Playing with Fire
Author(s):
Dani Shapiro
Label: Doubleday
Publisher(s):
Doubleday
Studio: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Binding: Hardcover
List Price: $17.95
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Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Two women--Lucy, daughter of a traditional Jewish family, and Carolyn, wealthy and reckless--come to share a rare love together, until Lucy succumbs to the charms of Carolyn's stepfather. Reprint. NYT.
Customer Reviews
This is the fictionalized version of "Slow Motion"
I first read "Family History" by Dani Shapiro and really enjoyed it, so I picked this one up at the library. It is about a college girl who has an affair with her best friend's stepfather and is spiraling out of control until her parents' tragic car accident forces her to grow up.
After reading it, I came to find out that Ms Shapiro wrote a memoir several years after this book was published. It's called "Slow Motion" and it's about -- drumroll, please -- a college girl who has an affair with her best friend's stepfather and is spiraling out of control until her parents' tragic car accident forces her to grow up. Sound familiar? I suppose it merely proves the old advice to composition students: Write what you know. But did she have to do it twice?
This book wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very interesting either. I found myself not caring one bit about Lucy, Carolyn, Ben or anyone in the book except Lucy's father. I never got any insight into why Lucy changed so much when she entered college, why she pursued acting, why she fell in love with the repugnant Ben. I think the author was a little too young at the time (20s) to tackle this subject matter. So my advice is to skip this one and read the memoir instead (I'm assuming it's better, but who knows?).
Playing with Fire is a cold read
I got this book from the library expecting to read an non-traditional romance, instead all I got was a cliche-ridden, faux literary piece of work. First of all, why do young, attractive women always get involved with rich, older men? I found it totally implausible that Lucy would be in involved with Ben just because he can buy her expensive clothes and keep her up at bicoastal apartments. Plus his stalker-like tendencies before they started dating, should have been a big turn-off to the semi-intelligent Lucy. Lucy, by the way, seems to be a literary realization of the author, who according to the back cover flap was a former model and actress, all female college grad, and jewish rich girl. Next, Shapiro's habit of interjecting flashbacks was so annoying I stopped reading them half way through the book. And the style of addressing the character of Carolyn was extremely bothersome as well. Save your time and read something else.
Mesmerizing and soul encompassing
I fell for this author with her very first work. I read about this novel in the local paper and the excerpt was compelling enough for me to go buy the book, and every book since that Dani Shapiro has written. I was caught up in her dance with Carolyn and moved to the point that I wrote to the writer trying to connect with this astonishing woman. She did write back, and I have that letter with all of her novels. A must read!!
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