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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Could have been better, July 7, 2006
This review is from: I Went to Vassar for This? (Mass Market Paperback)
This novel is standard chick-lit fare with a time travel twist. It would have been more interesting if the author also showed us what was happening to 1959 Cathy in the twenty-first century. Cathy is a cross between a rambling Gilmore Girl and Elaine from Seinfeld, but sometimes her behavior is so over the top that at times it makes her a bit unlikeable and unbelievable. After a misunderstanding ruins her date with Hank, she stands outside his door and proceeds to grope her breasts while screaming that he could not handle a real woman- oddly enough he doesn't get a restraining order and is not deterred by her behavior.
This book has the chick-lit cliche of the hunky down-to-earth guy who also happens to be very rich. Cathy also goes out of her way to show us how enlightened she is, she hires a mouthy black girl of whom she says if it were the twenty-first century this girl would work for me and we would go out for drinks together. This is weird because its before she gets to know her, but just assumes for some reason just because the girl is black that they would be best buds. Also her idea of progress still has the black girl working for her not with her-not as an equal but as a subordinate- but I guess you take your progress where you can. She also stages a sit-in to protest anti-semitism at an exclusive club. This happens near the end of the book, and at this point I got a little tired of Cathy and her grand gestures(racism, gender roles, sexual discrimination/harassment, dating a guy who's on the down-low, healthy eating, the list goes on and on)and stupid behavior and just wanted to finish the book so I skimmed over this part.
All in all not a bad book but not a very good one either. At times I couldn't believe how stupid and clueless Cathy was given that she went to Vassar and has an MBA, but in all the chick-lit books the heroine has to be stupid so I guess that is all par for the course. I think you are supposed to be laughing at how dumb she is but I find this aspect of the genre irritating. Why do all these women have to be written as idiots? It was refreshing however that Cathy didn't carry on too much about her weight or her clothing. Despite the flaws, unbelievable coincidences and the silly ending,the book kept me reading and engaged in the story. It's a good beach read.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Microwave Blast to the Past of 1959., September 12, 2006
This review is from: I Went to Vassar for This? (Mass Market Paperback)
I normally don't read chick lit. In fact, until I read I WENT TO VASSAR FOR THIS, I don't think I had ever read a chick lit book. I picked up this novel because the cover happened to catch my eye and when I read the synopsis on the back it intrigued me because I've always been fascinated with time travel.
The heroine of this story is Cathy Voorhees (no relationship to Jason), a twenty-something Manhattanite who is working her way up to the executive level at an advertising agency. However, Cathy isn't all that nice of a person and is full of pride. She looses one of the biggest clients her company was hoping to win over and is promptly personally fired by the CEO. When she gets home she attempts to heat up a tv dinner in the microwave, but forgets to take the aluminum foil off the top and the oven explodes. When she wakes up she finds herself in 1959 and in the body of a Cathy Voight, a woman who looks a lot like herself. Remembering everything she's ever seen or heard about time travel, from WHEN PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED to BACK TO THE FUTURE, Cathy tries to figure out how to get back to the 21st century while finding herself becoming attached to certain aspects (and a particular handsome landlord) of that age.
I enjoyed I WENT TO VASSAR FOR THIS? The book started off rather slow and the ended felt forced and somewhat unresolved (exactly what became of Cathy Voight, e.g.), but overall I found it to be a good read. I don't know if this is typical of chick lit novels, but the book was chock full of cultural and popular allusions (most of which I knew). There were also several times that I wondered to myself how Cathy could so full of facts, yet so dumb: in her conversations with people she was constantly using references, yet she didn't even know simple historical facts, e.g. Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon.
I WENT TO VASSAR FOR THIS? isn't a great novel, but it is a good one and makes for a fun read (actually, it could make a decent film if someone adapted it correctly). I'm glad I picked a book like this as my first venture into a new genre of reading.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Indeed: "A Good Beach Read", April 1, 2011
This review is from: I Went to Vassar for This? (Mass Market Paperback)
I happened across Naomi Neale's I WENT TO VASSAR FOR THIS? in a BigLots (discount retail store that sells new merchandise) for $2.00 about a year ago. The title is odd and definitely not the kind I would ever use on a book I write.
Am I glad I came across it? I suppose.
I agree with most of what has been said about this book already. On any critique, it will likely be given 3 or 4 stars out of 5. Its premise (as well as certain elements of the plot) is considerably 'far-fetched', and the writing style and general feel of the book certainly doesn't compare to that of a bestseller or literary-fiction novel. However, it is an interesting read nonetheless because of the situations that arise from the main character, Cathy Voorhees (strange last name), being magically transported back in time.
Depending on what you're looking for in a book, I loosely recommend it as a casual read. It held my interest.
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