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The Mistake
A direct to digital short story from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness and The Moment which also features the opening chapter from Douglas Kennedy's new novel, Five Days.
Sometimes things are not always what they seem and the heart can often blind us to the truth.
Gitte is a forty-something successful French lawyer in Paris. Beautiful, intelligent, captivating and athletic. Who wouldn't fall in love with her? But...often we only see that which we want to see.
Sometimes things are not always what they seem and the heart can often blind us to the truth.
Gitte is a forty-something successful French lawyer in Paris. Beautiful, intelligent, captivating and athletic. Who wouldn't fall in love with her? But...often we only see that which we want to see.
60 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2013
About the author
Douglas Kennedy
126 books1,204 followersDouglas Kennedy was born in Manhattan in 1955. He studied at Bowdoin College, Maine and Trinity College, Dublin, returning to Dublin in 1977 with just a trenchcoat, backpack and $300. He co-founded a theatre company and sold his first play, Shakespeare on Five Dollars a Day, to Radio 4 in 1980. In 1988 he moved to London and published a travel book, Beyond the Pyramids. His debut novel The Dead Heart was published in 1994.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 3, 2013
Прекрасна, но много кратка. Малко като The Christmas Ring - когато съм се настроила да чета интересна книга, а то се оказва разказ... Затова и 4, а не 5 звездички - заради нагласата.
Иначе - истината за това как всички търсим любов и намерим ли я, нямаме търпение да избягаме - страхът е може би най-силноното оръжие на човека срещу самия себе си... Което е много жалко...
Иначе - истината за това как всички търсим любов и намерим ли я, нямаме търпение да избягаме - страхът е може би най-силноното оръжие на човека срещу самия себе си... Което е много жалко...
March 2, 2013
A very nice and interesting, but too short story by Kennedy. And the ebook includes two chapters of Kennedy's new, yet to come, book - Five days. Which promises to be the next page turner by one of my favourtie authors.
January 3, 2018
We all see and hear what we want to see and hear
Love doesn’t blind us, it is we who choose to live blindly. We all want love, to love and be loved, but sometimes it is just not meant to be and it takes real maturity and courage to admit and face it.
We all see only that which we want to see. - Loc 20
What is life without lessons learned, and moving on from past mistakes? - Loc 93
Never underestimate the male need to believe that they are the romantic game changer in a woman’s life. - Loc 204
Love doesn’t blind us, it is we who choose to live blindly. We all want love, to love and be loved, but sometimes it is just not meant to be and it takes real maturity and courage to admit and face it.
We all see only that which we want to see. - Loc 20
What is life without lessons learned, and moving on from past mistakes? - Loc 93
Never underestimate the male need to believe that they are the romantic game changer in a woman’s life. - Loc 204
May 5, 2017
Ermmm what was that? Short story??! You get to 42% and realise it's the end. Then it starts on the author's second novel as preview extract that I didn't bother reading. The title name is correct for this story "The mistake"!!
February 1, 2018
本书包括两个部分，内容不长，仅60页而已。
第一部分是the mistake，第二部分是five days。
the mistake讲述的是，身边的人、周边的事，很多时候并不是自己所见所想的那般。当一些事情发生后，我们会根据自己的想法来作出相应的判断，但可能并不是事实。
但很多时候，不必事事认真，也许知道的太多并不会更好。
第一部分是the mistake，第二部分是five days。
the mistake讲述的是，身边的人、周边的事，很多时候并不是自己所见所想的那般。当一些事情发生后，我们会根据自己的想法来作出相应的判断，但可能并不是事实。
但很多时候，不必事事认真，也许知道的太多并不会更好。
April 10, 2024
Gitte is a manipulative, excentric and selfish woman. She was a disaster, making her boyfriend ashamed, sad, and desperate for love.
June 29, 2016
Well, that was... bland at its best, and annoying at its worst.
The actual short story only takes up 40% of the ebook, the rest is actually an excerpt from another Douglas Kennedy book. Which is a bit dodgy in itself. Good thing the book was free (I think).
The writing style was... well, not that good, really, and even quite bad at times. A few pretty sentences here and there, perfect to be underlined as quotes. But the rest is riddled with repetitions and weird phrasing that made me wonder if this was a self-published book by someone with English as a Second Language (which would have been perfectly fine, don't have anything against either and will gladly read them, just saying that because it seemed badly edited and the phrasing looked like it was translated from another language). Imagine my surprise when I saw that Douglas Kennedy is actually a best-selling author!
However the novel excerpt wasn't too bad and I can understand the appeal. It's just not for me.
And to go back to The Mistake... Gitte's point of view would have been ten times more interesting, and I really couldn't bring myself to sympathise with the narrator. Some of Gitte's annoyance seemed perfectly justified to me (although not to the point of anger, but wouldn't it have been nicer to get clues to understand it, instead of this portrayal of "crazy womenz right"), and I didn't like that we were so obviously meant to side against her. Verbal abuse is a compelling (and important) subject, but it didn't seem framed towards an exploration of that to me.
But well, change all that, and you would get another book. Though possibly a better one.
The actual short story only takes up 40% of the ebook, the rest is actually an excerpt from another Douglas Kennedy book. Which is a bit dodgy in itself. Good thing the book was free (I think).
The writing style was... well, not that good, really, and even quite bad at times. A few pretty sentences here and there, perfect to be underlined as quotes. But the rest is riddled with repetitions and weird phrasing that made me wonder if this was a self-published book by someone with English as a Second Language (which would have been perfectly fine, don't have anything against either and will gladly read them, just saying that because it seemed badly edited and the phrasing looked like it was translated from another language). Imagine my surprise when I saw that Douglas Kennedy is actually a best-selling author!
However the novel excerpt wasn't too bad and I can understand the appeal. It's just not for me.
And to go back to The Mistake... Gitte's point of view would have been ten times more interesting, and I really couldn't bring myself to sympathise with the narrator. Some of Gitte's annoyance seemed perfectly justified to me (although not to the point of anger, but wouldn't it have been nicer to get clues to understand it, instead of this portrayal of "crazy womenz right"), and I didn't like that we were so obviously meant to side against her. Verbal abuse is a compelling (and important) subject, but it didn't seem framed towards an exploration of that to me.
But well, change all that, and you would get another book. Though possibly a better one.
April 10, 2014
Goodness me, what a tedious, boring read this was. This is actually a short story (although I hadn't realised that when I downloaded it), but reads like the beginning of one of his much longer novels, and then suddenly it comes to an end. I wish I could say it was amazing, breathtaking, leaving you gasping for more, but none of these is appropriate. Those of you who use a Kindle will know that, unlike a hard copy old-fashioned book, the passing of pages is marked by a percentage and shown as % at the bottom of the screen. Within 16% of this offering Mr Kennedy had used the word "quotidian", or phrase "quotidian life", three times....by 26% this has risen to four times, and the story is only 46% of the download, the remaining 54% being given over to a sampling of another of his books. By the time I got to the end of "The Mistake" I realised that downloading it had been exactly that...I had wasted half an hour of my "quotidian life", at which point I couldn't be bothered reading the sample on offer. I have deleted the whole thing, giving thanks that this was a freebie. Had I paid even 50p I would have felt cheated.
Where has Mr Kennedy gone, I ask myself. His earlier books "The Big Picture", "The Job" and "The Dead Heart" were SO much better than this self-indulgent bilge.
Where has Mr Kennedy gone, I ask myself. His earlier books "The Big Picture", "The Job" and "The Dead Heart" were SO much better than this self-indulgent bilge.
March 31, 2013
Rather interesting read. But a bit too short for a Kennedy book. He is looking for something, found it but keeping it would harm himself. So what do the rest of us would do when in such situation? Do we continue to run this course of action and be burnt in the end? She did warn him, I STING.
People learn from past relationship mistakes. But the are a handful that still persist on following this path of self destruction. I'd recommend this to them... ;)
People learn from past relationship mistakes. But the are a handful that still persist on following this path of self destruction. I'd recommend this to them... ;)
November 29, 2015
"Gitte is a forty-something successful French lawyer in Paris. Beautiful, intelligent, captivating and athletic. Who wouldn't fall in love with her? But...often we only see that which we want to see."
I didn't write a review of this till a few months after I read it. Trouble is I hardly remember anything about it except I was disappointed that it wasn't longer.
I didn't write a review of this till a few months after I read it. Trouble is I hardly remember anything about it except I was disappointed that it wasn't longer.
June 4, 2016
I am a bit confused, to be honest. I didn't know that this short story was THAT SHORT! No more than the 40% of the ebook.
It seems that the two chapters -kind of a preview of one of the other books from this author that are included in the Amazon edition that I'm reading- are longer that The Mistake itself.
It seems that the two chapters -kind of a preview of one of the other books from this author that are included in the Amazon edition that I'm reading- are longer that The Mistake itself.
April 4, 2013
Lecture d'un soir. On n'y reconnait que trop bien les petits gimmicks de l'auteur. ça agace un peu, mais apporte aussi le confort d'une écriture familière. Certaines phrases vous restent, riches d'échos.
August 21, 2022
très rapide à lire mais c’est peut-être un mauvais point ? ça va trop rapidement on n’a pas le temps de s’attacher. je peux pas mettre 2 étoiles parce que le personnage masculin m’a fait pitié car ce qui lui arrivait était trop triste
April 12, 2013
I love Douglas Kennedy and enjoyed this very brief short story. I just wish that he'd made this a full length novel, as I felt rather dissatisfied by the abrupt ending.
May 6, 2013
Not worth the very short read.
May 10, 2013
Beautiful writing. A very short story but nonetheless well worth reading.
July 31, 2013
Ok, but very short
March 19, 2014
Nicely written as always by Douglas Kennedy, but it is too short and the plot is not particularly complex and the characters are not deeply observed.
May 28, 2014
One of my very favourite authors and although this is only a short story, it did not disappoint. Excellent writing, thoroughly enjoyed.
June 9, 2015
Reads more like the start of a novel than a short story and just peters out.
July 9, 2015
A small Kindle collection of short stories, of which the first was the best.
September 1, 2015
This was a well written short story, with a compelling story and a believable tone. It reinforced that I don't really do short stories though, as it simply left me wanting more.
April 5, 2016
heureusement que c'était court.
January 3, 2016
Disappointing Quick Read
August 16, 2016
Didn't review this immediately after finishing and a week later struggled to remember what it was about! Only positive is that it was free.
November 30, 2016
This was a short story about a relationship that went bad. Nothing terrible happens, just a lesson to watch out.
August 14, 2016
A short story that highlights the extremities of human nature when love gets confused with need.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews