Hi friends!!! In 2019, I am aiming to post a book review here each week, preferably on Wednesdays.
I am in a book club with other military spouses here at Ft. Bliss where we have a theme for the books we chose to read together each month. January’s theme was military stories and we chose to read Dinner with the Smileys.
Dinner with the Smileys is the story of a military family who chose to have a guest over to dinner each week during a year long deployment. It covers the struggles of a deployment, the guests that were invited over during this time, and the lessons they learned through it all.
I liked the idea that was presented of having someone over each week during
Half-way through the book I found myself just reading to get through it. I was ready for Mrs. Smiley’s husband to come home from deployment just so this could be over already! The story became unrelatable as their dinners became a revolving door of celebrities and high-profile opportunities to add to a newspaper column.
I also became irritated with the author for pushing her children beyond what they were comfortable with during this process. They asked to slow down several times throughout this “experiment” and I didn’t feel that she gave them a chance to voice this need.
Several of my book club friends felt the same way and others were really upset at the whiny, complaining, self-serving way that it came across in many chapters. Others opted not to read the book for personal reasons…it just hit a little too close to home for my military spouse friends.
I think this book is great to give a civilian a look at what the struggles of a deployment entail. But, to many military spouses, it is a bit exasperating.
I gave Dinner with the Smileys 3/5 stars on Goodreads and felt that it was a generous three stars.