Lipman's books look as if they must be 'guilty pleasure' books, but I swear they're good--Lipman has a singular voice and dry sense of humor. They're in a class of books that is hard to come by--maybe not 'literary fiction' but fun: well-written keen studies of people. Though I and others might argue that they are 'literary fiction'! If only the covers didn't scream 'chick lit'... ( )

I've come to enjoy Elinor Lipman's wry humor over several of her books, and was not disappointed here. Sexual farce, academic skewering, precocious adolescent protagonist, left wing slightly dotty parents, all make for an entertaining read. This was an audiobook, read by Mia Barron to great effect. Particularly loved her voicing of the flighty Laura Lee French.

I liked this book mainly due to the narrator - Frederica - being exceptional. The story, not so exceptional, and slow at times. It took me several days to read this book, which was relatively short at it's Overdrive length of 227 pages. ( )

As someone who spent her first five years in faculty housing, and then grew up the rest of the way less than two miles away from the campus where her parents worked, I found that this book felt very familiar. (And the fact that I now work at the college where the author went to school adds an interesting layer.)

I've enjoyed Elinor Lipman's past books and this is no exception. Although it wasn't a fast-paced read -- more, well, pokey, I have to say -- I liked the world she created and the characters who in habited it. The protagonist's parents, lefty academic types, were in danger of being too stereotypical and yet her love and obvious *like* for them puts them onto a whole other level.

Not my typical light and fluffy chick lit read, but a solid, pleasant book that I would recommend. ( )

Delightful tale of academia from the viewpoint of the teenage daughter of 2 professors at a fictional Boston women's college. The father's first wife arrives on campus as a housemother, and complications ensue. Less dumb than it sounds. I don't know why the events were set in 1978, other than to be able to do "where are they now" at the end. ( )