Reviews

Dishes by Rich Wallace

brandnewkindof's review

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3.0

Enjoyable but way too short. Needed another 150 to be excellent.

vikingwolf's review

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2.0

A straight romance (by a sports writer) in which the main character works in a gay bar.

This book was so baffling when I saw it on the shelf , I decided to read it —-because it couldn’t be that weird, could it?

Only it is. Our main character even comes out as straight (but...what????) and gets the supportive speech : “it’s o-Kay to be straight, honey. Really it is. You were just born that way. You can’t help it.”

Wat.
I swear this book was originally quite different, because I cannot explain who it was written for.
Still I don’t know if I’d call it awful, because I had a a lot of belly laughs from the truly strange plot. 😂😂😂

annakim's review

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3.0

This is a sweet look at relationships, straight and gay, and what it means to be true to yourself.

goonie01913's review

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1.0

One of the worst books I have ever read.

erutane's review

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2.0

This book has left my mind feeling blank. It held my interest early on, but nothing in the story led to anything. It was essentially a book about nothing in which the protagonist dated a girl, worked, ran, and half-heartedly fended off homosexual interests and advances. There was no real conflict (a brief bar fight involving secondary characters does not count)and with plenty of issues that could have been addressed it felt strange that there was nothing they even attempted to resolve. The book didn't even amount to a disappointment because it was so empty of content that there was no time or place to become attached.

ronmccutchan's review

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2.0

H'mm - I saw this on a booklist and was intrigued by the setting (I'd been to Ogunquit for a week's vacation one summer, so was curious how my memories of the town meshed . . . nothing gibed specifically, but it was enough to bring back memories of the trip--as well as trips to Provincetown and Rhode Island). I was going to tag this as LGBT, but it's ultimately a bit of a tease--Danny and his coworker Hector have are-they-aren't-they interested vibe going
Danny ends up with the girl
and there's a similar is-he-isn't-he going on with Jack, Danny's dad.
that one's subtle--Dad's out almost every night and everyone says "it must be some girl," but the point is also made that "almost everyone" working at Dishes is gay. Wallace reveals said girl very late in the game, and even then, with there being a green-card marriage involved, one wonders
The ending comes on very quickly--the various plot complications are easily resolved. I agree with other reviewers saying it feels rushed.

thisgrrlreads's review against another edition

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2.0

Predictable but extremely short. Good idea, not so good execution.