Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get out your dance cards and enjoy!, April 10, 2004
This review is from: One Degree of Separation (Paperback)
"Life is twisted" is a favored exclamation from Liddy, a twenty-something dyke from Berkeley, California. Newly graduated from Cal with her Masters degree, Liddy has taken a contract to conduct research for a nationally known writer and finds herself trapped in the Iowa corn-belt for the summer. Her goal was to get away from the West Coast and an affair that ended very badly. She has no intention of getting romantically involved with anyone this summer. The women of Iowa City which boasts, arguably, the highest concentration of dykes living in any town in the Midwest, have other plans for "fresh meat." Even Liddy finds herself reconsidering her goals when she meets "Marian the Librarian." If you are a librarian living in the "River City," Iowa and your name is Marian, you might as well surrender and embrace the humor of the musical. Marian Pardoo, on the Reference staff at the Iowa City Public Library, has done just that. Her dog answers to "Professor Hill" while her cat is dubbed "Trombone." Marian enjoys her work and is pleased with life in semi-rural Iowa. However, she is nursing some major heartache. That pain sometimes makes her life very difficult. Neither Liddy nor Marian is prepared for the chemistry that strikes when they meet. Their conflagration is wonderful, frightening, and more than a little confusing. Or as Liddy wonders, "Was she in a foreign movie with no subtitles? Or was this just the way the dykes dated in Iowa City? Yes, no, yes, no, talk, talk, and more talk?" p112 The two women struggle to overcome their fears of getting hurt by love again and find that sometimes communication is difficult. When Marian looks for a greeting card to express her feelings for Liddy, she finds, "There weren't any cards that said, 'Can we do it like rabbits and still be friends?' Not one read, 'Ignore what I'm saying and jump me, now!'" p122 Having a crush on a gym teacher is a fairly common element in the school years of most future dykes. In One Degree, Kallmaker pays tribute to what has to be a close second for many of the "nerdier" lesbians, that of the crush on a librarian. Or as she has Marian reflect of her decision, years ago to become a librarian, "It always seemed like whatever I could dream I could find at the library. And ever since I was a girl I thought librarians were the guardians of all the mysteries of time. It never occurred to me .... That I could be one of the guardians." p43 Kallmaker's romp through the lesbian community in a Midwestern College town is entertaining, sexy and touching. While One Degree is one of her most lighthearted novels, Kallmaker taps readers on the shoulder with a few well-placed political observations. She illustrates the realities of public library employment and points out a frightening aspect of our post-9/11 world, i.e., the Patriot Act and its assault on privacy and the free access to information. One Degree is a delightful romantic comedy, filled with humor, lust, and lots of intelligent, interesting dykes. Kallmaker's characters have a familiar feel and it's easy to identify with them. They are individuals, yet likely to remind readers of women they know. As the novel opens, Marian is having a bad PMS day and she writes in her journal, "Someone will die if my period doesn't start tomorrow." p1 When Marian self medicates with chocolate, it's a sentiment with which most women can empathize. The "square dance" of lesbians working together and loving each other in a small community will be a familiar theme in the lives of many readers. Kallmaker calls these dances with compassionate understanding, a taste for irony, and a deliciously wicked wit. Interestingly, she continues a dialog that has threaded its way through some of her other romances, as Liddy and Marian discuss definitions and nuances of the butch and femme "do-si-do." One Degree of Separation is just plain fun to read. So get out your dance cards and enjoy the music!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Swear to freakin' god it's GREAT!, January 27, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: One Degree of Separation (Paperback)
Having just finished yet another formula romance where some traumatic past event keeps two women from accepting that they're in love for 249 pages (but they figure it out on page 250, end of story) I was feeling pretty jaded as I started One Degree of Separation. I don't know how Karin Kallmaker does it! Fifteen romances and she nevers writes the same story twice. On the first page -- the first paragraph! -- she made me laugh. Then I laughed some more. Then, when Liddy Peel walks into the story in Chapter 2 I was on the floor. Not that either character has to quip a joke every sentence. Nor is their humor based on belitting others as less cool than they are. (I hate that about some romances whose entire humor rests on making fun of other people.) It's their wry outlook on their *own* life that got the first giggle and from there I was completely hooked. It has to be good writing for me to enthusiastically believe a rather improbable turn of events in a small town. And not only do I buy every bit of the plot, Kallmaker's erotic touch is so compelling that when Marian and Liddy look at each other the first time I positively *felt* the rush. Marian and Liddy's courtship is set against the backdrop of a cast of well-defined secondary characters who swill coffee and drop amusing wisdom about such topics as what constitutes hot talk in bed, and if it's okay to date the ex of an ex. Marian, meanwhile, is trying to stay in control of her life, but Inner Slut and Inner Prude refuse to get along. Sophisticated, big-city girl Liddy knows she herself is still suffering angry depression from her last relationship, but swear to freakin' god, how can a librarian in Iowa freakin' City be so sexy? And such a great kisser? It's not fair! When it became clear that both women had something in their past that still hurt and made it hard for them to trust that happiness could be real this time, I believed that too and it's the way Kalmmaker tells the story that makes it possible. And when Marian arrives on Liddy's doorstep in the middle of a rainstorm the night that follows is one of Kallmaker's hottest ever. Taking place over just four days of sizzling Iowa summer, One Degree of Separation is the best lighthearted romance I've read in a long time. I am in awe of Kallmaker's range. Her latest before this, Maybe Next Time, spanned 40 years of the heroine's life, and was one of the most intense, wrenching romances I've ever read. Then Kallmaker turns around and delivers this amusing but never vicious, heartfelt but never sappy, steamy, engaging story of two ordinary, every day women who make you believe in the extraordinary power of love. Once again, I ended a Karin Kallmaker romance absolutely certain that some day that kind of magic can happen to me.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sizzling, January 22, 2004
This review is from: One Degree of Separation (Paperback)
I only wish it were summer so that the heat of day could match the heat within the pages of One Degree of Separation. Should you read this review and it happens to be summer, snatch this one up for a beach read. Just remember to turn over. One Degree of Separation is a delightful romance. It takes place in the swelter of an Iowa summer, but the characters generate enough heat that you'll be sweaty no matter what the weather. Liddy makes a cool escape from California to do a research project for a well-known writer while trying to heal wounds from a romance gone bad. Her destination is Iowa City, a small college town, where there are more lesbians per capita than New York City. Marian (yes, the librarian) is equally burnt by a love affair, and by her unrequited love for the next-door neighbor. Neither Marian nor Liddy are in the market for a relationship. Add to this mixture a group of friends who have switched partners enough times to call a square dance. This coffee drinking crowd will have you lusting for pancake breakfasts and homeopathic couches. Who says that the heartland is devoid of ... drama? Neither Marian nor Liddy are prepared for the spontaneous combustion that occurs between them. Sparks fly and ignite enough passion to leave you panting for more. Fueled by witty dialogue, realistic and likeable characters, Kallmaker proves once again why she's considered the Mistress of Romance. With One Degree of Separation, she takes home the title. I guarantee this one will leave you begging for water, or a latte, or an iced mocha decaf with chocolate sprinkles.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
