Pages of Penrose Review: The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger

I am so excited about this book review!  This is a somewhat long book, but mainly because it is written entirely as correspondence between the characters.  I had the perfect opportunity for long hours by myself to finish up this book over the weekend...

What you don't see in this photo of the Detroit airport is that it was -4 degrees outside! There were about 15 birds flying around inside the concourse because it was too cold for them outside!  I cozied up near a window view of snow falling...

Flights, layovers, a Gingerbread Tea Latte, and a great book...I also may have repeated this exact moment on the way home, those darn lattes are just so good ;)

I was surprised to learn that this was Susan Rieger's debut novel.  I found the characters of The Divorce Papers witty, intelligent, and the plot of the story curiously exciting.  As I mentioned before, the book is written entirely as correspondence, made up of inter-office memos, letters to the other law firm, invitations, personal notes, and emails.  I really liked this aspect of the book, and thought that it added to the interest of the book.  Unlike a typical novel, I felt myself keep turning the pages because I could not wait to see what happened next, not just turning pages trying to end at the start of a new chapter.

Although I have an entirely different career and family than Sophie Diehl, a bright, young lawyer who typically works on criminal cases, I found moments of her life easy to relate to.  Trying to make a name for herself as a young professional, the playful exchanges with her best friend, complicated relationships with her parents, clients, love interests.  These are all things that many 20-somethings either deal with, or have a friend dealing with, on a regular basis.

Rieger did a wonderful job developing the characters, playing off of stereotypes, entertaining us with the plight of the high-end divorce client that this plot surrounds.  As long as you like the unique correspondence format, I highly recommend this book to other readers!
    




*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All opinions are my own.



Have you read The Divorce Papers? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below!


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