Monday, August 17, 2009 By: Suzanne

Audio: Good Grief by Lolly Winston


Good Grief by Lolly Winston is the story of Sophie Stanton, a 36 year old widow desperately trying to be a good widow - you know, like Jackie Kennedy, but quickly finding out she's more like a Jack Daniels kind of widow. Her life starts to take a turn for the worst when she stops showing up for work on a regular basis and on the day she does go, doesn't bother changing out of her robe and bunny slippers (as the picture on the cover shows). In an effort to reinvent herself, Sophie moves to be near a friend in Ashland, Oregon but not everything goes as planned there either.

I found this story to be just the right mix of sadness and comic relief. Sophie shows a good sense of humor even when she is at her most depressed. The only problem I have is not with the book itself - as far as I know. The audio I was listening to was an abridged version. I don't normally like listening to abridged books but it's really difficult to find too many unabridged audios and when I do, they're very expensive. Most of the time I don't feel like I missing anything. The story still flows so it's apparently been well edited. This was not the case in this book. I constantly felt like I had missed something. I'm not sure if the book was just written that way, with parts of her life glossed over and talked about later or if they left out some fairly important parts in the abridged audio. I hate that I'll never know unless I go back and read the full book.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate listening to abridged versions for the very reeasons you mentioned. I never buy them, out library has so many.

I read Winston's second book and really like it, so I need to add this one to my list. Thanks :)

Suzanne said...

I was really against listening to abridgements before but since I listen to so many audio books, it's hard not to every once in awhile.

Kristi said...

I hadn't heard of this book before - sometimes it is hard for me to get into audio books w/o knowing a little of the story beforehand.

I gave you an award.

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