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Are You in the Mood? - Book Review |
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Book Reviews -
Women's Fiction
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Written by Deborah Bivens
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 Are You in the Mood?, by Stephanie Lehmann
Right
from the get-go, after receiving the book, I was intrigued. The title,
the book cover, the summary on the back all enticed me into diving into
the book. I read the first five chapters in a short amount of time and
was sucked into the story because what I had read on the back seemed
awfully familiar to me. "Will my real life please stand up?" is the
gist of it. I found myself not able to put the book down and I wanted
to finish it before my 10 month old woke up from my lap!
What was so familiar to me about this story was that I was reading my
life, my feelings-my story! Well for the most part that is. Right down
to the Ross Reports
and headshots and getting pregnant and feeling like your dream is
slipping away. Although much of Camille's happenings didn't happen to
me exactly, I could reminisce about my "previous life" and concur so
accurately with the feelings the character had.
Camille Chaplin is an out of work actress in NYC who struggles to make
a career, has doubts about marriage, has a rocky relationship with her
mother, and a father whoÌs no longer alive she's still trying to get
approval from. As the title suggests, some of the story is about sex
after baby arrives and Camille just doesn't want to have any of it.
But the real story is about the life she has as opposed to what she
wants. There are three "people" for every one person. The person they
think they are, the person others see them as, and who they really are.
Despite identifying a lot with the lead character and her situation, I
did find some of it improbable and unlikely such things could happen.
It almost seemed as though I was reading a Hollywood plot for a Sex in the City
movie. Although Camille had lots of adventures during the course of the
book, it was almost dreamlike in a way as she was able to get in and
out of her situations. Another problem I had was the character of her
boyfriend turned husband. He seemed too one-dimensional and affable.
I've never heard of any psychiatrists who didn't have problems of their
own. The surprise stalker in the bushes just seemed over-the-top and as
if it were too easy a solution for Camille to get out of her situation.
And lastly, the author describes Camille hand-expressing milk into a
cup, not a bottle, on several occasions. She never sterilized anything,
and quite frankly, I've never heard of any mother expressing milk for
her baby in that way anymore. There are lots of wonderful pumps out
there for mothers. I donÌt think it makes the book any less
interesting, just not as believable. I found it to be quite a
page-turner and wanted to find out what happened next.
All in all, I enjoyed the book and will recommend it to others. I would
have liked to have a grittier story and a less neatly tied up ending.
The things that really stuck out for me are the feelings described of
going through motherhood, breastfeeding, and holding off an acting
career. Ms. Lehmann so accurately described the mental anguishes one
goes through and I surely can identify with all of those.
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