Three words came to my mind almost instantly when I read the blurb of this book - The Ugly Truth. In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if the movie had been inspired by the book, given that the book was published four years before its release. But as I read the book, I realized that except for some similarity in the skeleton of the main story, the movie and book are really quite different. And the book has its own flaws and charms.Reinventing Mona is a feel good book. Sure there's chaos and emotion and a load of confusion, but there's warmth and happiness too. The story is definitely interesting and highlights the differences between the way men and women think, all through the nutty situations that Mona lands herself in. Humor wise, the writing is pretty good. It does make you laugh out loud quite often and smile at other times.Character wise, Mona is a woman with whom many would associate. Aside from her unique problems, she has those that are common to all women. And the author shows just who she really is simply by how Mona deals with those problems. Mike, like the blurb says, is the guyish guy one could find. But like every human (and every hero), he has his own layers which unravel quite nicely as the story progresses. Then you have Greta and Vicki, Mona's friends who add new dimensions to her life. In fact, the rapport that she shares with each of them add a whole new life to the story too. What I really liked was Mona's interaction with Adam. Not only are those interactions funny, but you learn all about Mona as she learns about herself - simply by being with, and learning about, Adam.Unfortunately, even with such interesting characters, good humor and a funky story line, the book just wasn't as good as I'd hoped for it to be. The first problem was that it began with great promise and then just collapsed. A few chapters after the first couple got quite cumbersome and slow. But I pushed through them and the book picked up quite well and quite quickly. But then there was the main problem - the choppy writing. The book moves a lot between the present and past; and even though it's written completely from Mona's perspective, it gets clumsy. The abrupt shifting breaks the flow too often. Then there was the abrupt time and feeling jumps. One situation simply ended and another began, one that was weeks away from the first. There was no progression between the two incidents, especially in terms of Mona's thoughts or feelings. All you knew was that she felt a particular way on Day 1 and she felt something different on Day 30. There was nothing that really allowed you to feel her emotions with her as they changed. All these things caused the final product to seem too choppy - like a bunch of incidents lined up with no string to hold them together.The book and the writing style had its flaws. And the typos, however occasional, didn't help any. As the book progressed, I shifted from thinking it was just about okay to bad to okay again. I also thought that the story was predictable - there was only one way the climax could unfold. And I think that was the very reason that I can give the book a 3 instead of a 2.5 - the way the end unfolded took me by surprise... and made me laugh a riot while doing so! I was still a little bugged about the bumpy ride, but thanks to the ending, I was able to overlook the problems to some degree and still feel good and warm when I finally closed the book.All in all, Reinventing Mona was a decent read - light, funny, interesting (for the most part) and warm. I liked seeing Mona come to terms with who she really was and what she wanted. And I liked the way each person who cared about her helped her along that journey. Anyone who is a fan of ChickLit, romantic comedies and curl-up-in-your-blanket-and-read books will enjoy this novel by Jennifer Coburn.
I was expecting total fluff (and it is) but what I didn't expect was the backstory of what happened to Mona's family in Montana before moving to California. I found that part of the story so sad. Perhaps I gave it more weight and meaning because it caught me guard. I don't know. I know that I enjoyed it and wished there was more about that time in her life.I did find it hard to believe that this woman who had no life just went out and got one in a matter of weeks. She should have been more lost I would think trying to navigate through everything. On the other hand, she did bury her feelings for so long perhaps she didn't know what to do.Let me sum it up like this.... It was hard for me to review because I read the romantic portion of it as I would normally read chic lit, it was predictable and fluffy. But I wanted to read the backstory portion of it as more contemp lit and that is where my disconnect comes from. I liked it though. More than a lot of chic lit that is out there.
What do You think about Reinventing Mona (2005)?
Reinventing Mona is a comedy written in the first person. A rich young woman with a serious identity crisis is trying to find herself after loosing her entire family in a tragic accident. She believes she is boring beyond belief. Via various stunts and tricks she tries to impress the man of her choice just to find him even more boring than herself. Her group of friends consists of a psycho-therapist, a stripper, an author, and more. All these individuals share into Mona's reinvention to some degree and add snappy bits and pieces to the many pages of dialogs. Reinventing Mona has a satisfying ending pointing out the fact that although life doesn't always go according to one's plan it can still lead you to your goals. The book is an easy "beach read" and a no-brainer but certainly does have some entertainment value.
—Diana Shaffner
This is a Romantic Comedy with little romance and to obvious comedy but over all kept my simple mind entertained. It’s about a woman, Mona (duh of chorus) who’s tired of her nonexistent life and takes the buyout offer to leave her company. She does this with the notion that if she puts all her time and energy into changing herself she can get her dream man Adam, who she only knows because he does her taxes once a year. She hires people to help reinvent her invisible self, with the criticism from her therapist best friend Greta along the way. She hires Mike the dog, to get the man’s view on what men want their woman to be. We meet many funny and strange characters, I enjoyed the relationship between Mona, Greta, and Vicky (Mike stripper sister) there becomes a fun galpal bond. The story dabbles into some child hood tragedies though out the book, that I could have done without. When reading it I felt like maybe there are way too many extra characters and moments that drained the story, but then it all comes together for a laugh out loud obvious ending. I mostly liked the book because the author did really well in showing you how invisible Mona was, I’m very much like her in this way, and understood that exact feeling. Also I enjoyed the classic movie and San Diego references, because for once I knew what they are taking about. She’s thrown back into reality, and comes to the terms that your dream man is only what you pretend he is, and realizes she preferred the real man even if he makes himself come across like a machismo pig. With the help of the new people she’s surrounded herself with, Mona does get reinvented but into the person she wants to be. I tend to compare all books to movies and this one sums up to the San Diego version of Crazy, Stupid, Love.
—JessiCat
First off props to Jennifer. it's not easy writting romance and while this kne was predictable, its the events that made it interesting.My critiques: Spoiler alert. I don't like how the christian guy turns out to be tbe "bad guy" in tbe story.Also, and not to sound perverted but We dont get to hear about Mona 's first sex adventure after so many years. We wondered how she would handle love, kissing and everything else amwd that was all skipped. I can do without details, but would have been nice to see how she dealt with it. since thats how the book began..As for the book "Christian"? I found it on Kindle under that tag and Mona started ti sound Christian but she was far from one. Luckily Im an open mjnded Christian. Otherwise I woukd have rated it 2 stars dur to the cursing, lesbianonic moments and the sex talk. but overall a good book if you can get passed all that stuff.
—David Santos
