Isabel's Bed

Rating:
Summary: So Enjoyable
Review: Isabel and Harriet--what a divine combination these two characters create. Admittedly, I am a Elinor Lipman fan and would probably read, with relish, an account of her brushing her teeth, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. With a bizarre murder in the background, it was great fun to see two distinctly different female characters grown from strangers to friends. And as a 'would-be' writer, it was great fun to read about another 'would-be' realistically. More Elinor, please.

Rating:
Summary: So Very Boring
Review: Isabel Krug, the witty and charming woman of her 40's, is quite well known for a publicized affair. Her affair with a rich and famous man named Guy leads to his murder by his wife when she catches them in the act. Determined to write an autobiography, "The Isabel Krug Story", she sets out for a ghost-writer. The respondant to her ad is a mello woman, also in her 40's, named Harriet. When Harriet retreats to Isabel's house on the cape, she is at first surprised at her outgoing and open attitude. But after the two grow on each other, they have quite the adveture and teach each other a lot about life. Humorous and addicting, this is a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: ISABEL'S BED by Elinor Lipman
October 10, 2004

Two women bond and become unlikely friends in ISABEL'S BED, my introduction to the writing of Elinor Lipman. This book has made me a fan for life, and although I've been told most of her books are as good as this one, I can imagine that a "bad" book by Lipman will still be a passable read.

Harriet Mahoney finds herself going nowhere in the world of writing. Her dream is to have a book published, and she is currently writing a novel based on her parents' life. She belongs to a writing group, where she does not feel she totally belongs, and she is in a long-term relationship with a man that only cares about his bagel business.

Harriet soon finds herself without a boyfriend and without a place to stay. She and Kenny had been together for twelve years, when he tells her he's met someone else, the love of his life and they are now engaged to be married. Out of the blue, she gets an offer to ghost write a story by an infamous adulteress, Isabel Krug, and Harriet finds herself moving into a mansion in a New England town called Truro. The neighbors despise the mansion for being "more Malibu than Cape Cod". But Harriet loves her new home, and is now on her way to getting to know her new employer, who was in bed with her married lover when his wife shot him to death.

Isabel Krug is a woman of mystery. What's not mysterious about her is her need for attention and drama in her life. It is evident in her choice of men (two of whom were married at the time she got involved with them) and her desire to write a book about the murder that made her famous. Harriet suspects that she was hired not just to write this story for Isabel, but to be a companion to this woman, who lives alone with her handy-man Pete, and a man Harriet later finds out is her husband, Costas. Isabel needs Harriet just as much as Harriet needs Isabel.

As Harriet learns more about the murder of Guy Van Fleet, the more she learns about Isabel and her wild and crazy past. Lipman has a knack for writing witty and intelligent passages and I found myself laughing throughout the book. Lipman also does a wonderful job building up the character of Isabel Krug, who was larger than life but yet written in quite a believable fashion. What I loved most of all was the friendship that developed between Harriet, the very insecure writer with low self-esteem, and Isabel, who was beautiful and glamorous and belonged with the rich and famous. Lipman paints Isabel as a woman in need of attention, but someone who is compassionate and understanding, too. Harriet grows with the help of Isabel, as she slowly gains confidence in herself and finds out truly what makes her happy, and it isn't her "passion" for writing. ISABEL'S BED is highly recommended by this reader!

Rating:
Summary: Not great
Review: Poor storyline made it boring and I never loved the characters, as I almost always do. Not a favorite.

Rating:
Summary: A book about friendship between 2 very different women
Review: Witty and tender, Lipman's third novel treats lightly of love, mid-life crises, failure and new beginnings.

The narrator-protagonist, Harriet Mahoney, a Jewish-Catholic New Yorker transplanted from Boston, is jilted at age 41. "There went twelve years: my youth. In three months, he was married."

Floundering, she overhears a stranger on the subway, " 'There are no guarantees in this world, but chances are that people who take out ads in the New York Review of Books aren't idiots or crooks.' "

And that's how she ends up in Truro, Mass., in winter, sharing an ultra-modern mansion on the ocean with glamorous Isabel Krug who needs a ghost writer to capitalize on her one claim to fame - her intimate connection with murder. Isabel's rich and older lover had been shot by his wife when she caught them in her bed.

Harriet is confident of her ability to write this book - eventually. First there's the research, which may take a while. Harriet is a long-term veteran of writing groups whose members' idea of success is an encouraging letter from an agent.

Meanwhile, Harriet is meeting the other denizens of the house. Pete, 36, the man of all work, is a local fisherman, complete with (irritating after a while) accent. Harriet finds him attractive but is painfully aware of the difference in their ages. Costas, a mildly sinister, repugnant and brooding figure, is Isabels' husband. A prominent painter, he was disgraced in the art world when it was discovered that his photo realistic paintings were, in fact, photos touched up with paint.

Harriet, a rather conservative, self-effacing creature, is soon cooking all the meals and fretting over her ambiguous and unpaid position. Encouraged by Pete, she makes tentative steps towards self-assertion. Then "With Pete gone I was free to be apologetic. 'Is that okay with you? If we discuss some things?' "
But Harriet is open to influence. With Isabel's flamboyant urging, she gets a haircut, modifies her wardrobe, becomes just daring enough to call a man from her former writing group.

However, failure isn't through with Harriet yet. Despite the engaging banter and dizzy characters, Lipman has her gaze firmly fixed on reality and Harriet gets another dose of it. If this lighthearted and clever novel has a flaw it's the ease with which Harriet adjusts to devastating disappointments - she reacts more like a 25-year-old than a woman in her 40s.

Lipman's writing is snappy and quick, her characters outrageously loopy but with enough mystery to make them believable. Within the convolutions of a spiraling plot, Harriet grows and blossoms, leaving the reader satisfied and vastly entertained.