Review: Skillful prose
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 13, 2014
Sometimes, books in the humor or satire genre can be a bit of a hit-and-miss with readers--especially if the writer is trying too hard to be funny and jokes fall flat. I am sometimes also wary of glittery descriptions because I prefer substance to hype.At the time of this posting, the product description for this book mentions that the book is "intimate, snarky, and completely relatable." As I read the book, I was glad to be reminded of these adjectives in the product description--I was NOT disappointed as a reader and didn't feel misled or that the description was unwarranted.Topics like marriage, sex and pregnancy can be tiresome to wade through (depending on a reader's individual tastes and preferences). What I liked the most was the fresh vibe of Ms. Osterkamp's writing style, combined with an original prose structure (each chapter is quite long and covers quite a bit of range in terms of time). The content was contemporary but relatable enough that the themes of the story won't become dated and irrelevant (yes, even with mentions of a certain celebrity in the last chapter!).These lines from the first chapter in particular stood out to me:"...and he didn’t start out determined to stay single, like I had.""Because what you didn’t hear about from friends, what they didn’t show you on TV was how sloppy starting a family was.""Sometimes I wondered if marriages should be private affairs, meant only for the bride and the groom to quietly express their love and commitment."These are certainly things that many people think about, which make the characters and story instantaneously believable.A memorable book if you're looking for a thoughtful, contemporary story about self-discovery, that isn't dragged down by unimaginative and rehashed genre tropes.