Knitting Under the Influence

by Claire LaZebnik

When the world feels complicated, knitting is the perfect escape - follow the instructions and you end up with exactly what you want and expect. Life on the other hand doesn't come with a pattern. Kathleen, Sari and Lucy are close friends stumbling their way into adulthood, Kathleen is beautiful, flighty and lives off her famous actress sisters. Lucy once wanted to be a vet but instead became a scientist who dissects rats. Sari works at an autism clinic, providing the support her own autistic brother never got. The girls meet once a week to knit and talk - and now they need these get-togethers more than ever. Cut off financially from her family, Kathleen sets out to seduce her wealthy boss. Lucy finds herself torn between emotion and reason when her lab is attacked by animal rights activists and the bully who tormented Sari's brother now desperately needs her help. The girls forge their way in a world of tough choices, drawing strength from their friendship. Along the way they fall in love, they make mistakes, they get drunk, they have sex, they go shopping, they laugh, they cry...and they knit.

• ISBN10: 0446550175
• ISBN13: 9780446550178
• Publish Date: 15 November 2008 (first published 5 October 2006)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
• Imprint: 5 Spot
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

I bought Knitting Under The Influence on a bit of a whim — I was enjoying some American Chick Lit and Claire LaZebnik came to my attention as a new author to try. Knitting Under The Influence seemed like the best place to start – it sounded wonderful so I purchased it for myself. It’s taken me a while to read it but I finally made some time to give it a read and boy am I happy I did so. So happy in fact that I’ve already purchased another of Claire’s books because she’s such an easy writer to read!

Knitting Under The Influence tells the story of three friends: Lucy, Kathleen and Sari, who meet each week to knit and chat. Kathleen’s just quit working for her triplet sisters and is happy when her dad’s friend Sam finds her an apartment and a new job; Sari has dedicated her life to helping Austitic kids after growing up with an Austistic brother and doesn’t have time for love, especially not with Jason Smith, one of the guys who teased her brother in high school; and Lucy is happy with boyfriend James, at least she thinks she is and spends her days doing tests and things on rats in a bid to make the world a better place. There’s quite a bit going on in the book as we follow each woman in their respective lives as well as the times they meet up each week and at random times during the week. I found it incredibly easy to follow every one and thoroughly enjoyed each woman.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, despite being over 400 pages long, it was a quick and easy read – despite the fact it took me almost a week to finish it on my Kindle. It was so easy to pick up on the story and the lives of the girls every time I put it down and picked it back up. The girls are great friends, but they also have their own separate lives. Sari probably had my favourite story, I thoroughly enjoyed the work she did to help Austitic kids to talk and interact and I loved that, despite not being a fan of Jason Smith, she helped his son Zack. I found it very interesting and absorbing as Autism is rarely touched upon in Chick Lit. Kathleen’s story was probably the most lacking, but I loved Kathleen nevertheless so I didn’t really feel it lagged the book down at all and the same goes for Lucy. I loved Lucy, despite her tendency to not eat! I thought her storyline was also very interesting – how many science people are in Chick Lit? – so it was lovely to get into the nitty gritty of science work and meet someone who isn’t a hairdresser or PA.

The characters in Knitting Under The Influence were excellent. Kathleen was my favourite character – there was something so great about the way Kathleen lived her life, the way she wasn’t necessarily bothered about bothering Sam, her neighbour, how she just let her life flow, although her speech about wanting a rich husband was crass. Sari was a brilliant character, too, I could understand why she was so protective of her brother and why she failed to forgive Jason and still held a grudge even after so long. Lucy was my least favourite – for a while I thought she was very cold, but she’s actually not so it was interested how my opinion changed of her throughout the book. I certainly misjudged her.

I really enjoyed Knitting Under The Influence. It had everything I wanted. It was warm, it was witty, the romances were excellent and everything I expected and guessed and it was a very satisfying read. Claire LaZebnik is an excellent writer and I can’t wait to dive into her other novels. I’ve already bought If You Were Here, You’d Be Home and if I like that I’ll most certainly be buying her most recent book. Knitting Under The Influence is a brilliant tale of friendship, romance and, of course, knitting – I’m not a big knitting fan myself, it always makes me think of little old ladies with clacking needles but it’s a surprisingly popular hobby for Chick Lit characters. Who knew? I’d definitely recommend the book it was a fun and quick read with some serious bits, too, and the Autism storyline is done really, really well. Definitely a good read and well worth your money!

[Kim Deister]

I expected this book to be a lighthearted "chick lit" book with a crafty twist, and it was. But it was also much more. Not only were the characters well-developed, but the storylines were much deeper than I would have expected. The crafty twist was there, but was definately second to the real stories being told, which kept it from being "kitschy". The book was centered around three women, Kathleen, Lucy, and Sari, who bonded over their weekly knitting group. Kathleen struggled to find her own way in the world, without the easy support of her family, while Lucy questions her romantic life and her career. Sari deals with family issues and struggles to reconcile tragedies of her childhood with the changing feelings toward the very man that had caused her such pain. The storylines were well thought out and developed and there were things about each character that I could identify. I did have a little trouble getting into it at the beginning, but once I did, I couldn't put it down!