Book description available via Amazon.
I didn't realize Grossman's "Dangled Carat" was a memoir until I was about 80% of the way
through the book, so that had a major impact on my feelings as I was
reading. To be honest, if it had been fiction, I would have given it a
lower rating. The story itself was okay, except for the fact that Marc
came across as a jerk in a number of instances and I couldn't figure out
why Hilary would put herself through the stress and pain of staying in
the relationship. Yes, they did end up married in the end, but was the
ring really worth all of the pain he put her through in the years
leading up to the wedding? There were also Marc's family and friends to
contend with, who may have meant well with their advice to Hilary to
break things off and efforts to force Marc to propose, but they just
seemed interfering and almost cruel to me. I would not have been able
to handle that kind of pressure from so many people and probably would
have broken things off for that reason alone. I have to admire Hilary
for knowing what she wanted and being strong enough to resist the
pressure from those around her to walk away.
My biggest
frustration with the book was the author's writing style. I had a hard
time keeping track of the timeline because of the way the author
randomly inserted flashbacks into the middle of whatever part of the
story she happened to be telling. She also tended to go off on tangents
a lot, and spent too much time describing irrelevant details like what
their vacation condo in Islamorada looked like. Some details are
welcome and necessary, but three pages seemed excessive to me. Overall,
though, it was an okay read. I was definitely engaged in the story and
wanted to know how things would turn out in the end.
NOTE: This review is also posted on Goodreads and Amazon.
