Temporary Insanity [Paperback]

Leslie Carroll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2004

Meet Alice Finnegan: thirty-something, single and determined to take control of her own destiny ... even if she is stuck in a series of secretarial temp jobs and living with her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother -- a feisty, funny, former Ziegfeld showgirl.

But that's easier said than done when your job counselor can't spell "employment" correctly, your boss has you planning her daughter's wedding, your new boyfriend cares more about his career than caresses, and your dreams of stardom are dashed when a hotshot casting director suggests you get your nose fixed -- and you already have.

But even as it seems that Alice's world has gone crazy, and she succumbs to a Mr. Right who turns into a Mr. Not Right Now, she knows that any insanity is only temporary ...

Editorial Reviews

Review

Carroll’s dramatic flair and peppy, earnest account of all-too-real office scenarios distinguish this spirited chick-lit offering. (Publishers Weekly )

About the Author

Native New Yorker Leslie Carroll is also a professional actress, dramatist, and journalist. Her first two books, contemporary romantic comedies set in her hometown, won a series of rave reviews. She also writes historical and New York "tart noir" detective fiction. Leslie has worked more temp jobs than she cares to remember in the fields of politics, advertising, public relations, and -- far too frequently -- law. But it's all ripe for social satire and fodder for fiction!

Product Details

• Paperback: 322 pages
• Publisher: Avon Trade (May 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060563370
• ISBN-13: 978-0060563370
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,437,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I used to tell people that I was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx; but the truth is that apart from the stellar education I received at the Fieldston School in Riverdale, much of who I am was shaped by my two grandmothers, who encouraged me to follow my bliss long before it became the sort of catchphrase you find on tee-shirts and new-age tchotchkes. My East Side grandmother took me to FAO Schwarz, the New York City Ballet, and afternoon tea at the Plaza Hotel, where I dreamed of becoming another Eloise. My West Side grandmother took me to the Central Park carousel and the zoo and treated me to colorful paper parasols and gummy, lukewarm pretzels from the vendors whose wares my East Side grandmother deemed too "dirty" for human consumption.

There are writers on both sides of my family, and although I always loved to write, I never anticipated that it would become my profession. I had wanted to be a ballerina; and though my club feet were corrected at birth (from the stilettos I adore now, you'd never know) and my short Achilles tendons made my toes turn in (corrected at the age of 9), I was never going to end up en pointe.

About a year later, I decided to become an actress when (if?) I grew up, and I never looked back. I majored in Theatre at Cornell University, worked in summer stock, and took classes with a couple of acknowledged masters. I performed a lot of Shakespeare and other classics in New York parks, basements, church choir lofts, and the occasional Off-Broadway theatre; then founded and ran my own nonprofit theatre company for several years. And when things got slow, and I found myself working three survival jobs simultaneously (one of them as a journalist and editor), I decided it was time to pursue an additional creative avenue.

Fast forward a decade. I'm now a multi-published author in three genres, as well as a freelance journalist. And I've also adapted a number of classic texts (IVANHOE; THE PRISONER OF ZENDA; THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL; Mark Twain's "The Diaries of Adam and Eve") for the stage. I began writing women's fiction and historical fiction simultaneously, but my first published novel was the urban romantic comedy MISS MATCH in 2002. In 2005, as I continued to write about feisty female New Yorkers, my first historical novel was published under the pen name Amanda Elyot. While keeping those literary plates spinning I made my historical nonfiction debut in the spring of 2008.

In what I laughingly refer to as my spare time, I'm still a professional actress, working when the scripts and the roles excite me.

I'm such a native New Yorker that I still don't have a driver's license, "Big Sky Country" means Central Park, and the farthest I've ever been from the Upper West Side for any great length of time was my four-year stint upstate in Ithaca, at Cornell, known for its rigorous academics and its equally harsh permafrost.

My birthday falls on the same day as two of my heroes--F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jim Henson. So I reread THE GREAT GATSBY every year and number Miss Piggy among the great actresses of her generation. My favorite color is deep hydrangea blue, and it just kills me that it doesn't look good with red hair.

I live in Manhattan with my husband Scott--who is my hero and everything I ever dreamed of. For the past couple of years we've been considering an addition to the family in the form of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, serious and witty., August 5, 2005

By 

Isabella Piazza (Phx., AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Temporary Insanity (Paperback)

I first read Carroll's Play Dates and loved it. I wanted to read another one of her books and see if she was a one hit wonder or if she had some substance. She is the latter that's for sure! Very talented writed. I'm looking forward to reading her other 2 books.

This books takes us through a journey with Alice and her out-spoken grandmother and Alice's so-called boyfriends. I love how Carroll also inserts summaries into the story and does not give us a day to day basis story. That helps move the story along nicely and yet takes the reader to what is really important.

This book has so many twists and turns and I never saw them coming! That's what kept it interesting and I always wanted to read on and not set the book down.

However, once the play that Alice wanted to audition for was mentioned, I had a funny feeling of what was to come. I wouldn't say it gave it away completely but it steered me in the direction that I thought the series of events would happen and they did.

All in all, great read and fun.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars touching, real, well worth reading, June 7, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Temporary Insanity (Paperback)

However much charm and wit may have been in her first two books, TEMPORARY INSANITY is easily Leslie Carroll's best work to date. Where her earlier work focused on romance, this is a persuasive tale, humorous yet at times harrowing, in which the plucky heroine copes with demeaning temp jobs, loutish bosses, and the brutal difficulties faced by someone struggling to be an actress in New York city. What helps her get through it all is her passionate belief in her dreams and her admirable unwillingness to settle for less than what she feels she can achieve. Her refusal to accept being dismissed by insensitive jerks in positions of relative power is bouyed by the support of a couple of loyal friends and by the unconditional love of her grandmother, a former Follies girl now in her nineties, to whom the endearing heroine is fiercely devoted. With her customary verbal facility and enthusiastic descriptiveness, but with an added measure of authentic, sometimes complex personal emotion, Ms. Carroll presents the reader with a life fully lived yet longing to be more fully realized. Readers may be surprised (or not) at how true and touching Alice Finnegan's struggles can be.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There's No Business Like Show Business, May 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Temporary Insanity (Paperback)

I read Temporary Insanity with some trepidation. I was not a fan of Ms. Carroll's previous books, Reality Check and Miss Match, finding them cliched, but Temporary Insanity is a big step forward in the right direction. Chick-lit is Ms. Carroll's niche. Alice Finnegan is in her thirties and trying to juggle a day job, while pursuing her first love acting and taking care of her elderly grandmother, a former showgirl. The heart of the book is Alice's relationship with her grandmother, their's is the real love story in the book. Alice's grandmother has nurtured her theatrical ambitions by giving her unconditional love and support. Alice also has two best friends Izzy and Dorian, fellow performers, who call themselves the Three Muskateers, all for one and one for all. Alice's temp jobs are sharply drawn as she richochets from one bad temp job to another. All the details are there, the guilt one feels at pursuing your dream while on someone else's payroll, the boredom of extra work. Most of the book has heart, something missing from Ms. Carroll's previous works. The only weaknesses in the book are once again Ms. Carroll's lack of research. It's unusual for anyone who temps to only temp with one temp agency. If you're temping, you work for the agency, not the company you're temping for, so if you go on unemployment, the temp agency would be the one to refuse benefits not the company (I should know I was on unemployment most of last year.) Also, soap operas don't have seasons and an Executive Producer would never be able to run the show from across the country. But those are minor quibbles. If Ms. Carroll keeps up the effort with her next book, she might just become an author of note.