2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Hope Her Later Novels Are Better..., April 16, 2006
I've just finished reading "Miniplanner" and the main reaction I have -- and have had throughout the time reading it -- is disappointment.
It seems odd to describe a novel that involves so many sexual encounters as boring -- especially when those encounters supposedly involve a great deal of strategizing in order to keep the central lovers (a husband and wife) from colliding. I think this is due to some very weak characterizations. But the author also fails utterly by making the sex scenes seem no more interesting than doing laundry.
The worst of the novel though deals with the descriptions of the workplace. I don't think you have to do too much research into the inner workings of a metropolitan bank in order to create something that rings true. However, the author doesn't manage this -- her main character seems amazingly uninvolved in the actual daily life of a workplace and has improbably too much time to dedicate to arranging his extracurricular activities -- time that he no doubt needs!
As I read, I couldn't help wonder -- does the author mean to present or omit certain details in order to use the first-person voice to build the character? In the end, I feel that this may have been attempted but not done successfully.
Oh well...unlike other reviewers, I cannot say "nice try". I think I'd be more interested in the story regarding how this book came to be published than the actual book itself. So instead I will say "good job at promoting the book despite its lack of merit".
And -- I think there is also reason to be skeptical of these 5 star reviews that all gush about how hard it was to put the book down. Friends of the author? Friends of the publisher?
I will admit that I had some trouble putting the book down myself. That was when I dozed off and it fell from my hands!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not that good..., March 27, 2001
By A Customer
I was intrigued by the notion of a lesbian writing from the perspective of a gay man. This served as my impetus for reading the book. All I can say is that Abha simply did not pull it off. The situations struck me as implausible, the story trite and contrived and the whole theme and premise was just boring - I mean seriously, the sex lives of Wall street types? In all fairness Abha did set upon a very difficult task in writing this, but the best she accomplished was a light, puffy book. If America were ready for gay themes I'd say look for this as a movie of the week. However, if your interest is good literature, give it a pass.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great story that reads like a breeze, April 2, 2001
By A Customer
Abha manages to inject lightness into a subject that all too often puts us to sleep with overly-creative language. That subject is sex. And Abha's language remains familiar, while being interesting in its own way. Thanks to this familiarity, we can easily follow the story of Andre-the-Abusive-Lover and do not have to try to decipher where exactly he put his fist last time he bedded Nathan or Sybil. With regard to the creative side of the book's language, one of Abha's great virtues is that she feels at home with the little idiosyncrasies of India-influenced English. She mixes Britishisms with Americanisms and every so often uses phrases or words that tend to be preferred by Indian Americans more than by the average WASP. As a result, her narrative better reflects the discourse of New York--a city of immigrants--and conveys well the city's atmosphere. Consequently, Abha manages to put together a book that holds both narrative and linguistic interest that she interweaves to great effect.
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