The Widow's Guide To Sex And Dating: A Novel (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
I was quite disappointed with CR's jump into fiction. I suppose after "What Remains" I had irrationally high expectations and this just didn't do it for me. I hate to say it but so much of this seemed already done before (so many Sex and the City take-offs! Shudder). It was a bit pretentious at times as well, which I don't think was her intention, but made the book off-putting to the reader. It will make a good TV series, if that comes to fruition. I just hope CR produces something different, and better, in the future. I really enjoy Carole on "The Real Housewives of NYC" and I absolutely loved her memoir. There, those are all the nice things I have to say. You've been warned.This book was truly awful. It made me wish I had something next to me to barf into when I was finished. There is nothing good about this book. A completely unsympathetic character's husband dies. She spends 100 pages not really caring about his death and deciding she didn't really love him for no real reason at all. This doesn't make her relatable or human or flawed, it just makes her supremely selfish and unlikeable. She immediately begins to focus on getting laid for no real reason. In addition to the lazy plot there are so many ill-fated attempts at humor in this book that made me roll my eyes so hard. For example, when the protagonist meets a very nice man and is asked what she does she says she creates sex toys. (LOL-amirite, y'all? No. Exactly.) There are meetings with therapists, fortune tellers etc. all to give us that "New Yorkers are so quirky vibe" that is oh so original. There is even a scene totally ripped off from "Sex and the City" that is an homage to "The Way We Were". The saddest part of all is that the main character is supposed to be 32. I am 32 (ish) and love classic movies and even I did not get most of the references she made to pop culture. This seemed more like a character who was 32 in 1982.
What do You think about The Widow's Guide To Sex And Dating: A Novel (2014)?
Enjoyable and witty. Just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.
—Callie
Great writer, love the style, but good god is the story awful.
—Nazh
