Settings & Atmosphere - Fiction, Women's Fiction, Family & Friendship - Fiction

Spin Doctor

Name: Spin Doctor
Author: Leslie Carroll
ISBN: 9780060596132

by Leslie Carroll

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Overview

Question:
What do Amy, the new mom;
Meriel, the West-Indian housekeeper;
Claude and Naomi, the alternative couple;
Faith, the elegant widow;
and Talia, the super-skinny ballerina have in common?

Answer:
Abso-freakin'-lutely-nothing!

Except that they all live lives of not-so-quiet desperation on the Upper West Side of New York City. What gets them through? Their unusual therapy sessions with supershrink Susan Lederer, held in the depths of the laundry room. Susan knows that all of life's problems eventually come out in the wash, but while the washers keep breaking down, she helps her female friends take control.

But Susan's life has become an agitated mess. Her teenage daughter seems destined for a fast-food future; her son's adolescence hasn't quite hit yet . . . and her perfect husband is hiding something. Susan could use a really good shrink.

Instead, her dirty linen exposed, she finds that it's her friends who rally 'round her, and by the final spin, she realizes that while it might not take a whole village, it does sometimes take a laundry room to get rid of the nastier wrinkles in life.

Now if only she could find the formula for getting rid of that ring around the collar.

About the Author, Leslie Carroll

Native New Yorker Leslie Carroll is a multi-published novelist of contemporary women's fiction, and the author of several works of historical fiction under the pen name Amanda Elyot. She is also a professional actress, dramatist, and journalist.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Dirty laundry gets cleaned, dried and aired in the newest women-in-the-city soap opera from Carroll (Play Dates), an exuberant ode to friendship among women and the need for affordable mental health care (at least in New York City). When a Manhattan psychotherapist decides to offer pro bono counseling in her apartment building's laundry room, her lucky neighbors jump at the chance to wash away "the emotionally damaging detritus of their lives" while they wash away stains from their whites. Dr. Susan Lederer thinks of herself as the ultimate mother hen, dividing her time among her detergent-scented community work, her paying gig at the women's health center and her more literal motherly duties: taking care of a husband, Eli, their two children (aged 11 and 16) and an incontinent dog. That Susan's laundry room patients eventually join together to help Susan through her own domestic crisis is no surprise, but Carroll handles her material with wit and wisdom. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Psychiatrist Susan Lederer questions her ability to help her probono clients-she holds sessions with her neighbors in their building's laundry room-when she realizes how precarious her own situation is. She's feeling abandoned by her oft-absent husband and challenged by her teen daughter's apathy. But the supportive therapy environment she provides recently widowed Faith; Talia, a ballerina in the twilight of her career; Amy, an overwhelmed new mother; Alice, reeling from her own losses; Meriel, negotiating being the housekeeper in Amy's dysfunctional household; and Naomi and Claude, a lesbian couple whose efforts to adopt introduce unexpected issues, turns out to be an unconventional two-way street when Susan finds herself facing a stunning personal setback. Carroll (Play Dates) writes her engaging latest novel with wit and warmth. The issues she raises and examines lend the story emotional weight and substance and, several unpredictable twists guarantee a satisfying conclusion. Carroll's diverse characters will appeal to readers beyond the chick-lit crowd. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [Carroll also writes under the pen name of Amanda Elyot, whose latest effort is By a Lady, reviewed below.-Ed.]-Amy Brozio-Andrews, Albany P.L., NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.