Helpful Score: 2
One of the better chick lit books. Louise needs help -- in a passionless marriage, with no joy in her life, she turns to a book, then to the counsel of friends to find a way to live a life that is elegant -- elegant in that she feels accepted, desired and certain of her actions.
Helpful Score: 2
This book was about ten different books crammed into one storyline. While it was alright to read, it would have been better if the author chose just one story line and developed that. Found myself confused about the time line (does this take place over the course of weeks, months, years?) and didn't really like the main character all that much. Book left readers to do a lot of assuming about characters and the relationships with one another. Not one of those books that you finish and give a second thought to.
Helpful Score: 1
Louise is a 32 year old living in London with a closet full of shapeless brown garments, romance-free marriage and a job where nobody even notices she exists. One day at a second-hand book store she finds a volume entitled Elegance and decides to regain control of her life.
I don't keep books. In fact, I've decided to read everything in my book case and not buy anything new unless the library doesn't have what I want. And on the rare occasion that I do decide to keep a book it's because I've absolutely fallen in love with it. Guess what, about 3/4 of the way through I knew that this one is a keeper.
It hit all the right notes with its combination of humor and sadness, realism, insightfulness and beautiful writing. The language fit with the story, the characters were alive and relatable, Louise's best friends felt like your own best friends, when she succeeded to cheer and in the end it left me with a smile on my face. What can be better?
Read my other reviews at bibliophilescorner.blogspot.com
I don't keep books. In fact, I've decided to read everything in my book case and not buy anything new unless the library doesn't have what I want. And on the rare occasion that I do decide to keep a book it's because I've absolutely fallen in love with it. Guess what, about 3/4 of the way through I knew that this one is a keeper.
It hit all the right notes with its combination of humor and sadness, realism, insightfulness and beautiful writing. The language fit with the story, the characters were alive and relatable, Louise's best friends felt like your own best friends, when she succeeded to cheer and in the end it left me with a smile on my face. What can be better?
Read my other reviews at bibliophilescorner.blogspot.com
Helpful Score: 1
Want to find the answers to life in a second hand bookstore - Elegance did that for Louise Canova. Small servings of angst, laughter, lively mishaps, intimate details, voyeurs in a lingerie store fitting room, English country weekends all come together to take life down a new turn. Classic? Standards that never change - nice to know that some things never do.
Helpful Score: 1
An enjoyable chick lit read, I finished it in just a couple of hours. More bad language than I prefer, but I was pleased to find that unlike most chick lit, there was no sex in this book at all.
