  • Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,900,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hi, folks. I'm Kim Green. I write women's fiction with comical and romantic elements. I also write a lot of marketing copy lacking in comedy or romance, for such clients as Kashi. (If you need to know anything about whole grains and fiber, I'm your gal.) I could tell you silly stuff about myself, like I have an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam that qualifies me to create exotic settings for my books and little else, but I think my blog is probably a better place to get to know me and my oeuvre (what is that, anyway?).

Customer Reviews

I though ths book was really bad. read_read_read  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
The only reason I finished the book was to find out what happened. KarlaJ  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Live A Little September 1, 2008
Format:Paperback
I loved this book! She created such intriguing and endearing characters. Her writing style is so entertaining and really makes me giggle. I look forward to her next one!!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A book about a woman who fakes having cancer - who knew it would be so funny? Not to mention touching and relatable. Through Raquel Rose, Kim Green voices with brutal honesty the challenges that many women struggle with, but never speak of: dissatisfaction with marriage, the disappointment of sacrificed dreams, frustrations with children, rivalry with other women, etc. Sounds heavy, I know, but somehow it is not. The story pulls you in and you can't wait to see how it all plays out.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoy Every Day September 26, 2008
Format:Paperback
Raquel Rose is a harried housewife with two teenagers who take her for granted and a rather distant husband. When she receives the news that she has breast cancer, her family does an about face. Her kids start helping out with the housework, are thoughtful and her husband is being attentive. Raquel appears on her sister's successful television show ' Living with Lauren' and raises a lot of money for breast cancer.

The trouble is that at her next doctor's appointment, she gets the news that her test results were mixed up with another Raquel and she does not have cancer.

Stunned, Raquel goes home and tells her family the good news. Or tries to - they don't believe her, they're sure she's just putting on a brave face. In the end she decides to go with the lie. After all, she raised $250,000 so far...and this would be a chance to turn around her life and reinvent herself.....and her family is being so good to her......and ........

Well, you can see there might be a problem with this. Does she get caught out? I won't give away anymore, but you are in for a comical read. Green's descriptions of people, places and situations are laugh out loud funny. Her fantasies of Viggo Mortensen, her overachieving sister, her best friend and the local society ladies are hilarious. Once in a while it seems to escape and go a wee bit over the top.

At first I was a bit wary of the premise - pretending to have cancer? The women battling cancer in the book are depicted as strong and use humour as one of the weapons in their fight. And although this deception is what gets Raquel into her predicament it's as much a story of family and finding love.

There are some mild sex scenes that some readers may either enjoy or not. All in all a good chick lit read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Different
I liked the beginning and the ending but I never thought I would ever finish this book. The only reason I finished the book was to find out what happened. Read more
Published 16 days ago by KarlaJ
1.0 out of 5 stars Bad book, characters are terrible
I though ths book was really bad. Really, really bad. I only finished it because I was hoping it would get better. It didn't. Read more
Published 12 months ago by read_read_read
3.0 out of 5 stars Deception on a major scale
When the main character in this book Raquel/Rachel Rose is diagnosed with cancer, her family rallies around her, and change their ways and become supportive and loving. Read more
Published on January 23, 2011 by Annie1
3.0 out of 5 stars Love it Less
Don't read this review until after you've read the book...I will wait. I read the reviews before I read the book and then I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. Read more
Published on September 4, 2009 by Lisa Letourneau
4.0 out of 5 stars A farce about faking breast cancer, with a serious side
Live a Little is the kind of book Jennifer Weiner could write with a little more life experience and development as a writer. Read more
Published on April 19, 2009 by StdPudel
2.0 out of 5 stars Hmmm...A Flight of Fancy
I just read in the November 2008 issue of Glamour magazine an article titled, "She Said She Had Breast Cancer--But She Lied," by Erin Zammett Ruddy, and it brought to mind this... Read more
Published on January 27, 2009 by Avid Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars You have to be a little crazy...
You have to be a little insane to survive being a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend and still find a way to have something left for yourself. Read more
Published on October 28, 2008 by Lori Funkhouser
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