Nancy Thayer's book, The Hot Flash Club, was billed as a "coming-of-age" novel for women on the brink of menopause. The author begins by introducing us to four women: Alice (a dynamic, outspoken black executive), Faye (a widowed artist), Shirley (a hippified masseuse), and Marilyn (a dowdy academician working with trilobite fossils). These four women meet at a retirement party and form an unlikely alliance, drawn together by their experience with menopause and aging.
During their meetings, they set out to solve their various problems. Alice, on the heels of a recent merger, wonders if her new associate is after her job. Faye wants to know if her postpartum daughter's husband is having an affair. Shirley dreams of starting up her own business but lacks the funds and business acumen. Finally, Marilyn wants to know if her son's fiance is really in love with him or just after his money.
I felt like this plot premise offered a lot of possibilities. Sadly, I found myself feeling very disappointed with this book. I suppose if I had seen the above cover, I might have known that this would be a trendy, chick-lit book offering little substance. However, I did not see this cover until I sought an image for my review.
I listened to the book in audio form. It was, sadly, one that I could not listen to when any of my children were in the vehicle with me (unless I wore earphones). One never knew when the topic would veer off into an unnecessarily graphic account of some sexual situation or topic. Even listening by myself, I often felt a tad bit uncomfortable and wished for a book version so I could skim quickly past the bits I had no desire to read.
The characters felt like characitures. The hippie character is all hippie, with her fragrances and ditsy manner (though, she supposedly had a problem of significant proportions as a reformed alcoholic). There are numerous references to male gay hairdressers. The plastic surgeons who hide away their disfigured daughter. The intelligent researcher who is so caught up in her work that she doesn't even give a moment's notice to her appearance or socialization.
Sometimes the writing made me laugh out loud because it was just too ridiculous, like when Alice is describing her own breasts and says they were like two dolphins rising in the ocean, or some drivel like that. Actually, most of the descriptive similes ended up sounding just as silly. The book is full of lengthy discussions about the troubles of menopause and comments like so-and-so "couldn't remember the last time she had" ...
Once again, it may just be that my worldview is at odds with the author's. I found it hard to believe that not a single character in the book paused for one moment before jumping in and out of bed with others. Indeed, towards the end of the book, Alice meets a man and hopes to bed him. When he kisses her and gets her aroused, she is offended and confused when he abruptly leaves and says he'll call. I hoped, finally, there would be a character with ..., well, character. I hoped to discover that the man found her attractive, but valued the sexual act in such a way that he reserved it only for marriage. Alas, my reasoning was far too "puritanical." The man had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. No, he wasn't hesitating because he was concerned with how she might take the news, but rather, he wasn't sure if it was good for his tools to be exercised in that manner. Yeesh!
If you are looking for a light-hearted read to pass some time with, and you don't mind dabbling into discussions about sex from a modern, unrestrained perspective (or can skip over those), this author has offered up a whole series based upon these characters. I don't think I'm going to waste my time on another one.
However, I did just recently read about an interesting exercise for would-be writers. It might be an interesting challenge to take her premise and her plot structure and rewrite the book (after wringing it through the washing machine and then giving it a bit more unique coloring and some actual substance). No time for that now, however, since I am busily outlining my novel for NaNoWriMo (only one week away)!
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