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 | The Friday Night Knitting Club
Author: Kate Jacobs
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Binding: Paperback
Released: 2008-01-02
Sales Rank: 256
ISBN: 0425219097
Edition:
Cover
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 2008-08-14 - Enjoyable but formulaic
I like a good chick-lit book once or twice a summer, and this one fit the bill. There were some likeable characters, and it was fun to see some different kinds of conflicts, like the 72 year old woman suddenly rediscovering her sexuality, and I loved the scene where James' mother gives him a dressing down. Some of the characters were too one-dimensional -- Georgia was just too good to be true much of the time, and Cat too stupid for redemption, and Darwin too annoying overall. I know I was supposed to cry when Georgia died, but honestly, her role seemd to be to be the catalyst for everyone else to get her life together, and once that happened, she kinda had to die because her purpose was served. The writer has obvious talent and some passages were either incredibly insightful (like why New Yorkers never invite you to their homes) or just plain lyrical. It's not great literature, but it's not bad, either, and she is definitely an author I would read again. But the book will go in my giveaway/trade pile because it's really not deep enough or satisfying enough for a second read.
 2008-08-14 - Lukewarm
I just never really got into the characters. I can knit well, so I wanted to like this book. It seemed like there was something missing . . .
 2008-08-09 - A BOOK FOR WOMAN EVEN IFTHEY DON'TKNIT
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT A GROUP OF WOMAN WHO HAVE LITTLE IN COMMON EXCEPT THE LOVE OF KNITTING. YET AS TIME GOES ON THEY DISCOVER THEIR BONDIS STRONG. YES THERE IS A LOVE AFFAIR.
IT IS A STORY OF REDEMTION AND RENEWAL. IT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH AND CRY.
2008-08-08 - A Good Summer Read!
I read this book and marveled at how I picked such a great novel about women, love, friendship and of course knitting. The writing is fresh; the characters memorable. No, you are not going to learn how to knit just from reading a novel about a knitting club but the beauty is that it makes you want to learn how by taking a formal class or joining your own local knitting club. I loved every page of this book. I thought the characters were well developed because I understood each and every one of them and their thoughts-their struggles. Sure Georgia's character may have irked me after a while...what with her musings and lingering resentment for her daughter's father but I could understand her character and WHY she felt as she did. I felt a connection with the other characters as well even the clueless Cat Phillips...and while I don't condone James's earlier abandonment, I understood his fear and WHY he jeopardized his and Georgia's relationship. There was a reason, I think, why the author wrote James and Cat's reappearance into Georgia's life. No, it may not have the fairy-tale ending and yes that was disappointing but at the same time I did not expect it to end any differently. For those who want a realistic view into the lives of the modern day independent woman who just so happens to knit, I say give this book a chance. I did and I do not regret it.
2008-08-07 - The most 'chick-litiest' of chick-lit
I want to start off by saying that the third star for this novel was given simply out of admiration for keeping so many balls in the air. Ms Jacobs chose to tell a story with multiple character plotlines, and I know how hard this is. Keeping track of things, making sure everyone gets their due, 'seeing' everything along the way to the story's conclusion; a daunting task. However...
It's a 2-star book.
As I infer in the title for this review, it takes what is stereotypical for a chick-lit novel and pushes it all front-and-center. It deals with 'woman-centric' issues...but does it in a way that's really patronizing. It maintains a decidedly low-brow approach to the exposition, as if the reader either needs or prefers to have everything spelled out ('Tell, don't show!'), and even then, does it in an extraordinarily pedestrian way. Almost as if- Well, as if Hallmark Cards had commissioned it.
There is no deftness of touch. (In fact, it's ham-fisted most of the time.) There's little subtlety involved. (In fact, everything is in bright neon, billboard-huge.) And aside from getting everything in, getting all the necessary facts related, the author doesn't seem to have much to say. That is, she's lacking a clear voice. What voice there is, seems more typical of a high school writer wanting to declare world views. 'This Is How I See The World'.
In truth, there was a lovely novel in here. The premise was great. But it was beyond Ms Jacobs' abilities. What's displayed within the pages of 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' is talent relating to writing similar to that of a vocalist aspiring to be a singer. Many, many times, I found myself shaking my head at the lubberly way she expressed even the simplest aspects of story, or of character. It was, in the end, a triumph of will that I achieved a full reading of the book.
As I've expressed elsewhere, in other reviews, I really wonder at the editors' roles in all this. Seriously; this is the book version of the movie that people exit from muttering 'How did THAT ever get made...?'
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