Customer Reviews

Mercury in Retrograde: A Novel

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

While this book may have seemed trendy and "hot" as it was prepared for publication, the financial bust that followed the boom makes the start of this charming novel read like a period piece. Penelope Mercury, struggling newspaper reporter, gets sent to the wrong address while on assignment and her psycho boss starts a fight with her when she returns. He tells her he's giving the coveted position as court reporter to his cousin. Without meaning to, she throws up on him and, also accidentally, sets part of the newsroom on fire. She then "quits" the newspaper business. (Newspapers? So yesterday...)

The author introduces us to two other young women. Dana Gluck is a high-powered lawyer. She's already a junior partner in her prestigious law firm, gunning to be the youngest senior partner in history. But she's emotionally a wreck over her recent divorce from her husband of two years. Her hair falls out when she gets too stressed and she never dates.

Lena "Lipstick" Lippencrass is a socialite. She works at a tiny fashion magazine, lives in a posh apartment and spends $50,000/month on clothes. She's engaged in a frantic rivalry with Bitsy, the debutante who stole her boyfriend. When her parents cut off the credit cards because Lipstick hasn't married the man of their dreams, she rebels. Although Lipstick is an irritating character at the beginning, she makes the longest journey and the most interesting transformation.

The author takes about 90 pages to get these three together. Once they become friends and start helping each other out, the book becomes wonderfully engaging as each tackles the issues of making a living and finding meaning in life. One hesitates to call this a "regional" novel; while some of the characters have parents located in places like Ohio, the setting is New York to a claustrophobic degree. The theme of bright young things taking the city by storm has been done before but this author has done it wonderfully well. I like the emphasis on the friendships and the dogged determination these young women show towards making careers for themselves. This is a notch above the usual chick lit. All the happy endings might seem a little too pat but the laughter is real. Fun, feminine and kicks a$$ where it counts!

Author Paula Froelich has written a book that under other circumstances might have been made into the blockbuster HBO show "Sex and the City." But those circumstances would have had to include timing - she's too late; character development - there's too little of it; and writing style - her syntax is taxing to say the least.

Here's a quick quote which left me in despair of even being able to finish the book, and it was on page 10 of the advance copy. "It was pitch black in her room, thanks to the double-weight drapes that concealed the entire glass wall to the left of the bed, which led to her Parisian-style garden, with the exception of the faint glow from her laptop lying on the pillow next to her head." Ouch.

I really wanted to like the main character, Penelope Mercury, because she's a struggling journalist. But the tortuous syntax and thin characterization left me with a bad case of "don't care" as the book bounced from inane high-fashion babble to unlikely urban disasters, with very little in the way of compelling transition.

If the endless parade of designer label name-dropping that characterizes the "Sex and the City" movie floats your boat, then you may be able to shop your way through this novel and enjoy it. But if you are instead looking for some substance and some characters whose fates move you to empathy or even sustainable interest, you might want to take a pass on "Mercury in Retrograde."

Mercury in Retrograde opens with a definition of Mercury in retrograde; which, to paraphrase astrological terms, means that bad things are about to happen. Given that warning, readers shouldn't be surprised to find that Mercury is still in retrograde when it comes to Froelich's debut effort. The book fails on almost all levels. The storyline looks like it was put together by either a focus group or a marketing executive ("Let's see...most successful chick lit books have one heroine...let's put three in this book...it'll be three times as good!!!"). Making the storyline seem even more derivative is the presence of several scenes that seem to be echoes of similar scenes in other books. Unfortunately, they were done better in those other books (compare the harried television host scenes in this book with those in the Bridget Jones books). Capping this disappointing adventure is a strange "in-this-world, not-in-this world" writing style that Froelich uses throughout the book. This style involves dropping the names of real life celebrities through some of the text, and then using fictional celebrities in the rest of the book. I'm sure that Froelich thought that this method was a clever way of writing a thinly disguised expose. But, it comes across as though she'd only name those who wouldn't sue her for what she wrote, and come up with fake names for those that would likely sue.

The only redeeming quality to this mess is the character of Dana Gluck, who seems to be a real person with an interestingly complex personal situation. Unfortunately, she's the least discussed of the three main characters. And, those scenes with her are not enough to salvage the book. Chick lit fans and book lovers in general should heed the inadvertent warning in the book's opening pages and skip Mercury in Retrograde.

Spoiled, rich Lipstick has been cut off from her Daddy's money, long-suffering Penelope Mercury has to find a new job, and unhappily divorced Dana is slowly becoming a recluse. These three find themselves together in one apartment building, and begin a friendship through shared yoga classes. This is a good set-up that doesn't quite mesh like the author must have intended.

Jennifer Weiner (loved her novel Certain Girls) called this book, " ...a zippy, relatable romp... " It was zippy all right, but not very relatable. I was never drawn to the characters like I should have been, and the characters didn't have enough of a relationship between each other. Other friends, bosses, co-workers, and family came across as extreme, instead of just zany. All of the men were cardboard stereotypes. Still, I give this book a couple of stars because there were some comic moments, and it was easy to read. It was fluffy escapism, for which I sometimes have a yen. But this one wasn't meaty enough, in characterizations or plot, to satisfy.

I expected this to be a fun little read. Three ditsy sounding women living in the same building sounded like light and fun. A quick Saturday afternoon read.

Mercifully I was right about it being a quick read. Instead of finding three smart women doing silly things and having each others back, I found three women who in my opinion were not very likeable and not very smart. Women who allowed men to treat them with complete disrespect and disdain.

This book has a little of everything, spousal betrayal, employers who screech and throw office supplies, call girls and a stalker. Seriously.
I tried, but found no humor.

I read a lot of books, many different genres and that includes the occasion chic lit or fluff. Just like any good meal meal benefits for a little something sweet, do does fluff enhance ones reading habits. This book was not my cup of tea.

This is an OK beach read. Nothing too deep and the occasional funny moment. 3 women from very different backgrounds end up in the same apartment building in Soho and become friends. Mercury in Retrograde refers to both the astrological connotation and the last name of one of the characters, Penelope Mercury. The book begins each section with the horoscope of the character it's about to follow, the horoscope pertaining to something that will happen to the character. That works well. But the stories themselves? All been done before.

...so my review of '3 stars' needs to be explained.

The novel is cogent. That is, the author knows how to put sentences together. And not badly, either. Points awarded there.

And there's a sense of injected verve in the material...so clearly, Ms Froelich no poseur. More points.

The fact that she's written a novel, understanding just how huge an accomplishment that is...is where I'm awarding the bulk of the credit. However...

However, even understanding that this is most definitely, undeniably, unequivocally 'chick-lit' (which I do NOT consider a pejorative term), this novel is insulting. 'Frothy'? OK. 'Light-hearted'? Fine. But when the greater part of the first 15% of the story is, quite simply, 'name-dropping', I think it's safe to say that 'insulting' is an appropriate reaction. (Unless of course, that's what you're looking for. And maybe there are readers out there, facile, undemanding readers who get off on 'Life With The Kardashians', who have Perez Hilton on constant-refresh, and who groove to the dreck the tabloids have to offer, who can get the most out of what 'Mercury In Retrograde' offers)

Put plainly: what entertainment is there in reading an endless stream of clothing and perfume and 'culture' references?

For me, very little.

I am no 'snob' in the sense of genres. But I am one when it comes to storytelling and wanting my reading material to illuminate some aspect of Life, to feel the author's conviction in how they do what they do actually *move* me.

(As an end-note, I've moved onto 'Man Gone Down' by Michael Thomas. Yes, they're from entirely different genres. Yes, they're keying on entirely different audiences. And yes, each one has an entirely different purpose in mind. But I'll tell ya; I wish Ms Froelich demonstrated half the ambition in 'Mercury in Retrograde' that Mr. Thomas did in his effort. Had she done so, I never would have stopped reading...something I've almost never done in all my years as a fiction fan.)

A light, breezy story of three New York City careeer women who are all suffering from some sort of setback in their career and/or personal lives which lands them in apartments in the same SOHO renovated tenement building. As their separate lives collide and they become friends, they each begin to draw renewed strength from each other and learn to assume responsibility for themselves, finding a new stability between personal and professional satisfaction that each never before thought she could have. Plus, they find men worthy of them and they find--dare I say it--love. This is a good summer beach read, with its only annoying feature the corny reliance on each woman's horoscope predicting her day's activities. However, I suppose that gave rise to the title "Mercury in Retrograde" (that, and the fact that the main character's name is Penelope Mercury). So, don't expect too much and you'll enjoy this quick read.

"Mercury in Retrograde" is definitely going to be one of the must reads for Summer. The book follows Penelope, Lena (better known as Lipstick), and Dana. When the book begins the women are complete strangers to each other but they meet when a yoga instructor brings them together to do yoga. Then they become fast friends who like to gossip about their lives with each other.

I thought all of the characters were engaging and easy to root for. Even Lipstick, who ordinarily would be one that readers who hate because she is a socialite and is a bit stuck up in the beginning. But she is likeable and I liked that she stands up to her parents to say that she is going to make in on her own. I felt sympathy for Dana, who got divorced from a jerk and has to rebuild her confidence. And I found all of the stuff Penelope did for work to be really funny.

I found this book to be a fast read- I read it in two days. Actually, I wouldn't have minded if the book had been longer because I really enjoyed reading the story about the three women. I think this book should definitely be on every chick lit readers Summer reading list.

"When Mercury spins between the Earth and the Sun, a condition that astrologers call Mercury in Retrograde, it appears to the untrained eye that it is hurtling backward" although it is not, of course. The phenomenon is actually a shift in the viewers' perspective and it is during this time period that even the "lowliest of fortune tellers will inform you, Mercury in retrograde means one thing, if something can go wrong it will." And it does.....
Meet the women of Mercury in Retrograde:
Penelope - A reporter who is up for promotion only to be strung along and passed over while slaving away at the worst job ever! Enraged, Penelope promptly quits, forgetting she does not have another job lined up, while simultaneously puking all over her boss! To make matters worse she accidentally sets fire to her now former workplace. Mercury in Retrograde has hit hard.
Lena- Also known as "Lipstick" is a NYC socialite whose parents suddenly decide to cut her off expecting that she will come home instead of making it on her own. Lena chooses to make it on her own and is thrown full force into a life she has never lived with a low paying job and the lack of endless money. It appears Mercury in Retrograde strikes again.

Dana- A top lawyer who is recently divorced after her husband of two years is caught cheating on her. Now his new wife is pregnant with the baby she was trying to have and Dana is devastated. She desperately needs to start living her life again and move on. Mercury throws Lena and Penelope her way. Is Mercury in Retrograde really all that bad?
When Mercury in Retrograde throws all it has at these three women, fate finds them all living in the same SoHo apartment building. The three women form a friendship and deal with their hardships together, finding a way to rise above and come out happier on the other side. Each woman is totally prepared to hide the next time mercury strikes again!

This novel was a letdown for me. I was really excited at the possibility of finding a new must read chick-lit author. This book didn't accomplish that for me. The novel was difficult to get into making the first twenty to thirty pages hard to read. Once I was settled in the book I found myself quickly reading through parts only to hit a wall and find another slow, rambling passage. I generally like when an author transitions between characters, telling the story of each a little at a time, but for this book the transitions weren't smooth and defined. I was confused at some points because I wasn't aware the author was switching to a new character. I felt I had to stop and re-adjust to fully take in the new storyline.

Each character was very different yet alike from the others in this novel leaving the author with great potential to expand and bring them together. However, the book felt rushed. I did not feel a connection with the characters; instead I felt more that they were acquaintances I was able to know slightly and more on a superficial and needless informational level. The novel had great sections that captured my attention, but overall felt average. It was an okay read for me but not spectacular. I wasn't captured from the start and each time my attention was fully engrossed, a slow and needless boring section would hit. I enjoyed the good sections and moved through the rough. The book is being referred to as a "romp" by many, which I would mostly agree with. I was looking for something deeper; the writing style was not my cup of tea. If you like chick-lit novels, women's fiction, or a quick skim of the surface read this book would be worth the try, I just wouldn't suggest paying full price.
reviewed for bookpleasures