2024 the best of everything by rona jaffe review
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(as of Nov 11, 2024 15:19:15 UTC - Details)
Back in print for the first time in decades, New York Times bestselling author Rona Jaffe’s classic novel captures a time when women were caught between the institution of Mad Men and the revolution of Gloria Steinem.
Carol Prince realized very early on that the life of a slavish housewife was not for her. Instead of finding a husband, she builds a career as a features writer for a glossy magazine and enjoys the freedom and indulgences the position affords her. Soon enough, all of her friends are divorced, Women’s Lib has arrived, and Carol is quite satisfied conducting interviews on glittering film sets or in swanky bars, and having flings with gorgeous men.
But then she meets Matthew Fitzgerald. He is handsome and successful and rich…and married. Over time, they become more and more enamored of each other and Carol is forced to make a decision. She may preserve her status as an independent woman, or sacrifice her ideals for the one thing she never thought she needed—a man.
Before Carrie Bradshaw, there was Carol Prince. The Other Woman is a witty and captivating novel about the choices we make, and how they define us.
Publisher : William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (December 23, 2014)
Language : English
Paperback : 256 pages
ISBN-10 : 0062397230
ISBN-13 : 978-0062397232
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.58 x 8 inches
Reviewer: [email protected]
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Outstanding!
Review: I read this book during the Summer of 1999, and I found it to be such an outrageously well-written book. There is enough humor and wit to balance the shocking (and anti-morality) tale about Carol Prince's life as "the other woman." This book was written in 1972, but I still found it timeless and entertaining in its message about the double standard against women. You must read this book! (I also highly recommend R.Jaffe's "Mazes and Mosters.")
Reviewer: C. Mathieu
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Rona Jaffe before she wrote great Novels
Review: I'm a big fan of Rona Jaffe, I loved "Class Reunion", "After the Reunion" and "The Last Chance" and read them all more than 2 or 3 times. However, I did not enjoy reading "The Best of Everything" at all. I found it very boring. Actually the movie version with Joan Crawford and Hope Lange was much better than the novel.And because only 4 or 5 of her novels have been translated into German, I ordered all other Jaffe novels in English via amazon.com and now read them in the order they have been published.I finally have started reading "The Other Woman" and cannot really understand the good reviews here on amazon.com.This book is more like an essay than a novel.The characters have no depth, no development. It's just a listing of places where Carol, the protagonist, went and whom she met.Carol is a reporter and enjoys writing about car races or Italian movie stars.The problem with this book is that (at least for me) it never gives you the feeling that you actually are in Monza at the race or in Venice at the film festival.To me it seems that Jaffe never left Manhattan and did a bit of research at the public library on Italy and then used some of that research in "The Other Woman".I'm on page 80 now and I always give a book a chance of 100 pages, but unless a miracle will happen on the next 20 pages, I doubt very much that I will finish this "novel". Not a keeper.
Reviewer: SusyQ
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very good book
Review: This is a novel about a very independent, courageous woman's life, from the late 50's into the early 70's, and the choices she makes...Carol Prince is a determined to be strong and independent, and kick against the social customs of her times. (In other words, she's going to have a career and she's not going to get married.)It's a pleasure to read a book about a woman who has her mind made up, and refuses to be pushed around. When I first read the book I wanted the ending to be different. Now that I'm older, I'm glad the heroine made the decision she did. I think this is one of Ms. Jaffe's best.