Bookmarks Subscribers discussion

Post your comments about the book in this thread.

I read this book in two days in April, 2013 giving it 4 stars. Really, really fun book! What started as a "snarky" comment on life in Seattle turns into a warm, humorous, escalating response from each character to the book's initial crisis. The narration is from various characters' perspectives through emails and letters. Thoroughly enjoyed this story, read it quickly and won't give away any spoilers.

Here's a paragraph from page 122 to provide an example - "Greetings from sunny Seattle, where women are 'gals,' people are 'folks,' a little bit is a 'skosh,' if you're tired you're 'logy,' if something is slightly off it's 'hinky,' you can't sit Indian-style but you can sit 'crisscross applesauce,' when the sun comes out it's never called 'sun' but always 'sunshine,' boyfriends and girlfriends are 'partners,' nobody swears but someone occasionally might 'drop the f-bomb,' you're allowed to cough but only into your elbow, and any requests, reasonable or unreasonable, is met with 'no worries.' Have I mentioned how much I hate it here?"

I also googled Chihuly. Loved the Beatle references!

I really liked this book, too, Teresa, at least at first. It all then became kind of silly to me when it hit the Antarctica part. I have friends who gave it 5 stars though, which means that it was probably me and not the book :)

Thanks for chiming in, Teresa. I'm glad to see that you are enjoying the books that we are selecting as our group reads.

Teresa wrote: "Here's a paragraph from page 122 to provide an example - "Greetings from sunny Seattle, where women are 'gals,' people are 'folks,' a little bit is a 'skosh,' if you're tired you're 'logy,' if something is slightly off it's 'hinky,' you can't sit Indian-style but you can sit 'crisscross applesauce,' when the sun comes out it's never called 'sun' but always 'sunshine,' boyfriends and girlfriends are 'partners,' nobody swears but someone occasionally might 'drop the f-bomb,' you're allowed to cough but only into your elbow, and any requests, reasonable or unreasonable, is met with 'no worries.' Have I mentioned how much I hate it here?""

umm... having been born and raised in the Seattle area, I'm not quite sure if this quote above is supposed to be funny or factual as except for one or two things, I'd call it factual. Seattle is pretty laid-back. Still waiting for the book from the library "holds".

I wasn't sure if the quote was intended as funny or descriptive of Seattle colloquialisms either...I've never been to Seattle, but have always wanted to visit the NW coast.

I assumed that portions of the book are exaggerated with the intention of being humorous as the plot is SO over the top and seemingly escalates out of control. I never read it as "realistic" fiction. I tend to read a lot of serious fiction and this was not my normal genre...maybe that's why I enjoyed it. I needed some levity in my reading selections!

LynnB wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Here's a paragraph from page 122 to provide an example - "Greetings from sunny Seattle, where women are 'gals,' people are 'folks,' a little bit is a 'skosh,' if you're tired you're ..."

I didn't know that you were from Seattle, Lynn. I can't wait to hear your feedback on this one. I thought that the Seattle parts were very funny in the book.

Teresa wrote: "I wasn't sure if the quote was intended as funny or descriptive of Seattle colloquialisms either...I've never been to Seattle, but have always wanted to visit the NW coast.

I assumed that portio..."

I've never been to the NW US either. I would love to visit. After going through the wettest summer in history in the NE US, though, I'm not sure about all of the rain.

Sera wrote: "I've never been to the NW US either. I would love to visit. After going through the wettest summer in history in the NE US, though, I'm not sure about all of the rain."

I was born and grew up in Seattle, but I now live in the desert half of Washington and it rarely rains here. (Yes, the half of Washington east of the Cascade Mountains is mostly desert!) And (big secret) it doesn't rain as much in Seattle as people think...

I had no idea that there was any desert land in Washington state at all. You've taught me something new :)

I didn't read any background or synopsis before listening to this book. Sometimes the alternating characters were hard to keep track of on audio, so it took a little more focus and re-listening, but after I got the characters and humor down, I enjoyed the book. I would have enjoyed it more reading it I think.

That's a good point, Kara. Sometimes a book is meant to be read. This one may well fit not that category.

I enjoyed this book too, more than I thought I would because I don't usually like satire or humorous books. My son & his girlfriend moved to Seattle in October & I flew out for a visit in late Feb & read the book after my trip...I am glad I did it that way LOL Fun story!

I'm still waiting for the library copy. I looked today and I'm next on the list... so it will get read, just not in the Aug/Sept time period.

No worries, Lynn. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the book. It fell apart for me about 2/3 of the way through.

I finally got and have started it. It's funny and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Some of it's not the Seattle I know, but a good take-off on parts of it. (And she has the geography down right so far -- I hate it when writers mess with locations in real places!)

That's great, Lynn! Please keep us posted. I appreciate your local perspective.

Teresa wrote: "Here's a paragraph from page 122 to provide an example - "... Greetings from sunny Seattle, where women are 'gals,' people are 'folks,' a little bit is a 'skosh,' if you're tired you're 'logy,' if something is slightly off it's 'hinky,' you can't sit Indian-style but you can sit 'crisscross applesauce,' when the sun comes out it's never called 'sun' but always 'sunshine,' ..."

I just finished this book. Having lived in or near Seattle my entire life, I have to say I haven't ever seen any of the above behaviors, so that alone made me think 'eh' about this book. The personalities were amusing for the first half of the book. Then they started to get old. I liked the first half much better than the last half.

I liked the first half much better than the last half...."


Exactly!