Carpool Diem

by Nancy Star

Annie Fleming's family has always adjusted well to her hard driving career. How could they not? Annie keeps them in line at home with typed, edited, and proofed to-do and not-to-do lists for her husband, her babysitter, and her daughter. (No TV on a school night, please!) But when an obnoxious co-worker conspires to force Annie out of her job, she finds herself out of work and face-to-face with her family, who, it turns out, isn't quite as well-adjusted as Annie thought. Husband Tim doesn't have near the follow-through that Annie does (ordered to downsize his employees, he can't fire anybody!) And daughter Charlotte doesn't even try to make the local soccer team - a cut-throat, take-no-prisoners system run by Winslow West, a man who dreams of the Olympic gold his young charges will someday win for him.
Here Annie is unemployed and Charlotte's the one with the quitting attitude? Annie doesn't think so. She's determined to get Charlotte on the A team, but finds that the soccer sidelines are more cutthroat than a boardroom ever was.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction

326 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2004

About the author

Nancy Star is the bestselling author of Sisters One, Two Three and five other novels including her latest, Rules For Moving, coming this Spring. Star’s novels have been translated into many languages, optioned for television, and chosen as Literary Guild and Mystery Guild Signature Series selections. In addition to her novels, Star’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Family Circle, among other publications. Before turning to writing fiction full-time, Star worked for over a decade as an executive in the movie business. She now lives with her husband in New Jersey. Visit her website: nancystarauthor.com and follow her on twitter: @nancystarauthor and instagram: @nancystarauthor

Reviews

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book didn't promise anything deep and recently I really needed something NOT deep. I will admit that the title pulled me, it is such a cute clever little title. I find myself sometimes not only judging books by their cover/title, but also pitting them against books that aren't even in the same genre. This one was really cute for what it was. I felt there were some holes in the story line, things would change without too much explanation (especially with her husband, I felt like we didn't see enough of him when she first lost her job - how did that conversation go? Also with some other parts with him). The writing was pretty good though, overall - it was quirky and fun. I laughed out loud a few times when the author was realizing how little she knows about what goes on in her own house, I could have easily interjected myself there at times around my own home!

I liked the weaving of her life and the soccer bulletins along with the soccer culture and home life. The author did a good job of making me smile several times. "Oh, he's THAT coach" - cuz you know anyone that's had a kid in sports knows just who THAT coach is!

Well worth a weekend read or when you just need something to read that's a little on the lighter side.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was actually, delightful. Sure, it's a fluffy read, the end wrapped up in a neat little bow, but was still really fun to read. I'm wondering if those soccer memos were inspired by some real life letters sent home from obsessive coaches. One of my favorites is when the coach congratulates a girl for not being afraid to get aggressive with a fellow teammate during practices while simultaneously wishing her victim a speedy recovery. An easy, fun, yet relatable read.

[Jimminnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book kept me laughing all the way through. Great light reading.

[Sherry Chancellor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this one up at the thrift store when I traveled to visit my son and his family. I like to check out thrift and Goodwill stores when I go places to pick up books for my Little Free Library. A lot of times, I don’t read the ones I buy but this one drew me on with the promise of being fun.

And it definitely was a fun read. The protagonist is a perfectionist who loses her job basically through sabotage but, as a reader, you get a feeling of relief that she’s getting off the treadmill that was her life working out of town all week and spending weekends at home. Her family life clearly suffered due to her lifestyle/work absences.

The reader gets to see great character arcs of several of the members of her family.

The daughter is a soccer player and most of the book revolves around her quest to play for an elite travel team. The best parts of the story are where the obsessive coach of the elite team sends crazy, ridiculous memos to the girls and their families every day. He’s loony tunes and never met an exclamation mark he didn’t like.

I spent a lot of the story laughing at his memos and hoping he’d get his comeuppance.
I’m a huge soccer nut so this book was right up my alley. The character growth was well done on the characters who had a chance to change. Not so much on the coach guy, but that was sort of expected. Lol

This book was published in 2008 but it could have come out last week as it was so up to date—other than the reference to the Larry King show.

This was a quick read—less than a day—but full of good, entertaining writing as well as a great message about life’s priorities.

[Melinda Rachlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, easy read. After reading several heavier novels lately, this one was a pleasure. The story flows well with interesting characters. The plot is a bit telegraphed so no huge surprises but there are a few twists. This is not a novel for someone looking for a literary masterpiece but it is an above average light read.

Having lived through the soccer mom years, I have experienced the depiction of soccer parents and coaches. It made me appreciate the humor in this novel all the more. 'Glad to know I am not the only one who finds a lighter side to all the over competitive people out there.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute but nothing special.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick, fluffy book. I liked the term another review mentioned that they considered it "mom-lit", not chick-lit. Others have mentioned that it's the perfect story for a Disney tv movie. I agree. I downloaded this into my Kindle ages ago, I think because it was free and I finally got around to reading it. It's funny that some readers have mentioned that they could relate and knew parents like the soccer parents in this book. As a soccer mom of a child in competitive travel soccer, I guess I'm lucky that I haven't come in contact with the crazies in this book. It was all a bit over the top. But I could certainly relate to what I took as the overall message in the book; balancing your work and your family and the humor you can find in trying to do it all. I had to give this just 2 stars because although I didn't hate it and I would recommend if you're looking for a quick vacation read, I didn't love it and it didn't move me.

[Mitzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Star comes from a background in movies and in my mind, this is a perfect script for a cheesy Disney movie on the on the Disney channel. Everything is way over the top--the mom is an oblivious control freak, daughter is a surprise soccer star, the coach is the villianous over-bearing coach, and a few more bumbling idiots along for the ride. It's a fun read--I swear some of the situations the mom finds herself in as she tries to jump into the unpredictable life as a stay-at-home mom, compared to the apparently predictable life she led as a corporate climber, was not that far off from some of my own experiences. However, I have never met a working mom that was as clueless as Star makes her character to be. All in all, a fun, fast, easy read.

[Lain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would actually give this three and a half stars. It was a cute take on corporate-wonderwoman-turned-stay-at-home-mom, set against the backdrop of a competitive girls' soccer team. While the subject was light (think chick lit without the sex), every suburban mom will be able to identify with the challenges and characters Star describes.

A bit wacky at times (a jealous dad sabotages the soccer field in hopes one of his daughter's rivals will get injured; the over-the-top soccer coach makes the girls practice during a severe thunderstorm and gets his little toe blown off by lightning), it was extremely easy to read and fast-paced. I particularly enjoyed the eyeroll-inducing weekly memos from the obsessed coach).

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was like a Babysitters Club or Sweet Valley High for moms. Meaning, that it is amusing drivel where nothing really bad actually happens (but the main character still goes into convulsions every other chapter) and everyone (but the bad, bad men) ends up happier at the end.
I did rate it two "it was okay" stars though because it was fascinating to read backwards. Yep, it was late at night and I was working on the this very slow computer. I had already read the first couple of chapters and knew it was pointless but decided to see what happened at the end. I then proceeded backwards from there. I've heard of people doing this. I recommend it, it's fun.

[Stephenie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank goodness it was a quick read because I hated most of the characters, especially the coach Winslow and the disgruntled parent, Roy. It's not often that I have such negative feelings about a character, but I really hated these two, so much that I found myself speed reading at times just to get through it.

What's sad is that the author wasn't that far off when creating these characters. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in youth sports that closely resemble these two.

In the end, I liked how the story ended, but was overall disappointed in the book.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worth reading for the great send-up of traveling soccer, not much else stood out in the quick novel. Corporate exec Annie Fleming is let go from her job and she focuses her attention on her daughter Charlotte and the quest for a better soccer team. The girls could be 8, 10, or 12 for all the development they receive. Only Winslow West really stands out as the over-powering leader of the elite soccer club, the Power. He's building a Winslow West soccer empire, with disastrous results.

[Brenda Klaassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Soccer Mom" story drew me to this book. I am a part-time "Soccer Mom." The author kept the characters true-to-life. I felt Annie's pain when she was trying to balance work and home. For a minute I did think Tim was not being true to his marriage, but I was happy that he was being true. I did feel bad that the "Power" team had a crazy coach. I would recommend this book to a woman who is a mom and is looking for a lite read.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a "perfectionist mom is forced by circumstance to slow down and re-evaluate her life" story, with a lot of Soccer Mom thrown in. The society of the soccer-obsessed was a fun element, but I'd've liked more steps in the mom's epiphany. It sort of seemed to happen magically--one minute she's frantically trying to do it all, be perfect, etc., and the next minute she's all different. Still, it was a fun book and a good read.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two main parts of Carpool Diem would have been interesting on their own—if they’d been more fully developed. Together, though, they make for a disjointed socca-story that will most likely leave you feeling socca-frustrated.

Read the full review at http://www.nightsandweekends.com/arti...

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book about Annie who is a perfectionist in the corporate world and thinks everything is "together" in her home life - when she loses her job and gets thrown into the world of travel soccer mom she finds out differently - good story but a little extreme in places - some parts of story line were not as well developed as I would have liked

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book that I have read in a long time that didn't come with a recommendation for friends, family or a book club. I found it on the library shelf while looking for another book. I liked it. Just a fun little read about a mom who loses her job and tries to figure out how to be a mom at home and bring her little family together again.

[Tressa (Wishful Endings) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up from the "New" books at the library. It was funny in parts and sad in parts. It's about a married women who gets laid off whose been working for years and tries to readjust to being home with her 12-year-old daughter (who has just tried out for a soccer league) and her husband whose struggling in his job.

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a light-hearted fun read. I have a 13 year old daughter who plays soccer but not in a traveling league so it was fun to read what I've missed (or not). The newsletters the coach of the top team puts out are very funny.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick easy, beach read type of book...kind of slow at times, but overall not too bad. There were a couple of characters I wished had been more developed, but considering it really is a "chick-lit" book I didn't expect too much.

[Karyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a light, easy to read book. I would recommend it to any soccer mom who can appreciate the craziness of it. I thought the ending was a little disappointing, but liked the fact I didn't have to think too hard while reading it.

[Kiersten · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok. The reviews on Amazon.com made it seem much better then it was. I mean, it was ok, not terrible. Maybe I am just looking for something a little meatier or a little fluffier. It just wasn't really up my ally but like Liz, I felt bad if I didn't finish it! LOL!

[Julie Sikorski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun fast summer read! As a soccer mom myself, I laughed out loud when I read about all of the notorized paperwork and the competition to be on the best team. Believe it or not, this is real life! Not great literature, but it was fun.

[Lindsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

That I never want to be a travel soccer mom. I hated this book more than Colin hated soccer when he tried it at age 4. If you are a crazy travel soccer/ obsessed kids sports person this book might amuse you.

[Evette Yu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got it only because it was on sale in Kindle store. it was OK, not terrible, it is good but a little scary to know about the life of a soccer mom. other than that I wish I had picked something else ...

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an easy read, but a bit over the top. That's the point, I guess, but it felt too exaggerated to me. Makes a good point, though, about how we all rush through life, mostly for the wrong reasons, and miss what's important.

[Karina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book (I have to be honest)it was okay..... I found that the story dragged on and the ending was a little disapointing that Charlotte didn t want to stay on Winslow's team and that she didn t go back to her first team.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the idea of the book and it was well-written but it was really hard to get through. It took me several years to finish this book. I would pick it up and put it down. It offers some nice lessons but all and all it's not one of my favorite reads.

[Jami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun and quick read. I liked the satirical play on the parents and coaches. If I read Gerri saying "socca-riffic" once more, though....

This is a good summer beach read. I would have liked more of the cut throat corporate world.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read! Some humor, some life lessons, some struggles, and no swearing! I am not a so-called soccer mom, but I know them and this was a funny portrayal...not all that off the mark either.