Summer Reading

March 19, 2007
The eighth novel from Wolitzer (The Doctor's Daughter
) opens as Alyssa (Lissy) Snyder—trophy second wife, reluctant stepmom, and major dyslexic—hosts a summer book discussion group. She's hoping to catch the attention of Ardith Templeton, who initiated the group and who, with her husband Larry, commands center stage in the tony Hamptons social scene. Retired English professor Angela Graves conducts the group, assigns the readings and tries to inspire her charges to take life lessons from the likes of Jane Eyre and Madame Bovary. Lissy gamely tries to read enough pages (or search out enough online commentary) to appear prepared—but Ardith rarely shows up. Meanwhile, Lissy's husband dotes on his children and begins spending time with his first wife. First-person chapters alternate among Lissy, Angela (who picks over old regrets), and Michelle Cutty, a young local who works as Lissy's summer maid and who provides some class-based frisson. There are small pleasures, but the trio of pretty endings is too hurried (and in Lissy's case too unearned) to be satisfying.

May 1, 2007
Just in time for, well, summer reading, comes Wolitzer's follow-up to "The Doctor's Daughter". Three characters' stories weave together with a Hamptons summer book club as their common thread. Lissy is a second wife to wealthy Jeffrey and stepmom to his two difficult kids. Michelle works for Lissy as a housekeeper who sees all, while at home she's dealing with noncommittal boyfriend Hank and his challenging teenage daughter. And Angela is an older woman who facilitates book groups for the rich summer people. As her past secrets resurface, she is forced to face them head on. The reader can enjoy these stories as well as the novels the book group is reading, which are interwoven into the protagonists' lives in a loose, interesting way. It's the buzz of upper-crust life in the Hamptons mixed with Gabriel Garcí a Má rquez, Harry Potter, and Madame Bovaryquite an ensemble! Sweet like a summer peach and not too cloyinga thinking reader's beach book; recommended. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/07; library marketing planned.]Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2007
In this intricate tale of love, loss, and redemption, Wolitzer, author most recently of " The Doctor's Daughter" (2006), tells the story of three women whose paths cross during a summer in the Hamptons. Lissy Snyder, an insecure second wife, is uncertain of her place in her husband's heart and feels intimidated by her stepchildren. To help cement her position in Hamptons society, Lissy decides to host a book club for other young socialites and hires an eccentric former English professor, Angela Graves, to lead the group. Angela guides her pupils through books such as " Madame Bovary," inspiring both Lissy and her day girl, Michelle, to reexamine their relationships with the men in their lives. Meanwhile, Angela herself is haunted by a years-old love affair. Wolitzer's subtle analysis reveals the underlying hopes and tensions that guide each woman's daily life as she struggles to come to terms with her own choices and mistakes, led, in part, by the heroines of the books Angela has chosen.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)