Magnolia Wednesdays

Fun Read

I think this was a great book and look forward to reading more by the author!

Enjoyable Read

This was a nice, fairly predictable, realistic look at the life of two sisters and
the friends around them. The sisters appear to be polar opposites until
their characters are revealed and peeled back to show we are essentially all the
same and long for the same things in life.

Can you go home again?

Vivien Armstrong Gray has reached a certain decade in broadcast journalism that can be a little difficult to breach. As one of her investigative pieces winds up more popular on You Tube and her body is becoming a hormonal mess, Vivi heads home to Georgia. This suburban life of her sister Melanie is very foreign to Vivi, but the sisters adult relationship eventually begins to flourish. Many of the nuances of any Southern novel are here, but Wax does a gentle job with her characters and they are not typecast. It's always nice to read chick-lit of women of a more realistic age and place in life.

The Secrets Behind Real Dancing!

Are you fantasizing that you're on the hit show, "Dancing With The Stars?" What is it about dancing that is so very, very satisfying that it seems like one's soul is flying free, with all the cares and concerns of the world gone for a brief, luscious time? What's it like when one gets to know real people in a real dance studio? What's happening in between the glamorous, exciting, vibrant moments? How can dance transform one's life?

Shot twice - once literally in the butt and then again figuratively by her boss, Vivien Gray is unemployed, with a bruised rear end and a very bruised ego! Unable to obtain another journalistic job as an investigative reporter and finding herself in another precarious state in her lower end of middle age state, Vivien comes up with a unique idea and travels to her sister, Melanie's home in Georgia to find out what the scoop really is about suburban lives. The discoveries and surprises are stereotypical and yet Wendy Wax has a delightful manner of presenting them so that it seems like one is reading about these facts and interpretations for the first time, with quite a bit of humor and playfulness added. How, for example can you tell the status of someone driving an SUV of a certain make and year, after considering all of the stickers all over the bumpers and windows?

The essence of this very readable story, though, is about people changing and evolving, growing apart and then growing closer, speaking one's mind honestly and dealing with the consequences, all in all making pivotal choices and running with the results. So Vivien has to deal with the sense of estrangement she senses in her niece and nephew, as well as the unacknowledged feelings her own sister is harboring against Vivien. Then there's Mom who's never quite satisfied with anything said, done and probably even thought by her daughters or a boyfriend who's never stuck around long enough to establish some depth in a relationship. There's Melanie's friend Ruth whose confidence grows enough to make an incredible challenge to her spouse of many years. On and on we read, moving deeper into the personalities, the talents and quirks of these very human people who are forced to struggle through their crises or forever be stymied by them.

Wendy Wax knows how to spin a credible, humorous, poignant and provocative story with some incredible issues behind it - all in a style that is surprising, credible and in a very real sense, life-changing.

Superbly written, Wendy Wax!!! More please!!!

Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on March 21, 2010

Magnolia Wednesdays

Magnolia Wednesdays is a funny, yet poignant, novel that will take the reader into the wilds of Suburbia Atlanta. Kind of a fish out of water tale. As the story progresses and various pieces of information come to light, you see the relationships between ViVi and her sister grow. It is heartwarming to watch and I enjoyed reading all about Vivi and her exploits in the suburbs. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

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