Mar 6, 2012

Gossip by Beth Gutcheon

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.


"And then there was the spring morning I was walking to work and came upon Richard Wainwright leaving the Cabot Hotel with a young woman who was definitely not his wife.
It could have been a power breakfast, but why at a tiny hotel on a side street?" (p. 62)
Title: Gossip: A Novel by Beth Gutcheon
Hardcover, 288 pages; William Morrow
Release date: March 20, 2012

Gossip explores the myriad ways we use and abuse "information" about others - be it true, false, or imagined - to sustain, and occasionally destroy, one another. (book description)

About the book: Lovie French is in a good position to mingle with successful and well off women in Upper East Side Manhattan, including her former boarding school classmates, Dinah and Avis. Lovie owns a high end dress shop, making dresses and outfits for all their needs. Told in the first person, by Lovie, Gossip tells us about the women and the people in their lives, with Lovie giving us information on everything that is going on that she knows about. She gossips to us, the readers, though not in a snarky or malicious way.

Comments: Because the novel is written in a gossipy style, I couldn't get involved with the characters or connect with them. There is not a consistent thread in the stories of Avis and Dinah and the others. I find out about them just from hearsay, from Lovie's point of view. The novel is a great idea of showing how gossip works and what it can do, but I think I would have liked a more conventional way of telling the story. Many readers may like its style, however. I rated the book 3.5/5 stars.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book.

17 comments:

  1. Ooh, I can't wait! I barely started this one yesterday, but I have another one I need to finish first.

    Thanks!

    Here's MY TUESDAY MEMES POST

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  2. Very good teaser! Love that cover too. My teaser is HERE, if you'd care to visit!

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  3. Love the cover and the tease but don't think this is the book for me. Thanks for the heads up.

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  4. Great teaser, but it doesn't sound like a book I really want to read.

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  5. Hmmm, very interesting. I agree the cover is cool. Could be an interesting lesson in style, whether its successful or not.

    Sarah Allen
    (my creative writing blog)

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  6. That is too bad that the format of the book wasn't more successful--it certainly was a unique approach to take. I'm like you in that I don't especially like gossip.

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  7. Thank you for your honest review of this book. The cover is nice, you are right.

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  8. Sometimes different ways of storytelling can be off putting.

    Sorry it didn't work for you.

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  9. That is definitely information that can be abused.

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  10. Good teaser! But I think I'd feel the same way about the novel. Sounds a little too much like a daytime TV talk show.

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  11. The whole premise sounds great and gossip can certainly destroy people...too bad that it didn't end up being as good as it could have been!

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  12. Sounds different. Interesting teaser.

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  13. Why indeed! Good teaser. Thanks for visiting!

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  14. I can see how that writing style might be distracting to the flow of the story. I've never read this author. Is this your first book of hers?

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