Customer Reviews

Your Roots Are Showing

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I actually read the British version of this book (title there is Wrong Sort of Wife?) and was thrilled to discover a new favorite author. You are drawn in from the beginning when the main character does something most of us have done before-- sent an email to the wrong person. Lizzie is a well-developed character that mothers (and non-mothers, too!) will relate to easily. The writing is witty and fast-paced. I laughed out loud too many times to count. My only complaint was a lack of sleep for a couple of days due to some late night reading.
Can't wait for the next novel from Elise Chidley!

In a nutshell:
Lizzie Buckley sent a ranting email to the wrong person. It was supposed to go to her sister; instead, it went to her husband. Doesn't really sound all that bad, does it? Unfortunately, the rant was about him. Finding herself suddenly alone with two small children and facing a divorce, she must come to grips with her own internal battle with postpartum depression. Easier said than done.

My opinion:
Well, what can I say that hasn't been said already? Not much. This is a wonderfully written, nicely flowing tale of love with all the glories and pitfalls. Told entirely from Lizzie's third-person POV, the reader is a given a glimpse of life after children when the world should be bright and shiny but, as sometimes happens, is dreary and dull instead. I think Ms Chidley, although admitting that she has not experienced full-blown postpartum depression herself, has aptly captured the essence of this state of mind. She successfully conveyed Lizzie's feelings yet kept the tone light and humorous so as not to overwhelm the reader. There were times, however, where I found my eyes tearing up and times when I laughed out loud. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Lizzie Buckley didn't have the perfect life but she did live a happy one with her husband James and her twin children. One thing Lizzie never imagined she would experience is depression...postpartum depression to be specific. Before Lizzie can even say one... two... three, she finds herself moving to the country with her children and living in a run down cottage. James has left Lizzie and it's all her fault. Lizzie accidentally sent an email to James. Some of the items written in the email were really hurtful. Do you know just how hard it is to take care of two children, deal with your marriage; all while trying to put yourself back together? That is the million dollar question that Lizzie will try to find an answer to.

I thought Your Roots Are Showing was a simple but sweet book about love, sadness, joy, freedom and cherishment. This book just goes to show you that writing what you know can produce great results. Though I can't say I can relate to Lizzie, I do know that I felt like I really connected with her and her family from the first moment I met them. I dare you to put this book down and walk away from it; you will find yourself having a hard time doing so. For anyone who is looking for a new and fresh voice to read then you have got to check out Elise Chidley's debut novel Your Roots Are Showing.

This book will touch the heart and soul of anyone who is a mother. The ups and downs a woman goes through before and after marriage added with the complexity of emotions of a stay-at-home mom with young children are so real. I could not put the book down and belly-laughed more than once at the girl-humor the author infuses throughout the love story. For her first novel, Elise Chidley hit it spot on, and I can't wait to see what she pens next!

For readers tired of waiting for another Shopaholic book, here's an author that delivers a chick lit that's witty, sophisticated, yet down-to-earth. It makes you laugh, while you empathize with Lizzie as she copes with three-year-old twins in a ramshackle house after her marriage abruptly falls apart.
Feeling miserable and overwhelmed, she tries to make a new start but entertains visions of luring her husband back. She struggles to make a home for her children, pull herself together and revive the unkempt garden. A hunky handyman boosts her self-esteem, though theirs is an adverserial relationship.
Lizzie's best friend drags her out for running which gradually helps her overcome the post-partum depression that poisoned her relationship with her husband.
The British setting and flashes of humor evoke Bridget Jones and Becky Bloomwood. Highly recommended!

At first, this book seems to belong to the genre of books about women finding themselves after losing their husbands. Typically, those women grow stronger and realize they don't need their husbands after all. "Roots are showing" actually first the "change and grow" sub-genre of literature targeted to women.

Readers will relate to the story's premise. Lizzie fires off a dramatic message to her sister, complaining bitterly about her marriage...and then accidentally sends it to her husband, James. James responds by demanding a divorce. He leaves. Lizzie moves to a cottage in another part of England, near her best friend Tessa.

On her own with her three-year-old twins, Lizzie is forced to ask, "What went wrong?" As a reader who doesn't know much about marriage and motherhood, I found myself making a speedy diagnosis. Lizzie feels insecure about herself and her appearance. She can't believe her handsome husband really loves her. So she keeps sabotaging the relationship to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. At times she seems particularly dense as she imagines her husband's motives.

Fortunately, Lizzie's best friend Tessa and insightful therapist Ivana are much more tactful. Like so many heroines of the "change and grow" genre, Lizzie discovers her salvation in activity. Chidley follows the conventions of the genre. For example, a handsome eligible main appears, literally on her doorstep, in a small town where most women would go mad trying to find someone just for intelligent conversation. In another subplot, Lizzie gets unexpected, uninvited help in achieving her career goals. These conventions don't kill the story, but led me to award four stars rather than five.

As other reviewers noted, the book is difficult to put down. Lizzie is a three-dimensional, thoroughly believable character. She interacts with a series of off-beat characters in a plot following the textbook form: lots of action leading to a strong climactic scene that's funny, desperate and sad all at once.

Elise Chidley is a gifted writer with an impressive command of the English language. She has a special talent for describing scenes, holding the reader's interest while sharing lots of detail. I realize that a first novel has to fit a recognized genre. Hopefully, the author will take more risks and move closer to literary fiction in her next novel.

This book was sent to me for review. I will search proactively for the author's next book.

Your Roots Are Showing is a delightful novel addressing the slow erosion of a marriage, and perhaps that of a woman as well. That sounds awfully sad and haunting, but that is not the tone of the book. Elise Chidley tells about the crumbling of a marriage and the hard choices with an honest and reflective tone (and more than one light moment that made me laugh out loud).

I don't often like to read books that deal with the dissolution of a marriage, or the starting over period that happens next, but without giving anything away, I will say that the tone of the book and the choices made within the pages combined to make this a great read, encouraging personal reflection and evaluation in just the right amount.

I loved the premise of this novel--one day a very tired and cranky Lizzie fires off an email intended for her sister Janie but it goes instead to her husband James. He thinks she wants out of the marriage and so decides to divorce her. We've all had those "do over" moments, when if we could just, as Cher would sing, turn back time.

But in this novel as is often in life, Lizzie doesn't get what she wants but she gets what she needs. Exhausted and depressed from having twins and no real support system, Lizzie decides to improve herself so that James will want her back. But the improvements actually help Lizzie more than James--she learns to love running, pursues her dream of being a children's writer, and gets her self confidence back. Only then does life get better for her, with or without James.

Like many novels with relationship troubles, problems arise not because there is a "bad" person, but because of a couple's inability to communicate. In real life I wished Lizzie and James had sat down and talked about their problems, but then the story would have ended at chapter one and not made a novel.

The novel is well-written with a strong story. I love the British humor and language and recommend it to anyone who wants to read a funny, engaging story about a woman's journey to rediscovering herself. I'm looking forward to her next book!

YOUR ROOTS ARE SHOWING
Elise Chidley
Grand Central Publishing
Hachette Book Group
ISBN: 978-0-446-17814-3
$13.99 - Paperback
384 pages
Reviewer: Annie Slessman

If making a move to a new home with a set of toddler twins wasn't enough, Lizzie has to deal with the heartbreak of her own making and the discovery of her own abilities and limitations. The blasted email she had sent her sister and accidently sent off to James, her husband, was probably the biggest mistake of her life. She hadn't really meant the things she had said in her email, she was just depressed and tired from the daily task of seeing to the twins needs. James, however, took it all literally and announced he wanted a divorce...a DIVORCE!

Struggling to find her way alone, she rents the ram shackled Back Lane Cottage and moves her and the twins into their new home. The realtor had discouraged her from renting Back Lane Cottage saying there were better homes available, but the cottage had something the others didn't...character and a feeling of being home.

Lizzie begins to write a children's book and develops a relationship with the local gardener, Bruno. She is also training to run a marathon with the encouragement of her friend, Tessa. Life seems to continue but something is missing in her life.

This work provides a fun, comfortable and well-written storyline. Readers will find themselves encouraging Lizzie on as she deals with her trials and triumphs. Chidley has managed, as a debut writer, to catch a reader's interest early on in the story and keep them turning page after page. Overall, Chidley can pride herself on a job well done!

Elise Chidley lives with her husband and three children in Connecticut.

It's always a thrill to discover a new author that you want to tell others about. Elise Chidley's debut fiction novel, Your Roots are Showing, is newly released.

By mistake Lizzie sends an email to her husband James that was meant for her sister Janie. Unfortunately it details how fed up and frustrated she is with her marriage. It was just venting to her sister, but James takes it to heart and before she knows it, Lizzie is separated. She rents a rundown cottage in a small village with her three year old twins and then...Well what is next? She still loves James, but it seems he's ready to move on. Maybe it's time to love herself.

Lizzie Indigo is a wonderful, warm, lovable character. The journey to reclaim her life and herself is by turns funny, sad and inspiring. Chidley has perfectly captured the trials and tribulations of life after children. Lizzie's world is filled out by an eclectic group of supporting characters (I'm quite taken with the meddling neighbour Ingrid)

Chidley is very funny. I actually found myself laughing out loud as she recounts a tale involving the idea that wrapping one's self in saran wrap will drive your husband mad. Or the self tanning fiasco....

If you've read the Shopaholic/Bridget Jones books, you'll love this great feel good chick lit read. I'll be watching and waiting for Elise Chidley's next novel!