Laughing Through Life was certainly an interesting read as I journey through Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s short stories that detailed her attempts at cooking, her disasters with shoes, and her views of none other than President George W. Bush. I wanted to love this book and quite honestly, I enjoyed the majority of it. The tales, while disjointed and not revolving around a singular theme except for the fact that they all occurred in Connie’s life, made me laugh out loud. I felt connected with Connie over her inability to keep grapefruit ripe and her observation that everything DOES go wrong at dinner parties where the main goal is to impress your guests. Also, let’s not overlook the story about her student who wanted to perform a mock interview for Hooters, and certainly dressed the part!My only strong criticism of the book was her political content. I tried to remain unbiased throughout reading the entire book and believe I set some of my personal views aside with grace. I also understand that strong political views exist, and the fact that a woman such as Connie uninhibitedly speaks these opinions makes me proud to live in America where freedom of speech is rampant. However, I think the continual outpouring of these political stories distracted me from the main goal of Laughing Through Life: to make the reader cry with laughter. I would have liked to see the Bush jokes decreased a bit and more antidotes about her children and life experiences inserted in the book. Although, putting my personal opinions aside, I do have to say that her story about getting kicked out of the radio station for singing an anti-Iraq song proved hilarious.
Overall, this book made me laugh and smile, which I believe was Connie (Corcoran) Wilson’s goal. The novel reads like a collection of short stories, so do not expect an overall theme to be present, but this type of book was refreshing to read. I do warn that if you have strong Conservative views to not reading this book or to read with an open mind. Laughing Through Life just might surprise you.
3 stars.
*I was provided with a free copy of this book to review.
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I think that now, in 2015 (almost 2016) we can all agree that laughing at "W'"s presidency was probably the best medicine, since it did so much harm to our country and we have spent the past 8 years recovering. He will be judged the Worst President in History, which is something, at least. Not a good thing for the country, but at least he excelled at SOMETHING after Jeb handed him the presidency with the "hanging chads" controversy in Florida. (Does anyone wonder why Jeb is doing so poorly now?) I remember saying, to my broker as I sold my businesses to begin writing full time, "He's going to get us into a war and ruin the economy." At the time, my Baird broker laughed. (He's not laughing now.)
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Connie (Corcoran) Wilson