Of course the future is a mystery. But the past? This is nuts! Talk about ruin-your-day flights. I'm headed to Florida, when the elderly man seated next to me collapses on my tray table. I swear, if I'd known this was his final boarding call, I would have offered him my pretzels or my New York Times . But no, I was too busy feeling bloated, anxious, depressed, unloved, a failure, and did I mention bloated? You'd be bummed too if you were almost thirty, living back home in Plainview, Long Island, with your at-war parents and loser siblings. If your acting career was such a bust your last film was an X-ray. If your boyfriend and your agent dumped you the same week, but great news! -- They're in love with each other. Could things possibly get any worse? Do you even need to ask?That man on the flight? We were related. And my life story? Nothing like I thought. Oh, and then this fall in the shower? Opened up my psychic senses. Bottom line? I knew nothing about my real past, but suddenly my future was coming in loud and clear! You've got to follow me on this amazing spiritual adventure that sent my life into a tailspin. I promise you love, laughter, oh-my-God secrets, and a ride to the "other side" you'll never forget. But lock the bathroom door. You're not coming out until you've heard it all. Love, Claire
So supremely disappointing. I thought the premise seemed cute but frankly I found the writing trite and desperate. It seemed like every line was supposed to be hilarious and after a while, this became just tiresome. I probably would have been more forgiving if the plot (which, as many other reviewers have said, is massively unrealistic but that didn't bother me; it's fiction, after all, not a bio) moved faster but there are more lulls than plot points. I gave up on page 171, when I decided I thoroughly didn't care what happened to the self-centered and contradictory (she's super confident and then insecure, super smart and then superficial and slightly vacuous, which maybe was supposed to be ironic and "funny" but just came off as annoying) protagonist.
I did no favors for myself nor the author by reading two of her books back to back. It just made me notice the negatives in her writing. 1) Her main characters are super skinny, super pretty girls- enough already! I don't need my main characters to be fat cows in order to relate to them, but I also don't need cataloging of just how little they eat. 2) Her main characters are totally immature. You just can't root for them. Yes, bad things happen to them- but these ladies are 30 & 38, and they act like spoiled brats. Get over yourself already. 3) I get it, you're Jewish! Does every single page have to have some yiddish sprinkled in? I was raised in NC, but not all of use have a southern accent and say "bless your heart" every 3 minutes- why do your characters have to be clones of every sitcom I've ever seen?
This book's plot was so out there, it worked! There were so many twists and each one was a surprise! You never knew what was going to happen next. I loved how there were so many Yiddish terms thrown into the mix. Most of them are commonly used words, and if unfamiliar, it's not hard to decipher their meaning and context.
Claire is a 29 year old wannabe actress. She's tired of struggling and decides to take break. She decided to try her luck being a body double and flies to Florida to pose for shots. Imagine her horror when the kind elderly man sitting next to her drops dead in her lap! And so starts the wonderful madness. Saralee Rosenberg has a wonderful way of writing great dialogues. The humor is wonderful and you can just picture a sassy Claire giving everyone lip. The only thing I found a little hard to swallow was how Claire would curse in front of her grandmother and parents. But that just might be me.
This book was a great, quick read. I'd recommend it to anyone in need for a good laugh and thankfulness their life isn't this crazy!
Claire is almost thirty her acting career is a bust.Her boyfriend and her agent both dumped her in the same week. But great news they,re in love with each other. Claire is on her way home to Florida when the elderly man in the seat next to her on the plane has a heart attack and dies. Can things get any worse. Trurns out they were related and it also turns out that her life story was nothing like she thought,Claire,s grandmother on her mothers side finally tells her the truth of her life. Her uncle was really her father and her mother ran away when he died. And left her to be raised by them. And than Claire falls in the shower!And her psychic senses open up. Bottom line! Claire knew nothing about her past, but suddendly her future was coming in loud and clear! Plenty of oh-my-God secrets laughter and love. Plus a ride to the other side you won,t soon forget.
I enjoyed Claire Voyant (Saralee Rosenberg). Claire's life is just not going the way she wants it to. At 30 years old she is in a going no-where situation, aspiring to be an actress...she moved back from LA to her family home in New York.
She gets a chance at a small "bare" part in Miami. On her flight down the course of her entire life will change. The elderly man died right there on her lap, she decides to wait for his family. She soon finds out her life is not what she thought it was. From Page one Claire Voayant is filled with quick with, laugh out loud drama , twists, turns and surprises.
Borrowed this book from a friend to read during my flight back "home" to Puerto Rico. Definitely a super-light read, not an amazing work of literature, but I enjoyed her humor and I almost finished it in-flight. Far-fetched story. Cute book. Wouldn't throw it in the dumpster. (Although, I never throw books away...even the ones I hate, so I guess that's not saying much.)
I've read another book by this author and I was excited to start this one. I was disappointed. The main character was annoying and very unsympathetic. The story was completely unbelievable and was full of ridiculous coincidences that would never happen in real life. I didn't even like the love interest. The conversations seemed forced and awkward.
I couldn't finish this. It was pretty awful and I got SO tired of the main character. Plus the story and writing were both choppy and it made it difficult to follow what should have been an easy, fun read. The "clairvoyant" part was so minimal I can't quite understand why she picked that title!
I grabbed this book from my church library of all places. It was a fun read, very much a chick flick in book form. It had a enough twists to keep me interested. It made me smile. I also loved that it was mostly set in my hometown of Miami. If you need a summer beach read, this is a decent book. I loved her interactions with Abe!
What a fun little book, full of those silly coincidences that make some books cheesy and farfetched. Now dont get me wrong, this one was a little out there, but with enough laughs and twists and turns that I found myself unable to put it down. It was a interesting book that kept me guess and kept me turning pages.
Claire is about to turn thirty, unmarried and an actress living in California. She gets fed up with her love life (her boyfriend & her agent run off together!) and she decides to pack it in and move back home to Long Island with her parents. On the way, she decides to visit her grandmother in Florida and while on that plane flight, she gets seated next to an old man, who has a heart attack and dies in her lap.
She stays behind to greet the man’s family and spins a tale of the deep connection she felt with the older man. This, of course, is untrue because she barely glanced at the man and didn’t give him a moment of her time. She gets drawn into the grief of the cute grandson and his father and agrees to speak at the funeral & tell all about the wonderful last communiqué from the dearly departed!
When she finally gets to her grandmother’s, she has a fall in the shower and suddenly, she’s seeing visions and hearing voices – at first she thinks she’s gone crazy, but someone is trying to reach out to her and tell her the truth about her life & Claire can’t handle it! The visions keep coming fast and furiously and she learns that she is receiving messages from “the other side”.
Eventually she learns that the stranger on the airplane is a close relative and that everything she’s ever known about her family is a lie – Claire spends a lot of time in this novel freaking out and going through changes, but it’s understandable given the shake-ups her life goes through. As time goes on, she learns a lot about love and discovers the “true meaning of life”. This was a cute story based on not very realistic circumstances, but that was part of the fun – it’s an escape and the characters are very likeable.
In what could be called a Jewish girl's Stephanie Plum, Claire Greene stands out in this hilarious, laugh-out-loud dramatic novel.
On her way to Florida to make one final stab at a modeling job to salvage her struggling career, the old gentleman passenger sitting next to her dies and Claire falls in love with his grandson, discovers that she's related to the old man and finds out that she can talk to him in her mind.
To be honest, I'm not really sure if I liked the book or not. The story was cute, but the way it was written made me feel like I'd climbed into the brain of someone with ADD. The voice of Claire made me think of chattering teeth that instead of being wound up, were solar powered and never stopped. I really didn't care for claire at all, one moment she was shallow and disrespectful, the next she expected everyone to feel sorry for her. I didn't think Drew was very realistic either, no guy talks like that, or acts like that toward his fiance. The plot was good which was why I kept reading. I guess that's the only good thing about the book. I stayed interested enough to wonder what the next plot twist would be.
This was a super-quick, interesting chick-lit read. The plot was quite different that anything I've read in this genre, but it was entertaining, light and fluffy...a nice book to read in between our book club selections.
I liked the main character as well as the other "wacky" cast of characters. And though the ending was a little predictable, I was quite happy with the book.
Had you guessing about this lady's past right up until the last chapter. Really make me laugh a few times. The only down side were the untimely scenes were writing like an amateur. Why include the details if it is just going to male the reader uncomfortable? But that was only a very small part to a good book!
An elderly man dies in Claire's lap during a plane trip. Strangely, she finds out she is related to this man, and she discovers her family has been keeping secrets from her. After a fall in the tub, she develops a psychic sense. Then as she figures out who she really is, she falls in love with her 1st cousin (not truly a blood relative). Cute story.
It was hard to like the main character and appreciate her sort of non-stop drama. The other characters were mostly sketches. The plot was completely unbelievable but I found myself pushing on to learn what happened next. It was a light weight, occasionally funny, implausible book snack that I don't resent spending time on. (A SHORT time -- I'm a very fast reader!)
This book made me laugh so much. I really liked this book. This reminds me of what some families can really be like. I loved in the end that she ended up with the man she completely fell in love with. I also loved that even though she didn't get to meet her actual grandfather he was with her in spirit. I really enjoyed this book.
Loved the crazy plot and writing style.....I felt like I was having coffee with the main character .....I was at the edge of my seat asking "nu"? I will definitely be reading more from Saralee Rosenberg!
Great, feel good book. Wonderful story line. Certainly different from other "pink" books I've read. I like to mix lighter reads in with the more heavy reads. If you are in the mood to be entertained, this is a great selection.