The Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska

by Eileen Curtright

There are no secrets in a small town. For someone like Rebecca, that can get awkward.

Rebecca Meer’s hometown of Ward, Nebraska, is small—so small that she can’t even sneak home after a drunken girls’ night without running into at least three people she knows. But she has bigger problems than her reputation. The head doctor at her fertility clinic is losing his mind, and his wild behavior could cost them the business. Her supersuccessful ex-boyfriend has blown back into town and somehow become her son’s fifth-grade teacher—now her son is asking awkward questions about the end of their relationship. Rebecca can’t even run the PTA’s annual food drive without getting mixed up with criminals. In Eileen Curtright’s astute comedy, we see just how far a stressed-out single parent will go to be the “perfect” mother.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Contemporary, Book Club, Realistic Fiction, Novels

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2015

Reviews

[Alaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

This looked like the least terrible option from November's Kindle First offerings. Interesting title because when I read "He had a barbed-wire tattoo around his bicep to let the world know he didn't give a fuck. I envied him that, but I'd chosen a different path. I had a child who looked to me to set the example" that is the exact moment I decided I would probably have thrown this book into a fire if I had a physical copy. It was free and I got what I paid for.

[Christa · Rating 1 out of 5]

What's the point of this book? I really want to know. It almost reminded me of some of Fannie Flagg's books except she didnt come close to succeeding. She was trying to build a world populated with quirky, interesting characters and failed miserably. I couldn't stand the main character, Rebecca. She made so many ridiculous choices and nothing made sense. The plot was all over the place with the weird teachers, ADHD medication and more subplots that were completely unnecessary. I'm glad that I got this free from Amazon because otherwise I'd be pissed for wasting my money.

[Alexa Kocinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska is a great comic novel about being a single parent trapped in a small town, but it deals with more than the trappings of small-town life. The novel infuses zany non-sequiturs (exploding toads and the aftermath of toad explosions and how the school administrators react to it is sly, hilarious, off-beat) with great social commentary on our nation's current obsessions with childhood mental-health diagnoses (specifically ADHD), early indications of violence ("He mowed down an entire table of children with that carrot stick," the principal tells Becky about her son as he attempts to justify the child's expulsion on flimsy grounds), and academic juicing (several children are testing out a new drug, PHOCUS, to help them outcompete their peers).

Although not outwardly political, Ms. Curtright's book is a sociopolitical critique of social and rural classes, the treatment of blue-collar workers, and the ways in which hover parents push and medicate their children to succeed despite obvious adverse side effects. The book forces us to ask ourselves what we want for our children and what lengths are we, as parents, willing to go to ensure our children have the best lives possible.

I highly recommend it. It's a quick read, witty, and thought provoking.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, I seem to be in the minority over this book. I really didn't care for it. I found it a little confusing with the way the story jumped and the main character got on my nerves.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 giggle inducing stars!

With razor sharp wit and perfect comedic timing, The Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska by Eileen Curtright is an entertaining and surprisingly, thought-provoking, novel.

Set in a small Midwestern town, single mom Rebecca "Becky" Meers tries to fly under the nosy town's radar while raising her son Mitchell. Having just made partner in the local fertility clinic, she works with a slick doctor who keeps her busy cleaning up his messes but his latest misstep might be well beyond any type of damage control. At the same, she is stunned and dismayed to discover that Mitchell's new teacher is none other than her son's unnamed father Kevin Holts and his teaching style is unconventional at best and downright destructive at worst. Throw in her unwanted attraction to Hayes Bandercook who just happens to be from one the town's most notorious families and Becky becomes convinced that a prescription for the newest ADHD drug will solve all of her problems.

Rebecca is a harried working mom who loves her son unconditionally. An unfortunate mishap with the school's toads puts Mitchell in the crosshairs of the principal and much to her consternation, keeping him out of trouble means discussing his behavior with Kevin in a professional capacity. Although she is thrilled to finally be a partner in the fertility clinic, her social awkwardness and inability to sugarcoat news make for some interesting (and alarming) discussions with some of the clinic's patients. After discovering her partner is up to his old tricks with one their patients, Becky is often left to deal with their clients on her own which sometimes ends with disastrous outcomes. At the same time, she is also scrambling to stop the good doctor from ruining their business with his after hours shenanigans.

The Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska by Eileen Curtright is a laugh out loud funny novel with a cast of well developed, eclectic characters. Although occasionally a little over the top, the storyline touches on a number of topical issues such as the alarming trend of overmedicating students and standardized testing in schools. Zany and irreverent with a satirical edge, Eileen Curtright is nonetheless spot on with her depiction of some of the problems in today's world and the downsides to small town living. A fast paced and engrossing story that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the heck did I just read? I had a hard time with Amazon's Kindle First choices in November and this one seemed the least bad, but... ugh.

I don't know, maybe if I were from Nebraska, or even a little town, this would be funny?

I can't tell if this was meant to be hysterically farcical in which case it just wasn't over the top enough to do so, or was meant to come across as a sly side-eyed smirk at modern parenting, in which case it was way too heavy handed. In the end, it was a disjointed mess of a novel, focusing on a disjointed mess of a protagonist.

If this IS a realistic look at life in small-town Nebraska, remind me never to visit.

[Tifani · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is terrible. Pure drivel. No one should read this. I only picked it as the least terrible Kindle First offering, and regret the time spent. There is not one likable character. The plot development is terrible. Don't waste your time.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, funny book. "Madcap" is probably the best word to describe it. The main character, Becky, has all kinds of silly adventures and mishaps much like Bridget Jones. Becky herself is not all that likable--she's arrogant and self-absorbed, and she really can't seem to care about her son for more than two seconds at a time. It was actually really interesting watching how the author conveyed all this through other people's reactions. The book is written from Becky's point of view, so you come to realize she's a screwup and a bitch mainly by watching how other people react to her. She doesn't think of herself that way at all. Fascinating and very well done.

Anyway, I got this book because of a review that said it's a book that will leave you happy, and the reviewer was right. It was funny, and nothing too tragic or serious happened. Some of the situations were too extreme to really be believed, but that's ok. Silliness is good. I wish books were labeled to make it easy to find books like this.

[Yogi Khalsa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Drivel,

pure and simple. Nothing here, which is evident from the start. This one hit my not worth finishing category very quickly. On the up side, it was free from Amaxon. Good luck.

[CL · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a small town where everyone know everyone's business it is hard to have a social life as a single mother. Rebecca would like to live a normal life but between the idiosyncrasies of her son and the cyclical behavior of her new partner slash boss she cannot find a footing. To top it all off her sister has asked her to run the annual food drive and she manages to even mess that up. Now she has an unhealthy desire for one of the town's black sheep family's sons that she cannot seem to shake. As she tries to balance all of this she thinks maybe she has ADHD and tries to self medicate to even more disastrous effects. This is a hilarious story about a woman who can be her own worst enemy until she gets out of her own way and begins to just live her life.

[Celesta Bonasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Were there Missing chapters??

Contains SPOILERS! I read the whole book yet I felt that there was something I missed. I do not want to give anything away if people read opinions first. I only read them afterwards to help me better input my review.
The reviews everyone gave was a mixed bag of loves and hates. Everyone had different reasons for not liking it, but the likes were because they felt it was filled with humor.
Well although there were a couple of humorous parts I did not feel it was filled with it. The new teacher Kevin, I do not know how anyone respects this man. He is opinionated and rude, just because he has money people are in awe of him and let him do or say anything. All the parents of the kids in his class are alright with his opinionated teaching. The kids that he makes sit in the cloak room, the parents are alright with this ...really? I found a lot of that very far fetched. Especially, since most people are all my son/daughter would never do that. How dare you mistreat my child. The fact that he just happened to have a gun on a camping trip on a wildlife reserve is never even an issue.
A Big shocker that Kevin's mother is just as rude.
Becky is a partner in the clinic and pays the front desk receptionist,yet she does not know her name? She will sleep with a man that she and everyone else seems to find repulsive , because she is drunk then sits awake enough to know she regrets it and just waited for daytime. The town all seems to have issues. A couple over medicated their child to the point of drooling and this is alright and not judged. Yet the Bandercook family is the ones that no one wants to associate with. Um kettle ... black.... Hayes Bandercook seems like the most normal law abiding one ,but Becky can't let others know about sleeping with him because she is too good for him and not already disliked herself? He may have had some issues but so did she... a lot of them. I was a little irritated with that. The Bandercooks seem to be family that fights and gets into some trouble, but at least the family spends time with other and want to where as Becky leaves as soon as she eats not really saying goodbye to her family. I guess I liked the book but was not happy with a lot of what I thought lose ends to the story. I felt there were things left unanswered and then the last chapter tried to throw a bunch of things together to make up for it. I'm glad it was free.

[AJourneyWithoutMap · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska by Eileen Curtright is a humorous take on life, love, parenting, and domestic life and follows a single mom, microbiologist Rebecca Meer, who is a partner in the local fertility clinic. As someone who has survived life as a single parent, there’s nothing Rebecca can’t handle. Or so she thought. But once things started spiraling out of control, there little she could do.

The floodgate opened with her partner Dr. Thad Sorensons. His destructive behavior is a major cause of concern as it could ruin their business. Her 10-year-old fifth-grade son Mitchell gets a new teacher in the form of her ex-boyfriend Kevin Holts. Rebecca can’t understand why in the world would Kevin return to Ward after starting such a successful tech business in California, and what prompted Mitchell’s principal Calvin Chester to engage him. Mitchell is expelled from the school on flimsy grounds, and Rebecca messed up the annual food drive that her sister entrusted her.

Even worse, she is prone to making poor romantic decisions that will result in embarrassing outcomes. Full of interesting and well-conceived characters, The Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska by Eileen Curtright is the story of a woman who wants to live a well-constructed life but makes a mess of everything. It is an engrossing read, and you will find much delight in it from start to finish if what you want is a story that is full of social commentary but sparkling with wit and energy.

[Cissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't like farces, read no further. This is definitely a farce.

While Curtright takes a light approach to everything, some scenes stand out. I utterly adored the 5th grade class who were all Objectivists (until it came time for trick-or-treating), and their Rand-worshipping teacher's description of a RATIONAL Halloween party. Also, the "play" of Pioneer Days-done instead of the possibly Satanic Halloween- was a hoot.

It IS a farce, and no one really comes off well... but they are all entertaining. And meanwhile it skewers standardized testing as the ONE way to determine whether kids are learning anything; fertility clinics; Ayn Rand style Objectivism (especially as implemented by fifth-graders); and meddlesomeness in general.

All the characters are more caricatures than real people- but that's part of the point, and they are amusing.

If you like humorous "cozy" mysteries, you'll probably enjoy this, despite the sad lack of murders.

I got this for free via Kindle First, and definitely enjoyed it.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I do know the author. And I knew she was funny, but this book was pure joy to read!

Eileen Curtright (please note: no "W" in her surname) creates characters which are deeply-flawed, and find themselves in hysterical circumstances. The writing is witty, wry, and punctuated by clever sardonic humor. It's a fun romp through Crazytown. It's like riding a Ferris Wheel which unhinges from its base, rolls through the town, and you decide just to enjoy the ride. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, letting go of any tension, temporarily taking a respite from my problems (a miracle on par with the water which sprung from the Biblical rock) and fully immersing myself up to my chin in this warm, bubbly, hot tub of madness. It's more than a read. It's escapist therapy. And I'm grateful.

Word has it that she has another book coming out in 2020 and I cannot wait.

[Elise · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you've got nothing else to read, go ahead and pick this one up. It's not the worst thing I've ever read, it just didn't live up to my expectations...at all. I read some other reviews about 1/5 of the way in and it was only then that I found out it was supposed to be funny! 50% finished and I finally uttered my first chuckle. The protagonist, I think, is supposed to be having some sort of mid-life crisis of identity. Her hapless, strange stumbling through the book was supposed to seem funny, but it just missed the mark. She was bumbling, but the writing lacked the wit and perspective to match the humor that you would expect. It had potential, but lacked true humor and definitive character development.

[Christy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read 88% of this book and should have stopped sooner. The characters are not likable and the story is ridiculous. How can an infertility clinic stay afloat and credible if the doctor continues to have affairs with the patients...now there's a treatment for infertility cheaper than IVF!

Life's too short to read crummy books! I'm counting this as "read" since according to my kindle, I could finish in 20 minutes, but that would be more time of my life I can't get back.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a Kindle First, and from what I remember it seemed the best of a bad bunch. Well er, no. It was just bad. Poorly written, characters that you just don't care about and no plot. I've just created a new GR shelf for this book, titled "bad, bad, bad". I've never felt the need to do that before. 1 star.

[Lori Connors · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star is too good for this book

I never give up on a book but take my advice....don't start! There was absolutely no point to this book except finding out who Mitchell's father was and even that was lame.

[Hess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was like Queenie meets The Miseducation of Cameron Post, except very straight, very white and not particularly deep. If there is a broader social commentary here I missed it, although I do like Alexa Kocinski's interpretation of the novel.

What it's about: Rebecca is a single mom in podunk Nebraska. For 11 years, she's managed to hold her sh*t together by repressing all of her basic urges. And it's worked, sort of.

Rebecca's just made partner at the fertility clinic where she works, and now everyone thinks that Mitchell (her son) is a designer baby.

Until one day, Rebecca's ex blows back into town.

What I thought: like that moment in the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where all the dolphins rise out of the water and say: "thanks for all the fish" - this is a novel about Rebecca's life slowly coming apart at the seams. It's messy and irrational and it lacks an actual plot - but somehow the book is saved by the writing.

I thought Curtright's characterisation was hilarious. Despite the fact that Rebecca's decisions make no sense whatsoever, I found myself compulsively glued to the screen of my Kindle, dying to see what would happen next. Had Curtright written a story about paper napkins, I'd probably still have read it.

There is no plot, most of the characters are awful and nothing is resolved by the end. It was great.

You've been warned.

[Marne - Reader By the Water · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this one. I even picked it because I’m in a reading slump. “Here’s a fun little romp,” I thought. “Just the thing to bounce me out of my slump with fun and quirky characters.”

Nope.

Every character was either dislikable or forgettable, and often both. Just a stupid storyline, obvious “surprise” at the end, and just a waste of my time.

Walk away, friends.

[Carolyn Roby · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the lamest, dumbest book i have ever read. The only reason I even read it was because it was part of a blind read a book at the local library. The book skipped around so much you never knew what was really going on. The main character, Rebecca, was a total flake. Can't believe I wasted my time.

[Jo Jenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up as part of the kindle first free in November 2015 and it has taken this long to get to the top of my reading list. However I was really glad it finally got there. This is a well written book about a woman trying to cope with small town life when she obviously needs more adventure that it can offer.
The line of the book has to be 'there's a Bandercook in your trunk'.
It was an easy enjoyable read (I read it in two days) and at 240 pages there is a lot of action crammed in.
If your looking for an easy summer read (even though the story takes place in early spring) give this book a go.

[Aziza Naderi-Weisblatt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible

This was one of the worst books I've ever read and probably among the worst books ever written. The book was pointless and had no direction whatsoever. And even after forcing myself to finish reading it, I still have no idea what the hell the book was actually about. The main character was not relatable at all as she was so frustratingly annoying. I'm so annoyed that I wasted my one free monthly book from Kindle First on this piece of crap. I will most definitely avoid anything written by this author going forward. I would've given it 0 stars if I could've.

[Petra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The form and content do not match in this one, I honestly fail to see the message in the end and am sorry to say that there were too many stereotypes presented in this book for me to give it four stars for "I liked it". It was OK is exactly what I would say when describing the book to someone. It is a shame because the language is great and there are really funny points in the story...but it felt to me the content and the overall message were sacrificed on the altar of "clever writing".

[Lynda Charlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. The author keeps you wondering what the protagonist will do next. Couldn't put it down and laughed at the unbelievable trouble this woman creates for herself.







Must read if you enjoy laughing at the trouble we sometimes make for ourselves. I look forward to reading other works by this author.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not compelling enough to reach the end.

The minor twists curled up in expected ways, though the author's clever vocab was probably the only thing that kept my interest enough to finish the book.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A satire about a single mother in a town where everyone knows and judges everyone else. It has some funny parts about how competitive parents are and how quickly they will put their kids on meds for ADHD just to give them an edge. It was a fluffy diversion for me!

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not funny enough for farce and not clever enough for satire. Just a sad attempt to send up the modern obsession with controlling behaviour through medication, Ayn Rand, and small towns. No idea why all the seedy sex was thrown in.

[Sheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel had some funny moments in it, but overall it wasn't for me.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for my honest review.

[Yvette Niesel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a quick, easy read. The story line had its moments - funny, quirky and silly. The characters seemed more like caricatures, rather than real people.