Member Reviews
I was excited to read this book after receiving a copy of the first chapter. The concept is one every woman would get behind, the idea of revenge against men misusing their power in a men' world.
At a reunion of four successful university friends, Jo turns up incognito, dressed and living as Joseph. She tells them it is part of her plan to get revenge on her employer who fired her for being a woman of a certain age, but re-employed her as a man.
As the friends lives' begin to fall apart, the friends plan their revenge, but the biggest revenge plot is one they don't see coming.
I'm afraid I was rather disappointed with the novel. Matilda, the writer and journalist in the group, is the comedian. But the dialogue is peppered with so many of her quips that it just became irritating and I wanted her to just shut up or at least be funny. And while the revenge unfolded in a way I didn't see coming, the rest of the ending was a bit too obvious.
Four fifty plus woman meet again and plot revenge on the men who done them wrong. Interesting characters that carried the drama of the book very well. This book made me laugh out loud in places. Would recommend that everyone should read it. Great book.
Having read an earlier excerpt from this preview, I was extremely excited to read Kathy Lette’s latest novel. A big fan of Lette’s previous work I could not wait to read this.
However I was so disappointed with The Revenge Club. The premise is simple. Each one of the 4 main characters has had some injustice caused by a man and conspire together to effect their revenge. Lette’s trademark acerbic wit is here in abundance, but I couldn’t help but feel drained by the constant puns, feminist lectures and reminders that women are the weaker sex. The 4 main characters are defined by their injustice rather than highlighting just how strong they could be despite this.
Whilst I did enjoy the revenge played out in the last few chapters, any loose ends all get rather too conveniently tied up in a pretty stereotypical way. This is definitely, to use Lette’s own phrase, an example of ‘don’t give a shit-lit’, which ultimately is how I feel about the book.
Love the idea but I'm afraid I got turned off right away by the plight of the first character -- as far as I could tell, she put herself in the bad position by sticking to her on again off again gambling addict boyfriend for 30 years just because she couldn't help herself from melting when she looked into his eyes. The comedy was funny but I couldn't get rid of the thought that she didn't have to get into that position to begin with. So I did not finish :-( 3 stars for being well written and for the humor.
I’m not a fan of just being given an extract from a book to review but the title lured me in and the chapter we were given to sample didn’t disappoint. I look forward to reading the book. It promises to be a really good read! I would say though that I won’t be requesting any Extracts in the future, I can get the first chapter of any book to read on Amazon, and reading one chapter now and not being able to read the rest till May of next year seems pointless. I feel I can only give three stars due to the small amount of material on which to base my opinion.
However, I do still thank the author, the publishers, and NetGalley for an advance e.copy Extract of this book.
really fun feminist drama with some interesting characters that worked very well! thanks so much for the ARc, would recommend
This was such a fun read. I adored the characters and it was such a good thing the four main characters (Matilda, Penny, Cressida and Jo) were in their 50s, as it made it more believable. The women all have their own lives, personalities and voices. I have been let down by men throughout my life and this story is so relatable. Gosh….I would have enjoyed a little revenge club lol. Not saying that I would take it as far as Jo. I finished this book in just a couple of hours as it was fast-paced and enough happening to keep me fully entertained. The direct and dry humour made me laugh out loud with tears in my eyes. Definitely recommend this book if you want a light and funny read with some serious messages.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, NetGalley, and Aria or Aries Fiction for this ARC.
I love this kind of book, so I was so excited to pick this one up! Unfortunately though, I was left disappointed. The Revenge Club reads like a caricature, with no characters that I was interested in rooting for. And a plot that just gets worse and worse. The whole thing was over dramatic - and not in a good way, since done well that can produce a fantastic read. It also wasn't anywhere near as funny as it thought it was, and I just ended up annoyed. Not the book for me, although I went 3 stars because I loved the premise!
I've decided not to review this book. Thank you for the opportunity but based on some trigger warnings I was shared, I have decided to not participate.
Four former college best friends and bandmates reunite for lunch and decide to plot revenge once they come to the dawning realization that a) it's a man’s world, and b) society doesn’t much care for women over 50 (i.e., we don’t get handed positions of power when we get grey hair and wrinkles like men; instead, we get called old rags and hags and are then put out to pasture). I didn’t realize this was news to anyone, but then again, I thought the feminist monologue in Barbie wasn’t news to anyone either, and oh, was I wrong about that. Turns out people are more willfully ignorant than I had once believed, and the Overton window has shifted way further to the right than my pessimism had earlier surmised. My point being, this book has epiphanies about feminism that are on par with the Barbie movie. If the movie was revelatory for you or you felt comforted by the shared blanket trauma of the sisterhood, then you are likely to enjoy this book too. If you thought the movie was too vanilla and could have been more precise and succinct, then I am with you, and this book will be at times too on the nose and often tedious.
I did enjoy some of the hijinks of the revenge schemes. I assume it will work great as a summer beach read. If four women (think Posh Spice, Scary Spice, Sporty Spice, and Ginger Spice, except everyone is white) coming together post-menopause to occasionally commit some illegal adjacent acts to get back at the men who have wronged them but mostly to wax poetic about the injustices of being a woman, then give this book a read. It is a fun time but lacks the brevity or suspense of a good thriller.
Slight Spoilers: About 24% of the way into the book, I guessed that the book was going to go the route of the movie ‘Do Revenge,’ and I wasn’t wrong.
Genre and Tropes: Thriller, Revenge, Sisterhood
Warnings: Mentions of SA
This review is based on the uncorrected advanced reader copy.
I have to say I am very excited to go back and read the final version of this book. This is the first time I have read a novel by Kathy Lette and I have to say she has a new fan. I am slightly under the target audience for this book as feel it is aimed towards older woman however I still really enjoyed this story as it was funny and meaningful.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Better look out the Tenna because you will LAUGH!
Thank you NetGalley and Kathy Lette for making me pee myself, a lot.
Four fifty-something former best friends meet again after lots of years. All have been let down by men, be it a husband, colleague or boss. They plan on getting revenge and form the "Revenge Club"...
I really enjoyed reading this book. I especially liked that the main characters are woman over fifty but not retirees. The story was entertaining, funny, fast-paced and mostly believable. The ending is of course very optimistic but wouldn't it be nice if things were like that?
All in all a very enjoyable book.
The Revenge Club by Kathy Latte is a dramedy that had me both laughing out loud, relating to the character's dilemmas, and cheering them on while they execute their plans..
When three friends for decades, Matilda, Penny, and Cressida who all have bad things happen to them at once reunite with their former college bandmate, Jo, hilarity and revenge ensue.
Tired of being treated badly mostly because the are "just women", they come with ways to get their own on the people who have done them wrong.
As a middle aged woman, it was all too easy to relate to some of their circumstances, unfortunately, and I cheered them all on throughout the whole book.
Can this please, PLEASE become a series?
Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.
Witty and laugh out loud reflection on the real world for older women in today's society. Yes, regardless to improvement, it is still a man's club everywhere. Most women will be able to relate, sadly, to many of the circumstances and enjoy the thought of retribution! Gets a little mushy near the end, and defies logic a few times, but overall a funny and messaging read.
Sensational: an entertaining, silly, yet deeply serious story about four over-fifty women who are degraded and ridiculed. Indeed, be encouraged to Go Forth and Be Fabulous – in your own way, whatever sparks joy :)
I am hoping the Revenge Club will be back in business in a second book in this series.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.
The Revenge Club by Kathy Lette is a feminist comedy drama by Kathy Lette.
Heading for their 60's Matilda,Penny and Cressida ,friends since their University days when they were all in a band,are all successful and well-known women in various media. forms. Matilda is a well-known author,Penny a TV News reporter and Cressida an actress. Almost at the same time their worlds come crashing down ,seemingly purely because as middle-aged women society,and in particular their employers and agents,deem that they've gone beyond their sell-by date. Angry and bitter they're reunited with Jo,friend and former Band member who they havn't seen since their Uni days. Jo makes quite a spectacular entrance and reveals that she also found herself on the scrapheap and out elbowed out of her career in the movies for the heinous crime of being middle-aged and female,but has found a rather unusual method of being re-employed. The quietest of the group in Uni,Jo want justice meted out to the various ageists,misogynists, users and abusers who have wronged the 4 friends and The Revenge Club is formed.
This is a very funny book,I was laughing out loud from the first few pages and the laughs kept coming.it's also insightful and moving. Occasionally the dialogue veers into "speechifying" but the book has plenty to say on an important subject and amongst the jokes Kathy Lette says it. The characters are great, showing both their strengths and weaknesses, their moments of indecision and their determination.
A very funny book with a message that it puts across without hectoring. Confession time,I'm a bloke and I loved it.