Review of Just Give Me a Soft Place to Land
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Anna Buchanan
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Review of Just Give Me a Soft Place to Land
[Following is a volunteer review of "Just Give Me a Soft Place to Land" by Judy Condon.]
Judy Condon is the author of Just Give Me A Soft Place To Land which is a fiction novel that targets an audience of readers who enjoy books about women's friendship. She sets the stage of her book by enticing the reader with a steamy sex scene. I believe that the scene is her intended "hook." After she hooks us, the author is clearly focused and intent on bringing to the reader the experience of a character study of three women who develop strong friendships. As the women evolve, they look backwards through mirrors of self-reflection about their individual pasts and how their present day lives are affected by the revelations.
For all three of them the past is filled with poignant experiences that are really defining moments because when either of the women moves forward, the next step that each one takes will shape her future. Together, the three women give emotional support to one another as they take the journey back through their memories in order to gather the pieces of themselves that will make them whole for perhaps the first time in their lives.
Before this circle of friendship began, neither of these women had the courage to look too closely at what they had left behind or the circumstances which created self doubt, uncertainty and unstable relationships. For the first time ever, each of them will try to put things into perspective and together they will support one another when the revelations from the past threaten to splinter either one of them. Their ultimate goal is to be made whole.
The central cast of characters are the original three women of a group of knitters: Caroline, Sarah and Beth. Over the years, the circle of three expanded to include four more women until the group numbered seven and then closed admission.
Caroline became acquainted with Beth quite by accident through a chance encounter. She and Sarah were already friends when Beth was invited to meet with them to knit on Wednesday evenings which was also a "ladies' night out." At this time, Caroline had been married to Steve for about four years when she began to realize that he had serious psychological problems; when he acted out violently, she often feared for her safety and on such occasions had to run from their home in order to avoid harm. She was able to seek advice and support from both Sarah and Beth.
Sarah is married to Rick who does everything for her. He claims to want to make her life easy when in fact he is a control freak. She discusses her problem with her friends who support her decision to try to convince Rick that her efforts to become more independent will enhance their marriage and give her the opportunity for much needed personal growth.
Beth should have been happily married to Ed; but, instead she was miserable and confused most of the time because an indiscretion in her past haunted her and seeped into her daily life; this affected her marital relationship. She needed help in coming to terms with her past; so she turned to her friends who were initially bound to one another by their common love of knitting. But, a mutual respect and admiration for one another had blossomed into steadfast friendships. The women all felt safe in trusting one another with their secrets.
The author succeeds in crafting characters who are believable and endearing; their appeal is that their personalities are very vivid and authentic. In fact, their personalities seem so real because of the author's attention to the details and her ability to create those details in abundance. To her credit, Joy Condon does prove that she can write well because she develops and fleshes out her story ideas in a very descriptive style. For this reason, I continued to read the novel to completion because I wanted to know what was going to happen to each character as their truths emerged.
The downside is that too much detail can be overwhelming. Because of this factor, the pace of the book is very slow which at times may cause the reader to feel as if he/she is sinking in the mire of minutiae. The book was not professionally edited. If the book had been professionally edited, much of the redundancy may have been cut and the flow of the narrative would have been smoother and easier to read.
Due to the number of punctuation errors and the lack of professional editing, I have rated this novel two out of four stars.
I am not recommending this book.
******
Just Give Me a Soft Place to Land
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Judy Condon is the author of Just Give Me A Soft Place To Land which is a fiction novel that targets an audience of readers who enjoy books about women's friendship. She sets the stage of her book by enticing the reader with a steamy sex scene. I believe that the scene is her intended "hook." After she hooks us, the author is clearly focused and intent on bringing to the reader the experience of a character study of three women who develop strong friendships. As the women evolve, they look backwards through mirrors of self-reflection about their individual pasts and how their present day lives are affected by the revelations.
For all three of them the past is filled with poignant experiences that are really defining moments because when either of the women moves forward, the next step that each one takes will shape her future. Together, the three women give emotional support to one another as they take the journey back through their memories in order to gather the pieces of themselves that will make them whole for perhaps the first time in their lives.
Before this circle of friendship began, neither of these women had the courage to look too closely at what they had left behind or the circumstances which created self doubt, uncertainty and unstable relationships. For the first time ever, each of them will try to put things into perspective and together they will support one another when the revelations from the past threaten to splinter either one of them. Their ultimate goal is to be made whole.
The central cast of characters are the original three women of a group of knitters: Caroline, Sarah and Beth. Over the years, the circle of three expanded to include four more women until the group numbered seven and then closed admission.
Caroline became acquainted with Beth quite by accident through a chance encounter. She and Sarah were already friends when Beth was invited to meet with them to knit on Wednesday evenings which was also a "ladies' night out." At this time, Caroline had been married to Steve for about four years when she began to realize that he had serious psychological problems; when he acted out violently, she often feared for her safety and on such occasions had to run from their home in order to avoid harm. She was able to seek advice and support from both Sarah and Beth.
Sarah is married to Rick who does everything for her. He claims to want to make her life easy when in fact he is a control freak. She discusses her problem with her friends who support her decision to try to convince Rick that her efforts to become more independent will enhance their marriage and give her the opportunity for much needed personal growth.
Beth should have been happily married to Ed; but, instead she was miserable and confused most of the time because an indiscretion in her past haunted her and seeped into her daily life; this affected her marital relationship. She needed help in coming to terms with her past; so she turned to her friends who were initially bound to one another by their common love of knitting. But, a mutual respect and admiration for one another had blossomed into steadfast friendships. The women all felt safe in trusting one another with their secrets.
The author succeeds in crafting characters who are believable and endearing; their appeal is that their personalities are very vivid and authentic. In fact, their personalities seem so real because of the author's attention to the details and her ability to create those details in abundance. To her credit, Joy Condon does prove that she can write well because she develops and fleshes out her story ideas in a very descriptive style. For this reason, I continued to read the novel to completion because I wanted to know what was going to happen to each character as their truths emerged.
The downside is that too much detail can be overwhelming. Because of this factor, the pace of the book is very slow which at times may cause the reader to feel as if he/she is sinking in the mire of minutiae. The book was not professionally edited. If the book had been professionally edited, much of the redundancy may have been cut and the flow of the narrative would have been smoother and easier to read.
Due to the number of punctuation errors and the lack of professional editing, I have rated this novel two out of four stars.
I am not recommending this book.
******
Just Give Me a Soft Place to Land
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Bridge by Andrew Palmer
