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Starting Out Sideways
Roseanna Plow is perfectly content with her nice, simple life on Long Island, despite the fact that she's being driven slowly insane by her meddling mother, who resembles Donna Reed on drugs. Rosie is very happy with her handsome husband and a fulfilling career as job counselor for the developmentally challenged. It might not be glamorous work, but Rosie is proud of the fact that she cares more about people than Prada. What more could a woman want in life? Except maybe being able to wear a sexy thong that doesn't make her behind look like a rump roast in butcher string…
But when Rosie's incredible husband turns out to be an incredible putz--sleeping with her best friend Inga--her life goes from Seventh Heaven to Jerry Springer in the blink of an eye and the tip of a wine glass. Alone and deceived, but with her sense of humor still intact, Rosie turns to her wonderfully wacky mother to help her bounce back. Of course, Ma's recipe for mental recovery leaves much to be desired. And after Rosie discovers a painful family secret, hidden behind years of lies, she must set out to find herself and what really matters in life.
Along the way, Rosie is surprised to find help from Mickey Hamilton, a.k.a. Ham, who is kind, generous, and has a great butt to match. If only Rosie can overlook the fact that he's nicknamed after the meat section at the local supermarket he manages. Milton, one of Rosie's endearing mentally challenged clients--and Ham's employee--also becomes a source of comfort along the way, always ready to defend "Miss Plow's" honor and warm her heart, even as it's breaking. And can a twenty-five-year-old punk office assistant with hair like candy corn really become Rosie's new best friend? As she moves along the twisted road to self-discovery, Rosie finds happiness, acceptance, and even love - though none of it in the places she'd expected.
With laugh-out-loud scenes seamlessly interspersed among gut-wrenching moments of heartache, Starting Out Sideways is a unique and utterly delightful novel that will make you laugh, cry, and remember what's truly important in life.
But when Rosie's incredible husband turns out to be an incredible putz--sleeping with her best friend Inga--her life goes from Seventh Heaven to Jerry Springer in the blink of an eye and the tip of a wine glass. Alone and deceived, but with her sense of humor still intact, Rosie turns to her wonderfully wacky mother to help her bounce back. Of course, Ma's recipe for mental recovery leaves much to be desired. And after Rosie discovers a painful family secret, hidden behind years of lies, she must set out to find herself and what really matters in life.
Along the way, Rosie is surprised to find help from Mickey Hamilton, a.k.a. Ham, who is kind, generous, and has a great butt to match. If only Rosie can overlook the fact that he's nicknamed after the meat section at the local supermarket he manages. Milton, one of Rosie's endearing mentally challenged clients--and Ham's employee--also becomes a source of comfort along the way, always ready to defend "Miss Plow's" honor and warm her heart, even as it's breaking. And can a twenty-five-year-old punk office assistant with hair like candy corn really become Rosie's new best friend? As she moves along the twisted road to self-discovery, Rosie finds happiness, acceptance, and even love - though none of it in the places she'd expected.
With laugh-out-loud scenes seamlessly interspersed among gut-wrenching moments of heartache, Starting Out Sideways is a unique and utterly delightful novel that will make you laugh, cry, and remember what's truly important in life.
- GenresAdult FictionFiction
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 15, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 2, 2008
Such a quick read-a feel-good book, sometimes funny.
January 2, 2009
Of course I'm a little biased because the author is Joe's mother but I highly recommend it to everyone...great beach read!
May 18, 2019
A charming read about finding yourself and about finding love. About the family you come from and the family want to make. A poignant story.
December 18, 2007
In “Starting Out Sideways” Mary E. Mitchell avoids easy clichés about characters who in lesser hands would wind up being mere types; fleshing out the hyper-critical “mother”, the cuckolding husband, the hunky new man, and most of all, our protagonist Roseanna Plow (formerly Pulkowski), whose slow, painful growth and knowledge we come to know within the pages of “Starting Out Sideways.”
The dialogue, snappy without being glib, how Mary portrays the shifting alliances and balance of power between characters tells us much, as does the poetry of her language. She is able for instance, in the description of wan sunlight striking car bumpers in a parking lot, capture the utter loneliness and sadness within a character, without having to tell us, or have the character do so. She writes with grace about a location most feel has none: Suburbia, embodied by the ultimate suburban landscape, Long Island. What she finds amongst those “flat housing developments with mothers in the yards” might not seem elegant or inspiring, but she gleans from that world real depth of meaning and feeling, of being hemmed in and defined by a place, and then, being able to break out, without necessarily having to leave.
Early on, Roseanna subjects herself to a brutal self-examination. She sees and enumerates her faults and flaws so much more clearly than she sees the good things about herself. She takes blame, feels overwhelming guilt. But we excuse her, since we see how she has indeed been shocked into confronting her own actions and the incomplete version of the truth she believed about her own life. And over time, people who see the things in her she sometimes fails to recognize come to the fore and mirror her back true.
Mary time and again captures perfectly how we can find ourselves in a situation, within ourselves or with those who are closest to us, where we come to wonder, as perceptions of loved ones are rocked by revelation, “if I can't know these people, who can I know?” It takes major jolts for Roseanna to shake off the myths she has come to accept; sometimes what she learns is heart-breaking. Sometimes it shows her, and us, the wonder and joy of simply being.
Novels about women often get ghetto-ized as “chick-lit,” meant as a pejorative. What “Starting Out Sideways” accomplishes is to be “light” without being “slight,” to draw the reader deeply into Roseanna's circumstances, so that when the major surprises, shocks and transformation occur, all, to this reader at least, unexpected, we are truly with her, moved and unnerved and changed with her. That's what good writing does, no matter what the cover of the book looks like.
The dialogue, snappy without being glib, how Mary portrays the shifting alliances and balance of power between characters tells us much, as does the poetry of her language. She is able for instance, in the description of wan sunlight striking car bumpers in a parking lot, capture the utter loneliness and sadness within a character, without having to tell us, or have the character do so. She writes with grace about a location most feel has none: Suburbia, embodied by the ultimate suburban landscape, Long Island. What she finds amongst those “flat housing developments with mothers in the yards” might not seem elegant or inspiring, but she gleans from that world real depth of meaning and feeling, of being hemmed in and defined by a place, and then, being able to break out, without necessarily having to leave.
Early on, Roseanna subjects herself to a brutal self-examination. She sees and enumerates her faults and flaws so much more clearly than she sees the good things about herself. She takes blame, feels overwhelming guilt. But we excuse her, since we see how she has indeed been shocked into confronting her own actions and the incomplete version of the truth she believed about her own life. And over time, people who see the things in her she sometimes fails to recognize come to the fore and mirror her back true.
Mary time and again captures perfectly how we can find ourselves in a situation, within ourselves or with those who are closest to us, where we come to wonder, as perceptions of loved ones are rocked by revelation, “if I can't know these people, who can I know?” It takes major jolts for Roseanna to shake off the myths she has come to accept; sometimes what she learns is heart-breaking. Sometimes it shows her, and us, the wonder and joy of simply being.
Novels about women often get ghetto-ized as “chick-lit,” meant as a pejorative. What “Starting Out Sideways” accomplishes is to be “light” without being “slight,” to draw the reader deeply into Roseanna's circumstances, so that when the major surprises, shocks and transformation occur, all, to this reader at least, unexpected, we are truly with her, moved and unnerved and changed with her. That's what good writing does, no matter what the cover of the book looks like.
August 3, 2011
I actually would give this one 3 1/2 stars if I could do that on here. Anyhow...this is truly a "chic lit" read. Although not always for me, I liked it. It made me angry, happy, and I did laugh several times. Not to give anything away, but it does have a happy ending. I loved several of the characters including Helen and Marcie. Rosie...the main character....I needed some time with. I really did not like her until about chapter 8 when she finally got some balls. Following this chapter, she still had moments that annoyed me very much. Several themes in this story...like...Don't judge a book by it's cover (both for positive and negative ways)and Look at your glass as half full rather than empty.You must be warned however, there are a lot of things thrown at Rosie, the main character. At times you may be like "Are you kidding me...this really can't be happening." A few times, I felt like saying "Okay Ms. Mitchell...I mean come on I think the other two problems are enough to handle in one story...did you really need to throw that one in????" Regardless, I would recommend this to anyone who likes "chic lit" and/or a good beach read. It was a quick read with a good feeling ending.
June 19, 2012
Filled with quirky, unconventional characters, and East coast wit, this book was an oddball and fun world to tumble into. At first I was frustrated with the heroine, Rosanna and just wanted her to be tougher and tell that ex husband to stick it instead of being so available, but I think we needed to see where she was coming from to appreciate where she was going. I liked her mother Helen and her retro 50's ways and attitude. There was a bit of twist later that kept me on my toes, and some romance for Rosanna that was sweet and a change for her. Her occupation is to help developmentally challenged people learn to work in simple jobs in the real world as they come of age, and these characters peppered the story with a lot of charm, and humor. This really was a unique little book told with a lot of heart and affection for the characters. More like 3 1/2 stars. Recommended!
July 1, 2012
I'm not sorry I read this book; happily it is a quick read with a few laugh-out-loud moments. However, I was very frustrated throughout the entire story with the main character, Roseanna. About half way through the book, I realized that I actually did not care about *any* of the characters, but by book's end I truly had a fondness for Helen, Pulkowski, Marcie, and Ham. These characters gave much of themselves for Rosie but she managed to have one pity party after another for herself, and she was verbally cruel to the few people who wanted to love her and constantly showed their love for her. Her most likable trait is her career as a counselor to the developmentally challenged, yet there was not a whole lot of this aspect to the plot.
July 31, 2013
I started this book a little biased because, while I can't say I recall the author, we went to the same high school at approximately the same time and the setting in the book is one with which I am very familiar. Having said all that, I read the book nonstop from start to finish, without turning to another book, something I rarely do. I really loved this book ... Aside from the fact that it brought me back home (a place I left 26 years ago). Ms. Mitchell brought the characters to life in her spot-on ability to capture the dialogue and dialect of Long Islanders. Thank you, Mary, for a totally entertaining visit down Memory Lane!
November 17, 2008
I absolutely loved this book. It is a fast paced book that can easily be finished in a Sunday afternoon. Yes, it is chick-lit but I enjoy chick-lit. Starting Out Sideways is a well written story with more twists and turns than life itself.
I'd like to tell you about the story but doing so would risk giving away the many excellent surprise twists and turns. I did not see any of the sudden revelations coming which made the book so enjoyable.
I hope Mary Mitchell has more novel ideas that measure up to this great book.
I'd like to tell you about the story but doing so would risk giving away the many excellent surprise twists and turns. I did not see any of the sudden revelations coming which made the book so enjoyable.
I hope Mary Mitchell has more novel ideas that measure up to this great book.
July 27, 2012
This quick read made me laugh and cry (more laughing than crying)! One of my favorite things about this book was its witty characters- especially the mother daughter duo who I found highly entertaining and difficult not to love. They also turn out to be more than meets the eye...don't worry no spoilers here! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
October 5, 2008
Light and refreshing book, easy read.
June 9, 2009
This was a quick read and a welcome break.
December 14, 2009
it was ok
October 21, 2010
An okay read. Quick & easy...nothing earth shattering.
December 13, 2010
Fairly predictable and ordinary but throughly enjoyable nonetheless. Rather sweet resolution and terrific title characters.
July 17, 2011
Cute fluff---some strong language.
April 16, 2012
And very much the 2-star definition of "It was OK." It was indeed OK.
September 10, 2012
This book made me laugh out loud! It was a great story.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews