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Live a Little [Paperback]

Kim Green (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Price: $13.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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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.

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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

"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 )

"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 )

Product Details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: 5 Spot; 1ST edition (August 15, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0446697931
  • ISBN-13: 978-0446697934
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,387,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kim Green is the author of the romantic comic novels Paging Aphrodite, Live a Little and Is That a Moose in Your Pocket? She also writes marketing copy for such clients as Kashi, and can tell you a lot about whole grains and fiber. Kim earned an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam, which qualifies her to create exotic settings for her books and little else. She's currently at work on one novel about a small-town culture war and banned books, and another about two unpleasant people who fall in love. www.kimgreen.com

 

Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very unusual premise. Very bold. Very funny., August 14, 2008
By 
This review is from: Live a Little (Paperback)
Who'd a thunk one woman's epic battle to keep up the appearance of having cancer could be so hilarious, so bizarre, yet still pull at the heartstrings. There is plenty of fodder here for Green's satiric verve: the pieties of therapeutic talk shows, handsome but ineffectual doctors, creepy alternative medicine practicioners, know-it-all teenagers, our society's obsession with achievement, our received ideas on family life, and more, all get skewered mercilessly. At the same time, like in her two previous novels, Kim Green exudes warmth for her protagonist and many of her flawed characters. Raquel Rose lets it all hang out and does many terrible things, but you can see how easy it can be, under the right circumstances, one small weakness following another, to find yourself in her predicament.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Live A Little, September 1, 2008
This review is from: Live a Little (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:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Sarah Silverman of books: unusual, slightly disturbing (in a good way) and hilarious, October 21, 2008
By 
H. McKay (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Live a Little (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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