Live a Little : Kim Green

Image Credit: luanne-abookwormsworld

Isn't there a thing like trying too hard? We hear that on TV all the time, especially on the sports channels. A server over hits his serve, and the commentator inevitably says, 'Oh! I think he was trying a little too hard there.' In India, where cricket rules the roost, I often hear an ex-Indian cricketer, Ravi Shastri, shout forth in youthful exuberance he no longer possesses when a bowler oversteps the bowling mark, and bowls an illegal delivery called a no-ball,"Oh I think he is trying too hard for extra pace here." I wonder always what is trying too hard? But I see it all the time too. And somehow it comes across as fake, doesn't it? Even though the effort to 'try too hard' is to be lauded...it just doesn't seem right.

Kim Green's Live a Little is a bit of the same. It tries too hard. To be smart. To be sexy. To be funny. And somehow, just like people, falls flat on its cute little cover face. There we have Raquel, diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning, and trying to come to terms with it - and so is her family, which includes Phil, and two children, Micah and Taylor. But then, soon enough she finds out that her breasts are perfectly fine, and that the hospital exchanged her results with another Raquel. Right, we have heard that one before! But now that Raquel, a tired old housewife of 42, finds that she is getting the attention she deserves, how can she go back and tell family, folks and friends that no, she doesn't have breast cancer? That's the plot. Therein lies the lie!

You can see that there is not much of it. The rest of the book is all about Raquel's deception and charade - you keep reading because you want to find out just how bad this can get. And it does. The ending is so farcical and contrived that I had to read it twice to actually believe that it passed an editor and publisher like that. Raquel is not a likable character - which is fine, I like unlikable characters, I am one myself. She has her flaws, she is irritating, annoying, jumbled, and just plain just like any of us. Err, like me. It's not HER I have a problem with - the language. It was so riddled with American colloquialisms that I half wished I had some dictionary of American slang with me! And Kim Green liberally uses celebrities like similes. And guess what? I am a celebrity-dud. Julia Roberts can walk past me, and I wouldn't know! Let alone some of the other more obscure (to me) celebrities she uses. That made the reading a bit irritating.

And the story itself as I said - tries so hard that it appears scarcely believable. Not that stories have to be believable. But you know...well...I am trying too hard to explain why it was a bad book!

Verdict : Did I say it tries too hard?

Rating: 1/5