Synopsis from Goodreads: Suze Hall is at a crossroads. Her nemesis at work, Wanda, has been promoted and now will be her boss. Her husband, Bob, is leaving her and the three kids for a six-month sabbatical down under. To top it off, her best friend, Marcia, is missing in action–playing footsie with some new boyfriend! Adding to this disaster stew, David, the gorgeous hunk who broke her young-girl’s heart has coincidentally popped back into her life and has something she desperately needs to keep her job. Walking with Elephants, a lighthearted slice-of-life story, brings to the table the serious work/family issues facing women today. It explores the modern dichotomy of a workplace that is filled with homemakers who still must cook, clean, carpool on nights and weekends, shop for prom dresses, and “create” the holidays-such as Suze.
My thoughts: Walking with Elephants is an interesting exploration of the many hats that women today wear. Women burst into the workforce looking for equality, and in some ways got it. The thing that was forgotten about were the duties at home that were traditionally performed by the woman of the house. The cooking, the cleaning, the mothering. When women went into the workforce, these things didn’t go away. If a woman is lucky, she has a partner that shares these duties with her.
Suze finds herself in a career that hasn’t developed as quickly as some of her single and child free co workers. She is faced with being a single mother while her husband goes on sabbatical, and is forced to handle all of the parenting and home responsibilities along with increasing demands at work. Something has to give.
Walking with Elephants is an amusing example of how we can sometimes get so immersed in our situations that we can’t see things clearly. It is a presentation of women at their worst as well as at their finest. There is lots of wine flowing, girl power moments and laughs to be had.
This is a fairly quick read if you have the time to sit down and immerse yourself into the story (I didn’t so it took me a couple of days). It would be a good one for a girls night in with yourself. Chill a bottle of wine, enjoy a hot bubble bath and curl up on your favorite couch or chair and enjoy.
Walking with Elephants is Karen Bell’s first novel.
I received my copy of Walking with Elephants from the author in order to participate in her blog tour through TLC book tours. This is my honest opinion of the novel.
Stop by some of the other blogs on the tour to see what they have to say about Walking With Elephants.
Tuesday, February 1st: Scraps of Life
Wednesday, February 2nd: Laura’s Reviews
Thursday, February 3rd: Book Reviews by Molly
Monday, February 7th: Colloquium
Friday, February 11th: Hospitable Pursuits
Tuesday, February 15th: Teresa’s Reading Corner
Wednesday, February 16th: Good Girl Gone Redneck
Monday, February 21st: Reviews from the Heart
Wednesday, February 23rd: Proud Book Nerd
Thursday, February 24th: Confessions of a Bookaholic
Tuesday, March 1st: Debbie’s Book Bag
Wednesday, March 2nd: Books Like Breathing
Thursday, March 3rd: Clever Girl Goes Blog
Friday, March 4th: Life In Review
Monday, March 7th: The Book Chick
Tuesday, March 8th: My Own Little Corner of the World
© 2011, Teresa. All rights reserved.
I’m adding this one to my TBR list! Thanks for sharing, Teresa…..
Oooh, I girls night with myself?! What a brilliant idea! This sounds like the PERFECT book for that kind of night. I’m sorry you couldn’t enjoy it that way yourself, but I’m glad you enjoyed the book anyway. Thanks for being on the tour.
One of these days I’m going to spend a Girls night in this way!
Oh this sounds good!