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miscio's review against another edition
2.0
The title - there was no time in this book when anyone was having fun. Really. Just depressing.
istar_woman's review against another edition
I just could not get into this book. So I'm not going to rate it, though I probably should. ;-)
jjp723's review against another edition
3.0
*But you lose the opportunity to share the good things when you do something bad.*
*You love people. They disappoint you. But sometimes, they don't. They just keep loving you, right through it all, waiting for you to wake up and appreciate them. To say, "I love you. I've always loved you back."
*You love people. They disappoint you. But sometimes, they don't. They just keep loving you, right through it all, waiting for you to wake up and appreciate them. To say, "I love you. I've always loved you back."
glaseramy's review against another edition
Ugh, I couldn't get into this at all. I didn't have the patience to deal with the narrator at all.
wileyacez's review against another edition
1.0
First, I bought it from the bargain book rack at B&N thinking it was on my wish list. Secondly, I did read (mostly) the whole thing just to see if the ending would have some redeeming value. Richard, and artist living in Paris with his French wife, cheats. Richard is the narrator of the book. Richard just didn't feel "real" because he was obsessed with how beautiful and hot both his wife and his lover were. He also was a complete and total dweeb-jerk. Much like his wife (spoiler alert), I question whether he would ever have gotten his act together if his mistress hadn't dumped his behind...and his wife was diminished as a character because she realized this and we still got the ending we got. Sigh.
julesnymoo's review against another edition
2.0
Started off really great but then it went downhill. I liked the art aspect of it but it really did dragged on and Richard is so self-centered, I wouldn’t go back to him after having him cheat for 7 months and then keeping letters and constantly obsessing over the mistress. He literally would not have end his affair if she have not end it.
sdoncolo's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, people are harsh on this book! I enjoyed it. I kinda loved to hate the narrator -- he is self-absorbed, yes, but I thought he did come to a genuine redemption through the course of the book. I appreciated the scenes and the setting, and the writing. A fun/painful read that captured well the difficulty of going on in a long marriage -- and the rewards thereof.
bonnieg's review against another edition
3.0
I am going to start with the positive. I really enjoyed the last 50ish pages of this. Not because it was a happy or an unhappy ending (it depends on the reader I think which it was) but because things happened. I also rather like the first 50ish pages. It was the center 200 pages that proved problematic for a number of reasons.
Many have mentioned that we spend our time with a character who is horrible. I actually did not have a problem with Richard's shortcomings because his character grew and changed and that process has moments of interest. The bigger issue for me was that Richard's wife, Anne Laure, was perfect, flawless. First, perfect people are not very interesting. Second, its kind of hard to root for the couple to resolve their marital woes. Someone so perfect should have a someone equally perfect (though of course people this perfect do not exist in real life) and because if they re together one has to imagine she spends a lot of her time feeling cheated and he spends his time feeling inadequate. Third, the author tried and failed to meld the marital struggles of the main characters with the stupidity of W going into Iraq based on the existence of non-existent WMDs and it came off as needlessly complicated, clunky and silly. (Side note -- in the age of Trump destroying the entire freaking world its hard to be offended by W starting one little war.)
In the end the book was fine, but not reading the book would also have been fine. I kept putting it down and not missing it, but enjoying it well enough when I thought to pick it up. That seems like a weak 3-star to me.
Many have mentioned that we spend our time with a character who is horrible. I actually did not have a problem with Richard's shortcomings because his character grew and changed and that process has moments of interest. The bigger issue for me was that Richard's wife, Anne Laure, was perfect, flawless. First, perfect people are not very interesting. Second, its kind of hard to root for the couple to resolve their marital woes. Someone so perfect should have a someone equally perfect (though of course people this perfect do not exist in real life) and because if they re together one has to imagine she spends a lot of her time feeling cheated and he spends his time feeling inadequate. Third, the author tried and failed to meld the marital struggles of the main characters with the stupidity of W going into Iraq based on the existence of non-existent WMDs and it came off as needlessly complicated, clunky and silly. (Side note -- in the age of Trump destroying the entire freaking world its hard to be offended by W starting one little war.)
In the end the book was fine, but not reading the book would also have been fine. I kept putting it down and not missing it, but enjoying it well enough when I thought to pick it up. That seems like a weak 3-star to me.
kerridv's review against another edition
1.0
Absolute dreck with an unlikable main character, no point, and unrealistic characters. The title doesn’t match the story and I kept wondering when something will happen. Boring.