Customer Reviews

The Thin Pink Line (Red Dress Ink (Numbered Paperback))

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(34)

 

 

The Thin Pink Line is a fun, engaging, yet strange novel. The synopsis -- a twenty-nine-year-old who stages her pregnancy in order to secure a marriage proposal from her boyfriend -- is original, but there are various loose ends throughout the novel.

At first, all Jane Taylor wants is the special attention and gratification of being pregnant, not to mention a guaranteed marriage proposal from her boyfriend Trevor. But then things become rather complicated as the trimesters progress, and the charade takes over Jane's life -- especially when someone offers a book deal she can't refuse. But why doesn't she just stop the charade? I wasn't able to grasp the reasons for Jane's insistence on living a lie -- notwithstanding the gigantic book deal. The author fails to provide the aforementioned insight, and Jane's erratic behavior has no actual logic. But then again, perhaps her eccentricity implies that the scheme isn't supposed to be logical...

Despite those loose ends, The Thin Pink Line offers an original plot, sharp and crisp dialogue and wonderful characters. Also, Jane's desperate attempts to legitimize her pregnancy will have the reader roaring with laughter. Red Dress Ink has released a fresh approach to chick lit with this wonderful gem. Illogical and strange conduct aside, Jane Taylor is the proverbial neurotic heroine... And The Thin Pink Line is a must read!

I picked up this book expecting a couple of hours of brain candy, but that's not what I got. Instead I found myself both entertained and challenged. Not only did I enjoy getting lost in Jane's wacky world, but I found myself faced with the question of just how far would I be willing to go to get what I want. This book is not your average beach read. The story is pure fun, but the writing is smart and witty.

I'm not usually a fan of what could be called 'Chick-Lit' or 'Brit-com', just so that's clear. However, I was given an advance copy of The Thin Pink Line to read on a long flight and was very pleasantly surprised. First of all, the dialogue (one of my first criteria) is crisp, well written and sounds real in the mind's ear. Next, there are moments that are laugh-out-loud funny. The novel is very well paced and moves right along. The only criticism I may have, and this is purely from a personal point of view and has nothing to do with the writing, is that I found it very hard to sympathise in any meaningful way with Jane, the protagonist. However, if someone like me who doesn't read much along the lines of this sort of thing enjoyed it very much, I'm sure people who do will find that The Thin Pink Line stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Confession: I really didn't expect to like this book much. I didn't think it was going to be my kind of book. But it caught me by surprise.

Now, let's be honest...Jane's not a noble character, no paragon of virtue. But what do you expect from a young woman who decides to feign pregnancy to fit in and to get some of the privileges that she sees really pregnant women enjoy. She's self-centered and selfish. But she grows and changes through the book and the ending, while a bit contrived, leaves us hoping that Jane will turn out okay, will become a better person.

While Jane is making her difficult journey though, the reader's journey is much more pleasant. There is great wit and some really sparkling writing. Jane may not be a person you'd want as a sister or a friend at this moment in her life, but she's fun to watch.

When she is late, a condition that never happens to her, Jane assumes she has to be pregnant, which makes her elated. She spreads the word about her delicate condition and everyone especially her boyfriend treats her with care and dignity. However, a few days later her period arrives. Reluctantly, she knows she must tell everyone the truth, but besides her friends and colleagues thinking she is a bonehead, Jane enjoyed the pampering she received. She decides to say nothing and just pretend that she is pregnant.

However, Jane begins to learn the down side of her fake pregnancy, as she becomes a closet smoker and drinker since she cannot imbibe in public. She gives up her exercise class and has to fake symptoms. When her boyfriend learns of her sham, he leaves, but Jane continues with her con until the bittersweet best and worse that could happen to her occurs. Jane falls in love.

At first brush, readers will think THE THIN PINK LINE is a silly chick lit tale, but that would be a mistaken classification. Instead, the story is an amusing allegory on the importance of honesty and caring for others. Jane is a delightful key player whose web of lies proves more difficult to maintain with every passing moment. Readers should take a chance on something different as the morality lesson venue is cleverly interwoven inside a jocular plot.

Harriet Klausner

As an English woman, I was insulted by the way this "writer" tries to write about an English character living in the UK. Put it this way, this book was so badly written, under researched and pathetic that I couldn't read more than a quarter of it. Example#1: English people do not say things like "Gee!" #2: We do not have bridal showers nor baby showers, nor do we refer to nappies as diapers. We do not go to an endo when we are pregnant. #3 We do NOT say things like "Us Brits..."
Do us a favor and at least do a bit of research next time you try to write a book set in the UK.

What starts out as a suspicion of a real pregnancy somehow turns into a fake pregnancy for all the wrong reasons. Or all the right reasons, if you think like Jane. I found myself drawn to her~ in spite of her less than lovable ways. There's something about her that had me in her corner. I liked her. I liked her wit too, which has an edge to it. I found myself chuckling at her thoughts and actions.

The plot may be less than believable, but this book doesn't strike me as "serious fiction." It's a fun book, with a plot that is believable in that context. It held my interest~ wondering what Jane was going to come up with next. She has some clever ways of getting out of the messes she found herself in.

She does "grow" throughout the book too. Not physically (since her pregnancy is a fake), but as a person. She loses some of her "me" self-centeredness in subtle ways as the book progresses.

This is a new view on pregnancy since it's written from a non-pregnant "pregnant" woman's point of view. I found the book refreshingly different from others I have read. It's well written and humorous, and I would definitely recommend it to others.

(Upfront FYI: I'm a guy. I don't know if that's important, but it just might be.)

THE THIN PINK LINE is an enjoyable madcap book that is guaranteed to delight lovers of zany British humor, a subject on which Baratz-Logsted must have been a patient student. It has many laugh-out-loud moments that, while of course very far-fetched (the book IS a comedy, after all), seem so real because of the author's compelling characterization.

I see some reviews on here that take issue with Jane's ethics and hold that against the book when they rate it. Yeah, she's self-absorbed, but what person that fakes a pregnancy wouldn't be? The book can't be about what it's about and have Jane be any less self-involved - any less so and she wouldn't do the things that make this book so funny. Jane's character reminds me of Basil on Fawlty Towers - that guy was anything but sympathetic and the show was hysterical. Lighten up, folks. Leave the "reader baggage" at the front desk, please; the bellhop will bring it up to your room after you turn the final page.

What I loved about this book the most was that I found myself throughout it rooting for Jane to be able to pull this off and always worrying that she was about to be outted as a pregnancy-faker (and all the ramifications of that). Lolita-esque, if you will, just without the gross stuff. It's compelling, fresh, and so satirical of a story that Jonathan Swift has nothing on it. I don't normally read books that are meant for a near women-exclusive audience, but I'm very glad to have spent the time with this one.

Yet another one of those dime a dozen, 2nd rate chit lit books in which the heroine grates on my nerves through the very last page. I should've known better when the actual story begun on page 9 or the rather trivial quote that preceded the story.

It was hard to find any redeeming qualities in the novel. The story was implausible and unbearable- girl fakes pregnancy with dull boyfriend because "everyone else is having a baby" and she has a bad case of sibling rivalry. However, kudos to Jane for managing to keep up the charade without getting punched in the face for her stupidity, her blackmailing, or her lies. I guess it's supposed to be funny when someone fakes a pregnancy to force bf to propose so she can throw a wedding shower and a baby shower? The icing on the cake is when she steals a baby from a church steps and throws a party to showcase her arrival and come clean. Does someone have a bad case of the Me syndrome or what?

The cast of characters were as uninteresting as Jane herself- boring bf, "perfect" older sis, phony coworkers-friends,bland new love interest. It's no surprise she doesn't have any real friends except for the stereotypical gay bff name David (pronounced Duhveed) in which Jane learns to pronounce halfway through the novel. The author also gives a teaser for the sequel. I've read a few pages and it doesn't appear to get any better. Stealing a baby and trying to avoid child services is not funny or condonable.

If you read the book, just keep an open mind and try not to judge her too harshly (as I have done) and perhaps you will enjoy this little novel.

It all starts well for Jane Taylor. Period late, she sees a chance to snag her reluctant wet-rag boyfriend, Trevor. But then it all fall apart when she realizes the vacancy in her womb. Oops. But, heck, why not continue with the pregnancy? She'd get pregnant next month for real. A flawless plan.

Am I the only one who struggles with Janes motivations through out this book? Did the author do any research at all? This is not a believable book, not even by a stretch. Ponder this:

- Why, on this dear earth, would savvy Jane Taylor care to keep lackluster Trevor? Or get pregnant with him when he shows no interest in it whatsoever? Or marry him when he shows no interest in her whatsoever? So, either our author was grasping at motivational straws to make her story work, or Jane is the stupidest woman to have ever walked fictional chick-lit world.

- Why would David, her best friend (beautiful, gay, and loving of the wretched-- how ever so cliche) stand by her? And keep her secret? No one's friend is this nice.

- Fake a pregnancy in part to have people open doors and be nice to her? Oh come on!

- At the end of her 3rd month, Jane is looking for an out to her scheme, but would hate to come clean. Has our author ever heard of miscarriage? The fact that Jane did not take this very obvious out was the first big loss of credibility and enjoyability for me.

Jane is a sociopath with a chick-lit twist. That the author expected readers to connect with her in any way is astounding. So it speaks well to her ability that she's almost able to do that. There are moments were Jane is funny, charming even. But there's too much wrong with the plot for me not to have thought it a ultragalatic waste of time. The author frequently makes huge credibility errors (you cannot access a hospital nursery by giving the last name "Smith"- sorry- and a department store will not give you a fake preg suit- and if you steal a baby off a church stoop you will wind up in jail).

Worse of all, the author leaves us hanging. Jane has made a colossal mess of her life and she's in her ninth fake month. How is she going to dig out of this one? Her very professional and social existance hang in the balance. There's no way out of it for Jane. The author saw this and decided to take the easy road and just not resolve the issues. I suppose she realized she couldn't end the saga and make it sound at all realistic, so, hey, don't finish the story. The author should have known better to spin a fictional web she lacked the ability to control.