Rating: 
Summary: I really do miss Phoebe Fine
Review: ...even two weeks after finishing this clever and hilarious book I am still skulking around unable to find another novel that will be as good company as it was. Whether or not it's "chick lit," who cares? What is chick lit, anyway? A book with which you can spend a few evenings that might otherwise have involved dating? No shame in that. Why She Went Home is a delightful novel and, therefore, a rare find.
Rating:
Summary: I really do miss Phoebe Fine
Review: ...even two weeks after finishing this clever and hilarious book I am still skulking around unable to find another novel that will be as good company as it was. Whether or not it's "chick lit," who cares? What is chick lit, anyway? A book with which you can spend a few evenings that might otherwise have involved dating? No shame in that. Why She Went Home is a delightful novel and, therefore, a rare find.
Rating: 
Summary: Why You Should Read This Book!
Review: 1. It's hilarious.
2. It makes life in a New Jersey seem fun and interesting
3. It's a love story with a happy ending.
4. One of the characters has big boobs.
5. It features catfights between sisters.
6. You might learn someting about classical music.
7. The dialogue is funny and smart.
8. The main character, Phoebe Fine, is like that best friend who tells you the truth that you need to hear.
9. Do you have anything better to do?
10. It's full of lists like this one!From a fan.
Rating: 
Summary: cute cover, bad book
Review: I chose this book as my selection for our monthly Book Club. (I'd read a raving good review of it in a magazine)
I was disappointed and found it to be a BORING book. Nobody else in the book group found it to be that wonderful either.
Rating:
Summary: JUST READ THIS EXCELLENT BOOK
Review: I loved "Why She Went Home." Rosenfeld has a keen eye and an exquisite wit to match. I was constantly amazed at what she notices, and how she builds an extremely moving story on small, perfect details. This novel also made me laugh and laugh. Don't prejudge this book! You really will laugh and cry reading it. It's one of the best--funniest, most perceptive, most moving--novels to come along in a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Nice alternative to chick-lit lite
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Phoebe Fine. It was a breath of fresh air in an era when the majority of the books chronicling women in my age group (late 20's, early 30's) focus exclusively on sex, shopping and other frivolous matters. Also, those with an interst in classical music will enjoy the little jabs at the idosyncratic world of symphony orchestras. A great, easy read with surprising depth and keen insight into relationships, both familial and romantic.
Rating:
Summary: Nice alternative to chick-lit lite
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Phoebe Fine. It was a breath of fresh air in an era when the majority of the books chronicling women in my age group (late 20's, early 30's) focus exclusively on sex, shopping and other frivolous matters. Also, those with an interst in classical music will enjoy the little jabs at the idosyncratic world of symphony orchestras. A great, easy read with surprising depth and keen insight into relationships, both familial and romantic.
Rating:
Summary: Phoebe Fine, Part Deux
Review: Normally I cannot stand overly neurotic characters, but there's just something so likeable about Phoebe Fine and her aging musician parents that keeps me reading and laughing. Think of Anastasia Krupnik all grown up and you'll get Phoebe Fine.
Phoebe's life is going nowhere in the Big Apple, so she returns to suburban New Jersey and its shopping center landscape to put the pieces back together. Her mother has cancer, their house is falling apart, and even her "perfect" sister Emily seems to be losing some of her polish.
Throw in some fake Eastern Europeans, a broken viola, an old elementary school crush, and a really lousy first date, and this novel somehow comes together. I think my favorite character might actually be Jorge, Emily's South American Jewish lawyer husband and his awkward English.
Rosenfeld's prose isn't always pretty, but her characters are unique and a blast to read. And by all means, before moving back home, read this book.
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Summary: Reading out loud
Review: Not only could I not put Why She Went Home down, but I found myself compelled to read numerous passages out loud to my friends. (I had to explain my sudden bursts of laughter.) Phoebe, who was hilarious in What She Saw..., is growing up, but thank god, not really. She still, much like myself, can't get past that fact that she finds herself an alien among her own family. Many times while reading Why She Went Home, I found myself on familiar ground - both cringing over and nostalgic for the embarrassments of my own suburban adolescence. Phoebe is a believable 30ish heroine, who slowly learns to make peace with herself and her choices. I can't WAIT for the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: recommended
Review: One could complain that this book offers too many coincidences (like the Dickens novel it mentions). One could complain about, say, the copyediting (e.g., the missing word on page 230). But Phoebe Fine knows complaints, already, being something of a virtuoso in that department. Though not only a complainer, but a mirror of kaleidoscopic emotions and observations, with occasional surprise that they are apparently her own. I quite enjoyed Phoebe's story (I missed the first volume). Thanks, Lucinda.
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