THE WILDWATER WALKING CLUB

THE WILDWATER WALKING CLUB by Claire Cook

From the book jacket:

Just put one foot in front of the other.  Sounds simple, doesn't it?  But when Noreen Kelly takes a buyout from her job and gets dumped by her boyfriend in one fell swoop, she finds it hard to know what that next step is - never mind take it.  At first Noreen thinks maybe her redundancy package could be an opportunity, a chance to figure out what to do with the rest of her life while her company foots the bill.  She may have grooved to "Sweet Baby James" back when James Taylor had hair, but she isn't ready for her AARP card.  Not yet.


For the first time in a great many years, Noreen has time to herself.  And she has no idea what to do with it.  When she realizes that she's mistaken her resume for her personality, Noreen knows that she has to get moving, so she puts on a new pair of sneakers and a seriously outdated pair of exercise pants, and walks.  She doesn't get very far at first, but she perseveres, and when she's joined by neighbors Tess and Rosie, Noreen realizes that walking is not an extreme sport.


As the Wildwater women walk and talk - and talk and walk - they tally their steps, share their secrets, and learn what women everywhere are finding out - that time flies and getting fit is actually fun when you're walking with friends.  Throw in a road trip to Seattle for a lavender festival, a career-coaching group that looks like a bad sequel to The Breakfast Club, plenty of romantic twists and turns, and a quirky multigenerational cast of supporting characters, and the result is an experience that's heartfelt, exuberant, and above all, real.

For the most part, I liked this book.  I really liked Noreen.  After leaving her job, she was looking forward to some time off and spending time with Michael, her boyfriend from work.  But when she realized that he was dumping her - she couldn't reach him on the phone or by e-mail - she went into a funk and wanted to just stay in bed.  Finally she decided to join the world and started walking.

Now here's the part I didn't like.  She met two of her neighbors and they all started walking together.  The friendships seemed a little too close too quickly.  I really would have liked to know more about these two friends.  They both had families and problems, but they were never developed.  Granted, this book was Noreen's story, but since these friends had become so important to her, it would have been nice to get inside their heads also.

Overall, it was a good book, but not in my Top 10 for this year.