The Thin Pink Line (Hardcover)

by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The world is a kinder, gentler place for pregnant women, or so discovers Jane Taylor, the heroine of Baratz-Logsted's debut novel, upon learning that she's expecting. So when her pregnancy turns out to be a false alarm, Jane impulsively decides to keep up the ruse. She invents details about her OB-GYN and fakes a growing stomach, among other increasingly inventive tricks. Jane is single (her live-in boyfriend didn't appreciate her deception), almost 30, an editor and British. Sound familiar? Baratz-Logsted is refreshingly self-conscious about following the chick-lit trend. As Jane laments, "Sometimes it felt as though you could no longer turn around in a bookshop or at an editorial meeting without being confronted with yet another pink-covered book whose pages told about the wacky adventures of yet another 20-something Londoner who labored in publishing." Jane's own adventures are more daring than many of her fellow single-female heroines, and Baratz-Logsted's premise is hilarious and original. Soon Jane's pregnancy threatens to ruin a budding romance and a project at work. She wishes she could come clean, but she's been offered a book contract about her farce by a colleague who catches her in the act. Jane doesn't start out as the most likable of characters, but she changes so much over the course of the novel, and is so charmingly audacious, that readers will be rooting for her-and wondering what she'll do at the end of the nine months.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Baratz-Logsted looks at a new angle of singledom: pregnancy, in the first hardcover title in the Red Dress Ink line. Jane Taylor, an assistant editor at a prestigious London publishing house, is sure she is pregnant, and she couldn't be happier: now she can finally wrangle that proposal out of her boyfriend, Trevor, and keep up with her older sister, Sophie, who is both married and expecting her first child. But when Jane learns she actually isn't pregnant, she isn't willing to give up her fantasy, so she plays along, figuring that sooner or later she will get pregnant, and no harm will be done. Not so. When Trevor discovers her deception, he leaves her without looking back. Jane still doesn't want to tell her friends and family the truth, and when a fellow editor suggests that she turn her deception into a book, Jane suddenly has a chance to realize her dream of being a writer. Though Jane's actions at times are downright perplexing, this is amusing, light fun. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Red Dress Ink (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373250304
• ISBN-13: 978-0373250301
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,276,153 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange... yet fun, July 6, 2003

By	CoffeeGurl (MA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

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!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Smart, Funny Read, July 5, 2003

By	"claysheila" (Madison, AL United States) - See all my reviews

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.

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a very good, very entertaining, read., June 21, 2003

By	"rmliss" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews

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.