Review: Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston

I finished this book some time ago, but waited to review it because my book club discussed it last night! I've just joined a brand new book club after not having one for several years. This time, I joined a group of strangers on craigslist, and in doing so, hope to avoid gossip sessions in lieu of book discussions. We'll see. I was dubious when several of the people said "I don't really read much; I joined this club hoping it would inspire me to read". For years now, I've wanted a serious book club where we really do discuss the book.

Because I didn't know how dedicated people were, I picked this book as our first selection. I knew it wasn't real intellectual, but I wanted to see how the discussion would go to ascertain whether we could go more serious or not.

Everyone hated it. I actually like it more than most people, and I was a little surprised at the negative response. Truly, it's basically "chick lit", with not a huge amount of seriousness required. Still, being a marriage counselor, I thought it was a pretty good introduction to how the experience of infertility can impact a marriage. Still, people thought that the characters were undeveloped and it was overly stereotypical.

I was appalled at the marriage counseling that took place in the book, and wanted to know if that's what people thought marriage counseling would be like!! Thank goodness, everyone realized that it was pure fiction and a bad portrayal of counseling and its effectiveness.

I'd still recommend the book. It's a quick read and I like her writing. True, you're not going to stretch yourself or necessarily learn anything by the reading, but if you just want an quick, easy read, it's good.