Review: Clementine Crane Prefers Not To: A Novel

Clementine Crane Prefers Not To: A Novel by Kristin Bair O'Keeffe
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.5 STARS

This book started on a high note but quickly went downhill like a novice skier. Perhaps I received a different ARC than all the others who loved this book. If so, then my disgruntled self must apologize to all who loved it!

If I didn't know any better, I would have said that a man wrote this novel. I've been through perimenopause and menopause, and I'm still having night sweats, but I never went through anything like this, and none of my contemporaries did either.  I must say that what might have been humorous at the beginning turned into a parody about a quarter of the way through.

 The author followed the parody script with the secondary characters  -  a clueless, spoiled husband, spoiled rotten, belligerent, hostile and just plain nasty kids. A kidnapped goldfish (why for Pete's sake???)  and an unknown animal walking around in the snow, which Clementine thinks is a mammoth. *rolls eyes*. Oh, and let us not forget just how much Clementine HATED snow and her family loved it. You couldn't forget even if you wanted to, since it was brought up so often.  I won't even start to talk about snow like that in New England, and yes, I am from there, so I'll just roll my eyes again...

I gave up before finding out what the crashing animal was, though I suspect it was a moose, and I never did find out whether Clem did return the kidnapped goldfish. More's the pity.  Even when Clem finally did take matters into her own hands and started to say no to everything, she did it in such a mealy-mouthed way that I can understand why nobody listened to her.

*ARC supplied by the publisher Alcove Press/Crooked Lane Books, the author, and NetGalley.

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SUMMARY : "“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” hits perimenopause in this razor-sharp, wickedly funny novel about one woman’s awakening in a patriarchal world.

For years, Clementine Crane has been the invisible force holding her Byrock, Massachusetts, home together—juggling three demanding kids, a husband who’s more hindrance than help, a soul-crushing boss at the local library, and a mountain of invisible tasks reserved for women.

But when her first hot flash hits, marking the onset of perimenopause, Clementine starts to wonder: When is enough, enough? As the pressures mount and mysterious, almost mythic signs of the extraordinary punctuate her days, she takes a stand—one small refusal at a time. With a defiant “I prefer not to,” she embarks on a journey to reclaim her voice and identity.

Overwhelmed and fed up, Clementine goes on strike, ditching obligations, setting boundaries, and venting her frustrations on social media. When her raw, hilarious, and unexpectedly poignant videos go viral, Clementine finds herself at the center of a movement she never saw coming.

With her irreverent best friend by her side, Clementine isn’t just pushing back—she’s rewriting the rules. This laugh-out-loud, heart-on-sleeve adventure is a battle cry for every woman ready to live life on her own terms."