Alice Murray
Alice is very vain and always worried about her looks, her clothes but
Especially her figure. All her life she had been attractive until it became
some amount of work. After fifty she got tired of exercising, dieting,
coloring her grey hair, and taking 20 minutes each day to do her makeup.
Now that she is sixty-two, she compared herself from going from a bright,
powerful tiger, to a grey, wrinkly sheep. Alice had married Mack and
together they had a son, Alan. All her life she worked in Boston at
TransWorld which now merged with another company to become
TransContinent. She was perfect at her job because she was intelligent,
ambitious, and controlling in a good way. After the merge, Alice’s job
position changed somewhat making her regular work extremely different.
Alice did not adapt well to the change and was later given early
retirement.
For Alice to stay at her house everyday, not in her office where she
Considered herself at home was almost impossible. She couldn’t accept
the fact that someone else was in her office, in her chair and on her
computer. She was depressed for quite some time, before getting
involved with the HFC. Alice eventually got over her jealousy for the
woman who took over job and moved on with her life. She is now dating
Gideon Banks since her divorce with Mack.
Shirley Gold
Shirley Gold is a 60 year masseuse who enjoys helping people heal and even
though she is exhausted from her work, she can’t afford to quit. Shirley was
married to her husband Jimmy, who recently died and she is now dating Justin
Quale. Shirley has long vibrant red hair that curls past her shoulders, large blue
eyes, and is always wearing a lot of jewellery. She is a vegetarian leaving her
naturally slender, and she has stayed away from cigarettes and boozes for over
20 years, keeping herself healthy.
Even though Shirley sounds like her life is perfectly under control, there are
nights when she longs for her husband Jimmy, and wishes she could hit up the
bars, to try to forget about her depressed feelings. Now that she has become
part of “The Hot Flash Club” most of her days are spent with her friends
Marilyn, Faye and Alice, since she has no children of her own. Her main goal
throughout the novel is to get a retreat underway. She has fanaticised over
having a “Golden Moments” retreat where her clients can come, relax and
leave feeling refreshed. She is taking business classes in the evenings trying to
up her knowledge about business and of course her friends are there
supporting her and her dream to have her retreat.
Jennifer D’Annucio
• Jennifer has long black silky locks that she pins back with
barrettes. Her skin that was being massages was as smooth
as cream with firm flesh beneath it. Jennifer is a client of
Shirley, only because Shirley is wondering if Jennifer is dating
Lars. Jennifer absolutely loves baking and enjoys making her
home welcoming. She is very caring, honest, and grateful for
everything in her life and gives off good energy. Once she
realized she was becoming a home wrecker, she was upset,
and decided to become responsible for her actions. She then
became involved with Alan, Alice’s son and allowed Lars to be
a good father and a perfect husband. Jennifer was always laid
back until things between her and Lars had to end things.
Then she became stresses, regretful and embarrassed. Once
things smoothed over and she started seeing Alan, she
returned to her normal loving self.
Character
Event
Reaction
Faye
While working at the Eastbrooks, Faye
discovered Dora, Lila’s younger sister
who has spina bifida. The family kept
Dora locked away because they
thought she was a let down to the
family.
Faye respected the Eastbrooks
secret but felt extremely bad for
Dora. Dora and Faye shared the
interest of art, so Faye made secret
visits while the family was out and
spend time with Dora. Dora and Faye
became great friends.
Alice
Alice had worked at TransWorld all her
life and loved every minute of it. She
was high up on the corporal ladder and
when her boss found out she had hired
Marilyn to spy on another secretary,
they offered her early retirement, and
basically told her to stay home.
When Alice was nicely fired from her
job, she felt like her life now meant
nothing. Since it was Marilyn’s fault,
she had a freak out on Marilyn and
stayed hidden in her house for a few
days. She threw out all her work
outfits and got rid of everything that
had to do with her office. Alice spent
many hours in the evening crying and
had no idea what to do with herself
during the day. She couldn’t even
walk past her building without
becoming so angry towards Marilyn
so she always took the long way to
the city.
Character
Event
Reaction
Marilyn
Marilyn was working at her office at the
University when she decided to go find
her husband Theodore who also worked
at the University in the Science Faculty,
and ask him to go to supper since they
hadn’t spent much time together lately.
When she tried to open his door, it was
locked so she took out the key he gave
her years ago. She opened the door to
find his secretary sprawled out on top of
his desk, with her skirt pulled up to her
waist.
At first Marilyn couldn’t believe that
Theodore would do such a thing,
especially at work. She called the
HFC members crying and in
shock. They all tried giving her
advice but she had her own plan in
mind. She went out shopping, got
all new clothes, a new hair cut so
she didn’t look like a scientist
anymore. Then she called a man,
who also worked in her building
who was constantly hitting on her
and they headed out for a date.
Later that night, they ended up
staying out late, drinking and going
home together.
Shirley
When Shirley’s husband Jimmy got fired
from work he came home and took his
anger out on her, then he decided he was
going to move to Florida. At the time,
Shirley was debating if she was going to
continue her massages or not, but now
she had no choice, she needed the
money.
Shirley then decided she wanted to
make people’s lives better. She
came up with the idea of her
special retreat, “Golden Moments”.
She became friends with the HFC
and now her dreams of her own
relaxing retreat are underway
thanks to help from the HFC.
Fionnula Flanagan as Alice
Fionnula Flanagan who stared in
“Youngblood” is the perfect actress
to act for “Alice” if there were to be
a “Hot Flash Club” movie. Fionnula
is an older lady, who is very flirty
and interest in younger men. Alice is
also an older lady who is currently
dating a man 8 years younger than
her.
Betty White as Shirley
Betty White would be a good
actress to play Shirley because
she stared in a series where she
lived her life with four widowed
or divorced women in their
"golden years”. White was also
a man- hungry woman. That scenario
is the same as Shirley's life although
the four don’t live together, they
are all experiencing their golden
years together. Betty also won an
emmy for outstanding comedy and
Shirley is the most comical of all four
women.
Beatrice Arthur as Faye
Beatrice, who played Dorothy
in “The Golden Girls” was a
comforting, reliable figure, to
her former husband who had died.
Faye in The Hot Flash Club was also
a reliable, and comforting figure
for her daughter Laura during her
times of need. Faye’s husband had
also died so these two characters
could easily be compared.
Estelle Getty as Marilyn
Getty, who played in “The Golden
Girls” was heavily made up in
thick glasses and was known as
a lovable, saucy actress who
played the role of a feisty mother.
Marilyn, from “The Hot Flash Club”
is a paleontologist who also wore
big glasses before her make over
and was a lovable mother to her son.
Writing Style-Adjectives/
Description
• (1) “Saturday morning Shirley drove to Jennifer D’Annucio’s home on
a tree-lined street in an idyllic neighbourhood of Stoneham, all singlefamily homes, with picket fences and birdhouses and tree houses and
trikes and bikes in the driveway.” (p.200)
• (2) “Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Marilyn was startled into
speechlessness. Her new glossy, coppery hair fell about her face in a
shaggy jumble ending below her ears. Bangs covered up the wrinkles
on her forehead. Her eyes looked bigger, her cheekbones more
pronounced.” (p.114)
• (3) “The window was draped with curtains in rich floral pinks and
greens; Shirley could imagine Jennifer closing them against the bitter
winter darks, blushing the room with summer. A drop leaf walnut table,
much polished, stood in front of the window, a vase of spring flowers
on it, and just a few steps away was the kitchen, old-fashioned, the
appliances nearly antediluvian , but everything shinning clean. And on
the counter sat the pies with their beautiful golden crust.” (p.202)
• (4) “At the curb, Marilyn waited for the light to change. Next to her
stood a young woman with her skin rare like silk, a lacy top ending
just below her breasts, her trousers hanging from her hipbones, her
sleek belly with its navel ring exposed.” (p.319)
• (5) “He’s smart, clever, industrious, but I’m not sure how ambitious
he is.” (p.119)
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1530217/Kelsie_TV
• Plot:
•
When Faye was working at the Eastbrook's house, she was there only working on
her HFC assignment. Little did she know that finding out about Dora, their daughter
they kept secret could change her life and also accomplish her HFC task.
•
If Faye had not worked extra hours late at night waiting for the perfect time to enter
into Dora’s room, she would never have found out if Lila was truly in love with Teddy.
Therefore, Teddy and Lila’s wedding would have been the big, fancy, important day,
without Dora as they had planned. Instead, Lila wanted her sister at the wedding
because she loved her sister, and thought she was beautiful. Since Dora never left
her room, for sake of being seen, they had the wedding in Dora’s room, with only the
people Teddy and Lila loved and respected the most.
Also, Faye became great friends with Dora as they shared a passion for art. Faye’s
life had been a mess ever since her husbands death and she had stopped painting
because she only did it for Jack. She felt that she had lost her touch and she became
depressed. When she began secretly painting again with Dora her life completely
turned around for the better. She then had other important tasks on her mind that she
needed to accomplish now that she was back to her normal self. She needed to help
her daughter Laura with her new daughter and also with her marriage issues.
If Faye hadn’t returned to her normal self, Laura’s relationship with Lars could have
been over for good. Faye guided her daughter through her issues and took care of
baby Megan when Laura needed a break. Faye also sent Laura and Lars on a
romantic 3 day get away, which saved their marriage.
•
•
Theme:
• Nancy Thayer published her book “The Hot Flash Club” in
2003. Her title choice is perfect for the story line because all
four women involved are going through a time in their lives
when they’re experiencing hot flashes. None of the women
knew each other until they met at a party where they became
close friends. They each have their own life problems dealing
with their husbands, children, grand children and jobs. The
women are assigned a task in which they try to help out
another member of their “Hot Flash Club” with their life issue.
Shirley, Alice, Marilyn and Faye meet every so often to
discuss their progress within their club. During their meetings
they also talk about their sagging body parts, their weight that
just wont go away, and the aches and pains they
encountering each day as they grow older. Meanwhile, all four
ladies are enjoying huge pieces of chocolate cake and
giggling about how they’re going to need to go shopping for
control-top pantyhose while they sit by the wide open
windows in the middle of the winter.
Conflict:
Is Lars really cheating on Laura?
Laura who is Faye’s daughter recently got married to Lars who is a
business man trying to climb the corporal ladder. Lars and Laura just
had a baby girl named Megan, but they are finding out she is more
work than they expected. Megan cries from the time she wakes up
in the morning until the time she goes to bed and for many hours
during the night. Lars and Laura are not enjoying their marriage like
they envisioned and it’s causing issues in their relationship. Laura is
also experiencing post partum depression adding more stress to the
situation. Lars began spending late hours at the “office” when really
he was visiting a woman named Jennifer D’Annucio. Jennifer is the
ideal wife, with perfect food, a perfectly clean house and an
awesome personality. To try to figure out if Lars is having an affair,
the HFC sends Shirley, the masseuse to Jennifer’s house saying
she won free massages, because someone entered her name at the
mall. Automatically Jennifer assumes that her new friends ‘Lars’
entered her name. It’s Shirley’s HFC assignment to find out if Lars is
really cheating on Laura.
• At the very first free session for Jennifer, Shirley see’s roses on her kitchen
table. While Jennifer goes to the bathroom to change, Shirley looks for a
card in the flowers. The card is only initialled with a ‘L’. Not completely
convinced, Shirley asks who the flowers are from. Jennifer simply replied,
“from a friend.” The second session is where Shirley hits the jack pot.
Jennifer actually says Lars’s name when talking about her ‘friend’. She also
mentions that Lars is married, has a baby girl and works at the building
where her supposedly spends his late hours. It’s set in stone, Lars is
seeing Jennifer. When the HFC meets the following Monday after Shirley’s
discovery, Faye is not at all shocked but has not idea how to tell her
daughter Laura.
• To resolve the issue, Faye decides to bring Megan along to a HFC meeting
knowing that Jennifer will also be in attendance. Once Jennifer see’s baby
Megan and realizes that it’s Lars’s daughters she calls herself a home
wrecker and decides to cut it off with Lars. Faye then chose to send Laura
and Lars on a 3 day romantic get away to reconcile their marriage, while
she looks after baby Megan.