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Roadside Sisters (2009)

by Wendy Harmer(Favorite Author)

3.33 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Allen and Unwin

review 1: Don't judge me. I was feeling down and wanted some super-light reading. I may have gone too far.Roadside Sisters tells the story of three Australian women who decide to drive from Melbourne to Byron Bay in an enormous Elvis-themed camper van. Along the way they confront their (rather uninteresting) personal problems and discover the true meaning of female friendship. The book is at least rather fast-paced, and has a few good set pieces, although there is a poor middle section when they are constantly arguing, making up, then arguing again.I actually enjoyed the premise and the descriptions of the scenery. When I was a child, my family holidayed in Queensland, and we spent two weeks driving from Cairns to Brisbane. I've always wanted to go back to Australia, though sadly I ... morehaven't been able to yet. I also enjoyed the uniquely Aussie dialogue. My favourite line was probably, "I'm going home with a dead feral pig and champagne. If I'm lucky I'll get a root out of this." Ah, Australia.However, the book itself is cliched and silly. The point of view jumps disconcertingly between the characters, often mid-sentence. Everything is happily wrapped up at the end: the drunken slutty one has found a man who is truly special, as shown by the fact that he wants to wait to have sex with her (possibly waiting for an STD test? I would); the icy one has made peace with her daughter and new in-law; the fat one has had a bout of explosive diarrhoea following an ill-advised curry, and thus lost a few kilos. But it was an okayish diversion, though not one I intend to revisit.
review 2: Three cliches walk into a bar... Maybe this is how Harmer should have started this chicklit novel. It only gets a star because you would otherwise think I had forgotten to rate it. Got it from my library- wish they'd spent the cash on buying My Name is Red rather than this very ordinary and predictable story. If that sounds harsh - it's a very competitive publishing market and there will be writers who are not published who tell much better stories. less

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