He had a policy. "My kids have had enough disruption. I don't want them meeting someone, getting attahced, and then she goes away."
Goes away? Goes where? My stomach hurt, but not from seasickness.
He said,"It'd be too confusing for them." (p. 30)
Title: The Last Blind Date: A Real-Life Love Story by Linda Yellin
Paperback: 336 pages, Gallery Books, October 4, 2011
Genre: memoir, romance
Objective rating: 3.5/5
About the book: Linda and Randy are matched by their friends, even though Linda lives in Chicago and Randy in New York, and their match-making friends live in California. Randy makes the first contact with Linda by calling her and chatting for 45 minutes, during which time they interview each other about their lives and their likes and dislikes, to see if they would be a good "match."
They sleep together on their first date, but show their cautiousness about one another by sleeping with their underwear on. Randy and Linda go out for more than two years before Randy will let her meet his two children from a previous marriage. Linda is told she has to make little "sacrifices" to please the kids once they do meet, sacrifices such as throwing a game they are playing so the kids win. Linda also has to deal with the children's mother Susan, both before and after Randy and Linda do marry. After their marriage, Linda has to get used to New York, find a new job and new friends and fit into her new life. The marriage survives, and things seem to be happy ever after.
Comments: The book is well written but reads like a private diary, a love story told chronologically. The romance and marriage do not have any of the really serious or strong conflicts that make a book challenging, or perhaps the author was being selective in what she wrote. I felt that this relatively uneventful story was probably the story of thousands of contemporary couples, people who get together and marry the second time around.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher.
This book sounds like it might make me a little uncomfortable. She had to make sacrifices for the kids, like throwing a game? That isn't right, and sort of gives me a little bit of insight to what kind of marriage this woman got herself into. I am curious about this one now and might like to read it. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zibilee above -- the idea of having to make "sacrifices" to appease the children is a little disconcerting!
ReplyDeleteGotta love the line - sleeping with their underwear on!
ReplyDeleteI too was not impressed with the one sided sacrificing!
ReplyDelete