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Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship
I didn’t know that people come into our lives, and sometimes, if we’re terribly lucky, we get the chance to love them, that sometimes they stay, that sometimes you can, truly, depend on them. Cathie Beck was in her late thirties and finally able to exhale after a lifetime of just trying to get by. A teenage mother harboring vivid memories of her own hardscrabble childhood, Cathie had spent years doing whatever it took to give her children the stability—or at least the illusion of it—that she’d never had. More than that, through sheer will and determination, she had educated them and herself too. With her kids in college, Cathie was at last ready to have some fun. The only problem was that she had no idea how to do it and no friends to do it with. So she put an ad in the paper for a made-up women's WOW . . . Women on the Way. Eight women showed up that first night, and out of that group a friendship formed, one of those meteoric, passionate, stand-by-you friendships that come around once in a lifetime and change you forever . . . if you’re lucky.
324 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
September 11, 2010
Funny, sad, uplifting and heartbreaking. This book is all those things and more.
I am not normally a big fan of memoirs. They can be whiny and self-indulgent. This one, however, is a beautiful, touching story with writing that is both professional and relaxed. Cathie Beck had a difficult childhood and her life didn't get much better into early adulthood. However, Beck doesn't dwell on this. She expects neither pity nor praise. This book is more a celebration of Beck finding her way out and a joyous friendship that gave her all she needed at that time in her life.
I am not normally a big fan of memoirs. They can be whiny and self-indulgent. This one, however, is a beautiful, touching story with writing that is both professional and relaxed. Cathie Beck had a difficult childhood and her life didn't get much better into early adulthood. However, Beck doesn't dwell on this. She expects neither pity nor praise. This book is more a celebration of Beck finding her way out and a joyous friendship that gave her all she needed at that time in her life.
September 21, 2010
I'll be straight forward here - I didn't particularly like this book. If I had not received it through the Early Reviewers program at LibraryThing.com I probably would not have finished it. I realize that memory is a fickle thing and that memoirs are probably not the easiest thing to write. I realize that memories often connect in ways that make sense only to the person with the memories. However, I also believe that the goal of a memoir must be to show those connections to the reader. Beck's book meandered around in her memory often leaving me confused about what year it was, who she was with, what stage of her life we were in, and sometimes even who she was with and what she was doing. I could not find an anchor in the constantly shifting time line.
I also felt that Beck was trying to hard to make every memory meaningful. I don't know if she is one of those rare people who have the ability to analyze the moment while they are in it and truly see how it connects to the larger picture of their life (and I do actually know some people like this who have incredibly strong insight into themselves) or if she is more like the rest of us - looking back and trying to find the meaning in what was so that the present will make sense or continue to have meaning. It just felt like she was constantly telling the reader how powerfully this friendship affected her life.
My final issue with the book was that I simply didn't like the characters. This one almost makes me feel guilty since Beck tells the reader often that Denise will die from her illness. I wanted to be sympathetic to that yet I still didn't like Denise. Instead of seeing this powerful, life-changing friendship I saw a rather one-sided friendship with Denise moving forward full speed ahead, dragging Beck along for the wild ride. I spent much of the book wondering why I was reading about these women - what made their friendship, their story so much more important than the rest of us that Beck wrote a book about it?
I also felt that Beck was trying to hard to make every memory meaningful. I don't know if she is one of those rare people who have the ability to analyze the moment while they are in it and truly see how it connects to the larger picture of their life (and I do actually know some people like this who have incredibly strong insight into themselves) or if she is more like the rest of us - looking back and trying to find the meaning in what was so that the present will make sense or continue to have meaning. It just felt like she was constantly telling the reader how powerfully this friendship affected her life.
My final issue with the book was that I simply didn't like the characters. This one almost makes me feel guilty since Beck tells the reader often that Denise will die from her illness. I wanted to be sympathetic to that yet I still didn't like Denise. Instead of seeing this powerful, life-changing friendship I saw a rather one-sided friendship with Denise moving forward full speed ahead, dragging Beck along for the wild ride. I spent much of the book wondering why I was reading about these women - what made their friendship, their story so much more important than the rest of us that Beck wrote a book about it?
January 31, 2011
The book began slowly for me. I didn't care much for the characters... and at the end of the book, I still didn't. But they'd become more human for me. I don't like the characters because they remind me of some rather unpleasant times in my own life.
My mom had a friend, much like Denise, who helped my mom "make up for lost time." Both women had married young and had children young. Both women had lost their husbands to "homewreckers." And both women decided that it was time to make-up for the time wasted in marriage and motherhood. They went wild and we children were left on our own.
So the book brought back unpleasant memories. But isn't that one of the points of a memoir? To bring back memories, good and bad. To relate to the protagonists at a very human level. And I did.
Lost time is one of the major themes of Cheap Cabernet. If you're middle-aged and wondering what happened to your life, this is for you. If you're an empty-nester and wondering what to do now that your kids are gone, this is the book for you.
My mom had a friend, much like Denise, who helped my mom "make up for lost time." Both women had married young and had children young. Both women had lost their husbands to "homewreckers." And both women decided that it was time to make-up for the time wasted in marriage and motherhood. They went wild and we children were left on our own.
So the book brought back unpleasant memories. But isn't that one of the points of a memoir? To bring back memories, good and bad. To relate to the protagonists at a very human level. And I did.
Lost time is one of the major themes of Cheap Cabernet. If you're middle-aged and wondering what happened to your life, this is for you. If you're an empty-nester and wondering what to do now that your kids are gone, this is the book for you.
March 8, 2011
Reading Cathie's words was more like sitting with a friend listening to her share her painful experiences and rewarding friendship while sipping on a Cheap bottle of Cabernet under the bright moonlight. REFREASHING...and very much needed sometimes in women's lives.
I absolutely fell in love with the friendship she has with Denise and could find myself saying, "Aww, I have a friend like that!"...True Friend indeed.
I'm grateful that Cathie has shared her story and look forward to more from her...and hopefully be "re-reading" for bookclub. Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship will go down as one of my favorite "friendship" reads and can't wait to pass along to all of my treasured friends...and definately can't wait for more from Cathie!
Hey Cathie?! I would sit with you any day and share in a bottle of Cheap Cabernet...and albeit experience nothing but tasteful expensive girl time! I feel like I got a part of that from your book...
Kuddos to you lovely lady!
I absolutely fell in love with the friendship she has with Denise and could find myself saying, "Aww, I have a friend like that!"...True Friend indeed.
I'm grateful that Cathie has shared her story and look forward to more from her...and hopefully be "re-reading" for bookclub. Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship will go down as one of my favorite "friendship" reads and can't wait to pass along to all of my treasured friends...and definately can't wait for more from Cathie!
Hey Cathie?! I would sit with you any day and share in a bottle of Cheap Cabernet...and albeit experience nothing but tasteful expensive girl time! I feel like I got a part of that from your book...
Kuddos to you lovely lady!
June 25, 2012
Sometimes when I read about female friendships, I get a little envious of the women involved and wish that I could join them for lunch someday. Not this time. I'm hesitant to say this being that the characters are real people and not the product of an author's imagination, but instead of fun loving and carefree, I found the two women central to this story to be immature and irresponsible. I think spending an afternoon with them would give me a headache.
March 20, 2018
I didn't realize this was a memoir. It was kind of like quicksand & I don't mean it sucked you in-I mean it was hard to get through-but I'm glad I made it to the end. The author made me see Denise a little differently, although I don't know if I could've been her friend for that long. Especially...ESPECIALLY...when she said dogs were "worthless shit machines."
February 18, 2011
This was a hard book to read for me. Not because of the writing, but because of the subject matter. After reading the first few chapters, I felt like Cathie Beck had been peeking into my life. When the story progressed to where we meet Diane and Cathie starts to notice the first signs of Multiple Sclerosis, I had to put the book down. Not because it was disturbing, but because it reminded me of things I've long chosen to forget.
I so tried to keep my editorial eyes open while I read this memoir,looking for pacing, story structure, fludity, etc. Instead I found a catalyst that threw so many things I have chosen to stash away right back into the forefront of my mind. This story doesn't entertain me, it makes me feel, makes me remember. Maybe not everyone, perhaps not many who haven't went through a lot of the same things or had a friend like Debbie or have known someone with MS, will get the same thing out of it, but it felt like Beck let me have peek into her soul at the time she was sneaking a peek into my own.
I've never read another book like this. I really wouldn't even know how to categorize it. I'm too close, having grown up with a mother with MS, been a teenage mom, a single-parent in my early twenties, and facing my 40th birthday just around the corner having not yet met my Debbie, being and becoming a writer and knowing the true taste of cheap cabernet. Perhaps it's time for my own WOW group to form.
Till next time,
~T.L. Gray
I so tried to keep my editorial eyes open while I read this memoir,looking for pacing, story structure, fludity, etc. Instead I found a catalyst that threw so many things I have chosen to stash away right back into the forefront of my mind. This story doesn't entertain me, it makes me feel, makes me remember. Maybe not everyone, perhaps not many who haven't went through a lot of the same things or had a friend like Debbie or have known someone with MS, will get the same thing out of it, but it felt like Beck let me have peek into her soul at the time she was sneaking a peek into my own.
I've never read another book like this. I really wouldn't even know how to categorize it. I'm too close, having grown up with a mother with MS, been a teenage mom, a single-parent in my early twenties, and facing my 40th birthday just around the corner having not yet met my Debbie, being and becoming a writer and knowing the true taste of cheap cabernet. Perhaps it's time for my own WOW group to form.
Till next time,
~T.L. Gray
December 12, 2010
It's not often I finish a memoir and think, "My goodness, this would make an interesting book club read". But Cheap Cabernet brought that thought immediately to the forefront more than once as I read through Cathie Beck's story.
As a 39 year old woman, Cathie has two grown children and an empty home. She's lonely and she needs friends - so she does what most women would never even consider doing, she starts a woman's club with eight strangers. And one of those strangers is Denise.
To be honest, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this memoir. I knew I needed to read it and review it and was, in a way, sort of dreading it because I figured it was going to be another "pity me my life sucks" story. It had all the ingredients, teenage mother, skipped-out husband, friend with MS, horrible family life growing up - yup, all there. But still Cathie manages to be upbeat, to learn from Denise, to explore and challenge fear more than once. Basically, Cathie made memories of life with Denise - at a time when Denise was losing her life.
I did not once get a "pity me" feeling from this book. The hard things were talked about matter-of-factly, the good times were talked about much the same. There are lots of fun stories, scary stories and heart-breaking stories of memories shared by Denise and Cathie.
Mostly though - I think this book does what it's labeled to do. It talks about a friendship, a special friendship. And man, it would make a good book club discussion book.
As a 39 year old woman, Cathie has two grown children and an empty home. She's lonely and she needs friends - so she does what most women would never even consider doing, she starts a woman's club with eight strangers. And one of those strangers is Denise.
To be honest, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this memoir. I knew I needed to read it and review it and was, in a way, sort of dreading it because I figured it was going to be another "pity me my life sucks" story. It had all the ingredients, teenage mother, skipped-out husband, friend with MS, horrible family life growing up - yup, all there. But still Cathie manages to be upbeat, to learn from Denise, to explore and challenge fear more than once. Basically, Cathie made memories of life with Denise - at a time when Denise was losing her life.
I did not once get a "pity me" feeling from this book. The hard things were talked about matter-of-factly, the good times were talked about much the same. There are lots of fun stories, scary stories and heart-breaking stories of memories shared by Denise and Cathie.
Mostly though - I think this book does what it's labeled to do. It talks about a friendship, a special friendship. And man, it would make a good book club discussion book.
October 9, 2021
Cathie Beck decided to advertise for a best friend. She disguised as the start up of a Women’s Group but really she was looking for a best friend. After life as a teen mother of two, abandoned by her husband, and living the kind of life that would become a Lifetime movie she finally had a chance to think about herself.
This could have been one of those memoirs of a woman her horrible childhood and youth and it is that. But it’s so much more. It’s really a love letter to a best friend. A best friend who shares your highs and lows, who lifts you up and breaks your heart in only a way a true soul mate of a friend can.
When Cathie meets Denise she is 39 years old with two grown children off at college and after struggling her entire life she’s can breath a little and think about herself. She realizes as some of us do she doesn’t have friends. The way the path of her life has gone she just never had a chance to make a real friend. In walks Denise. Denise, as told to us by Cathie, is a force of nature, one of those amazing people who change the world around them by force of will.
I’ve just recently became a fan of memoirs and I really enjoyed this one. Told in vignettes with, sometimes, little sense of the passage of time, this may not be for everybody. It is at times very frank and there are times when each of the principals are not very likable, their’s is not an easy friendship. But, I can almost guarantee this will make you want to call your best friend to hear her voice.
This could have been one of those memoirs of a woman her horrible childhood and youth and it is that. But it’s so much more. It’s really a love letter to a best friend. A best friend who shares your highs and lows, who lifts you up and breaks your heart in only a way a true soul mate of a friend can.
When Cathie meets Denise she is 39 years old with two grown children off at college and after struggling her entire life she’s can breath a little and think about herself. She realizes as some of us do she doesn’t have friends. The way the path of her life has gone she just never had a chance to make a real friend. In walks Denise. Denise, as told to us by Cathie, is a force of nature, one of those amazing people who change the world around them by force of will.
I’ve just recently became a fan of memoirs and I really enjoyed this one. Told in vignettes with, sometimes, little sense of the passage of time, this may not be for everybody. It is at times very frank and there are times when each of the principals are not very likable, their’s is not an easy friendship. But, I can almost guarantee this will make you want to call your best friend to hear her voice.
September 14, 2010
This is a beautiful, powerful memoir which I enjoyed from beginning to end.
Cathie Beck was lonely for companionship. With her 2 children away at college, she was lonely. She put an advertisement in the newspaper, announcing the start up of a women's group she called WOW (Women On The Way). She meets Denise, who becomes her best friend, confidante and sister in sorrow. Together, they enjoy hours of girl-talk, and drink wine....preferably "Cheap Cabernet". Although they couldn't be more different than night and day, they both desperately need something from each other. Denise is brash, outspoken and assertive. Cathie is quiet, reserved and cautious. They become inseparable. When Denise tells Cathie that she has "the good kind of MS", Cathie's worry is only slightly minimized. That is, until she begins to witness the physical signs of Denise's heart-wrenching illness. As Denise gets sicker, she begins to push Cathie away, while Cathie tries to remain close to Denise and help her any way that she can.
Cheap Cabernet is more that just a memoir about friendship between women, it is a statement made by the author to live each day to its fullest, enjoy each and every moment and never take for granted anyone or anything in your life.
Cathie Beck was lonely for companionship. With her 2 children away at college, she was lonely. She put an advertisement in the newspaper, announcing the start up of a women's group she called WOW (Women On The Way). She meets Denise, who becomes her best friend, confidante and sister in sorrow. Together, they enjoy hours of girl-talk, and drink wine....preferably "Cheap Cabernet". Although they couldn't be more different than night and day, they both desperately need something from each other. Denise is brash, outspoken and assertive. Cathie is quiet, reserved and cautious. They become inseparable. When Denise tells Cathie that she has "the good kind of MS", Cathie's worry is only slightly minimized. That is, until she begins to witness the physical signs of Denise's heart-wrenching illness. As Denise gets sicker, she begins to push Cathie away, while Cathie tries to remain close to Denise and help her any way that she can.
Cheap Cabernet is more that just a memoir about friendship between women, it is a statement made by the author to live each day to its fullest, enjoy each and every moment and never take for granted anyone or anything in your life.
September 29, 2012
I finished this book a few weeks ago, but wasn't exactly sure how I felt about it. At first I thought I must of course like it, because it was about friendship, and friendship is a thing of value and love--a sometimes almost sacred trust between two people that has been known to outlast some marriages. How could I tromp on that? But these two left me confused, and too much was simply left out. The author mentions having spent a significant period in Russia, but nothing more is written about it. We are left with no idea why she was there or what stamp it left on her. Okay. So the book was about her friendship with Denise, and she didn't even know Denise when she went to Russia. But still, if someone throws something like that out there I want some follow up, not a black hole in the space-time continuum. Then there were her children, and getting herself off welfare, through college, and, again, more blank space. Okay. The friendship. It meant something to Cathie, and she had to write a book about it. It was a fast read and not a complete waste of time, but it did remind me that we all seem to get what we need, and I am glad I have never needed a chaotic friend like Denise.
September 28, 2010
There's always that one book, that one story, that tugs at your heart strings and sucks you in in such a way that you can't stop thinking about it even weeks after you've read it. Cheap Cabernet is, at least for me, one of those stories. This book truly has it all. The voice of the narrator, Cathie Beck herself, is filled with honesty, poignancy, grief, hilarity, and a richness that really catches and holds the reader's attention. Denise is her best and dearest friend and the love and bond that these two women share is a beautiful thing. THIS is an author who can make you truly feel that you are in the story. And while you know that you cannot possibly BE one of this pair, this dynamic duo of women, you do feel as though you are experiencing the joys, the sorrows, the love, the fear that they are feeling. This book made me laugh and sob in turn, and it is one that I will read again and again. Cathie Beck, you are an inspiration, and Denise...what a beautiful, beautiful person. Thank you for letting me have a glimpse into such a special friendship.
May 13, 2010
I am lucky enough to have a bosom buddy with whom I am invincible. On the rare occasions we can get together (she lives on the other side of the country) we laugh riotously, drink too much wine, eat well, and solve both the problems of the world and of our own spheres. Together we are the most charming women in the world. We have had fallings out and reconnections, she knows my darkest and brightest sides and is a forever friend. Reading this book was like a visit with her.
Vivid imagery, witty writing, and poignant moments make this book not only wonderful in concept, but a delicious page-turning read.
Whether your bosom buddy lives next door, on the other side of the world or the flip side of the human experience, reading this book reminded me of the import of such relationships.
Vivid imagery, witty writing, and poignant moments make this book not only wonderful in concept, but a delicious page-turning read.
Whether your bosom buddy lives next door, on the other side of the world or the flip side of the human experience, reading this book reminded me of the import of such relationships.
August 1, 2010
This memoir is about a lifelong friendship that began when the author, after devoting her life to raising children as a single mom, is ready to have some fun but realizes she never made the time to have friends. Cathie decides to put an ad in the paper to form a women's group "WOW" - Women on the Way. Of the 8 women who show up, she forms a close bond with Denice, which lasts a lifetime. Cathie and Denise are both remarkable women who manage to maintain their close bond through some serious challenges. The book is written in a humorous style but also has some very sad moments. To summarize using a comment Cathie wrote in her book: "I'd won the lottery. She took me to the mountain and showed me the view. It took my breath away." Now that is a special friendship!
September 24, 2010
I really give this more of a 2 1/2 star. It was an okay book that I kind of liked. I did think it was a good example of how friendships between women tend to work. I wonder how much of Denise's personality had to do with her MS. Would she have been so domineering if she hadn't had the disease? Would she have even joined WOW? I thought Cathie's idea for WOW was very clever. If this book had not been a memoir, I think I would have thought it to be very boring and I would have liked it less. Because the events actually took place, it made the situations these women found themselves in less like a poorly written story than a decently written account of true events. I don't really know if I would recommend this to anyone. I didn't find it Earth shattering in any way.
March 17, 2016
I hated this book. I can’t remember when I’ve actually finished a book that I’ve liked so little.
It’s not the writing. It’s not bad.
It’s not the story. It’s not bad.
It’s quite simple. No editing. Where was the editor who should have pulled this book together and made it a strong read? Instead, the editor found a clever cover and threw it all together into what passes for a book.
This was published by Hyperion. Shame on you, Hyperion. I expected more of you.
It’s not the writing. It’s not bad.
It’s not the story. It’s not bad.
It’s quite simple. No editing. Where was the editor who should have pulled this book together and made it a strong read? Instead, the editor found a clever cover and threw it all together into what passes for a book.
This was published by Hyperion. Shame on you, Hyperion. I expected more of you.
November 14, 2012
I have to humbly admit I haven't read this soon to be New York Times bestseller. So it's on my 'to read' list and I can't wait.
October 16, 2015
very good, good story, sometimes sad, well written
August 2, 2017
I really did not like this book..I got 2/3 of the way through and was still wondering why I continued to read it. I understand that it was a memoir, and those are difficult to write and read. However even up to the point when I stopped reading, I really was not drawn to either woman. I disliked the way that she stopped in the middle of an experience to related something else from her past, and then pick up the original experience again. Definitely not my kind of book.
Cathie Beck was in her late thirties and finally able to exhale after a lifetime of just trying to get by. A teenage mother harboring vivid memories of her own hardscrabble childhood, Cathie had spent years doing whatever it took to give her children the stability--or at least the illusion of it--that she'd never had. More than that, through sheer will and determination, she had educated them and herself too. With her kids in college, Cathie was at last ready to have some fun. The only problem was that she had no idea how to do it and no friends to do it with. So she put an ad in the paper for a made-up women's group: WOW . . . Women on the Way. Eight women showed up that first night, and out of that group a friendship formed, one of those meteoric, passionate, stand-by-you friendships that come around once in a lifetime and change you forever . . . if you're lucky.
Cathie Beck was in her late thirties and finally able to exhale after a lifetime of just trying to get by. A teenage mother harboring vivid memories of her own hardscrabble childhood, Cathie had spent years doing whatever it took to give her children the stability--or at least the illusion of it--that she'd never had. More than that, through sheer will and determination, she had educated them and herself too. With her kids in college, Cathie was at last ready to have some fun. The only problem was that she had no idea how to do it and no friends to do it with. So she put an ad in the paper for a made-up women's group: WOW . . . Women on the Way. Eight women showed up that first night, and out of that group a friendship formed, one of those meteoric, passionate, stand-by-you friendships that come around once in a lifetime and change you forever . . . if you're lucky.
March 12, 2022
This is the story of a friendship somewhat reminiscent of the movies Beaches or Thelma and Louise. The author is a young empty-nester looking for friendship and starts a women's group. This is before it was common for people to meet on the internet. The group doesn't really go anywhere except for the friendship of Denise. The two women are quirky and up for any adventure. But Denise has MS and she knows her life will be short so she often throws caution to the wind. Cathie has come from a hard background but she doesn't dwell on it. There were some aspects of the book that reminded me of two past friendships I have had. Both women are gone now, one physically and one geographically, so it reminded me of them. I would have given this book 5 stars but deducted one star just because at times I found the Denise character annoying, but then I think Cathie did too!
February 26, 2017
I am usually not a fan of non fiction, but I went all in for this memoir.
The story takes place in Boulder CO in the mid 90s. The author, Cathie Beck, wanted some girlfriends, so she decided to advertise in the local news paper. She disguised her ad as the start up of a Women’s Group.
She is amazed by the response she received and actually made a new best friend, Denise.
At first I did not like their chemistry - but it does not matter --the story kept me reading to the end.
The story takes place in Boulder CO in the mid 90s. The author, Cathie Beck, wanted some girlfriends, so she decided to advertise in the local news paper. She disguised her ad as the start up of a Women’s Group.
She is amazed by the response she received and actually made a new best friend, Denise.
At first I did not like their chemistry - but it does not matter --the story kept me reading to the end.
June 4, 2018
Roller coaster of emotions in an honest approach.
January 16, 2023
Okay, blanked out through more than half. Only got interested in last 5th of of the book
November 16, 2023
Couldn’t finish the book…. Moved to slow and just realized I’m not into journal type reading.
February 16, 2011
This is how we are introduced to our two main characters, Cathie Beck and Denise Katz: hurtling down an interstate as the two hurtled through the second stages of their lives.
This book is a memoir (a fact that I somehow missed and realized about a third of the way through). It isn't supposed to be a work of fiction, but a memoir of a friendship. Cathie Beck has had a tough life, raised in an unstable home, pregnant and married as a teen, abandoned by her husband with two children to raise at age 21, she has clawed her way through life. Now, nearing the age of 40, she finds herself an empty-nester in need of friends and begins a woman's group called WOW (Women on the Way). At the first meeting of their new group, Cathie meets Denise Katz: forward, unapologetic, brash, and Cathie doesn't think she likes this woman very much. But then she changes her mind, and finds she likes her very much, and the two begin a many-year friendship that navigates the difficulties of Denise's struggles with Multiple Sclerosis.
Cathie appears to be honest and real. She almost begrudgingly becomes friends with Denise, who is perhaps unlikeable to many, but I found that I liked her. Perhaps that is because I can identify with her. Denise has a warmth and heart that is kept very well hidden, but she also displays an evident strength.
This book was a very easy read. Certain writing styles are just very conversational and comfortable for me, and allow me to whiz through much more quickly than with strongly narrative or "stodgy" writing.
I sort of delayed picking this one up, because I just wasn't sure that it would be able to grab me. I was pleasantly surprised. It built and held me most of the way. However I did find the final 100 pages to be less captivating, and began to lose me, and the ending was less than satisfying. But, given that it is a memoir, that may be something that cannot be helped-- it ended as it ended. You can't change life.
One thing that confused me was that the beginning had nothing to do with the ending. The way that the opening chapter is laid out, I always thought that the end of the book would pick up where it left off and the story would end. But that isn't what happened. The story never really returned to that moment again, aside from a very brief mention of Wyoming at the end of the book. So that only added to disappointment in the ending. It's as if the beginning set me up for an ending that never came as expected.
For the most part, this was an enjoyable story.
This book is a memoir (a fact that I somehow missed and realized about a third of the way through). It isn't supposed to be a work of fiction, but a memoir of a friendship. Cathie Beck has had a tough life, raised in an unstable home, pregnant and married as a teen, abandoned by her husband with two children to raise at age 21, she has clawed her way through life. Now, nearing the age of 40, she finds herself an empty-nester in need of friends and begins a woman's group called WOW (Women on the Way). At the first meeting of their new group, Cathie meets Denise Katz: forward, unapologetic, brash, and Cathie doesn't think she likes this woman very much. But then she changes her mind, and finds she likes her very much, and the two begin a many-year friendship that navigates the difficulties of Denise's struggles with Multiple Sclerosis.
Cathie appears to be honest and real. She almost begrudgingly becomes friends with Denise, who is perhaps unlikeable to many, but I found that I liked her. Perhaps that is because I can identify with her. Denise has a warmth and heart that is kept very well hidden, but she also displays an evident strength.
This book was a very easy read. Certain writing styles are just very conversational and comfortable for me, and allow me to whiz through much more quickly than with strongly narrative or "stodgy" writing.
I sort of delayed picking this one up, because I just wasn't sure that it would be able to grab me. I was pleasantly surprised. It built and held me most of the way. However I did find the final 100 pages to be less captivating, and began to lose me, and the ending was less than satisfying. But, given that it is a memoir, that may be something that cannot be helped-- it ended as it ended. You can't change life.
One thing that confused me was that the beginning had nothing to do with the ending. The way that the opening chapter is laid out, I always thought that the end of the book would pick up where it left off and the story would end. But that isn't what happened. The story never really returned to that moment again, aside from a very brief mention of Wyoming at the end of the book. So that only added to disappointment in the ending. It's as if the beginning set me up for an ending that never came as expected.
For the most part, this was an enjoyable story.
May 18, 2013
Cheap Cabernet by Cathie Beck
This was a nice idea for a story especially because I enjoy stories about female friendships. This story is told about two women one of whom is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. The story is told looking back in time at the development of their friendship.
I was a bit confused by the transitions in time. I was not always aware when there was a shift in time - Was it the present, past, or distant past. I couldn’t tell from what point of view Cathie Beck was writing the story. At first it seemed to me she was a woman in her early 40s but then it seemed as if she was writing from a viewpoint older that that perhaps her early 50s.
I had just read “Girls in White Dresses” in this book women continue to act like young college students well into their twenties and thirties. In “Cheap Cabernet” the main character is forced to grow up very quickly and becomes a wife and mom before she is in her twenties. Her husband leaves her when her children are very small. Despite their poverty and disadvantaged circumstances she makes a life for them but has little energy for herself. Cheap Cabernet is the story about after she has raised her children. Now she decides is the time to reclaim her lost youth and she begins acting like she is in her early twenties?!
Do her grown children never visit? It seems like they rarely enter her consciousness. There is only one part of a chapter where she is sad that she was never able to give her two kids a traditional sense of a “home place” moving them from cheap rental to cheap rental over their growing up years. Other than that, no time is really spent on how she is now still a mother but to grown children who are in college. They seem magically to have no problems and no need of their mother.
The story focuses on the female friend she makes after she realizes she has time for a friend. They have a lot of silly fun together but she also sees the slow, then rapid decline her friends is on as she suffers with MS. In the end her friend ends her own life prematurely as she feels her quality of life had declined more that she could endure. This story is told to honour their friendship.
This was a nice idea for a story especially because I enjoy stories about female friendships. This story is told about two women one of whom is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. The story is told looking back in time at the development of their friendship.
I was a bit confused by the transitions in time. I was not always aware when there was a shift in time - Was it the present, past, or distant past. I couldn’t tell from what point of view Cathie Beck was writing the story. At first it seemed to me she was a woman in her early 40s but then it seemed as if she was writing from a viewpoint older that that perhaps her early 50s.
I had just read “Girls in White Dresses” in this book women continue to act like young college students well into their twenties and thirties. In “Cheap Cabernet” the main character is forced to grow up very quickly and becomes a wife and mom before she is in her twenties. Her husband leaves her when her children are very small. Despite their poverty and disadvantaged circumstances she makes a life for them but has little energy for herself. Cheap Cabernet is the story about after she has raised her children. Now she decides is the time to reclaim her lost youth and she begins acting like she is in her early twenties?!
Do her grown children never visit? It seems like they rarely enter her consciousness. There is only one part of a chapter where she is sad that she was never able to give her two kids a traditional sense of a “home place” moving them from cheap rental to cheap rental over their growing up years. Other than that, no time is really spent on how she is now still a mother but to grown children who are in college. They seem magically to have no problems and no need of their mother.
The story focuses on the female friend she makes after she realizes she has time for a friend. They have a lot of silly fun together but she also sees the slow, then rapid decline her friends is on as she suffers with MS. In the end her friend ends her own life prematurely as she feels her quality of life had declined more that she could endure. This story is told to honour their friendship.
January 27, 2021
I identify with the author of Cheap Cabernet, Cathie Beck, a single mom deserted by her husband in her early twenties when their kids were small. Cathie became a successful journalist and author through her own pluck and persistence, writing a memoir that revolves around her friendship with Denise Katz, a "ballsy" woman with MS. Although as a reader you can sense disaster coming, you just can't put the book down.
Hooked from the first few pages, where we see Cathie and Denise driving through Colorado on their way to see Jerry Jeff Walker of "Mr. Bojangles" fame, I just had to keep reading to find out what would happen when the pair met up with the singer/songwriter and iconic fixture from my own 1960s youth.
Despite her illness, Denise is an economic dynamo with ideas that make boatloads of money, from the time she founded a barrette business to her ownership of a high-end, customized art framing business in artsy Boulder. The book follows four years of Cathie's rollicking, wild, emotional relationship with Denise, described in laugh-out-loud funny prose. While checking out a Moroccan restaurant, Cathie tells Denise the belly dancer "looks to me like she's dispelling afterbirth" - and then the pair proceed to try to emulate the dancer. What a hoot!
They share an "Ann Rule" obsession, and it is at one of the crime author's bookstore readings that Cathie realizes she can no longer deny or ignore Denise's hand tremors, unsteady gait and other symptoms of MS deterioration. The pair take a trip to Jamaica together, followed by a trip to Cuba, which is as magical and heartwarming as the former is disastrous.
Throughout their friendship, Denise stubbornly refuses help from Cathie and insists on being the mistress of her own destiny. Just how far Denise is willing to go to ensure control over her own life is a shock to the reader. I finished the entire book in one evening.
Hooked from the first few pages, where we see Cathie and Denise driving through Colorado on their way to see Jerry Jeff Walker of "Mr. Bojangles" fame, I just had to keep reading to find out what would happen when the pair met up with the singer/songwriter and iconic fixture from my own 1960s youth.
Despite her illness, Denise is an economic dynamo with ideas that make boatloads of money, from the time she founded a barrette business to her ownership of a high-end, customized art framing business in artsy Boulder. The book follows four years of Cathie's rollicking, wild, emotional relationship with Denise, described in laugh-out-loud funny prose. While checking out a Moroccan restaurant, Cathie tells Denise the belly dancer "looks to me like she's dispelling afterbirth" - and then the pair proceed to try to emulate the dancer. What a hoot!
They share an "Ann Rule" obsession, and it is at one of the crime author's bookstore readings that Cathie realizes she can no longer deny or ignore Denise's hand tremors, unsteady gait and other symptoms of MS deterioration. The pair take a trip to Jamaica together, followed by a trip to Cuba, which is as magical and heartwarming as the former is disastrous.
Throughout their friendship, Denise stubbornly refuses help from Cathie and insists on being the mistress of her own destiny. Just how far Denise is willing to go to ensure control over her own life is a shock to the reader. I finished the entire book in one evening.
June 26, 2011
The only reason I read this book through to the end is because it is for my book club. I guess maybe I was also hoping for a point that never arrived.
The people (characters) are so undeveloped that I don't really care what happens to either of them throughout the book. Denise is not fleshed out in a way that makes me really care about her and her MS. Through Beck’s writing, I actually dislike Denise, and I find it difficult to understand Beck's fascination with her.
In addition, I think that Beck tries to bring in her own upbringing to shed some light on how she grew into the person in the story. Unfortunately just telling me about the growing up without really showing me is not enough to pull me into the story and engage me with feelings. Or make me care. Which it didn’t.
The side characters: John, Merle, Ricky, Edith, etc... are so one-dimensional it's painful. I really never had a sense of who John was and what Denise’s relationship with him entailed. I think that’s why I wasn’t too upset by her cheating. It felt like she had a non-marriage anyway. Especially at the end when he was in the hospital for reasons unknown and didn’t seem to care that he was hurting.
Overall, I find Beck's writing style to be choppy and trite. There are many short paragraphs and terrible dialogue. It’s almost like I wrote the book. (By the way, we have the same amount of training in how to author novels – zero.)
Beck often changes topics or stories without any type of transition. There are also several conflicting statements that left me confused. But I didn't care enough about the story to go back and figure out why the conflict. I just counted down to the end so I could whine about it to my book club.
In short, I would only recommend this book to my enemies. It was a waste of my precious reading time.
The people (characters) are so undeveloped that I don't really care what happens to either of them throughout the book. Denise is not fleshed out in a way that makes me really care about her and her MS. Through Beck’s writing, I actually dislike Denise, and I find it difficult to understand Beck's fascination with her.
In addition, I think that Beck tries to bring in her own upbringing to shed some light on how she grew into the person in the story. Unfortunately just telling me about the growing up without really showing me is not enough to pull me into the story and engage me with feelings. Or make me care. Which it didn’t.
The side characters: John, Merle, Ricky, Edith, etc... are so one-dimensional it's painful. I really never had a sense of who John was and what Denise’s relationship with him entailed. I think that’s why I wasn’t too upset by her cheating. It felt like she had a non-marriage anyway. Especially at the end when he was in the hospital for reasons unknown and didn’t seem to care that he was hurting.
Overall, I find Beck's writing style to be choppy and trite. There are many short paragraphs and terrible dialogue. It’s almost like I wrote the book. (By the way, we have the same amount of training in how to author novels – zero.)
Beck often changes topics or stories without any type of transition. There are also several conflicting statements that left me confused. But I didn't care enough about the story to go back and figure out why the conflict. I just counted down to the end so I could whine about it to my book club.
In short, I would only recommend this book to my enemies. It was a waste of my precious reading time.
July 6, 2010
The book starts out with two women cruising down the road attempting to find a turnoff to go and see a show at some back road biker bar. When they can't find the road and discover that they've driven all the way to the state border, they just keep on going. I was intrigued to find out where this book would lead.
Cathie has sent her children off to college and is left by herself and in a desperate attempt to meet some people she places and ad for a women's weekly group. This is where she meets Denise. A strong willed, in your face woman who survives through making things work for her whether it's her art and framing shop, or going to tag sales and convincing people to practically give her things for nothing.
Cathie doesn't realize it then, but Denise is fighting MS. As time goes on their friendship grows and faces the struggles all friendship face at one time or another, and Denise's MS symptoms present themselves more and more often.
This is truly a heartwarming story of a woman who has been given the short end of the stick when it comes to life. A single parent of two children, no viable means of supporting herself and her family, she does what she needs to do to get by. And yet she manages to survive and flourish learning from life and eventually from Denise that sometimes you have to stack the deck in your favor to make it work out in the end.
You'll find yourself laughing along with them and maybe even crying at times.
Truly a wonderful read and I would suggest that you pick it up if you like a good story of friendship.
Cathie has sent her children off to college and is left by herself and in a desperate attempt to meet some people she places and ad for a women's weekly group. This is where she meets Denise. A strong willed, in your face woman who survives through making things work for her whether it's her art and framing shop, or going to tag sales and convincing people to practically give her things for nothing.
Cathie doesn't realize it then, but Denise is fighting MS. As time goes on their friendship grows and faces the struggles all friendship face at one time or another, and Denise's MS symptoms present themselves more and more often.
This is truly a heartwarming story of a woman who has been given the short end of the stick when it comes to life. A single parent of two children, no viable means of supporting herself and her family, she does what she needs to do to get by. And yet she manages to survive and flourish learning from life and eventually from Denise that sometimes you have to stack the deck in your favor to make it work out in the end.
You'll find yourself laughing along with them and maybe even crying at times.
Truly a wonderful read and I would suggest that you pick it up if you like a good story of friendship.
September 13, 2010
When I first reading Cheap Cabernet, I thought the story would be about the friendships formed through the group the author started, WOW, Women on the Way. But it is really the story of the friendship between her and Denise who she met at WOW. Multiple Schlerosis was a unwanted participant in the friendship. Part of the proceeds of the sale of the book go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Colorado Chapter.
The reason that Cathie Beck started WOW was that she craved the friendship of women. She felt isolated and lonely. The two women taught each other lessons of courage, daring (sometimes foolish daring) There were moments hilarity, anger, forgiveness, determination and sadness. The pace of the book kept me reading and I did not find the book boring.
I did enjoy this book and it reminded me of a similar friendship that I had had in the past, so I could relate to this book. I have a few mixed feelings about this book and those prevent me from giving it five stars. There were times of skirting the law which I could never find myself even thinking of and there were also parts of this book that I think would have been better edited out. On the whole, I would still recommend this book to all women who have ever felt a deep need for a friend.
I received this book as a part of a contest with Library Thing.
The reason that Cathie Beck started WOW was that she craved the friendship of women. She felt isolated and lonely. The two women taught each other lessons of courage, daring (sometimes foolish daring) There were moments hilarity, anger, forgiveness, determination and sadness. The pace of the book kept me reading and I did not find the book boring.
I did enjoy this book and it reminded me of a similar friendship that I had had in the past, so I could relate to this book. I have a few mixed feelings about this book and those prevent me from giving it five stars. There were times of skirting the law which I could never find myself even thinking of and there were also parts of this book that I think would have been better edited out. On the whole, I would still recommend this book to all women who have ever felt a deep need for a friend.
I received this book as a part of a contest with Library Thing.
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