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The Garden Party And Other Stories (2009)

by Maeve Binchy(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

160283556X (ISBN13: 9781602835566)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

AudioGO

review 1: The Garden Party by Maeve BinchyThis is an excellent short story.The heroine is Helen.She is going through a terrible period of her life.Her husband has abandoned her for another woman.Not only that, but the rival is nineteen years old, young enough to be his daughter. He is forty.To add insult to injury, the ex-husband is going to have a baby with his new partner, after having rejected the idea of having a child for years.Helen is devastated and has moved to a new house, with the garden.Her neighbor has two cats, and two young girls show up in the garden, where they smell and enjoy the flowers, until another woman comes with a car and is keen on making them go along with her.They do reluctantly.After their departure, Helen comes to introduce herself and finds that her nei... moreghbor’s name is Debbie Kennedy.Very soon, Helen cannot help but start talking about her miserable situation.Debbie Kennedy gives her advice and talks about her own divorce.- You have two choices. You need to pretend, but you can claim that- You do not care about him anymore, he is out of your life or- He is still part of it and you do the best you can.Debbie talks about how she moved close to her ex-husband, took care of her former mother-in-law, gradually took charge of his children and made herself invaluable.She played some dirty tricks- managed to get the daughters to win two cats, knowing that their mother was allergic to them.She kindly offered to keep the cats and now she saw and baby sits for the children every day.Debbie Kennedy seems to be the ideal partner, up to a point.Her ex-husband is very close to her, unexpectedly? Now that they are separated, he comes to talk in her gardenBut, as Proust wisely noted- once we know that someone is near, available, we kind of lose interest.Debbie finds her husband boring, now that she is secure, she knows that somehow she has managed to mix her life with that of his family, and in such a way that she is indispensible.Helen on the other hand is at the tragic time of the relationship breakup, where she thinks she is unable to move one way or the other.But the Garden Party in the title may provide the solution.It is suggested by the woman who has been through heaven and hell and survived.And not only that, but she has a quiet, serene life and a few people that depend upon her and the services that she provides.Including her ex- husband.
review 2: This is my first experience with audiobooks. I never wanted to try audiobooks, thinking I didn't have the attention span for it, but I found this when I accompanied my fiancee to the library. I had to try it since I love Maeve Binchy's writing and these are exclusive to audiobooks. The first time through, I only fully caught the first and lost stories. I caught it all the second time around, just had to train myself a little, I guess. Still not sure I could handle a full novel, but very glad I got a chance to enjoy more of Maeve Binchy's world. On the stories themselves: The Garden Party, was my favorite with A Special Sale being a close second. Always gotta love when her characters end up at Quentin's! While I feel A Sensible Celebration was the least enjoyable (only compared to the others), it really showcases Maeve Binchy's excellent characterization skills. less

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