book review: the friday night knitting club by kate jacobs

I listened to this book on unabridged audio book. It's a passable novel, but it struck me that it was written from blueprints on "how to write a novel". Although many of the characters were likeable, the events they faced seemed formulaic and forced at times. Some storylines seemed more organic than others. There is the crux of a good story, even if it was awkward and forced at times. The events didn't surprise me, and thus I didn't attach much emotion to them. Jacobs' descriptive prose was awkward at times as well. Perhaps I was more attuned to it because I listened to it rather than read it, but she seemed to consciously avoid overusing characters names. Instead, she would write, "the tall man responded," which was not relevant to the scene. Yes, I remembered he was tall, but it didn't affect the conversation.

I'm looking forward to the movie, with Julia Roberts signed on as Georgia. It's one book I imagine will make a better movie. I wouldn't advise against reading it; I enjoyed it enough to finish it, but I certainly wasn't blown away by it. I'm even waiting my turn for the sequel at the library.

Rating: 2 stars (liked it)