Book Review

Just finished Then She Found Me, by Elinor Lipman.

Apparently this novel was made into a movie starring Helen Hunt, Collin Firth, and several other well-knowns. I hope for the audience's sake that the film was better than the book. I just watched the trailer for it though and it looks NOTHING like the book, which is most likely a good thing.

Basic plot: An adopted woman's (April) eccentric birth mother (Bernice) comes to find her after her adoptive parents have died.

People, The New York Times, and tons of other respectable critics all seemed to enjoy this novel. Either they were smoking crack or I just don't know a good book when I read one.

If you can't tell by now, I really did not like this book. The characters were shallow, in multiple uses of the word. The dialogue was unrealistic. The characters reactions to almost every event in the story were pathetic at least. The only character that showed any realness was the biological father and he has a bit part in the end.

I like the idea. The storyline is good. I just feel that the author had a chance to do something amazing and she failed to do anything.

And it's not that I don't like this type of book. You know, the "girly" books.
I loved Sam's Letters to Jennifer. I adored The Poisonwood Bible and A Bend in the Road. And many others...

Then She Found Me left me feeling ... flat.

If you have read this book and enjoyed it, please share. What am I missing? Tell me how and why I'm wrong. Change my mind!