Bad Advice

by Karin Goodwin

Generations of philandering and bad choices come to a head on the last day of September, when Judith Ealey mistakenly assaults a man in the Arizona desert and her older brother, David, falls in love at a theater in Boston. But when Judith sleeps with her victim and David's lover declares she's a lesbian, their romantic entanglements take a new turn, further complicated by the interventions by their feuding father and grandfather, a private detective, and the arrival of other friends and lovers. Freewheeling, funny, and insightful, Bad Advice shows that no matter what mistakes you make in this life, you always have the chance to make more.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Judy Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could happily have classified this book as brilliant had it not been for one grave error.Here it is-as soon as Judith pokes the guy's eye out the whole book falls into a another catagory entirely.It becomes a hard smacking comedy.A mean comedy. When in fact it isn't. Had she left his eyeball in- this could've been a real classic- a serious classic.Some of the writing is so good- so serious - that my jaw dropped while I was reading it- The whole time I was praying that she would conclude the eyeball mess with a swift conclusion. A simple conclusion- like his eyeball got better-so we can get on with the story. But she doesn't. She refers to his lost eye very casually about 40 pages into their story.
I don't know about you -but if I had a boyfriend with a hole in his face -where his eyeball used to be- and I was the one who put that hole there-that would be a mighty major part of the story. But she doesn't write it like that.. She refers to his missing eye very nonchalantly which to me ruins the book. Too bad. Really too bad. This woman- the writer-Karin Goodwin- could be a brilliant writer-if she'd only stop trying so hard to be "Zaney" or "quirky" or any of those ridiculous labels.
Leave out the missing eyeball and it's five stars all the way. JM

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about a crazy family and love. Good pacing, nice mixing of pop culture references (for 30-somethings, anyway, probably a little dated for others).

Woman pokes out man's eye, falls in love, but still sleeps with married landlord. Woman's brother falls in love with a bisexual woman, but his ex-girlfriend's pregant and the woman's ex isn't going away quietly. Family and friends sort themselves out, with a strange mix of God/religion thrown in.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't care for the primary character, but otherwise very entertaining.