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18 of 19 found the following review helpful:
 Cheap Cabernet captured my attention - and my heart Aug 31, 2009
By Heather E. Gallien
"attractingknowledge"
Cheap Cabernet is at turns touching, daring, and chaotic - just like real life. What struck me the most was its authenticity: Cathie's Beck's unique voice, sense of humor, and the battle between her confidence and her self-doubt, shine through.
It's ultimately the story of feminine power; of overcoming obstacles, of how friends can uplift each other, learn from each other, and stick by each other, despite the ugliness and awkwardness of illness, despair and death. If you are turned on by the idea of women empowering themselves and seeking more out of life, you'll consume Cheap Cabernet.
Cheap Cabernet follows the friendship of two women who find strength in each other; who change each other; who help each other develop broader, wiser and more compassionate perspectives on life, love, gain, loss and death.
Cathie Beck has the guts to tell the true story of a transformative time in her own life - the good, the bad and the ugly. The story follows the way Cathie and Denise's friendship evolves as Cathie's life is finally on the upswing while Denise's spirals downward due to MS. Although the storyline focuses on Denise's battle with illness, the REAL story is Cathie's personal journey towards honoring, and tending to, her own wants and needs instead of those of others, as she has done for the majority of her poor, single-mother, hard-knocks life.
Cathie is attracted to Denise's boldness and confidence, and despite Denise's slow demise, Cathie gains strength from the example that Denise sets. Denise is no June Cleaver; rather, she assists Cathie in becoming a bit bolder, more confident and more street-smart - for good and for ill.
Cathie and Denise share many adventures and sometimes get into trouble. Although they are in their late thirties, their antics often reminded me of two lovable teenage girls, not sure of what they're doing or why, but doing it anyway. Cathie's life, up until now, has been a lot of work, including raising kids under tough circumstances. Denise's life has been consumed with entrepreneurial ventures and marriage. Now, it seems, Cathie and Denise discover their latent youth and, in doing so, recreate and define themselves through each other.
This is a wonderful romp, a rich read, a must for any woman anywhere who wants to live her own life to its fullest.
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Heather Gallien
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
A Guilty Pleasure Sep 07, 2009
By Maia Tress
While reading this memoir, one could easily experience almost guilty thoughts, as though one was secretly reading a dear friend's diary.
I loved this book, and frankly, couldn't put it down. In an entertainment world where it seems that every story (book, movie or television) has become so formulaic, it's refreshing and compelling to grasp in one's hot little hands a book that absolutely breaths with life. REAL LIFE, not some "edited for comfort" life. Where difficult circumstances exist and even more difficult decisions sometimes had to be made. Real coming to terms, coming to grips and coming of age LIFE. And lest you think its all aching difficulties, just know (no spoiler here!) that there is plenty of love, grace and hi jinks to make one's teeth itch wondering what the next page will bring.
The honesty of this book and this relationship is a life saver...like a conversation with someone you love and admire, who admits to the decisions and wishes of their darkest hour, only to exonerate all humanity in their like moments. The shock of recognition, in both the tough and celebratory moments is palpable. The resulting joy and sense of hope and well being that permeates the reader after the fact is a gift all books should seek to attain.
What would I compare this to? Hmmm, well I'd open my food processor and throw in Eat, Love, Pray, Angela's Ashes, Thelma and Louise and Beaches, hit puree and then set up an IV drip!
So, strap yourself in and get ready for a true, in every sense of the word, adventure of the heartfelt variety.
22 of 25 found the following review helpful:
Absolutely Stunning!! Aug 31, 2009
By Kevin Dorr
Cathie Beck's memoir "Cheap Cabernet" is a stunner.
"Cheap Cabernet" is real.
"Cheap Cabernet" is a life most of us cannot imagine.
"Cheap Cabernet" is a spirit, a strength, a triumph we all dream of.
This is a must read book.
Cathie Beck's true story takes place within our time. Now. Today. This is a stirring saga of someone you know, maybe someone you work alongside, not someone from the "romantic past" of the 1950s. Cathie has chronicled a snapshot of her life in America, a life most of us neither consider nor choose to see. Beck's memoir is 3 stories interlaced within a single narrative.
One story thread is of Beck's struggle to lift not only herself but her children from a life of multigenerational poverty to become something better. Cathie Beck was 21 years old with only a high school education and two babies when she woke up one morning to find her husband gone. He left taking their only car, all of the money in their bank account and their hope for a "normal" future.
"I worked hard to pretend each and every day that it was normal to be alone in my early twenties with two young children. I did so in part because I had to. The other part was that I needed to prove to myself, to my children, and to the world that our lives weren't throw-away lives. That we were still worth something. That we were just as good as the ones who lived in houses they owned and who drove cars without rusted floorboards. Just as good as those with dads."
If the first story thread is Cathie's successful determination in raising her kids, the second thread is that of Beck now in her late 30s; a young woman with her Masters degree in Russian Literature, her two kids now in college. She wants to experience life without being "responsible". She wants the fun she could not have in her twenties. She was lonely, searching, and felt something was missing.
"My loneliness, you see, grew out of one thing: poverty and its ugly sisters - shame and desperation." We get to watch Cathie grow up, make the mistakes we made as college sophomores, climb a career ladder as young adults, make more questionable decisions.....and as the reader, sometimes you want to shout....DON'T DO THAT, like a parent to a child...wanting to protect her from the pain of a bad choice.
The third thread comes in the form of Denise. Denise has MS. Cathie has fears. Each of them is searching for a better life, though each defined it differently. Their friendship transcends that of love. They found in the other, a missing part of themselves. They needed each other for different, yet sympatico reasons. The friendship is not perfect, which makes it ... perfect.
Cathie Beck lets us see it all.....the good and the really ugly. Nothing is held back,....their successful plot to "borrow" Denise's husband's $3000, the affairs, the Cuban travel, the forever missed opportunity to say good-bye to your friend who is dying; then realizing it wasn't missed at all. And then it hits you....this is a true story.
Cathie Beck's "Cheap Cabernet" is a story of raising yourself (and your kids) out of poverty, welfare, and bill collectors banging on your door. It is a story of coming of age during your 30s, having missed the excitement of young adulthood. It is a story of two women who bring life to each other even as death plays unfairly.
It is a story impossible to forget.
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Cheap Cabernet is a Gem! Aug 30, 2009
By Wendy J. Fopeano
"Wendy Fopeano"
I wish I could write more eloquently so I could truly express how much I love this book! I began reading Cheap Cabernet late Friday evening, until I could no longer keep my eyes open, woke up early Saturday morning and continued reading, took a quick break for lunch, and read until 2:00pm when I had to leave to do my radio show. I wanted to get on the mic and shout to the world all about the magnificence of this book. The essence of it stayed with me all day and I couldn't wait to get home to read the rest of it. I walked in the door, began reading, took a quick dinner break, and finished the book by 8pm, stunned, my head swirling.
I was moved in so many ways. What an incredible testament to the power of love and friendship, beautifully written, original, entertaining, funny, and touching. I cannot imagine not loving this terrific book.
It is an inspiration to people coming from difficult situations. It says to us all that we can overcome adversity and live full, creative lives. I'm going to read it again. Cheap Cabernet deserves to be read. It deserves to be on the best seller list! Thank you, Cathie Beck. You give us all hope!
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Fantastic!! Sep 08, 2009
By D. Gerring
Occasionally a book jumps out of any pre-ordained genre and manages to capture triumph, tragedy, and larger-than-life story telling - almost independent of genre. Certain works are at once adventure, autobiographical, reverent, and inspiring.
Cathie Beck's "Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship" does all of that and more.
Two women meet at pivotal times in their respective lives - Cathie's just raised a family on her own and is just 38-years-old. Denise is an entrepreneur extraordinaire - she's owned a string of successful businesses and knows full well how the world works and how to make it work for her.
Except life is never that clear. The two strike up an unlikely friendship that changes them both forever.
Beck's command of storytelling is without flaw. With a confident, humor-infused (yet brutally poignant) voice, she takes readers on the most intimate, hysterically funny, and heart-wrenching journeys ever written about. As readers, we are 'one' with her as she takes us into hers and Denise's hearts, into their homes, deep into their souls, and, ultimately, into their respective futures.
We see the women confront unfair and often life-wrecking circumstances - just as we see them plan capers that are at once daring and delightful. We hear their inner trepidations about relationships, men, women and family - even as we see them make the most difficult decisions one might ever face.
This is an impossible-to-put-down book. It is a joyful ride and I cannot remember a book I could recommend more.
Savor every syllable. Look forever to Beck's newest work.
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