For Better, For Worse
Grade : D

For Better, For Worse is a silly book. Sometimes this can be a good thing. Silly books can make you laugh, forget about a busted water heater, or just help to not take life so seriously for a few hours. You could say that the world is a better place for having silly books, but in this case, I wouldn't go that far. This book is silly in a frustrating way. The characters are annoying, there's too much activity, as well as too many misunderstandings and missed opportunities. Frankly, reading this book stressed me out.

English flower Josie Flynn is in the process of divorcing her philandering, overbearing, and supremely irritating husband Damien - even though Damien has decided he and Josie should get back together. Josie wants no part of it and is discouraged by love and men in general. She thinks she'll never find anyone else. On a flight to New York for her cousin's wedding she meets fellow Englishman Matt Jarvis. Matt is a music journalist on his way to New York to interview the latest boy band. He's also recently divorced, so he and Josie have a lot to chat about. The two get sloshed over the Atlantic and during a shared cab ride make a date to do some sightseeing before Josie needs to get to her cousin's wedding.

Sounds perfect, no? Well no, it's not. They have fun sightseeing but Matt stands her up for dinner because he's gotten drunk with the publicist (the very sexy publicist) of the band he's interviewing. There are no words to describe how I felt upon reading this. Oh wait, there is one...disgusted! He has no idea where to find Josie - he doesn't know where she's staying - but gets the bright idea to try and find the cousin's wedding. Matt does a lot of stupid things during the course of the story and none of them are cute or charming. They're just stupid and there's no real reason for them. We're given no clue into his behavior. He takes advantage of the publicist and generally mistreats her. From this we're supposed to believe it's because he's just a bumbling Englishman trying to get it right and find his Josie? Bah, I say! He's stupid and immature, and managed to become even more annoying towards the end of the book when he does something so monumentally stupid that it is also hurtful. It's something you do not do if you supposedly love someone else and have been running all over town trying to find her. And though he constantly berates himself, he never seems to learn from his mistakes.

Josie goes off to her cousin's wedding, where chaos ensues. The wedding does not go according to plan, and Martha, the bride, does something very startling and potentially very hurtful. A sympathetic character she was not, and neither was Damien, who followed Josie to New York to get her back with the help of a huge diamond ring. Hilarity presumaby follows Josie's reaction to the ring, and while the scene with the ducks and the pond was intially amusing, it eventually turns ugly. Damien is very over the top; he's so annoying and such a jerk that there is no question in anyone's mind that he gets precisely what he deserves in the end. Even so, his personality is a bit too much.

And he's not the only one with bad behavior. Let's see, there's Matt who behaves badly, Martha who behaves badly, and Damien who behaves badly. What about Josie? I don't have much to say about her other than that she wasn't offensive. She seemed to act as a foil for all the other characters and goings on around her, but a cipher doesn't make for a very interesting lead character. Josie surrounded herself with immature people and could have done better all around! By the end I realized she'd need a vacation after the wedding, and frankly, the reader might just need one too.

There's simply too much going on in For Better, For Worse. Many of the situations feel forced, some of the characters come off as cardboard cutouts, and because Matt and Josie don't spend all that much time together, the theory that he's running all over New York to find her is hard to swallow. This is one of those "loud" books where the noise from the rest of the story distracts and detracts from any chemistry or attraction between lead characters. With the current popularity of "Chick Lit" it's not always easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. I am always willing to try a new-to-me author because I enjoy this genre quite a bit. I was disappointed that this book didn't live up to my expectations, and it's not one I'd recommend to fellow chick lit fans. I'll plan to stick with this sub-genre, though - in hopes of finding another Bridget Jones.

Reviewed by Lori-Anne Cohen
Grade : D
Book Type: Women's Fiction

Sensuality: Subtle

Review Date : June 23, 2002

Publication Date: 2002

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Lori-Anne Cohen

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