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| Plot Summary of The Secret Ingredient |
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St. Martin's, Feb 2002, 24.95, 336 pp.
ISBN: 0312261721
When she married her spouse Roger six years ago, Elizabeth Baskin thought he was an eleven in a male ranking system that tops out at ten. As an undercover field agent for luxurious properties, she seeks perfection in the hotels she clandestinely canvases. Elizabeth expects the same in her personal life. Thus, she decides she must renovate her heavier and lazier real estate attorney spouse so that instead of he sleeping away the night, they make love.
Elizabeth knows she needs professional help to accomplish her agenda. She visits Dr. Gordon Farkus, a Beverly Hills “life enhancement” guru. Gordon persuades Elizabeth to buy an herb that magically changes an aging over the hill dud into a lovemaking stud. However, Elizabeth puts too much of the elixir in Roger's orange juice. Instead of lovingly turning to her, he becomes a narcissistic babe magnet. Desperate to regain her husband the sloth, Elizabeth seeks a cure for the cure.
THE SECRET INGREDIENT is a humorous contemporary tale with messages on perfection and satisfaction that curiously the cat would understand, but ironically fails to have the bite of the author's more powerful satires. Instead the audience receives an amusing Southern California romp reminiscent of the movie Love Potion Number Nine filled with funny fluff but lacking the intelligent sting of FEMALE INTELLIGENCE. Still Jane Heller shows she continues as one of the top satirical humorists with this enjoyable frolic.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Secret Ingredient |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story
- Present (2000-2010)
Action/suspense subplot?
Yes
Action:
- search for magical solution
Inner struggle subplot
Yes
Struggle with...
- (general) search for identity/new understanding
Fantasy/Magic
Yes
Love potion/spell
Yes
Main Male Character
Profession/status:
- lawyer creature
Age/status:
- 20's-30's
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
How romantic is this person?
- somewhat romantic
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Female Character
Age/status:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- business executive
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
How romantic is this person?
- somewhat romantic
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
What % of story is romance related?
- 60%
Focus of story
- Her
How much dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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