Me Times Three

Rating:
Summary: Unoriginal, yes, but still enjoyable book for women.
Review: Although I agree with the other reviewers who compared this book to Bridget Jones' Diary, I disagree with the premise that you shouldn't read it based on its lack of originality alone. Although clearly similar to Bridget Jones and other books of that vain, I found that Me Times Three has a more serious element (similar to Jennifer Weiner's Good in Bed). Set in NYC during the 1980s, the book does focus on romantic relationships and the working world but also addresses more serious issues such as AIDS. The title really doesn't fully encompass the story--yes, the main character discovers that her fiance is engaged to two other women, but this quickly becomes a minor plotline as the story progresses to other issues. The book is both funny and touching, and overall, I found it to be an engaging read which I would recommend to anyone else who enjoys books of this genre.

Rating:
Summary: a well-constructed tale
Review: Despite its bright yellow cover, Me Times Three is not a cheery book. I was expecting a fluffy romantic comedy and instead found a darker, more thoughtful novel. Me Times Three documents approximately one year in the life of New York fashion magazine minion, Sandra Berlin, as she discovers that her boyfriend of 9 years is engaged to not one, not two, but three women. A small consolation is that she is one of those women. Although the jacket cover implies that this is a book about a jilted single women dating, it is more about Sandra's relationships with just a few people whom she has known for a long time. Among them are Paul, her best friend, and Bucky, the ex-fiance. I thought Witchel did a great job showing where Paul and Bucky's lives intersected with Sandra's and how those intersections define Sandra's life, but not Paul or Bucky's.

The narrative is sprinkled with charming "fairy tales", but this is not a whimsical book in the Bridget Jones fashion nor is it tender like The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I thought it was most akin to A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing in its tone.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Sorry to see the negative feedback!
Review: Hmmm... I wonder if they read the same book I did. I found it delightful, true to life, funny, satirical, and enlightening. I am 51, so I enjoyed the younger woman outlook with the maturity of having been through some of those same situations! The fractured fairy tales interspersed really added to and interpreted the maturity that the main character, Sandra Berlin, gained as the story progressed. The story of her gay best friend was very real to me and I thought she did an excellent job of covering all the bases in dealing with the death and dying of a friend with AIDS. I listened to it on an audiotape first and then purchased a copy. It was excellent entertainment during my daily commute.

Rating:
Summary: A Cut Above
Review: I bought Me Times Three thinking it would be the typical women's fiction-romantic comedy piece. The story looks that way--you know, young woman in New York deals with the fact her fiance has two other "fiances", and then moves on with her life. There are a lot of similar stories out there--despite that, I do enjoy them. This book, however, was something different, something a little more. Sandy, the young woman in the novel is a real person. She doesn't bounce back immediately and begin dating tons of men in some sort of happy-go-lucky, light-hearted fashion. No, she is upset and depressed and turns to a close friend, a gay man who unfortunately lives 3000 miles away, for support. Despite the fact that she is down, the novel itself will not bring you down. Sandy is witty (not Bridget Jones witty, more like your sarcastic best friend witty) and she gets herself out of the dumps in a realistic way. This novel is also an accurate version of what life was like in NYC for a single young woman in the mid to late eighties. The people, the places, the pastimes, it was all there. A couple complaints though. I thought the story started off fairly slowly. Witchel bounces around time-wise in a way that bogs the novel down. After about 80 pages or so, when she gets into the present, things pick up and the novel becomes much more can't-put-downable. If you are looking for a slight departure from the fairy tale romantic comedy, if you are looking for a slightly darker, more realistic side of single life (more like In the Drink or Otherwise Engaged), this is your novel. Enjoy

Rating:
Summary: Painful, painful, painful
Review: I picked this book up at my local library and checked it out based solely on the Sarah Jessica Parker quote on the back. Let's just say the 5 hours it took me to read this book are 5 hours of my life I will never get back. Boring, poorly written, predictable. Who edited this book??