Polite Calamities

A Novel

De: Jennifer Gold

Narrado por: Erin Bennett

In a hazy 1960s Rhode Island summer, three disparate lives converge and combust in this riveting story of the empowerment women find in friendship, solidarity, and rage, from the author of Halfway to You.

Winifred is blunt, opinionated, and outrageously colorful. In a community that demands domesticity, she simply doesn’t fit. When her wealthy husband suddenly dies, Winifred’s fellow society housewives no longer have a reason to play nice. Cast out entirely, Winifred throws roaring parties for the clerks and waiters that serve the town, finding the connections she’s been craving—and upsetting the gentle balance of her elite neighborhood in the process.

Flailing artist Marie wants to paint over her past before the painful memories consume her. On the brink of making a longtime dream come true, her newfound friendship with Winifred might be the key to finally moving forward—or her undoing.

High-society housewife June weathers a chronic pain that would make other women faint. With her veneer crumbling, she has no patience for the free spirit shaking up her community. Filled with a mixture of obsessive hatred and fascination for the outcast, June’s determined to destroy Winifred and return her life to the way it used to be.

When slow-simmering summer secrets and resentments finally reach the boiling point, everyone is at risk of being burned. Polite Calamities explores what “community” really means when societal survival is at stake, and what happens when women decide it’s time to stop behaving and start living.

©2024 by Nicole Jennifer Persun. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Vivid descriptions and lyrical passages abound: the reader can smell the salt of the beach and the alcohol-soaked parties Winnifred throws.”—Historical Novels Review

“I adored this elegantly crafted tale of three beautiful messes crashing into one another amid the backdrop of high-society 1960s Rhode Island. Toeing the perfect line between tenderhearted and diabolical, Gold’s latest won’t let you go until after the explosive and uplifting denouement.”—Boo Walker, bestselling author of The Stars Don’t Lie

Like a Rich Dessert, too much!

Let me preface this review by admitting that this sort of book is not my usual fare. It's not a bad book, entertainment-wise, and there are some good elements to it. However, Winifred, the protagonist, is a bit too good to be true. I did enjoy the social dynamics, the mean girl vibe, in particular. I looked forward to the June portions and wish that the author would have focused more on that she-devil! Unfortunately, the premise of the tortured artist's trauma and her desire for retribution were confusing/not believable (even for fiction). That character really annoyed me, and not in a good way.

A lot of people will enjoy this book and I kept with it until the last 30 minutes or so. This book was like candy for me---at first, it's a confection but after a while, it isn't as enjoyable. It was written for a market, not for the art of writing, which is certainly ok. To be honest, it seems like a profit-minded editor got a hold of the manuscript and decided to dumb it down a bit to market it as a "woman's book."

I think the author is talented and hope that she turns her gifts to something with more depth.

The friendship of Marie & Winnifred

This story was pretty good, although somewhat trite & predictable. I liked how it ended, but I had to scoff at a few things. I think the snottiness and meanness of the society women was way overdone. I also can’t quite buy Marie’s situation. Without spoiling anything, kids are pretty resilient and her profound problems dating back so far into a childhood happening in someone else’s family makes it seem like Marie is very weak.The other thing is that I also don’t get Winifred just casually allowing such raucous behavior & destruction of her property. Most women in their 30s in the late 60s would never permit such events to keep happening.

So while it’s a pretty good story, it just could have been toned down a little and been much better. A little subtlety would’ve helped a lot. One area I would have loved to have seen explored would be a friendship between June and Winifred. I think the two of them teaming up to make their charity even a better one and more inclusive would’ve made a great story.