Saturday, June 6, 2009

Review: The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

Publication date: June 9, 2009 (Bloomsbury USA)

Tags: adult, humor, tragedy, friendship

Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary

Mormon housewife of four Becky Jack cannot believe her luck when she manages to strike up an actual conversation with her celebrity crush, Felix Callahan, on a trip to L.A. It’s just the one time, and Becky marks it down as a great story to tell her friends and family later. Her normally comfortable life of running the household and loving her husband, Mike, however, seems to slide into the land of fairy tales when, a few weeks later, Felix shows up in her small Utah town.

Becky is unable to understand why this handsome man, so happily married to his beautiful French model wife, keeps on insisting on being in her life. But they strike a friendship so deep, so all-encompassing, that everyone who knows them has no idea what to make of it. Being Felix’s best friend has its ups and downs, and the biggest down for Becky is wondering about how much of an effect Felix has on her when she is completely, utterly, 100 percent devoted to her family.

Can a housewife whose life is her family have a famous actor as a best friend? Or is everything too good to be true?

Review

I have long been an admirer of Shannon Hale’s work; THE GOOSE GIRL is still one of my favorite books of all time, and Shannon’s previous adult novel, AUSTENLAND, is a charming read. But THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE is absolutely perfect. I was blown away completely. Not many books have left me both laughing so hysterically that I woke up my roommate and sobbing nonstop for a good hundred pages.

Imagine your favorite smart romantic comedy, novelized and plumped with three times as much goodness, and that’s what you get in Shannon Hale’s second adult book. Every single character in this novel is well-developed, interesting, and unique, though the witty and laugh-out-loud funny dialogue between Becky and Felix steals the show, of course. I swear Shannon must’ve been channeling some serious screenwriter vibes, because the dialogue belongs in a crowd-pleasing, box-office-record-breaking movie of the likes of “When Harry Met Sally.”

The emotions I experienced when reading THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE were astounding. Shannon Hale certainly had me collapsing in laughter at all the right moments (i.e. a lot of them). However, her brilliant writing developed the characters in a way that left me in tears for the sad bits of the book. It’s not too hard for a book to make me laugh; for a book to move me to tears, though, that is a remarkable piece of work.

This book will appeal to a wide range of audiences. Romance lovers will love the dialogue, the heartbreaks, and the hope. Becky is a Mormon and Felix is an atheist, but the novel only gently touches upon issues of religion, which allows for a greater range of appreciative readers. Smart women tiring of regular chick lit should read this, as well as teenagers who want a perfectly respectable fictional relationship to dream about—there’s no smut or anything rated higher than PG in this book, which is another smart move.

There will be mixed reactions towards the ending, for sure, but I appreciated it precisely because it broke the mold of the standard fairy-tale-like happily-ever-afters, and instead offered an alternative, though no less exciting, future for the characters.

THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE comes out at a great time—this summer, you’ll want laughter, love, and a bit of the unexplainable. This is a book that you’ll want to keep on your shelf forever, rereading it every summer to fall in love with Becky, Felix, Mike, and all the characters all over again.

Similar Authors/Movies:
Meg Cabot
When Harry Met Sally
10 Things I Hate About You

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Cover discussion: Ignore the cover! Take the dust jacket off when reading, for fear that it will cause you to ignore this book! (Ack!)

13 comments:

  1. (I love your header, btw!)

    I just finished reading Austenland--and this might have to be my follow up to it. Thanks for the review!

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  2. The cover is odious.

    You have certainly intrigued me for other Shannon Hale titles. I have noticed that her books are suddenly everywhere on the shelves when last month I had never see them. Will definitely be searching this one out - thanks SS!

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  3. I love your header too!

    I got this one at BEA via her signing! And actually the two people on the cover have changed slightly, i like the new version a bit more! I'm excited to read it too!

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  4. I meant to tell you I love the new header, too! I saw it last night when I was looking for your Silver Phoenix review. I'm putting my Actor & Housewife review up today and linking to you!

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  5. 10 Things I Hate About You? I love that. I'll make sure to pick this book up cos it sounds so awesome and I trust Steph. I'm so loving it when you review adult books! *takes notes*

    anyway I'm so glad to see the header up haha! :)

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  6. This sounds really good and I love Hale's writing. There is something creepy about the cover

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  7. The cover is cool and this souds like an awesome book. Great review.

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  8. I'm supposed to get a review copy of this one! I'm excited to read it! Great great review!

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  9. Thank you so much for helping to pimp my contest!!

    ~ AM

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  10. Sounds like an author I should buy! Haven't read any of her books yet but have heard of them.

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  11. Ooh, I love books that make you laugh in all the right parts! And if it's got a 5 rating... sounds like an awesome read! Sweet review.

    BTW, I've nominated you for an award here: http://lucidconspiracy.blogspot.com/2009/06/interview-awards.html

    =)

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  12. I actually like the cover, a little.

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  13. It sounds great! I'll add it to my list :)

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Hello! I'm so excited to read what you have to say. Due to high amounts of spam, I'm forced to disabled anonymous comments for the time being. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes, and I hope you can understand and still appreciate the content here!

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