Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Review: Driving Lessons by Zoe Fishman

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Pages: 336
Received: Received a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss

Release Date: April 8, 2014
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Goodreads Synopsis:

From the author of Balancing Acts and Saving Ruth comes the funny, heartwarming, and utterly relatable story of three women, each facing her own transitional moment, and all grappling with the idea of motherhood...

When Sarah and her husband trade in a crowded commute, cramped apartment, and high stress New York City jobs for life the slow lane in Farmwood, VA, the pressure is on to have a baby. At thirty-six Sarah knows it's time to get started, but the urgency motivating her to reach this pinnacle of self-fulfillment looms large. Meanwhile, her best friend Mona, a single and successful editor who's always wanted children, is diagnosed with cervical cancer. At the same time, Sarah's younger and seemingly perfect sister-in-law has just given birth to her son, Franklin. When Sarah uproots her new life with her husband in Virginia to return to New York and care for Mona, the three women will help each other navigate their new realities.

My Review:

This was an interesting story about finding yourself during some tough times. Sadly, a small part of me felt like something was missing in this story that I just couldn't quite figure out. I really enjoyed how Zoe Fishman has this story about three women dealing with different issues in their life, and really all helping one another in many ways. I really enjoyed how these three women can be in transition with their life in such different ways.

The main character of the story is Sarah, she is moving out of the big city to a very small town with her husband, and this is mainly her story of how the women around her really help her through the biggest transition of her life. The one thing that really had me wanting more from this story was the way the friendships were portrayed throughout. Each of the three women are coming to terms with the idea of motherhood in one way or another and it is a big issue in the story, Sarah is beginning to consider starting a family and she sees her sister-in-law dealing with her first-born, and then on the other end, her best friend is dealing with cancer and the most likely situation of never having children. Sarah is the one who seems to be helping out the other two while learning her own lesson that there is more to life than what she first believed.

I felt like this book went by quickly and that there could have been some more depth to a couple of the characters. I think that some things were not fully developed, especially the relationship between Sarah and her sister-in-law, though it was a good relationship by the end of the book and they begin to understand each other better, I was still missing something from those two. I think the best part of the book for me was following Sarah, as she navigates a new and completely different home and really finding her true calling in this small area. I found it funny that the story in a way follows Sarah as she learns how to drive again (since she hasn't driven in years and is very anxious in a car). I felt that this added some interesting humour to the story and in a way shows readers that sometimes adults need to grow up and start their lives over as well.

This is a cute and engaging book, though in the end something small was missing from the story to have me really love it and come back to it again years from now. 

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like it's more of a fun beach read than anything! Great review.

    ReplyDelete

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