Hanging Up

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Summary: Unplug your phone, grab this book, and enjoy!
Review: Hanging Up is about three sisters; Eve , the proclaimed 'doormat', Georgia, the 'self absorbed' magazine editor, and Maddy, the fun loving tv actress. With a dying father on top of many other problems, Eve is forced to take care of him, since the others don't seem to have the time.
Hanging Up is definately one of the best book-to-movie adaptions that stays true to the book, except for a few minor details. In the movie, it's Meg Ryan who gets in the whole "oops i was too busy on my cellphone to look so i accidently hit your car and my insurance is high so can we settle this privately" matter, while in the book it's her son Jesse. Overall, the story is a heartwarming journey through the three sisters estrangement back to their convergence. If you liked the movie, you'll definately like the book.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I have to say that this is very possibly the only book I have ever read in which I detested every single character: Eve, the self-absorbed doormat; Georgia, the self-absorbed career woman; Maddy, the self-absorbed "actress"...and the list continues with the parents, the spouses, the children...the only reason I want to see the movie is to see how irritating the characters are on screen--or how much they were changed by the screenwriter.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I loved "Hanging Up"! I found the characters to be very realistic in their emotional reactions to their situations. I can very much relate to Eve's allowing herself to be taken advantage of to such an extent. Also, her relationship to her sisters was aptly portrayed in that while she was talking to Georgia, she was the child seeking approval, but with Maddie, she tried to be the adult and expected her younger sibling to follow her guidance as she herself followed Georgia's. Each sister seemed to feel that no event in her life - no matter how important - had any merit until it had been shared with the others. It is very rare that I find a modern book that enjoy so well.

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Summary: What a hillarious belly laugh!
Review: I thought this was a great funny read and I can just see Diane Keaton as Georgia, Meg Ryan as Eve and Lisa Kudrow as Maddy. Its not very often that I read a book and am laughing down to the bottom of my belly - I think that the way Delia Ephron deals with the lives of this family through the eyes of Eve was great fun and I really recommend this book, I hope she writes more adult fiction and I really look forward to the movie.

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Summary: Still, it's 10x better than the movie
Review: Nora Ephron is brilliant and super-productive. While Hanging Up is not her best, it's well worth the read (and sure a bazillion times better than the sappy movie). The setup is difficult and conflicted: three daughters trying to cope in their various ways with the senility and death of their father. The girls/women are very different, and much of the book is heavy on telephone dialogue as they stay in touch with each other and try to make sense of their past: divorce, abandonment by their mother, alcoholism, and the eventual dementia of their father. All that phone conversation, however, gets tiresome, and the daughters suffer from an excess of vapidity and other irritating qualities. Still, it's pretty good.

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Summary: A good beach book, but the characters are a too whiney
Review: Overall, I enjoyed Hanging Up. It's a story of three sisters in a wildly disfunctional family. They communicate pretty much exclusively by phone, mostly over the condition of their increasingly senile father. It was very entertaining at times, but for the most part the oldest and youngest sisters are too self involved, and the middle one is a complete doormat for her father, sisters, and son. There is a bitter tone throughout the novel, yet I still had a hard time putting it down.

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Summary: Sometimes, It Is Necessary To Disconnect....
Review: This has to be one of the best books I've ever read. I've read it many times and the quality of Delia's writing is superb. From Eve's troubles with her father, to Georgia's nationally known magazine, to Maddy's consistent wrong choices, this is a book full of non-stop laughter and fun. Sometimes we get so caught up in work, that we're always on the phone and don't take the time to realize that we're missing the most important things in our lives. Sometimes, it is necessary to disconnect. This book has a great moral and you won't be able to put it down. Don't forget to check out the movie (Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, Lisa Kudrow, Walter Matthau). It's one of the best!