Review: Wishin' and Hopin' / Wally Lamb

Title/Author: Wishin' and Hopin' / Wally Lamb
Format / Pages: Hardback / 268 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 978-0-06-194100-9
Genre: Fiction
Where Did I Get It?: Library

From the book jacket: LBJ and Lady Bird are in the White House, Meet the Beatles is on everyone's turntable, and Felix Funicello (distant cousin of the iconic Annette!) is doing his best to navigate fifth grade - easier said than done when scary movies still give you nightmares and you bear a striking resemblance to a certain adorable cartoon boy.

Back in his beloved fictional town of Three Rivers, Connecticut, with a new cast of endearing characters, Wally Lamb takes his readers straight into the halls of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School - where Mother Filomina's word is law and goody-two-shoes Rosalie Twerski is sure to be minding everyone's business. But grammar and arithmetic move to the back burner this holiday season with the sudden arrivals of substitute teacher Madame Frechette, straight from Quebec, and feisty Russian student Zhenya Kabakova. While Felix learns the meaning of French kissing, cultural misunderstanding, and tableaux vivants, Wishin' and Hopin' barrels toward one outrageous Christmas.

From the Funicello family's bus-station lunch counter to the elementary school playground (with an uproarious stop at the Pillsbury Bake-Off), Wishin' and Hopin' is a vivid slice of 1960s life, a wise and witty holiday tale that celebrates where we've been - and how far we've come.

First line: The year I was a fifth-grade student at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School, our teacher, Sister Dymphna, had a nervous breakdown in front of our class.

My thoughts: This was a cute little book, a quick read ... that unfortunately wasn't that great. It was good, but it wasn't Wally Lamb good (anyone who has read and loved his previous works should know what I mean by that). I absolutely adored She's Come Undone and I Know This Much is True and was just a little disappointed by Wishin' and Hopin'. It wasn't nearly the same quality of story - but it was worth the read, so give it a try.