There's something both triumphant and melancholy about Pittsburgh's history. I believe Graham captures this perfectly in this work.

Graham has captured perfectly the way a slightly crotchety old lady thinks. Full of marvellous glimpses of life in a seedy estate, that refuses to give up.

Going into a project with a pro-union (which, these days, is not necessarily the same thing as pro-worker) agenda, Laurie Graham proves once more that the term "labor journalist" is an oxymoron.

I have read this book.. What a work of fiction! I work at the same auto plant 'Laurie Graham' worked (worked??) and wrote about.. This book seems to have been written with a pre-determined opinion.. She had it in her mind before she worked in the plant to knock the SIA work place. She writes about a few months that she worked at SIA.. Well after most of us have worked at SIA (5-9yrs Union Free) Zero layoffs. Low OSHA's comparied to other autoplants and great pay and benifits! This book seems to give most of us at SIA a good laugh! Try Reading Ben Hampers 'Rivet Head'.. Good for a laugh also.. but much more accurate.

This book is a very good account of the process a person had to go through in order to gain employment at the Subaru-Isuzu and the working conditions that were present at the plant at the time the author worked there. There continue to be problems at the plant with them being cited by IOSHA (Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration) on August 20,1998 for not recording all safety and health violations present at the plant. The company did not document approximately 567 Manpower employees who had recordable injuries and/or illness during the years 1995 - 1997. The company also did not provide a copy of the OSHA Log 200 in its entirety for employees for the years 1995 - 1997. The reader from Lafayette needs to get the facts straight before making statements about the low OSHA statistics. The use of "temporary"workers to keep OSHA numbers down is only one way the company has manipulated, and continues to manipiulate, the system and the workers. Laurie Graham has been, and continues to be, open to imput from workers from Subaru-Isuzu and the conditions that exist there. She welcomes workers to contact her with both positive and negative information, seeking updates on the changing atmosphere and attitudes that exist as a plant grows and changes.

I brought this book with me to read while I waited for my daughter. Since I had nothing else to do, I managed to slog through the first part of the book until I finally had the characters straight. Someone had told me they thought the book was funny so I kept reading in hopes of finding that spark, but it just wasn't there for me.

It was nice to see how opportunities for women have changed over the years, but I have to agree with a number of other reviewers that most of the characters were not well developed. While the storyline of Huntington's disease seemed to be resolved, I felt letdown by the way a number of relationships (especially between sisters) were unresolved. I guess that's the way it often is in real life, but I wanted more.

One last item to add to the list of things I wish the editor had caught - the author has the main protagonist, Peggy, and her daughter spending time at the mall in 1952 (as well as noting that Peggy's "water busted in the mall in Topperwein" years earlier). The first indoor shopping mall didn't come along until 1956 in Edina, MN. Small thing maybe but if you are going to set your story in another time period I think you should strive to get the details right.

While a lot of reviewers have remarked that this book was slow to start, I personally thought it was written at just the right pace in order for us to learn about all of the characters and be able to distinguish them from each other.

For me, the book was very enjoyable. It gives a little bit of historical perspective on military wives in the 1950s. I'm not sure how accurate this book is in the portrayal of military life and thereafter, however, it seemed very believeable and all the characters were interesting to read about as they matured over time.

I give it 4 stars since it's not the best book I've ever read, however I would recommend it as a well written light read with substance.

My daughter recommended this book to me over Thanksgiving. In fact, I took her copy home to read. From the first meeting of all the characters, I loved these women and could commiserate with their lives. Graham perfectly describes life in the Uk right after the war. It was still pretty dull and dreary. Country people were just like Kath.

Peggy, the protagonist, is the glue that holds the book and the characters together. Through life and death, famine and fortune, as well as the normal ups and downs of daily life, we are given a good dose of tolerance as well as hope.

Peggy waits it out for a better relationship with her daughter. She is ahead of her time by befriending and choosing Grice as her co-worker. She is patient with the bizarre behavior of her other friends.

I did find it rather sad that so many of the men in the book were losers. However, by being such, these women were given more of a chance to develope themselves into more interesting people.

The fifties were a time of change. Women had so much freedom during the war years and now their men came back and could not tolerate having wives as smart if not smarter than them. The military wives even more so had to play the game.

Graham does a wonderful job of describing in detail the appearances, clothing, and decor of every character and setting.

The saddest thing is the condition that was passed on from John Pharoah's liaison with Lois. With little information in those times, an unsupervised John was an accident waiting to happen. It shows though that with the changing times, Kath brought the issue to the forefront, thus sparing another generation agony. Although, Kirk's son tested free of the dreaded Huntington's disease.

I want to read more of Laurie Graham's book now. They are wonderful, relaxing and hard to put down. Just one tiny error. She has President and Mrs. Reagan attending Diana's wedding, when in fact it was Mrs. Reagan alone.