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"Daring Chloe" Review

"Daring Chloe" by the sublime Laura Jensen Walker

     What book lover hasn't wished that they could float down the Mississippi with Jim and Huck?  Or be sitting in the courtroom while Atticus Finch gave closing arguments?

     All her life Chloe Adams has been "Chloe the Timid."  The rest of this Adams clan isn't mysterious or spooky, but our little caterpillar is definitely just a bit kooky.  On one branch of Chloe's family tree is Julia the Perfect, another little twig is Chloe's cousin Erica, a Nellie Olson carbon copy.

     Chloe's wedding march towards happily ever after comes to a screeching halt when her bethrothed breaks up by text message.  Chloe is shaken to her core.  Her Aunt Tess's sons volunteer to make Chris disappear Soprano style.

     Fellow Paperback Girls book club babes, Tess and Becca, whisk her away on a Mend Your Broken Heart Cruise, what would have been her honeymoon.

     When Chloe thinks back on how she met Becca, flashes of lime green polka dots and a fake red nose come to mind.  This fellow book nut works at the locak book store, and that's how she made an entrance into Chloe's world.  Becca is the friend who would scuba dive for the thrill of a shark encounter.  At the thought of a little deep sea diving all Chloe hears is the Jaws theme.

     When they return from the honeymoon that wasn't, Becca and Chloe become roomies at the condo where the lovebirds were supposed to build their nest.

     At the next Paperback Girls pow-wow the plan is hatched:  They'll build adventures around the book club choices.  Jane Austen's "Emma" inspires a night of harmless matchmaking.

     As they go along the escapades become more outrageous and bold.  There's a rafting trip in Huck's honor.  On a camping trip thanks to "A Walk in the Woods", Chloe is ready to face down a bear for the safety of the others.  This tame grizzly is a slobbering Newfoundland.

     Julie the Perfect falls off her pedestal when Chloe has to face the "scene of her nightmares" the bridal shop.  The last great voyage of the book finds the Paperback/Getaway Gals in Nutella rapture in Paris.  While there Chloe falls in love--with the Eiffel Tower.  And the butterfly starts to emerge from her cocoon in a little chapel in France.

     There's part of a quote in the book (every chapter begins with a quote), from "French Women Don't Get Fat" "Laughs are like wild mushrooms, they don't come to you."  Well, Laura Jensen Walker can serve up laughter and tears on a sliver platter.

    "Daring Chloe" is a slice of heaven for bookworms everwhere.  Bookworms are actrually a species of tapeworm.  As we watch Chloe take flight into her chapter you realize Laura Jensen Walker is the kind of author you want as a tour guide, no matter where she takes you; you just want to be invited along for the ride. 

     "Daring Chloe" is a book lovers feast--Bon appetit--it's quite delicious, and also tres magnifique.

OOPS!!!!

To my utter amazement  amazing Laura Jensen Walker has NEVER even been nominated for a Christy award.  WHAT?? Accolades she has won include ACFW Novel of the Year-- Contemporary Fiction in 2005 for "Dreaming in Black and White" and in 2006 Women of Faith gave her NOTY honors for the stellar "Reconstructing Natalie"... so oops, I gave her a Christy she didn't have--I should give her a Kristy maybe.

I tried to fix everything on the original post--and it kept reverting back to my mistake.GRRR The full review of  "Daring Chloe is ready to be posted, but when I preview the post it goes all loopy. double GRRR  I'll fix it tomorrow--haven't slept in over 36 hours. 

More after a much-needed date with the Sandman :)

Island Screening and review of"Lars and the Real Girl"

I  truly hope my extended review of "Daring Chloe" by the phenomenally sublime Christy award winner Laura Jensen Walker is a true slice of paradise for bibliophiles everywhere  It should be ready for blogdom tomorrow.  In the meantime I'll share my review of the wonderful "Lars and the Real Girl Christianity Today Movies says it is one of the top 10 most redeeming movies of 2007 Here are my Reel Thoughts on this one of a kind story:

‘Lars meets the doll of his dreams

In the crazily beautiful little  indie movie “Lars and the Real Girl,” now on DVD, we meet Lars Lindstrom. Lars possesses the shy grin of brilliant young actor Ryan Gosling.  He lives in the garage apartment of his childhood home, in a little burg somewhere in the frozen fingertips of the northern

Midwest

. His older brother Gus (Paul Schneider) lives in the main house with his pregnant wife Karin (a luminous Emily Mortimer).  They try to draw Lars into their social orbit, but he resists. Karin literally tackles him with her 1,000^th invite to Sunday dinner.
           When a girl comes into his life, Lars opens up like a geranium in a time-lapse photograph. Her name is Bianca. He met her on the internet. She's a missionary, Brazilian of Danish extraction, raised by nuns, and here on sabbatical to "experience the world." She is confined to a wheelchair. She speaks no English. She arrives in a crate.  Bianca is no ordinary wheelchair-bound Brazilian missionary. She’s a Real doll, anatomically correct, ordered from a build-your-own-companion-toy website discovered by Lars’ cubicle mate at work.

           The romance of Lars and Bianca isn’t at all kinky.  He views her with gentle reverence.   There hasn’t ever been such a chaste affair between one guy and his doll—he’s not toying with her.

           Lars doesn't think it’s proper for them to share his apartment.   He asks his brother if the guest room is available.  Gus and Karin are justifiably freaked out.

They take Lars and Bianca to therapy. Dagmar (the wonderful Patricia Clarkson) is the local GP, with a providential background in psychology. Dagmar counsels the worried family to play along. "Bianca is in town for a reason. “ She’ll be here until he doesn't need her anymore.
            Every resident has a quirk or two, so everybody cheers on the happy couple.  The fella who introduced Lars to Bianca has an obsession with action figures. Office cutie Margo (Kelli Garner) is Lars’ potential flesh and blood paramour who still harbors for an affinity her teddy bear.  She humors Lars's romance and is the hopeful other woman until this unusual love story deflates.
Lars, for his part, remains somewhat of a mystery. We get the sense that his "delusion" is some sort of self-imposed construct.  Gus tells his brother flat-out that Bianca is just a "big plastic thing."  Lars simply ignores him.  Eventually Lars will write the last chapter of his happily-never-after with the doll of his dreams.    The first good sign comes when he informs us that Bianca has rejected his marriage proposal. We never learn whether the affair is genuine mental illness or a cry for help that took on a life of its own.  The movie doesn’t diagnose, we know Lars lives in a yawning cavern of loneliness. He abhors being touched; likening the sensation to the burning one feels in one's extremities upon coming in from the cold. 

           The screenplay for this offbeat love story comes from the brain of Nancy Oliver. In the small town fantasy world she has created lovable denizens who fully embody a spirit of gentleness and acceptance.  There are moments of visually surreal comedy, especially watching Bianca become part of everyday life.  Whether hiring her for part-time positions at the mall, cutting her hair at the salon, electing her to a seat on the school board – this is really a study in conviction and the Christian love that Lars's Lutheran minister speaks of at the movie's outset.

           Oliver's “Lars and the Real Girl” isn’t one bit degrading or lewd – quite a triumph since it chronicles one man's relationship with a sex doll, especially in this era of cinema where crude has become the pervasive norm.

           “Lars and the Real Girl” is a very funny heartstring-tugging wonder.  This sweetly beautiful fable harkens back to Frank Capra-esque values of neighborly love and common decency, making director Craig Gillespie's film both a "strangely innocent affair, but also a truly affecting one." 

           By the end you’ll discover genuine affection for blank-faced Bianca. When its time for Bianca’s departure in a wooden box, the grief is as real as the tears you’ll be wiping away.  As Lars approaches a healing breakthrough everyone around offers the compassionate response, embracing the narrative he's inventing as if in recognition that love means indulging one another's most necessary illusions.

In the newspaper my rating system is one to four popcorn boxes.  On the island I think I'll use   virgin tropical drinks with umbrellas :)

On the 1 to 4 scale, this was  incredibly  amazing and yummy so it earns 3 and a half cute lil umbrella drinks!!

An island care package arrived today with the intriguing "More Than It Hurts You" by  sweet Darin Strauss and A Page Out of Life by  the lovely Kathleen Reid...

Later today I'll post again so  we'll spend some more time with  Laura Jensen Walker's Chloe Adams who isn't creepy or spooky, but she's certainly kooky :)

Booking Mama shout out!!

 

Sweet as pie Julie  P from Booking Mama deserves a shout out because hers is the 1st book blog I started to follow on a daily basis.  We have very similar taste in books and i feel like she'll gently show me the ropes of blog-dom.  Hopefully soon Book Island will have a tropical vibe.

Starting tomorrow I hope to have a daily "nibble" review.(a mini-review to whet your appetite.)    Then  a few days later you'll get a full island feast review.

This starts tomorrow because today my body is too busy yelling at me for me to write like I usually do.  I feel a bit like this lil guy!!

XO, Happily marooned with wondrous books and lovely authors!!

Laura's laugh raft and Judy's hankie

  Everyone who knows me is perplexed by the fact that I sometimes am reading as many as five books at once.  Over the past few days I've been at a Wisconsin Lake as a mother's worst nightmare comes true. with Judy Merill Larsen and her debut novel "All the Numbers" .  And then climbed aboard the laugh raft with Laura Jensen Walker as my guide for "Daring Chloe".  Here's just a nibble of both these delectable reads: I'll do extended reviews for both these books and my little soul light "Driving Sideways"      

When Chloe Adam's fiancee takes the coward's way out and dumps her by text message the night before their impending wedding Chloe wonders if there is a way to kick a text message in the groin.  Having read Laura's complete fiction library, you know as a reader that your heart is gonna be lightened.  Chloe's book club cohorts rally concocting various adventures and schemes, hoping to pull Chloe out of the "been dumped blues."   This book was written with book clubs in mind.

There's a quote on the back of "All the Numbers" The quote  is from Cassandra King, author of the truly breathtaking "The Sunday Wife"  She says: "Larsen's "All the Numbers" is sure to join Judy Guest's "Ordinary People" and Jacquelyn Mitchard's "Deep End of the Ocean" as one of the most talked-about books of it time.

"How much do you love me?"  Daniel asks his mother.  "I love you all the numbers."  When a jet ski collides with Ellen Bank's idyllic life--her world  is torn completely to shreds.  This book is a grueling expedition of grief as Ellen crawls through agony toward hope.  Kleenex should be within reach.

Eileen Cook: Laugh Preserver 2nd sweet as honey gal

The hilarious Eileen Cook  author of the laugh a minute "Unpredictable"was my personal laugh preserver while finding out I'm having my 31st surgery on 7-16--  And she's next in the Sweet as Honey spotlight.  In the coming days I'll feature Jenny Gardiner's "Sleeping With Ward Cleaver" and Danielle Younge-Ullman's "Falling Under"

You know when the opening scene has the (slightly) obsessive recently dumped Sophie Kintock breaking into the laundry room her ex's new swingin' singles complex to steal his socks to make him realize the error of his ways and come home. You're in for quite the "Unpredictable "journey.  While hiding behind some laundry bags--she's eavesdrops on Doug making a love connection with Melon aka Melanie.  She also finds out that Melanie has a belief in psychics, so Sophie hatches the harebrained scheme to give Melanie a fake reading to get her away from Doug's orbit.  Before leaving the laundry room Sophie has a brief encounter with rumpled geek extraordinaire Nick McKenna.  When Nick visits the book store where Sophie works for her help with research for a paranormal skeptics society, he becomes the linchpin in her fake psychic plan.  He can teach her the "tricks" of the psychic trade. 

Also in Sophie's corner as the voice of sanity is best friend Jane.  Jane has morphed from the martini drinking party girl to a "Land's End" catalog ad.  Nick schools Sophie(her alter ego is fortune teller Emma Lulak)  so well that one wild guess lands her on the front page of the paper.  When Doug observes what he thinks is  Sophie's burgeoning romance with Nick the green-eyed monster comes calling.

Sophie's "gift" for star gazing winds up leading to a radio show.  Is this less than honest line of work her destiny?  Should she really work so feverishly to rekindle the dwindling fires of passion with Doug?  Or does someone else make her heart go pitter-pat?

Best-selling author Jennifer Cruisie calls Eileen one of the best new voices in women's fiction.  After the giggle fest that is this book(including a scene where Sophie crawls out of a restaurant after an unexpected Doug sighting) you don't need a crystal ball to tell you that Eileen is a shining star, and her future's so bright she's gotta wear shades.  The prediction is tons of time on the  bestseller list for my friend, yep we are friends,!!  And ecstatically my Debs are willing to do author interviews... look for either a guest blog from my sweeties or an author chat or both.

 

the most exquisite creature I know!!

Last night I nibbled on the yummy "The Space Between Before and After" by Jean Reynolds Page, Thanks to the AMAZING folks at HarperCollins.  They've been helpful and generous. and a passage made me think of my sweet exquisite friend Rachel.(she's COMPLETELY breathtaking inside and out)  She'll be a mommy in about 2 months Her sweet hubby Leedle deserves a shout out for  helping  me set up the blog and domain.  They make my deserted isle a lot less lonely, and they are soul mates extraordinaire.  They love me enough to bestow the honor of Aunt Kristy Bee:)  Walker will be my little bumblebee honey--SPOILING AWAITS...

Anyhoo, from page 12 of the novel comes this passage:

"Watching that rocket calls to mind what it means to have a baby".  The world cracks into pieces when you give birth.  The beginning has to be violent almost cruel. But after that-- after you're shaken down to your very bones you are left with miles and miles of lovely...

Rach, I can't wait to watch the miles of lovely you'll have with my baby bumblebee... I adore you to the moon and back!!

hello blog world... 1st in the sweet as Honey spotlight

Okay, here's my first foray into the blog hemisphere.  I hope this soon becomes the premiere destination of book lovers and authors everywhere!! I've already had soooo many kind authors who've made my world a brighter place.  The bed (where I spend 95 % of my time) is a bit like being marooned on a desert island.  So thanks to my sweet gals at the Debutaunte Ball (www.thedebutanteball.com) for being first to answer my heart SOS.  Over the next lil while the authors who've given me the amazing joy avalanche will get their own moment in the "Sweet as Honey Spotlight"

Today's author is Jess Riley.  www.jessriley.com   Her book is the phenomenal "Driving Sideways"  that can simultaneously break your heart and make you laugh!!

She was the first author to answer my email, and make me weep when she sent an autographed copy  So thanks Jess :-)

Much more about "Driving Sideways" in the days to come!!