Mon-Yuck

Where should I start? Although I certainly sympathize with the author for her revelation that she, like the main character, lost her own brother at a young age, it felt as though this book was more a form of therapy to work through that loss than a well-thought out story. In this tale, set in 1938, Beatrice (the star of the show) and her philandering husband book a summer at a seaside resort, with the express purpose of hobnobbing with the rich and famous to whom they aspire to cozy up. I found the protagonist to be annoyingly inconsistent, unless we're talking about her self-centeredness. That was unchanging (and infuriating) throughout the book. Our "heroine" vacillated between utter vapidity and amazing self-awareness and brilliance. Highly unlikely. I never remotely developed any sense of concern for what happened to her, and frankly, wanted her to be killed off early on, but alas, no such luck. Furthermore, the writing felt forced, and why, oh why, was there an apparent ban on the word "pregnant" through the entire book? If I read "with child" once, I read it a million times. Eventually it became like nails on a chalkboard. Again, my sincere sympathies to the author, but perhaps this isn't the answer.