Wait and See, Annie Lee [Hardcover]

Michelle Curry Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2001

In WAIT AND SEE, ANNIE LEE, Michelle Curry Wright takes you on a tour of relationships, love, and other minor miracles of the heart. This is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Self-pity is an unattractive trait and Annie Lee Fleck, the anti-heroine of Wright's ostensibly comic debut novel, indulges in it in spades. She and her husband, Lucas, live contentedly in a remote Colorado ski resort town where she waits tables at one local restaurant and he works as a chef at another. Happiness would be hers but for the fact that she can't get pregnant. Depressed, she takes to overusing emergency 800 numbers, ultimately focusing on a poison control hotline, making up repeated crises for a daughter who doesn't exist. When Lucas comes home and catches her in the act, it puts a chill into their marriage and he leaves town for a week. Then, while working late one night, she vacuums up a huge diamond. After she retrieves it from the bag, the owner arrives and snatches it back. Following a series of mishaps, Annie Lee winds up swallowing the diamond, whereupon the girl who cried wolf needs a poison control hotline for real. Wright vainly tries to infuse Alice Hoffman-style touches, such as the discovery of magnetism in the walls of the Fleck house. A large percentage of the book is filler, with nearly 10 pages devoted to the names of paints used on the Flecks' walls, which is meant to serve as a meditation on the couple's relationship. Maybe if Annie Lee abused a psychic hotline or a chatroom the premise would be more amusing. But there's never been anything funny about people tying up emergency lines when they don't need them, and this meandering tale proves no exception. Agent, Liv Blumer.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...tender, poignant and very funny...a first novel of great heart and spirit...made me laugh and filled me with hope." -- Luanne Rice, author of CLOUD NINE.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition edition (August 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446526908
• ISBN-13: 978-0446526906
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,294,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good beach read, July 29, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wait and See, Annie Lee (Hardcover)

Obsessive Annie Lee Fleck is a perfectionist pessimist, a fatal combination when she sets her mind on doing something. Not only does whatever she wants done must be 200 per cent flawless regardless of cost, she performs a complete Murphy analysis to determine what could go wrong to insure that never happens.

Annie Lee wants a baby in the worst way. She begins her overkill to insure this happens, driving her beleaguered spouse to seek shelter and comfort elsewhere. Even worse, Annie Lee begins to call the local Poison Control Center on a daily basis and sometimes more than that. She acts with the counselors as if she already has a baby though she is not pregnant and her husband has moved from Pike, Colorado to Seattle to escape her latest obsession. This marriage appears busted unless they can find a common peak like the restaurant they both want to open.

WAIT AND SEE, ANNIE LEE starts off as a hilarious satire that rips the basic tenets of society. However about half way into the tale, the plot takes an unnecessary turn to cuddly capriciousness and loses some of its edge. The story line overall is amusing due to the eccentric and likable characters including Annie Lee (as long as she is not part of the reader's household). Michelle Curry Wright shows the right stuff for those readers who want something completely different.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Postcards from Route 1-800, August 8, 2001

By 

"statsjunkie" (Verona, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wait and See, Annie Lee (Hardcover)

My favorite novels are the travel stories; Huck and Jim down the Mississippi, Gus and Call up the Montana Trail, the Joads across Rte 66. "Wait and See Annie Lee" is right in that roving tradition, but with a sly dada-ist twist. Although bodily rooted on the Continental Divide Annie Lee wanders the network of 1-800 emergency phone lines. Her adventures in this land of dis-embodied voices are laugh out loud funny, as is her stream of self-consciousness travelogue. Told with a light touch, a sharp eye, and a warm heart. A *very* good read; you'll be glad you made the trip.

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read, November 28, 2011

By 

SHR (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wait and See, Annie Lee (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this, even though the protagonist isn't always likeable and some of the situations are a little melodramatic. I loved the use of colour as symbolism and the descriptions of food and customers (Annie Lee is a waitress). It was as if the words had texture. I also loved Annie's fascination with random sayings she comes across and how they can instil meaning at different times in your life's journey. All loose ends are tied up at the end in a way that is able to be anticipated but the journey to Annie creating her own life meaning has some curve balls and is well worth the effort.