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Summary: Just buying, but I am sure that this will be a good one...
Review: I am just ordering this book tonight, but I am sure that I will love it before I even open the first page. I am familiar with Jean Marie Laskas, as I work at the retirement community where her parents reside. I have had the pleasure of reading her Wahsington Post, Esquire and Chicken Soup for the Soul articles. I spoke with her mother the other day and she highly recommended that I read this book (I am sure she is not prejudiced, lol!!).I can't wait to recieve my copy.
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Summary: delightful!
Review: This was a lovely book. Laskas, a 40+ writer decides she wants to live on a farm. She and her boyfriend-soon to be fiance, then husband, find the perfect place and take the bait-they buy it. Both "city-fold," hilarity ensues as both come to terms with farm life, love, commitment, death and hope. This is a touching story that stays with you for weeks. Just loved it.
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Summary: GREAT BOOK!
Review: I bought this book as a gift for a friend in California. She enjoyed it so much that after she read it she mailed it to me here in England. I loved the book and now my husband is enjoying it. The author has a great style of writing. You feel as if she is your friend and is talking directly to you. Such a fun story. Don't miss it!
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Summary: What a pleasure!
Review: From the first page this book is a refreshing and fun read. The author captured my interest, attention, and heart!
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Summary: A rich and charming story!
Review: The author and her boyfriend Alex decide to jointly purchase a fifty acre farm in western Pennsylvania. After living in the city their whole lives, they take their three pets--her dying cat named Bob, her dog named Betty and his "standard" poodle Marley--and begin country life on their newly acquired property. Here's a story that's easy to read yet captivating because of its delicious deadpan humor, appreciation of country folk's cameraderie, and deep unabashed love of animals. The reader is drawn so strongly into the narrative that the characters become real people. How wonderful to look at the way in which one person's dream becomes reality even though this particular situation may well be out of the fiscal reach of the average single woman. The strength of the story lies in the fact that it deals with problems common to everyone---the impending death of a beloved pet, the fear of a cancer diagnosis, the whirlwind journey of wedding preparations. Its conversational tone is almost like that of a telephone chat between women friends, ultimately bringing bouts of laughter, tears of sadness, and whoops of joy. This kind of story should never end and definitely merits another book to find out what happens next.
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Summary: Great Book!
Review: This was such a wonderful book! Like other reviewers, I laughed and cried, often while reading the same passage. Ms. Laskas is able to laugh at herself, and she has such a wonderful view of life without being a pollyanna. The only problem with this book was that it ended. I delayed reading it as I got closer to the end so that I could put off the inevitable. It has been a long time since I have read a book that I enjoyed this much. It makes me want to read much more of what Jeanne Marie Laskas has written.
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Summary: Great Book! Great Gift!
Review: Jeanne Marie Laskas is a wonderful storyteller with a unique voice. This book made me laugh out loud. After I finished reading it, my husband began reading it aloud and it is just as good the second time around. This true story is brimming with insights about human nature and those secret dreams we all harbor inside. I bought it for all my friends and they love it too. Check out her writing in Esquire.
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Summary: You'll laugh, you'll cry
Review: This was a fabulous book. Its a deceptively simple story about city folk who move to the country. Their misadventures as they try to adapt to farm living and rural western Pennsylvania "machismo" were hilarious. Of course the move to the farm is a metaphor for the main character's life -- she's following a lifelong dream, taking a risk, and upsetting her well-ordered life just when all the order is about to choke her. I found myself laughing out loud and crying at the same time as I read this book. As a native western Pennsylvanian and an animal lover, I especially identified with this book. Anyone who enjoys reading about a personal journey told with great humor and insight into the human condition will enjoy this gem.
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Summary: Too funny too miss out on!
Review: This book is so excellent,that after only 30 or so pages I was looking to e-mail author begging for her to write more! It is something modern and up to date and anyone could relate too. I have been re-reading events that made me laugh out loud! Don't miss this one PLEASE!!
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Summary: Read outloud to your farm buddy
Review: My fiance and I laughed 'til we cried at the adventures of two middle aged city people who buy a picture-postcard fifty acre farm in rural Pennsylvania. Laskas draws wonderful word pictures, from the hilltop setting overlooking her fifty acres of multiflora rosa, to her bald, ground-hog killing standard poodle (not the yappy little ones), to the fat, bulging-eyed, grumpy mule she's bought as a wedding gift for her husband. Having suffered the same "buy the farm" experience ourselves, we fully appreciate the surprise a city person feels at the first day of deer season, the horror and humor of a rat in the oven, and of course the ongoing challenges of fitting into a society where every other neighbor is named Joe Crowley. Highly recommended for it's wonderful characters and good story.
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