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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
I read three other books after I started this one... it just took me awhile to get into it. But now that i've finished it, I realize that I really enjoyed the story. it's very sweet.
I thought this was a good read for the most part, and a very good description of how relationships (specifically marriages) can become a bit boring and stale unless work is put into keeping them interesting. However, I felt that after the first half or so, the book began to drag on a bit, and I became tired of it. I also didn't particularly care for the political references in the book (set during the time of the Iraq war, with comments regarding how Tony Blair and George Bush handled things). Otherwise, I probably would have given it 4 stars, rather than 3.
This was one of those books that made me excited to get on my the train and commute home and that's saying something because San Francisco Muni is terrible! The author wrote this from a man's perspective as he struggles to make his wife fall back in love with him after she discovers his infidelities. At the same time he is trying to recover a sentimental painting he sold and bring back authenticity to his art.
While a sad situation, the author makes this a very witty and humorous book mostly through things that the main characters is thinking inside his head as he tries to rekindle his marriage. While I have never been cheated on nor have cheated on someone else and can't begin to imagine what that must feel like, this book is genuine in its attempt to showcase.
It's set in Paris, London, Brittany, and the US and all of these destinations are characters themselves and it's set after 9/11 and right before the US invaded Iraq and the political turmoil features in the book in a very unique way.
While a sad situation, the author makes this a very witty and humorous book mostly through things that the main characters is thinking inside his head as he tries to rekindle his marriage. While I have never been cheated on nor have cheated on someone else and can't begin to imagine what that must feel like, this book is genuine in its attempt to showcase.
It's set in Paris, London, Brittany, and the US and all of these destinations are characters themselves and it's set after 9/11 and right before the US invaded Iraq and the political turmoil features in the book in a very unique way.
If you want to read about a whiny man trying to prove that he is a better and more interesting person than he actually is, this is your book! It's a fun romp, in places, but mostly it's an extended exercise in male mid-life crisis.
eh. it was okay, but there was just nothing that made it great. it just wasn't THAT funny, the story just wasn't THAT interesting, and I felt like it dragged at times. it did keep me decently entertained though. the audio reader was okay, but there voice seemed so slow that I actually increased the playback speed to x1.25 for the first time
I struggled with how to rate this-- it's not the type of fiction I would typically pick up (a love story?), and about a chapter in, I would have put it down and not continued... But I was a captive audience on a long road trip, having finished every other title I brought alone, and continued on. I ended up really loving the story. I would rate 4.5 stars, were that an option.
I didn't even mean to read this book but am pretty glad I did! Such apt descriptions of how you feel when you think your marriage is falling apart. Not since Memoirs of a Geisha have I had as much trouble remembering the gender of the author (as it was opposite of the narrative.) A great summer weekend read.
To be frank and succinct: I wasn't as moved as I expected to be but I did have some laughs and I was touched by the story.
Maybe it's not the greatest piece of literature, but the moments of humor and honesty at the price of pride made this an enjoyable, quick read that's been lingering with me pleasantly for a couple of days. Bonus points for dazzling descriptions of Paris and its people, especially since I'm usually left cold on stories that romanticize it. And even more points for a believable male POV, the empathy and the poking fun. Read this for a good story on marriage, its mistakes and grace and stupidity and intimacy and tenacity and vulnerability.
I liked the thread of commentary about the Iraq War more than the main love story. The characters were self-absorbed and unlikable.