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By Barbara Dinerman
Purchase at your favorite book store.
Are you itching to read an amusing and original tale of office politics, sex,
and one woman's search for her true identity?
Don't miss this first of its kind, an award-winning novel that takes a light-hearted
look
at coping with Herpes!
The main character is Joan Halprin, a single woman in her mid-thirties, who has
contracted herpes. This unique and witty novel tells Joan's story as she copes with
"H",
the gift that keeps on giving.
The Barnes & Noble Review:
A Light, Professional First Novel
Barbara Dinerman has published numerous nonfiction, magazine articles in the interior design genre, but "H" is her first novel. Lurking behind the casually evocative cover is a little bug that bites. The title references the issue that the lead fictional character, a thirty-something, woman of the world, has contracted herpes. The story is set in South Florida during The Eighties, a time when herpes was fresh in the minds of the sexual explorers of the era, prefacing the winding down of the sexual revolution in America. After catching the bug from a post-collegiate, European fling, Joan Halprin is trying to become an adult and expand her career with a new job as a copywriter for Sanders Brothers Advertising in Fort Lauderdale. The problems develop as the office politics get out of control. Ms. Dinerman knows her subject matter well, the editing is taut and the typos are minimal. The only thing keeping this little book from earning five stars is the short length restricting its depth of detail and emotion.
The Amazon Review:
Subliminal Humor
This quick little read will keep you entertained all the way to its somewhat abrupt conclusion, offering a few pleasant forays into black humor along the way. Barbara Dinerman has been writing short, non-fiction articles for magazines for years, and her professional style shows clearly through her first novel.
The author is quite mum about the issue of exactly how autobiographical the storyline actually is, but the fact that the lead character is a thirty-something, liberated woman with herpes has been spotlighted. "H" has been promoted on at least one serious website for herpes sufferers, so maybe there is an element of serious, tongue-in-check humor involved. Regardless of the presence of an underlying seriousness, or not, the fictional plotline is well conceived and the characters are aptly painted with the color palette of an interior decorator. The taut editing and clean proofreading belie the careful composition of an experienced writer.
As a serious book critic, the only reason I cannot give "H" five stars is its brevity. The story would have been so much better as a fully detailed morality play with much deeper descriptions of the office politics and the winners and losers involved. As it stands, Barbara Dinerman is a competent, professional writer with a sensual perception of the absurd, but the long short-story length of "H" limits the depth of its influence on the reader. The plotline is a good one, and it has been carefully packaged in a subliminal slice of dark humor.
The PODBRAM Review:
An experienced writer of numerous magazine articles about various interior decorating issues has released her first novel, and yes, it is about herpes. More accurately, it is a morality play surrounding the office politics of a Fort Lauderdale advertising agency in The Eighties at a time when real estatate in South Florida was booming and herpes was a new dirty word. The story follows thirty-something Joan Halprin as she deals with an obnoxious boss at a new job after a European dalliance has left her with a bug in her drawers.
Let's cut directly to the source of the itch, shall we? There is actually very little serious content about herpes in "H", although the book is featured on a website for herpes sufferers. The bug does play a key role in the storyline, but his book is strictly light satire, and is not a self-help reference in any way. If "H" is autobiographical, the author makes no firm implication in that direction, either. Although it would seem that "H" belongs on the same shelf with Tim Phelan's book Romance, Riches, and Restrooms, this is true only in the reference of both to embarrassing personal subject matter. Ms. Dinerman's first novel shares more in common with Linda Gould's Secretarial Wars and J.J. Lair's Dream Dancing. It is highly likely that if you enjoyed the three mentioned books previously reviewed here at PODBRAM, you will like "H" for many of the same reasons. All are slice-of-life stories with professional production and adult themes.
Behind the appropriately Eighties-seductive cover lies a book with only one glaring shortcoming: it's plain too short. The storyline, editing, proofreading, and composition style are all of a high caliber. The weakness is that the plotline virtually begs for more gut-wrenching, soul-searching, scruple-challenging detail. Although the reader can easily visualize the Technicolor characterizations, there is precious little depth of detail in the storyline. Barbara Dinerman is an established professional writer and this fact is aptly conveyed in the presentation of the package. "H" is easily a four star effort, but to receive five stars from the head curmudgeon, this morality play should be three times as long with equivalent levels of depth and ambivalence.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This publication is fiction for entertainment only. It is not meant to diagnose nor should you
rely on this information to treat any illness. Herpes.com doesn't warrant that all of the information contained therein
is in every respect accurate or complete, and they are not responsible nor
liable for the contents.
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