Southern Living

September 15, 2003
The author of popular titles like Househusband, Hudler just misses with this one. It's a crazy culture clash as Yankees invade the town of Selby, GA. Margaret inherits a house, moves sight unseen from New York, and finds a new job, contentment, and love. Donna, a native Georgian, works with missionary zeal in a Kroger's produce department to transform Southern eating habits. Both are appealing young women, relying on talents other than beauty. But Suzanne, a doctor's wife originally from the wrong end of town, is problematic. Although her shopping and constant redecorating are meant as parody, Suzanne's dog poisoning and faked pregnancy spoil the intended fun. Despite the funny snippets from Margaret's newspaper column, "Chatter," the novel's unevenness, poor handling of race, and paperback format may pose problems for public libraries. Purchase if Hudler fans demand.-Rebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2003
Selby, Georgia: a town with many faces. Here's Margaret, the transplanted New Yorker, who writes a column for the newspaper, the " Selby Reflector" (how quaint). Here's Donna, the young beauty horribly scarred after an automobile accident, who now works in the produce department at the local supermarket and searches for some meaning in her life (how tragic). And here's Suzanne, the alcoholic wife of a prominent surgeon who is so desperate to make her husband love her that she's planning to fake being pregnant (how pathetic). Singly, the three women are forces to be reckoned with: Margaret, the outspoken; Donna, the desperate; Suzanne, the scheming. Together, they are a hurricane poised to swoop through Selby. With sharply drawn characters and pitch-perfect dialogue, this tragicomic entertainment makes fine reading for the Fannie Flagg crowd.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)