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It's About Your Husband

Review

It's About Your Husband



Lauren Lipton has spent half of her life as a journalist, primarily
as a newspaper reporter. In this, her first venture into fiction
writing, she has shed the constraints that bind a journalist to
accurately report news stories and has shown a real talent for
creating her own. The result is an enchanting tale about the
transformation of Iris Hedge, California Girl, into Iris Hedge, New
Yorker.

At a time in her life when her marriage is falling apart, Iris is
offered the chance of a lifetime --- to get a promotion and work
for a marketing company in New York City. The move from the San
Fernando Valley is a little scary but exciting in view of the
opportunities it will provide. Unfortunately, she barely gets
settled into her incredibly expensive studioette when she is
"restructured" right out of her new job at Hayes Heeley Market
Research. So instead of the glamorous job she envisioned, she is
now attending "Job-Hunting Tools for the Twenty-first Century"
classes sponsored by the New York State Department of Labor.

Fortunately, she was able to make some friends before she lost her
job and looks forward to spending time with Val and Vickie, twins
who have only their beautiful looks in common. Val is fun-loving,
frivolous and flirtatious, while Vickie is married, meticulous and
melancholy. Vickie suspects that her husband, Steve, is cheating on
her. Therefore, she hires Iris to "get the goods on him" so that
she can get the goods from him.

This results in a series of miscommunications and cover-ups that
could have had disastrous repercussions if it were not written as a
comedy of errors.

What makes IT'S ABOUT YOUR HUSBAND such an excellent read is not
the plot so much as Lipton's ability to capture the flavor of New
York, the foibles of her characters and the metamorphosis of a
delightful heroine. Her use of the language and ability to make us
smile and nod as we read about Iris's mother, the psychic New Age
Nymph, are priceless. She describes this character as "Once a
yoga-doing, herbal-tea-drinking, alfalfa-sprout-eating Southern
California mom, she is now, fifteen years later, remarried and a
cottage industry, a guru with a Web site and newsletter who
dispenses nuggets of goddess wisdom to women she's never met from a
six-thousand-square-foot Arizona hacienda."

Further, you are constantly drawn in as Iris vacillates, as she
teeters between loneliness and hope, despair and exhilaration. Her
New York moments will spark fond memories in anyone who has been
there...or has ever watched "NYPD Blue"! Lipton provides a
nostalgic romp for those who "heart" New York and an inspiring one
for those who have always wanted to embrace the Big Apple.

We look forward to what Lauren Lipton has in store for us
next.

Reviewed by Maggie Harding on January 22, 2011

It's About Your Husband
by Lauren Lipton

  • Publication Date: October 19, 2006
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: 5 Spot
  • ISBN-10: 0446697842
  • ISBN-13: 9780446697842