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Cathy W. (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA)
Loose Diamonds...
Amy Ephron is an expert at articulating everyday life of the rich and privileged. I grew up in a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles and the essays brought back many memories of a different era. Although well written and enjoyable, overall it lacked substance and was somewhat disappointing.
Kristina K. (Glendale, CA)
Loose Cubic Zirconia
The concept of "loose diamonds" is poetic, the idea of those loose moments in life that are either lost or found. The way that Ephron plays with the metaphor in the introduction works for the most part throughout this collection, but not all of her loose vignettes shine like diamonds. The first couple essays are poignant, but with others it seems that one must be an insider in Ephron's world to get some of her private allusions and inside jokes, just like there are things Ephron will mention cryptically and pointedly, then tell her reader, "I don't want to talk about that." I started feeling like I just didn't want to read anymore about that. But as a psychic, perhaps Ephron already knew this.
Sheryl R. (DeQuincy, LA)
Loose, indeed!
The title of this book of essays by one of the famous Ephron sisters may be it's strongest point. VERY loosely held together, these are "diamonds" in the rough. I'm not an editor, but I kept wanting to edit: to scratch out sentences, correct grammar, restructure the writing. Perhaps these essays are better received in New York, but one review I read which compared this collection to Joan Didion was offensive to me (and, I would suspect, Ms. Didion!). I read books of this sort to mine other people's lives and thoughts for any truths discovered, lessons learned, or universal experiences lived. I found none of these in this collection. Average at best!
Merle M. (Boulder, CO)
Lite Reading
Too light for me. Luckily it was short. I was disappointed. It reminds me why I do not subscribe to People Magazine and rarely find it interesting, even when captive in waiting rooms.
Elise_G
Flat and contrived
Despite their abbreviated length, good short stories have interesting characters and engaging story lines --- these did not! The characters were flat and the stories contrived, as if the author got hold of a tidbit of information (perhaps from a Google search?) and wrote a story around it. Couldn't get into this one at all...
Bea C. (Liberty Lake, WA)
Loose Diamonds
This book is a collection of stories and musings from the author's life. It is like reading a bunch of newspaper columns that have a little humor and not much feeling or intrigue. I would rather read one of them a day with the morning newspaper than try to read them all at once since I hardly remember any one of them. They are not terribly interesting, but they are filled with name dropping. It is definitely not like reading a collection of quality short stories. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to get to sleep.
Joan V. (Miller Place, NY)
Lumps of coal
This book was very disappointing. I expected the writing to be charming and witty. “Loose Diamonds” has absolutely no substance and very little style.
The constant name dropping was extremely annoying. When Ms. Ephron was not dropping names of famous people it was high end brand names she was brandishing about.
Instead of warm and approachable Ms. Ephron came across as very self-centered; a “poor little rich girl.”
Irene B. (Denton, TX)
loose diamonds
This is not a good book. I would not buy nor recommend it to anyone. It is the equivalent of a movie magazine, a me,me, me book.
