Customer Reviews

Why She Went Home: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is slightly better than the author's first but that's not saying much. The narrator is a privileged self-involved twit and the story is superficial and dull. It also could've used a good weed-whacking...is at least 100 pages too long. Where have all the editors gone? The clever packaging of books like this can't make up for their fundamental mediocrity. Save your money!

Normally I cannot stand overly neurotic characters, but there's just something so likeable about Phoebe Fine and her aging musician parents that keeps me reading and laughing. Think of Anastasia Krupnik all grown up and you'll get Phoebe Fine.

Phoebe's life is going nowhere in the Big Apple, so she returns to suburban New Jersey and its shopping center landscape to put the pieces back together. Her mother has cancer, their house is falling apart, and even her "perfect" sister Emily seems to be losing some of her polish.

Throw in some fake Eastern Europeans, a broken viola, an old elementary school crush, and a really lousy first date, and this novel somehow comes together. I think my favorite character might actually be Jorge, Emily's South American Jewish lawyer husband and his awkward English.

Rosenfeld's prose isn't always pretty, but her characters are unique and a blast to read. And by all means, before moving back home, read this book.

One could complain that this book offers too many coincidences (like the Dickens novel it mentions). One could complain about, say, the copyediting (e.g., the missing word on page 230). But Phoebe Fine knows complaints, already, being something of a virtuoso in that department. Though not only a complainer, but a mirror of kaleidoscopic emotions and observations, with occasional surprise that they are apparently her own. I quite enjoyed Phoebe's story (I missed the first volume). Thanks, Lucinda.

I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Phoebe Fine. It was a breath of fresh air in an era when the majority of the books chronicling women in my age group (late 20's, early 30's) focus exclusively on sex, shopping and other frivolous matters. Also, those with an interst in classical music will enjoy the little jabs at the idosyncratic world of symphony orchestras.

A great, easy read with surprising depth and keen insight into relationships, both familial and romantic.

I didn't love "What She Saw...", but I found it engaging and creative enough that I promptly picked up this book. Boy, was I disappointed.

One of the things you don't realize through What She Saw, because of the non-linear plot, is exactly how flat Phoebe Fine is as a character. It was easy to assume that there was more to the woman than what was presented in the book, that she was engaging and interesting and full in the parts of her life that weren't chronicled.

But no, she's not. Most damning in my opinion, are Phoebe's actions. Her boy craziness in "What She Saw," explained away as a plot contrivance, is confirmed in this book. I'm okay with the directionless Generation-X character moving home to live with her parents. I'm not okay with her throwing herself desperately at a guy who is by her own admission a jerk. I'm not okay with her telling him she loves him out of fear that she'll be alone. It's just... not okay. That this is supposed to be a happy event left me completely puzzled and upset.

Also, the book is overwritten. No one speaks like these characters do; no one thinks like the narrator does. It just reads false, and moreover kind of pretentious. Here's an example from the beginning of Chapter 5:

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"Lenny, stop, there's a light on in the house!" cried Roberta, as they pulled into the lip of the mostly but not entirely gravel driveway. (Bottle caps, loose change, and bits of tinfoil had all been known to turn up in the farrago.) To amplify her point, she had extended her left arm across her husband's lithe frame.

"For heaven's sake, there IS," said Leonard, as he pounced on the brakes, an action that failed to instantaneously curtail the car's forward momentum. (The Yugo had a few known structural flaws, this being one of them; Leonard had always felt confident that he could work around the problem.)
-----------------

Do you see what I mean? Now, continue that same style for 200+ pages and see how tired you are by the end. Or, should I say, Perchance after having the luxury of perusing the multitude of pages that constitute this book you, too, will come to the inevitable but final determination that Rosenfeld's writing style - once so promising - instead finds you fatigued, with ennui.

I typically prefer a novel with some substance, but I enjoyed reading this book for some reason. The story is really quite lame, yet I found I had a little trouble putting it down. It's the type of book I like for a plane ride or to bring to the beach.

I loved this book. It was a change from the fluffy chick-lit type. It was refreshing to see a woman have a date that wasn't so perfect. A lot of chick-lit female characters find the perfect mate. It was nice to have a female character who didn't meet the perfect guy who is strong, handsome, ambitious and rich considering that all men aren't.
There were other areas that are similar to other chick-lit books - being unemployed and having difficulty in getting on with family members, but in this regard all books are different.
After reading so many chick-lit books that were very similar this was a bit of a change and I hope another sequel comes out. Plus you didn't have to read the first book (What She Saw) to understand "Why she went home", even though characters re-occur.

This book was so boring and infuriating that I skimmed through about 100 pages and read the last few chapters, just so I could see how it ended. Why Phoebe would ever keep dating Roget is beyond me- he was pompous, rude, annoying and cheap. Even though she can't stand him she apparently keeps dating him because she has the self esteem of a doormat. I skimmed the book to see when she would dump him and was so disgusted when that didn't happen. This book has it's humorous moments, but they are so few and far between that it is not worth reading.

You won't stop laughing or turning the pages. Rosenfeld gets it all exactly right. I'll follow Pheobe Fine to the end. THIS IS NOT CHICK LIT. It is a page-turner that hits all the right notes!!!!!!!

1. It's hilarious.
2. It makes life in a New Jersey seem fun and interesting
3. It's a love story with a happy ending.
4. One of the characters has big boobs.
5. It features catfights between sisters.
6. You might learn someting about classical music.
7. The dialogue is funny and smart.
8. The main character, Phoebe Fine, is like that best friend who tells you the truth that you need to hear.
9. Do you have anything better to do?
10. It's full of lists like this one!

From a fan.