Customer Reviews

Loose Lips

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Six of One" and "Bingo" were strong, funny books. Unfortunately, "Loose Lips" is a weak follow-up. The first third of the book disappointed me most, with its brief retellings of some of the best stories from the earlier two books.

"Loose Lips" begins in 1939, not long before the US entered WWII. The Hunsenmeier sisters are already grown, and Wheezie's two daughters, Mary and Maizie, are soon to leave her house. The primary relationships explored in this book are the ones between Juts and Wheezie and between Juts and her adopted daughter, Nickel. Unfortunately, we don't learn anything new about the relationship between sisters, and the mother-daughter relationship comes into the book pretty late. As Nickel develops into a headstrong little kid, the book gets more interesting, but I didn't really feel like it was worth slogging through the disappointing retellings of great stories like the night of Nicekl's adoption. For better entertainment than this book offers, re-read the first two books ("Six of One" and "Bingo",) and then read Brown's autobiography "Rita Will."

Another Rita Mae masterpiece. Jutz & Wheezie once again square off with dynamic and often hysterically funny exchanges. The touching part is that their love for one another always shines through. Cora continues with her compelling wisdom, Ramelle with her gentleness and charm. A must read if you enjoyed Six of One and Bingo.

Loose Lips was a pleasure to read, and Brown just gets better with age. Her incredible ear for dialogue always thrills me, and here she reaches new heights with Louise and Julia's zingy repartee. Unfortunately Brown focuses so much on how her characters talk that she fails to create vivid pictures of how they look. I used to think this was a purposeful technique in her Mrs. Murphy mysteries (since who would expect a cat to pay attention to people's looks), but I found the same situation in Loose Lips: in my mind her characters tend to be witty, fast-talking amorphous blobs. Brown's characters also unabashedly face the realities of raising children, the honest truth that there probably is not a mother alive who, as Louise so cleverly puts it, hasn't thought at some desperate or frazzled time in her life of making her child an angel, i.e., dispatching her to heaven. WARNING: If descriptions of horrendous child-rearing offend you, this is probably a book better left unread. Juts' verbal and physical abuse of Nickel (including burning her with her cigarette), while entirely in character, is just plain frightening, and makes the latter, post-adoption portion of the book much less enjoyable than the beginning.

Ahh, small town life! Stradling the Mason-Dixon line, Runnymeade makes it's own rules which suits the main characters perfectly. Lots of colorful characters involved in love, hate, gossip, and typical everyday life. The pages fly by as you get to know everyone and what makes them tick. I love Ms. Brown's style; lots of details that make you want to know "then what happens?", but without being boring or slow moving. I love all three books on those crazy sisters, Juts and Louise! Actually, I think they'd make an awesome tv series or movie, but sometimes things are better left to the imagination. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading Six Of One or Bingo, please do so immediately!

Loose Lips is the continuing story of Juts and Wheezie, two sisters from the Maryland side of the Mason-Dixon line. It is the third book Ms Brown has given us (Six of One and Bingo are the first two)about these battling hilarious sisters. This book chronicles their World War II adventures-they put the town in panic after they set off the air raid siren when a flock of geese fly overhead and the trip to get Juts adopted child that Wheezie took in a snowstorm. It is warm and wonderful and I wished it never ended--I'm hoping for a fourth installment in the lives of Juts and Wheezie. Read it and enjoy.

This is the third installment of the Hunsenmeier sisters, starting with Six of One and Bingo. Six of One will always be my favorite, but this is a remarkable follow-up. This book focuses on the years around World War II, and Juts adopting a child. Funny stuff, motherhood is who raises the child, not who gives birth. Rita Mae Brown always writes with the bittersweet style, reminiscent of Charles Dickens. I recommend this series of books highly.

Rita Mae Brown's unforgettable cast of characters, introduced in Six of One, are brought back to life in her latest novel, Loose Lips. As fans of Juts, Wheezie, and the incomparable Celeste Chalfonte can attest, tales of love and loss, tossed in with unexpected twists and turns, are bountiful anytime this gang gets together.

Six of One introduced Julia and Louise Hunsenmeir, fondly known as Juts and Wheezie, an indomitable pair of quarreling sisters born around the turn-of-the-century in Runnymede, Maryland. The ensemble cast featured Cora, their strong and caring single mother, housekeeper of Celeste; the formidable Celeste Chalfonte, a lesbian without apology, and her lover, the elegantly beautiful Ramelle Bowman; Fairy Thatcher and Fannie Jump Creighton, ever-scheming schoolchums of Celeste; and in later chapters, Chessie and Pearlie, long-suffering husbands of Juts and Wheezie. Spanning almost a century, we watch the madcap life of Juts and Wheezie take them from small tots following their mother around in Celeste's Georgian mansion to the birth of their own children and the mayhem that follows, to Juts and Wheezie as old cronies, still tangling in their 80's.

Continuing the story in Bingo, Brown brings Runnymede back to life with Juts' daughter, Nicole, better known as Nickel. The cast, while still containing Juts and Wheezie as central figures, leaves a bit to be desired when compared to Six of One, and the storyline dwells a bit too much on newer characters who aren't quite as developed. Bingo is a an enjoyable read, but never catches fire like Six of One.

Enter Loose Lips.

In Brown's latest, the storyline picks up in 1941. Juts and Wheezie have entered adulthood, matrimony and maturity - or what resembles maturity for the Hunsenmeir sisters. A war is brewing across the seas, and in Runnymede, where Juts is about to commit an unspeakable act. The book goes in-depth into their lives, giving detail to events briefly mentioned in previous books, such as why Hansford, the girls' vagabond father left Cora, whether Chessie is really a squeaky clean husband, and what Nickel's true parentage is.

While any fan of Runnymede would eagerly anticipate another installment, this reader was a bit disappointed in the latest offering. Granted, the majority of original characters are here. However, there's just something missing from the mix. The girls, while always dramatic, don't shine as they did in previous books, and the mundane aspects of everyday life are more prevalent. Celeste is featured only briefly, Ramelle plays a bit part as well and Cora sparkles but for a moment. Storylines are left hanging. Time passes with segues such as, "Two years passed..." With such events, one feels left out of the story time and again.

Brown misses the mark in Loose Lips, which would have been a wonderful vehicle to enrich already unforgettable characters. With such a colorful past, one would expect the Hunsenmeir sisters and the entire Runnymede cast to be bright fuchsia instead of shimmering pink.

...

This was a hoot. Just like that Mason-Dixon Line, sometimes sisters are on opposites sides of the street; but they are united when things go bad. I cried as much as I laughed with Juts and Wheezie.

Funny, real, well written and a backward sequel to Bingo. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Laughed until my stomach hurt and eyes teared!

If you enjoy the power of sisterhood, the complexity of women and lots of silly Southern humor, this is the book for you. A downright darn good read (which I did in one day!) with enough silliness and fun to want more. The characters are engaging, irresponsible, rude, brazen, and very likeable. I could read a Loose Lips II just to find out what happened 10 years later. Rita Mae, you are my hero.