The Dirty Book Club

Told in 3rd person past, this tale focuses on the lives of the women in the DBC, a group that has been together some forty odd years, and has used the member’s unwillingness and struggles with society’s expectations of what they should be, as they work toward the women they want to be. Few rules are set in stone, but they are all expected to trust one another on their journey to inner peace and love, and that means maintaining friendships and coping with difficulties. Of course, they must be open-minded and willing to let go of the conventional and accepted norms for behavior, allowing their true selves to shine. And what a shine this is! I’ll admit, the story was a bit slow to start for me: we meet MJ who has just been passed over for a promotion that she wanted and was more than able to handle. She’s frustrated and hurt, and decides that now is the time to move with her boyfriend to California from the East, and take the time to decide what she really wants from life. Early on, she meets a neighbor, Gloria, and the two appear to hit it off. And then, a mysterious invitation to join the DBC arrives, and MJ decides to ‘see’ what it is all about. Here, the story took flight and added some mention (although little traditional discussion) of titles like Fear of Flying, Fifty Shades of Grey, and How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: none particularly shameful if one is a voracious reader, but still eyebrow raising in some circles. But far from discussing books, these women are sharing their lives, their struggles and good times, all on the way to redefining their lives and expectations, and finding that simple balance. Each of the four women in the DBC are at different places in their lives, and as we get to know them, we start to see the reasons they were brought together, and just how much the friendships: open, honest and supportive, can serve to enhance all parts of their lives. While mostly focused on Gloria and MJ’s story, the friendships, the history of the club and how it helped and enhanced the lives of all who participated in the DBC. Heartfelt and wonderfully complex, the concepts of supportive friendships enhancing all aspects of your life, and finding the people who are vastly different coming together in a singular purpose of support and openness is a wonderfully strong message throughout. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

When I read the blurb for The Dirty Book Club, I was intrigued by the premise, and when I started reading, I found the beginning both engaging and promising. Sadly, that fizzled quickly as I found less and less to like about main character, MJ. Let me add that each of the characters have their flaws and that's okay. I didn't expect them to be perfect and several times, I've found the flawed characters in a story the most endearing. That was the case with the 1960's book club. Not so much with the modern day club. MJ is rather disconnected from living life and that's understandable considering the the loss she's suffered. She throws herself into her career to keep from dwelling on that loss, which is also something the reader can empathize with and understand. As time goes on, MJ's long distance love interest, Dan, tries to convince her to move across the country so they can be together. This is where my problem with this character began. Things don't go as she's planned in her career, so she heads to California and to Dan. She then spends most of the story waffling between wanting to be with Dan and wanting to run back to New York and her job. Indecision, I can understand. She's spent considerable time on her career, but it came across like Dan was nothing more than a backup plan, the second choice. More than once, she asserts that she gave up her career and sacrificed for Dan, when that isn't the case. She gave up her career because things didn't go her way. She didn't get what she wanted, so she fell back on the second choice. Basically, I found her whiny and petulant, and I spent most of her story wishing Dan would wake up and send her packing. The other characters in the modern day book club weren't exactly likable, but at least they did have some wit and even some charm about them. By the end of this journey, I found the letters from the 1960's book club to be the most interesting parts of the story and the only modern day character that I really liked or rooted for was the good and giving doctor, Dan. I will say the the author is talented and writes well, but this one completely missed the mark for this reader.