“A Life Lived Ridiculously”
Author: Annabelle R. Charbit
I’ve just finished reading “A Life Lived Ridiculously” by author Annabelle R. Charbit. It was a good book; well-written and the story / characters drew me in from the get go.
The premise of “A Life Lived Ridiculously” is this: Maxine (this story’s main character) is a Jewish girl with a serious case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Of course she doesn’t realize this; she’s done all the research on this particular ailment and none of its symptoms correctly fit what she experiences on a painful minute by minute basis. Her parents are constantly on her case to find a man; get married and settle down, after all, what woman really needs to hold a PhD in anything? Her younger brother Claude, who has always been her best friend and confidante, has apparently met “Miss Perfect” and has turned his back on his earlier days of debauchery which unfortunately also includes Maxine.
One night at a family dinner party Maxine meets Sam… Sam is a boney stick of a man who comports himself like someone who is fifty not thirty and Maxine is instantly repelled by him. However, time moves on and Sam, desperate to win Maxine’s affections, is ever present in her life until one day she does the unthinkable and actually falls in love with him. It’s at this exact moment that Sam vanishes off the face of the earth. Maxine is frantic; she worries that Sam is dead and she finds herself obsessing about him and becoming more depressed by the day.
I’m not going to give away anymore of the story but suffice it to say that “A Life Lived Ridiculously” was a page turner in a dramatic and very true to life way. I guess my only beef with this book was its title: “A Life Lived Ridiculously.” Throughout its entirety I never felt that any of this fictional tale was ridiculous in fact, more often than not, I found it to be extremely sobering. I know there are people and situations that mirror this story in real life. Regardless, “A Life Lived Ridiculously” was a great read and definitely worth four stars. Probably a “must read” for most single women too…