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bianca89279's review
5.0
Praised be the goddess of reading and writing for bringing this book to my attention. It's "only" taken half a year for me to get that special kind of giddiness that comes along when I read something that enchants me, surprises and/or delights me. Lucy Ellmann's Mimi is that kind of book. Had I not read and loved Ellmann's epic Ducks, Newsburyport, I probably wouldn't have considered this book. After all, it's not very popular or highly rated. Such a shame because it's on another level. Plot-wise, this is relatively simple. But it's the writing, the tone, the strong female characters that just make this novel a stand-out.
Harrison Hanafan is the narrator of this novel. He's a fifty-year-old, affluent, plastic surgeon. He's a bachelor, who lives in a very nice apartment in the Garment District, New York. He's just gotten out of a five-year relationship with a pretentious, preposterous New York socialite. It's New Year's Eve, he is home alone with a sprained ankle and feels terribly lonely. He's got too much time on his hands, too much thinking going on. His only living relative, his sculptress sister, Bee, lives in England. Their relationship is very warm and loving, although they're very different people.
Unexpectedly, Harrison falls in love with a woman who's not his type. She's a formidable woman, quite the feminist. She's far from perfect physically speaking. She's close to his age, again, not really his type. I was bemused and perplexed by their relationship, if I'm being honest, I thought it was wishful thinking on Ellmann's part, but it's fiction, one can dream, right?
A few lists, music scores, letters, manifestos and other interesting tidbits appear in this novel, especially in the Appendix. Lots of little things and details delighted me. The language is playful and extremely clever. Also, this is an unapologetically feminist novel. In this case, it didn't bother me in the least that it was so obvious and it preached to my convictions, things that bugged me in other novels. I guess the devil is in the detail.
I'm not doing this novel justice with my quickly penned review. I just wanted to proclaim that I loved this novel.
Hats off to Lucy Ellmann.
Harrison Hanafan is the narrator of this novel. He's a fifty-year-old, affluent, plastic surgeon. He's a bachelor, who lives in a very nice apartment in the Garment District, New York. He's just gotten out of a five-year relationship with a pretentious, preposterous New York socialite. It's New Year's Eve, he is home alone with a sprained ankle and feels terribly lonely. He's got too much time on his hands, too much thinking going on. His only living relative, his sculptress sister, Bee, lives in England. Their relationship is very warm and loving, although they're very different people.
Unexpectedly, Harrison falls in love with a woman who's not his type. She's a formidable woman, quite the feminist. She's far from perfect physically speaking. She's close to his age, again, not really his type. I was bemused and perplexed by their relationship, if I'm being honest, I thought it was wishful thinking on Ellmann's part, but it's fiction, one can dream, right?
A few lists, music scores, letters, manifestos and other interesting tidbits appear in this novel, especially in the Appendix. Lots of little things and details delighted me. The language is playful and extremely clever. Also, this is an unapologetically feminist novel. In this case, it didn't bother me in the least that it was so obvious and it preached to my convictions, things that bugged me in other novels. I guess the devil is in the detail.
I'm not doing this novel justice with my quickly penned review. I just wanted to proclaim that I loved this novel.
Hats off to Lucy Ellmann.
catdad77a45's review
3.0
3.5, rounded down.
My enamored fascination with Ellmann's justifiably Booker shortlisted [b:Ducks, Newburyport|43412920|Ducks, Newburyport|Lucy Ellmann|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546225252l/43412920._SX50_.jpg|67454703], has lead me to investigate her back catalogue, and while this shares a preponderance of the things that made that recent work great - there are also some ... problems here. The good things that this shares are the humour, the clever wordplay, the life affirmation, the crazy characters and situations depicted. For most of the novel I was charmed and entranced by main character Harrison Hanafan and all the subsidiary characters, and marveled at how well Ellmann captures a male persona and thoughts/speech. And for Ducks fans, there is both a similar depiction of horrible gun violence and the damage that causes, as well as an entire chapter devoted to the care of an injured duck!
However, the final chapters, which depict Harrison's transformation into a rebel-rousing feminist, don't QUITE ring true, and although that does SEEM to be the whole point of the book, the author shoots herself in the foot by going overboard. Worse, the novel itself ENDS at the 75% mark, and the final quarter of the book contains fairly superfluous material (recipes, songs, random quotes, a long list of acknowledgments), including a very long and awkward feminist screed, purportedly written by Harrison, but so far afield from what ANY man would dictate, that it somewhat mitigates all the good will he's built up in the previous chapters. Not sorry I read it, as it's for the most part a very fun read ... I just wish she'd stopped while she was ahead.
My enamored fascination with Ellmann's justifiably Booker shortlisted [b:Ducks, Newburyport|43412920|Ducks, Newburyport|Lucy Ellmann|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546225252l/43412920._SX50_.jpg|67454703], has lead me to investigate her back catalogue, and while this shares a preponderance of the things that made that recent work great - there are also some ... problems here. The good things that this shares are the humour, the clever wordplay, the life affirmation, the crazy characters and situations depicted. For most of the novel I was charmed and entranced by main character Harrison Hanafan and all the subsidiary characters, and marveled at how well Ellmann captures a male persona and thoughts/speech. And for Ducks fans, there is both a similar depiction of horrible gun violence and the damage that causes, as well as an entire chapter devoted to the care of an injured duck!
However, the final chapters, which depict Harrison's transformation into a rebel-rousing feminist, don't QUITE ring true, and although that does SEEM to be the whole point of the book, the author shoots herself in the foot by going overboard. Worse, the novel itself ENDS at the 75% mark, and the final quarter of the book contains fairly superfluous material (recipes, songs, random quotes, a long list of acknowledgments), including a very long and awkward feminist screed, purportedly written by Harrison, but so far afield from what ANY man would dictate, that it somewhat mitigates all the good will he's built up in the previous chapters. Not sorry I read it, as it's for the most part a very fun read ... I just wish she'd stopped while she was ahead.
kaybee435b2's review
3.0
"Mimi" by Lucy Ellmann has some good points. Ellmann is certainly an enthusiastic writer with a quirky, unique style. I've never read a book with so many exclamation points (!), capital letters (FOR EMPHASIS), and silly lists with lots of commas (usually inserted for humor, sentimentality, emotional impact, and the like).
The story is told from the view of Dr. Harrison Hanafan, a middle-aged plastic surgeon living in New York City. He has a wonderful sister, Bee, who is an artist living in Canterbury, a tiresome ex-girlfriend named Gertrude, and a lovely stray cat that he finds and adopts. He loves music (especially Bach) and carry-out soup and classic movies. What is missing? True love, of course, until Mimi bursts on the scene.
The story has heart and some humor, but this is mixed in with some truly distasteful bits, a terrible tragedy, and lots of feminist rants. Perhaps this would have played better if told from Mimi's point of view because she is a very likable women. Coming from Harrison, it just doesn't work very well and I didn't find his point of view believable or appealing.
There are some good romantic novels for middle-aged folks being written, but I'd not recommend this one to anyone unless they are really sick of our patriarchal society and want to read a very offbeat romance.
This book has the craziest Appendix that I've ever seen. There are recipes! There are SONGS. There are quotes, a tragic list of news headlines about violence against women, and a Manifesto from Harrison Hanafan. And finally, the author included an enormous and fascinating alphabetized list of Acknowledgements with literally hundreds of friends and family, writers, musicians, celebrities, places, pets, philosophers, artists, etc, etc. Whew!
The story is told from the view of Dr. Harrison Hanafan, a middle-aged plastic surgeon living in New York City. He has a wonderful sister, Bee, who is an artist living in Canterbury, a tiresome ex-girlfriend named Gertrude, and a lovely stray cat that he finds and adopts. He loves music (especially Bach) and carry-out soup and classic movies. What is missing? True love, of course, until Mimi bursts on the scene.
The story has heart and some humor, but this is mixed in with some truly distasteful bits, a terrible tragedy, and lots of feminist rants. Perhaps this would have played better if told from Mimi's point of view because she is a very likable women. Coming from Harrison, it just doesn't work very well and I didn't find his point of view believable or appealing.
There are some good romantic novels for middle-aged folks being written, but I'd not recommend this one to anyone unless they are really sick of our patriarchal society and want to read a very offbeat romance.
This book has the craziest Appendix that I've ever seen. There are recipes! There are SONGS. There are quotes, a tragic list of news headlines about violence against women, and a Manifesto from Harrison Hanafan. And finally, the author included an enormous and fascinating alphabetized list of Acknowledgements with literally hundreds of friends and family, writers, musicians, celebrities, places, pets, philosophers, artists, etc, etc. Whew!
lenin_lover_69's review
4.0
This book charmed me, in spite of myself! I thought the protagonists love was so sweet and Lucy Ellmann's writing is right up my alley, also the fact the narrative arc is more or less a man discovering feminism and that this was not deeply irritating was a testament to the care with which Ellmann manages the story.
ida's review
5.0
Full of lots of feminism, love and humor! Although it's not perfect in all of its ideas on feminism, for me it was great just being able to read a book that actually spotlighted the way women are treated and did so in a fun (but without taking the piss) and enlightening way, not just for the reader but for the characters in it as well.
The character of Mimi was an absolute joy, full of rage, love and great ideas of how the world should be. Favorite bit? This:
The character of Mimi was an absolute joy, full of rage, love and great ideas of how the world should be. Favorite bit? This:
Mimi on the moon landing: "Women were in tune with the moon from the start. Menstruation's a lunar cycle. Prehistoric women invented the first calendar, a lunar calendar with thirteen months. You have to understand the moon if your gonna farm, or fish. Or follow the tides and stuff. Then men turned the moon into a bad thing, trashing the lunar calendars, and adding all that leap year crap. The lunar calendar is much more exact: there really are thirteen months in a year! They even turned the number thirteen into an unlucky number! And then they go bouncing around on the moon itself? Get off! That place belong to us!
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