Bala Bala Bala থেকে Kunyche, Vinnyts'ka oblast, Ukraine
I've read many of Sparks' novels now, and was disappointed by the lack of depth in this one. I know they're normally slightly cheesey chick-lit, so my expectations are fairly low, just wanting a quick read. Normally Sparks paints a much deeper relationship, and shares some sort of ethical or moral lesson as well. This lacked both; and was fairly boring the whole way as well. Very anti-climactic.
Satirical and full of stereotype, this novel is brilliant in its depiction of dismal, rural life. Lots of things made me chuckle, from Flora's description of her very worthy school where she was made to do a lot of sport when she spent most of the time running from the ball to her friends predilection with finding the perfect brassiere. Flora is a very precise heroine, a meddler, but in a no-nonsense kind of way which she decides is just what her oddball cousins at Cold Comfort need after learning she has 'rights'; Flora meets klettering cow-obsessed Adam, fecund Meriam, depressive aunt Judith, fey Elfine and a whole array of cousins who keep their marriages and lives secret from mad old Aunt Doom who saw something 'nasty in the woodshed' when she was little and as a result keeps tight tabs on the family. Flora sets about sorting out the lives of these delightfully eccentric characters, deciding for herself what needs to be done, whether it is marrying them off or simply buying them a little mop..... Full of delightful description - and rather oddly, but it works - set in the future, this sharp and witty novel cannot fail to give a pleasurable read.