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Beginner's Greek
When Peter Russell finally meets the woman of his dreams he falls as madly in love as you can on a flight from New York to LA. Her name is Holly. She's achingly pretty with strawberry-blonde hair, and reads Thomas Mann for pleasure. She gives Peter her phone number on a page of The Magic Mountain , but in his room that night Peter finds the page is inexplicably, impossibly, enragingly...gone.
So begins the immensely entertaining story of Peter and his unrequited love for his best friend's girl; of Charlotte and her less-than-perfect marriage to a man in love with someone else; of Jonathan and his wicked and fateful debauchery; and of Holly, the impetus for it all. Along the way, there's the evil boss, the desirable temptress, miscommunications, misrepresentations, fiendish behavior, letters gone astray, and ultimately, an ending in which every character gets his due.
Both incisive and wonderfully funny, this is a brilliantly understated comedy of manners in which love lost is found again.
"James Collins has written a romantic, funny and insightful page turner about love in modern times, missed opportunities and the wheel of fate (with a blow-out!) that is so engaging and real, you will find it impossible to put down. Peter Russell is an everyman filled with longing, lust and good sense. I promise you will root for him as fate throws him curves aplenty on his path to true love. BEGINNER'S GREEK and Peter Russell are keepers."
-- Adriana Trigiani , bestselling author of Lucia, Lucia and Big Stone Gap
So begins the immensely entertaining story of Peter and his unrequited love for his best friend's girl; of Charlotte and her less-than-perfect marriage to a man in love with someone else; of Jonathan and his wicked and fateful debauchery; and of Holly, the impetus for it all. Along the way, there's the evil boss, the desirable temptress, miscommunications, misrepresentations, fiendish behavior, letters gone astray, and ultimately, an ending in which every character gets his due.
Both incisive and wonderfully funny, this is a brilliantly understated comedy of manners in which love lost is found again.
"James Collins has written a romantic, funny and insightful page turner about love in modern times, missed opportunities and the wheel of fate (with a blow-out!) that is so engaging and real, you will find it impossible to put down. Peter Russell is an everyman filled with longing, lust and good sense. I promise you will root for him as fate throws him curves aplenty on his path to true love. BEGINNER'S GREEK and Peter Russell are keepers."
-- Adriana Trigiani , bestselling author of Lucia, Lucia and Big Stone Gap
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
89 people are currently reading
1789 people want to read
About the author
James Collins
226 books26 followersJames has been living and writing in Greece since 2002. He lives with his partner on the small island of Symi where they have a photographic shop and art gallery.
Words
Since moving to Greece, James has concentrated solely on writing words rather than music, though he does still improvise on the keyboard. He first started writing stories as early on as he can remember, and has been trying to get it right ever since. Currently he is turning his fingers to screenplays but has also written award winning lyrics, books for musicals, and erotica, as well as novels and travel books. He has also written corporate plans, business plans for theatre companies, and housing strategies for local authorities, but let’s not get into that ‘writing as a job’ area. James prefers to stay in the unprofitable world of fiction writing and films.
Music
James learned to write music on the piano when he was six years old. When he was seven, he discovered manuscript paper, and his parents were a lot happier. Since then, he has written cantatas, the first at age 14, revues, musicals, choral works, piano pieces, cabaret songs, and lots of other bits and pieces. He can sometimes be seen playing live piano on Symi, and sometimes can be heard practising the clarinet and oboe, though not at the same time.
Words
Since moving to Greece, James has concentrated solely on writing words rather than music, though he does still improvise on the keyboard. He first started writing stories as early on as he can remember, and has been trying to get it right ever since. Currently he is turning his fingers to screenplays but has also written award winning lyrics, books for musicals, and erotica, as well as novels and travel books. He has also written corporate plans, business plans for theatre companies, and housing strategies for local authorities, but let’s not get into that ‘writing as a job’ area. James prefers to stay in the unprofitable world of fiction writing and films.
Music
James learned to write music on the piano when he was six years old. When he was seven, he discovered manuscript paper, and his parents were a lot happier. Since then, he has written cantatas, the first at age 14, revues, musicals, choral works, piano pieces, cabaret songs, and lots of other bits and pieces. He can sometimes be seen playing live piano on Symi, and sometimes can be heard practising the clarinet and oboe, though not at the same time.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 657 reviews
March 26, 2008
Am I the only one who did not like this book? Or am I so black of heart that I could not bear the treacle? Perhaps I can suspend my disbelief for wizards and evil giraffes but not for open-hearted New Yorkers. Whatever the case - I waited so long to finally get a hold of this book only to find it wanting, hence the disappointment. And all the press was so good about it too.
January 25, 2008
Be warned - I have found the secular world's answer to BD Dayehu - James Collins. Midway - no, actually, a few pages in - I thought, is this his first novel? Yep. Which would stand as good argument against the 'most authors best books are their first.' Not so much with Jimmy here.
So I was excited for this one because it sounded cute - like the movie Serendipity which I totally enjoyed - guy meets girl on an airplane, a life long fantasy of finding true love in a random twist of fate and alas, he loses the number. So I thought this would move into interesting territory of maybe this wasnt meant to be/twists and turns of such nature. But no.
So I am going to do some plot spoiling because, for Gds sake, do not bother. First of all, Holly, the woman of his dreams, is another Christine of With all my Vomit - she is beautiful, but a certain type of beauty, blah blah blah, and she is funny, and perfect, and nice, and blah blah - she totally falls for Peter who strikes me as incredibly boring, personally, over this five hour flight, and is devastated when he does not call.
Well Fate brings Holly back into Peter;s life three years later - but, alas - oh those funny tricksters, she is dating his best friend. The best friend, by the way, is a bleeping bleep bleep, but somehow Peter the Great is still best friends with him and Saintly Holly goes on to marry him. I guess this is supposed to further the ... um ... irony? Anyway Peter is heart broken and watches best friend cheat on Holly left and right. Peter marries the incredibly annoying Charlotte, sealing the fate that he and Holly will never blend their one dimensional souls together. But wait. The night of the wedding, Holly's husband Jonathan, after having a fling with Charlotte's step mother, is struck by lightning and dies. I'm not kidding. So now Holly is a widow and Peter is stuck for life. But don't worry, as they harbor their secret crushes, and continue to be the noble and perfect people they are, Charlotte realizes they have feelings for each other and is thrilled for them (??), especially once she reconnects with a beau from her past and runs away with him, thus leaving the star crossed lovers to no longer be star crossed. Yay.
In the meantime, we meet the Evil Boss who is there for, um, humor? Certainly not to lend any credibility to the story. Dialogue would go something like:
Evil Boss: Peter, I hate your guts and I am looking to destroy you. Wah ha ha.
Peter: Ok.
Uch dont ask - Holly ends up with some boyfriend and this happens to be the head of Peter's company and when Peter decides he must have Holly the boss is all, well who can resist Holly, sure go ahead.
The BDE part was especially apparent at moments like this - describing Holly as having a horrible cold - eyes red, nose sniffly, lips chapped - and I am thinking, let me guess, she had never looked more beautiful. Yup. Vomit.
So I was excited for this one because it sounded cute - like the movie Serendipity which I totally enjoyed - guy meets girl on an airplane, a life long fantasy of finding true love in a random twist of fate and alas, he loses the number. So I thought this would move into interesting territory of maybe this wasnt meant to be/twists and turns of such nature. But no.
So I am going to do some plot spoiling because, for Gds sake, do not bother. First of all, Holly, the woman of his dreams, is another Christine of With all my Vomit - she is beautiful, but a certain type of beauty, blah blah blah, and she is funny, and perfect, and nice, and blah blah - she totally falls for Peter who strikes me as incredibly boring, personally, over this five hour flight, and is devastated when he does not call.
Well Fate brings Holly back into Peter;s life three years later - but, alas - oh those funny tricksters, she is dating his best friend. The best friend, by the way, is a bleeping bleep bleep, but somehow Peter the Great is still best friends with him and Saintly Holly goes on to marry him. I guess this is supposed to further the ... um ... irony? Anyway Peter is heart broken and watches best friend cheat on Holly left and right. Peter marries the incredibly annoying Charlotte, sealing the fate that he and Holly will never blend their one dimensional souls together. But wait. The night of the wedding, Holly's husband Jonathan, after having a fling with Charlotte's step mother, is struck by lightning and dies. I'm not kidding. So now Holly is a widow and Peter is stuck for life. But don't worry, as they harbor their secret crushes, and continue to be the noble and perfect people they are, Charlotte realizes they have feelings for each other and is thrilled for them (??), especially once she reconnects with a beau from her past and runs away with him, thus leaving the star crossed lovers to no longer be star crossed. Yay.
In the meantime, we meet the Evil Boss who is there for, um, humor? Certainly not to lend any credibility to the story. Dialogue would go something like:
Evil Boss: Peter, I hate your guts and I am looking to destroy you. Wah ha ha.
Peter: Ok.
Uch dont ask - Holly ends up with some boyfriend and this happens to be the head of Peter's company and when Peter decides he must have Holly the boss is all, well who can resist Holly, sure go ahead.
The BDE part was especially apparent at moments like this - describing Holly as having a horrible cold - eyes red, nose sniffly, lips chapped - and I am thinking, let me guess, she had never looked more beautiful. Yup. Vomit.
Read
March 5, 2008I officially decided to give up on this book. I rarely abandon a book, but I could tell after reading first few chapters (and then skipping ahead to the middle of the book) that it simply isn't worth my time to wade through the author's self-indulgent ramblings that are intended to be character development (of characters who, as far as I could tell, were not particularly important to the story).
Far too much time is spent drifting through various characters' thoughts, flitting from the past to the present to the past again.
Too bad; I liked the premise of this book when I first heard about it.
Far too much time is spent drifting through various characters' thoughts, flitting from the past to the present to the past again.
Too bad; I liked the premise of this book when I first heard about it.
February 27, 2011
This spirited novel gets off to a questionable start. I believe it is intended that way, until you fall into its rhythm. At about page 60 I was hooked. By that time, I really grokked the narrator's flow and the prose became so natural that it was like I was living the story. The low-star reviewers did not get it. This was not "zany" or "40's style" or vacuous. The narration is intentionally tongue-in-cheek and subversive. And yet...and yet. The Woody Allen movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, had a similar style of narrator. It winks at you and yet it rings true. It is agile and poised and yet disarming.
James Collins' story is like a painting or a beautiful photograph. Do you know how a painting or photograph, although depicting something real, can seem fantastical because of the play of light and shadow and mood and atmosphere? Do you know how a painting can be something unearthly, unreal, but because of the emotional rendering and quality can seem more genuine than a realistic interpretation? That is how this novel unfolds. It reveals itself through the crevices of the seemingly obvious story. It is like this big paradox. From the (wink wink) outer story the aperture widens, or even narrows simultaneously. You are holding a camera and you focus it on a field and in this field is an array of images. If you choose to look at it shallowly, then you will only see genus and species. But if you are sympathetic to your surroundings, there is a whole palette of beautiful colors and tones and textures to capture and captivate.
This is a page-turning love story. The characters are not meant to mimic "real" life. It is a romantic tale that hovers above reality but is an equipoise between absurd and exquisite. It is very human with spare but striking prose. His "big words," as some reviewers complain about, (they need to get back to their James Patterson, I guess) are not pretentious or overblown. The author has an elegant, clean, and precise but artistic flow of metaphors and imagery. I do not see one false note in this story. Yes, the characters are almost bigger than life in its broad strokes. But it is the small and eloquent strokes that give it its invigorating originality and artistic merit. There is a skeptical and farcical outer shell harboring a thumping big red heart.
This is a classic bildungsroman. It is also refreshing, clear as glass, never canned. There is moral ambiguity and well-wrought characterizations, a noirish tale of bright and beaming sunlight. The whole unfolding is done in the colors of paradox.
I actually felt slapped by the bad reviews because they were so far off the mark. They read like bully reviews. It reminded me of people criticizing Picasso's art by saying, "It is just a bunch of squares." It is OK to dislike and criticize a work of art--each to his own--but when something that ignorant is said about a work of art that the viewer does not even understand, then it reflects more on the reviewer.
The beauty of this novel is that it is sublime but direct, sly but open-hearted, insouciant but mindful, irreverent but reverent, layered but simple. It does have a similar tone to a British comedy of manners but it is so much warmer and more generous.
James Collins' story is like a painting or a beautiful photograph. Do you know how a painting or photograph, although depicting something real, can seem fantastical because of the play of light and shadow and mood and atmosphere? Do you know how a painting can be something unearthly, unreal, but because of the emotional rendering and quality can seem more genuine than a realistic interpretation? That is how this novel unfolds. It reveals itself through the crevices of the seemingly obvious story. It is like this big paradox. From the (wink wink) outer story the aperture widens, or even narrows simultaneously. You are holding a camera and you focus it on a field and in this field is an array of images. If you choose to look at it shallowly, then you will only see genus and species. But if you are sympathetic to your surroundings, there is a whole palette of beautiful colors and tones and textures to capture and captivate.
This is a page-turning love story. The characters are not meant to mimic "real" life. It is a romantic tale that hovers above reality but is an equipoise between absurd and exquisite. It is very human with spare but striking prose. His "big words," as some reviewers complain about, (they need to get back to their James Patterson, I guess) are not pretentious or overblown. The author has an elegant, clean, and precise but artistic flow of metaphors and imagery. I do not see one false note in this story. Yes, the characters are almost bigger than life in its broad strokes. But it is the small and eloquent strokes that give it its invigorating originality and artistic merit. There is a skeptical and farcical outer shell harboring a thumping big red heart.
This is a classic bildungsroman. It is also refreshing, clear as glass, never canned. There is moral ambiguity and well-wrought characterizations, a noirish tale of bright and beaming sunlight. The whole unfolding is done in the colors of paradox.
I actually felt slapped by the bad reviews because they were so far off the mark. They read like bully reviews. It reminded me of people criticizing Picasso's art by saying, "It is just a bunch of squares." It is OK to dislike and criticize a work of art--each to his own--but when something that ignorant is said about a work of art that the viewer does not even understand, then it reflects more on the reviewer.
The beauty of this novel is that it is sublime but direct, sly but open-hearted, insouciant but mindful, irreverent but reverent, layered but simple. It does have a similar tone to a British comedy of manners but it is so much warmer and more generous.
June 26, 2011
First let me share Mr.Collins' answer to the question: What are you working on now? His answer ends with:"... I am working on something very different from _Beginner's Greek_ and am hoping that I won't dissapoint my millions of fans in this country and around the globe." _Beginner's Greek_ is so often compared to Austen, I fear Mr. Collins has assumed the character of Austen's Mr. Collins in P&P. Millions, indeed. Around the globe, indeed.
_Beginner's Greek_ needed some serious editing. A large machete could have been applied to every thing from exclamation marks to whole chapters. I don't mean to be unkind but I was just amazed at the digressions that went on for pages and pages. We learn the whole life story of just about every character whether their story is important or not.
Everyone was beautiful, wealthy, intelligent, and if you were to really love them, they had all of this and supreme goodness too. The whole tone became snobbish but without irony. Jane Austen talks about physical beauty and about wealth but often those topics are put in the mouths of the least likable characters. I think reviewers too often use her name in vain.
_Beginner's Greek_ needed some serious editing. A large machete could have been applied to every thing from exclamation marks to whole chapters. I don't mean to be unkind but I was just amazed at the digressions that went on for pages and pages. We learn the whole life story of just about every character whether their story is important or not.
Everyone was beautiful, wealthy, intelligent, and if you were to really love them, they had all of this and supreme goodness too. The whole tone became snobbish but without irony. Jane Austen talks about physical beauty and about wealth but often those topics are put in the mouths of the least likable characters. I think reviewers too often use her name in vain.
January 1, 2020
Penultimate book of 2019, with possibly the worst cover I've ever seen. And it felt very familiar especially the beginning (I still feel I've seen this on film or something), but bogged down a bit in the middle. Always interesting to read a flat out romance from a male author, complete with a meet cute, comic bad timing, and of course, happy ending. I listened on Hoopla while sorting my clothes for expungement.
January 19, 2008
Before I say anything else, I have to say that I love this novel. I love the plot, I love the characters, I love the pace, and I love the ending.
Now, here’s the story (briefly): Peter meets Holly on a flight from New York to LA. They talk, they bond, and by the time the plane has landed, Peter is sure that he is in love. Holly gives him her phone number, but by the time he gets to the hotel, he realizes that he has lost it. He has lost the most important number in his life. And he doesn’t know Holly’s last name.
A few years later, Holly and Peter meet again. Unfortunately, Holly is now married to Peter’s best friend, Jonathan, a philanderer extraordinaire. What follows is a series of circumstances that bring Holly and Peter together and keep the two apart. Along the way, there is an extremely amusing office subplot for Peter.
This is a fabulous romantic comedy. It is full of rich and interesting characters and quite a few surprises.
1/19/08
Now, here’s the story (briefly): Peter meets Holly on a flight from New York to LA. They talk, they bond, and by the time the plane has landed, Peter is sure that he is in love. Holly gives him her phone number, but by the time he gets to the hotel, he realizes that he has lost it. He has lost the most important number in his life. And he doesn’t know Holly’s last name.
A few years later, Holly and Peter meet again. Unfortunately, Holly is now married to Peter’s best friend, Jonathan, a philanderer extraordinaire. What follows is a series of circumstances that bring Holly and Peter together and keep the two apart. Along the way, there is an extremely amusing office subplot for Peter.
This is a fabulous romantic comedy. It is full of rich and interesting characters and quite a few surprises.
1/19/08
January 21, 2010
This book came highly recommended from a 20 something Books, Inc. employee who saw me picking up book after book before finally deciding on a few good books for my vaca. This book was not in my stack - nowhere near my stack. Her bright eyed enthusiasm when she talked about this book was somewhat endearing. Her favorite book of 2009 - she recommends it to everyone. I have a new rule. 20 somethings are not allowed to recommend bullshit chick lit to 30 somethings. ever. This book is dreadful and how anyone (20 something or not) - especially someone who works in a bookstore (was it wrong of me to assume that working in a bookstore means you have an appreciation for good writing?) could call this book great and recommend it to strangers is beyond me. She told me that I'd love it and when I was done to go back and she'd recommend a slew more for me. Wow. This book is poorly written, the characters are not fully developed and just not at all compelling, the story lines are laughable and outrageous (not in a good way)... I actually hate this book. too bad I can't give it negative stars. I wouldn't have even finished it if I wasn't blowing through books like wild fire. Part of me thinks I actually enjoyed how much I hated this book - what is wrong with me?
May 9, 2008
It wasn't that I didn't like this book....its just that it wasn't what I was expecting. This book has been getting a TON of press. It is the author's debut novel and is being touted as "romantic." One person on the back cover compared him to Jane Austen. I can do "romantic." But I can't do cheese. This book bordered on cheese. It was just too neat and tidy. Perhaps life really is like this book--people pursuing the correct paths at every turn. Maybe I'm just too cynical. Regardless, it made me feel uncomfortable.
In addition, the dialogue was subpar. Very choppy and stale. The characters who were in love spoke as though they had just met. I really felt a lack of intimacy in the conversations.
It is a quick read and there were a few charming moments. But in general, it just wasn't my thing. Quite a disappointment as I've been waiting for our library to receive this book since January. I checked it out the day it arrived! It just didn't live up to my expectations.
In addition, the dialogue was subpar. Very choppy and stale. The characters who were in love spoke as though they had just met. I really felt a lack of intimacy in the conversations.
It is a quick read and there were a few charming moments. But in general, it just wasn't my thing. Quite a disappointment as I've been waiting for our library to receive this book since January. I checked it out the day it arrived! It just didn't live up to my expectations.
May 3, 2008
Beginner’s Greek is a modern urban fairytale with fable-like archetypes and improbable twists of fate. It is unabashedly and quite unsubtly about love with the Austenesque quandries of true love vs. our society’s practicality.
The story centers on Peter Russell a young Wall Street financial guy who is wildly and somewhat unbelievably romantic. He believes that fate will one day sit him next to the woman of his dreams – his soul mate – on an airplane flight. This indeed comes true when Holly comes in – last person on the plane - to sit next to Peter on a flight from New York to Los Angeles. Over the next five hours they talk and shyly fall in love and Holly gives Peter her phone number. Of course because fate is a wicked mistress, by the time Peter gets to his hotel he has mysteriously lost the piece of paper with her number. When Peter and Holly next meet it is in New York and Holly is preparing to marry Peter's asshole best friend and after much anguishing Peter is now marrying a girl he cares for but with whom he isn’t in love. There marriage is proper one and a good match from society’s perspective. He thinks “we’ll be happy enough.” and the novel goes on from there with several more characters entering the mix and the many aspects and challenges of love are explored as the plot wends its way.
The writing in this book is highly enjoyable. It’s like champagne and popcorn – bubbly, airy, and crisp. Full of pop. What could have been an EXTREMELY cheesy, sappy novel isn’t really though it has its moments.
Its biggest weakness for me were the characters who were all intellectual New York Bourgeosie – they really started to grate by the end. I also got a little irritated with the author’s vision of Holly. While he paints Peter with a fairly realistic brush making him cowardly, and a little boring and handsome but in a generic sort of way, he makes Holyy perfect. She’s beautiful and so completely charming that everyone she meets instantly likes her; she’s funny and kind, generous and altruistic while being so refreshingly down to earth. Frankly, it’s sickening and he overdid it in my book because I started to wonder what the amazing Holly saw in boring, schlubby Peter.
My overall opinion was that it was a fun read. Simple and entertaining while not rotting my brain. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if I could.
The story centers on Peter Russell a young Wall Street financial guy who is wildly and somewhat unbelievably romantic. He believes that fate will one day sit him next to the woman of his dreams – his soul mate – on an airplane flight. This indeed comes true when Holly comes in – last person on the plane - to sit next to Peter on a flight from New York to Los Angeles. Over the next five hours they talk and shyly fall in love and Holly gives Peter her phone number. Of course because fate is a wicked mistress, by the time Peter gets to his hotel he has mysteriously lost the piece of paper with her number. When Peter and Holly next meet it is in New York and Holly is preparing to marry Peter's asshole best friend and after much anguishing Peter is now marrying a girl he cares for but with whom he isn’t in love. There marriage is proper one and a good match from society’s perspective. He thinks “we’ll be happy enough.” and the novel goes on from there with several more characters entering the mix and the many aspects and challenges of love are explored as the plot wends its way.
The writing in this book is highly enjoyable. It’s like champagne and popcorn – bubbly, airy, and crisp. Full of pop. What could have been an EXTREMELY cheesy, sappy novel isn’t really though it has its moments.
Its biggest weakness for me were the characters who were all intellectual New York Bourgeosie – they really started to grate by the end. I also got a little irritated with the author’s vision of Holly. While he paints Peter with a fairly realistic brush making him cowardly, and a little boring and handsome but in a generic sort of way, he makes Holyy perfect. She’s beautiful and so completely charming that everyone she meets instantly likes her; she’s funny and kind, generous and altruistic while being so refreshingly down to earth. Frankly, it’s sickening and he overdid it in my book because I started to wonder what the amazing Holly saw in boring, schlubby Peter.
My overall opinion was that it was a fun read. Simple and entertaining while not rotting my brain. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if I could.
May 18, 2011
I am not far into this, but am loving it already. I keep seeing it as a rom-com with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Amy Adams, Hank Azaria, and maybe Caroline Dhavernas in the four lead roles.
I've finished this, and it did not disappoint. It proved to be somewhat predictable, but the characters were so likeable and the scenario so intriguing that I couldn't put it down for long. I just had to know how it turned out. I kept seeing it as a movie, as it had all the elements for a blockbuster romantic comedy. Everything from the meet-cute beginning to the satisfying ending and through all the twists and turns in between made this just plain fun to read. Makes me hope that Mr Collins (no relation to Jackie, is he?) has another book in him!
I've finished this, and it did not disappoint. It proved to be somewhat predictable, but the characters were so likeable and the scenario so intriguing that I couldn't put it down for long. I just had to know how it turned out. I kept seeing it as a movie, as it had all the elements for a blockbuster romantic comedy. Everything from the meet-cute beginning to the satisfying ending and through all the twists and turns in between made this just plain fun to read. Makes me hope that Mr Collins (no relation to Jackie, is he?) has another book in him!
April 15, 2008
Cliched, poorly written, predictable. (Case in point: no book should EVER use the phrase, "He thought back to that fateful night three years ago...".) I curse myself for being unable to put down an unfinished novel; I'm never gonna get these three hours of my life back.
April 29, 2008
I think I might've actually hated this book. I can't really be sure because I was so incredibly bored through the whole thing. I kept thinking that maybe I was missing out on the joke or just not getting it. Maybe I did, I don't know. Shallow and pretentious.
July 17, 2008
Interesting thoughts on whether people find love through fate or by being proactive about their relationships.
January 13, 2009
I'm having trouble articulating what I liked so much about this book. It was a charming story well-written. And I think that may really be the whole reason. It's definitely one I'll recommend to my friends. Living with these characters was a whole lot of fun, and the writing was a pleasure to read. Take, for instance, this excerpt which made me laugh out loud:
"Well, then," said Peter, "I guess we'll just have to find a cab."
Peter said this in the manner of a cowboy telling the womenfolk that, because of the avalanche, they were going to have to take the pass through Indian country. In fact, as Holly and Peter both knew, nothing could have been easier than finding a free cab, for at this hour they flowed steadily down the avenue. But if Peter were to regain some face by wrangling one, the fiction had to be kept up that this would be a challenging task.
"Will you try?" Holly asked
"Sure," said Peter. He stepped off the curb, raised his hand, and a taxi pulled up in front of them about five seconds later.
"Thank goodness!" Holly said.
"Well, then," said Peter, "I guess we'll just have to find a cab."
Peter said this in the manner of a cowboy telling the womenfolk that, because of the avalanche, they were going to have to take the pass through Indian country. In fact, as Holly and Peter both knew, nothing could have been easier than finding a free cab, for at this hour they flowed steadily down the avenue. But if Peter were to regain some face by wrangling one, the fiction had to be kept up that this would be a challenging task.
"Will you try?" Holly asked
"Sure," said Peter. He stepped off the curb, raised his hand, and a taxi pulled up in front of them about five seconds later.
"Thank goodness!" Holly said.
July 2, 2009
I don't know why I bother reading other reviews after I have read a book, especially when I know the book was pure fluff. They make me think, 'well, gosh what kind of person am I that I really liked this?' That said, I really couldn't put this down. The twists and turns were fun, and even though the whole premise was unlikely, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and I could see this coming together.
I wish that the author had more respect for marriage and women; that the conclusion happened just a little sooner; that I could find a fluffy read like this each time I walk down the aisle at the library while carrying something heftier for a serious study.
Lastly, there were many adulturous encounters eluded to, but little with graphic detail that made me flinch. A romantic book with out the vulgarity that goes along with 'romance'.
I wish that the author had more respect for marriage and women; that the conclusion happened just a little sooner; that I could find a fluffy read like this each time I walk down the aisle at the library while carrying something heftier for a serious study.
Lastly, there were many adulturous encounters eluded to, but little with graphic detail that made me flinch. A romantic book with out the vulgarity that goes along with 'romance'.
July 4, 2020
On the surface it’s about…
it’s about a man who’s in love with his best friend’s wife and whose career is in danger.
But it’s actually about…
finding your voice and speaking up at the appropriate time.
It was awesome that…
this is a romantic comedy for male readers.
The big beautiful themes:
-speaking up
-fighting for yourself
-being a good guy
What this taught me about how to be good is…
telling people we love them is important, as is letting lovers meet
What this taught me about how to die is…
death comes suddenly, so we should live in such a way that our deaths don’t improve the lives or those around us.
Best read…
by people who like suspense that comes from characters misunderstanding each other, dreadful timing, and the reader figuring everything out way before the characters.
it’s about a man who’s in love with his best friend’s wife and whose career is in danger.
But it’s actually about…
finding your voice and speaking up at the appropriate time.
It was awesome that…
this is a romantic comedy for male readers.
The big beautiful themes:
-speaking up
-fighting for yourself
-being a good guy
What this taught me about how to be good is…
telling people we love them is important, as is letting lovers meet
What this taught me about how to die is…
death comes suddenly, so we should live in such a way that our deaths don’t improve the lives or those around us.
Best read…
by people who like suspense that comes from characters misunderstanding each other, dreadful timing, and the reader figuring everything out way before the characters.
Read
May 30, 2024abandonado y quemado. Por qué el escritor se despertó un día y dijo búa que increíble idea sería un libro lleno de misoginia y romantizando los cuernos con una trama que no hay por donde pillarla y unos personajes q son ????, a cual peor 😭 amorrrrr cómo te dejan publicar esto. No vuelvo a tocar un libro de ‘romance’ escrito por un hombre 💀
March 10, 2008
Interesting premise but there was a lot of boring filler. It should have been half as long, or less. Generally a waste of time.
July 9, 2008
I made it over 1/3 of the way through this and just couldn't finish it. It wasn't a terrible slog or anything; it just wasn't nearly as entertaining as I had heard when it comes to reviews.
January 28, 2010
This was HIGHLY disappointing. The review on the back compares it to Austen...NOT OKAY TO DO THAT! It's clearly written by a man who doesn't understand women. Oy!
February 23, 2021
It was a quick enough read but maybe that was because I skim read some of it. I quite liked the story of James and Holly meeting on the plane but that was about it. I thought it would liven up a little around 100 pages in or so but it didn't for me. My main problem was all the characters just seemed so unlikeable and so far away from the normal world.
October 18, 2024
Not really my usual type of book, but I kind of enjoyed this nonetheless. Light - a fairy tale feel written like a romcom - with a Devil Wears Prada vibe.
March 3, 2012
This is a novel that is much more complex than it appears to be on the surface. On the surface, it is a comedy of errors, a love story gone wrong. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, events intervene preventing their relationship from becoming requited. Yet the Fates intercede and somehow, as in a Greek play, we listen to the Muses from the sidelines as they let the reader know all of the great things and minutiae that occur every step of the way in this couple's journey back and forth and sideways from one another. The author treats his readers as intelligent and informed adults. No part of this novel is dumbed down. It is intelligent and high-brow. It is literate and eloquent.
We are the reader as muse, sitting in the background, participating in the novel every step of the way. I felt like this book was a cross between 'Mighty Aphrodite', 'Pride and Prejudice' and a Greek theater piece. I was riveted. I laughed, I frowned, I shook my head. How could so many things go wrong in what is supposed to be a simple love story? Oh, I forgot, the story is far from simple.
Peter meets Holly on a plane ride cross country. He always believed that he'd meet the woman of his dreams on a plane. It is love at first sight. Holly gives Peter her phone number and Peter loses the piece of paper that it is written on. He never stops thinking about her and vice versa. Years later their paths cross again when Peter's best friend Jonathon marries Holly. The fun, chaos, thrill ride, tears and laughter begin here. This is a love story like nothing you have ever read before. It is a literary achievement of grand proportions. It is epic in its scope.
Jonathon is a cad but Holly seems oblivious to this. Peter is like the prototypical "good boy". He does not tell Holly about Jonathon's escapades and for some reason, he appears to accept Jonathon's behavior. It's hard to understand why he chooses Jonathon as a friend. Peter works hard for a boss who is just a few steps short of being Hanibal Lector. Despite this, Peter works hard and is loyal to his firm. Peter decides that if he can't have Holly he'll marry someone else and settles on Charlotte who he thinks he can be happy enough with though he is not really in love with her. She, too, appears to be settling on Peter. The cast of characters include all the wedding guests from Peter and Charlotte's wedding, especially Charlotte's family. There is Charlotte's father, the narcissistic businessman who is married to the trophy wife. The trophy wife is not all that happy in the marriage which is quite telling from her behavior. The wedding sets off a comic and tragic episode that carries the rest of the story and leads to the grand finale where all the characters deal with their ethical dilemmas. Telling more about the plot would lead to spoiling it for the reader.
What I really appreciate is how the author includes the reader, letting the muses inspire us and the muses in us inspire the story, for don't we know from the beginning what is going to happen? Of course we do. The muses take us through every little occurrence and every great step. I wanted to speak from the sidelines, give advice and narrate as the story progressed. In a sense I did. That is the beauty of the author's style. We are part of the novel as performance piece.
This is a comedy of manners, a serious study of modern upper class hubris and detours. It is also a laugh-out-loud ride on the mild side. There is a poem in the story called 'Beginner's Greek'. I think it catches the sensibility of the novel quite well:
"... What is
Beyond analysis
Is perilous: we must not wish to seek
And cry
'This is what I
Love, what I cherish!' Instead, be wary of such
Intensity
That we
Never be hurt or happy or anything too
much." (p321-322)
This is the essence of the book's sensibility - - the repression and lack of expression of that which matters most, intimacy. Intimacy? Sorry, but that language is not spoken here. But this is a love story, a real love story, so we know from the beginning what will inevitably occur. It's just the route that is circuitous, unfamiliar, puzzling and downright bizarre at times.
I recommend Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Classics) along with works by Aristophanes such as Aristophanes : The Birds (Focus Classical Library). These will augment 'Beginner's Greek' nicely.
We are the reader as muse, sitting in the background, participating in the novel every step of the way. I felt like this book was a cross between 'Mighty Aphrodite', 'Pride and Prejudice' and a Greek theater piece. I was riveted. I laughed, I frowned, I shook my head. How could so many things go wrong in what is supposed to be a simple love story? Oh, I forgot, the story is far from simple.
Peter meets Holly on a plane ride cross country. He always believed that he'd meet the woman of his dreams on a plane. It is love at first sight. Holly gives Peter her phone number and Peter loses the piece of paper that it is written on. He never stops thinking about her and vice versa. Years later their paths cross again when Peter's best friend Jonathon marries Holly. The fun, chaos, thrill ride, tears and laughter begin here. This is a love story like nothing you have ever read before. It is a literary achievement of grand proportions. It is epic in its scope.
Jonathon is a cad but Holly seems oblivious to this. Peter is like the prototypical "good boy". He does not tell Holly about Jonathon's escapades and for some reason, he appears to accept Jonathon's behavior. It's hard to understand why he chooses Jonathon as a friend. Peter works hard for a boss who is just a few steps short of being Hanibal Lector. Despite this, Peter works hard and is loyal to his firm. Peter decides that if he can't have Holly he'll marry someone else and settles on Charlotte who he thinks he can be happy enough with though he is not really in love with her. She, too, appears to be settling on Peter. The cast of characters include all the wedding guests from Peter and Charlotte's wedding, especially Charlotte's family. There is Charlotte's father, the narcissistic businessman who is married to the trophy wife. The trophy wife is not all that happy in the marriage which is quite telling from her behavior. The wedding sets off a comic and tragic episode that carries the rest of the story and leads to the grand finale where all the characters deal with their ethical dilemmas. Telling more about the plot would lead to spoiling it for the reader.
What I really appreciate is how the author includes the reader, letting the muses inspire us and the muses in us inspire the story, for don't we know from the beginning what is going to happen? Of course we do. The muses take us through every little occurrence and every great step. I wanted to speak from the sidelines, give advice and narrate as the story progressed. In a sense I did. That is the beauty of the author's style. We are part of the novel as performance piece.
This is a comedy of manners, a serious study of modern upper class hubris and detours. It is also a laugh-out-loud ride on the mild side. There is a poem in the story called 'Beginner's Greek'. I think it catches the sensibility of the novel quite well:
"... What is
Beyond analysis
Is perilous: we must not wish to seek
And cry
'This is what I
Love, what I cherish!' Instead, be wary of such
Intensity
That we
Never be hurt or happy or anything too
much." (p321-322)
This is the essence of the book's sensibility - - the repression and lack of expression of that which matters most, intimacy. Intimacy? Sorry, but that language is not spoken here. But this is a love story, a real love story, so we know from the beginning what will inevitably occur. It's just the route that is circuitous, unfamiliar, puzzling and downright bizarre at times.
I recommend Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Classics) along with works by Aristophanes such as Aristophanes : The Birds (Focus Classical Library). These will augment 'Beginner's Greek' nicely.
February 5, 2010
Years ago, Peter and Holly met on a plane. They both thought it was love at first sight, but Peter lost Holly's number. Years later, they turn up in each other's lives when Holly starts dating (and later marries) Peter's best friend. How will the lovebirds come together? That's the rest of the book.
I wanted to like this book more than I did like it. It's certainly charming, and it's got lovely tangled threads of human relationships. But all the characters were just a little too good, and they were all a little too prescient. While I wanted to have coffee with several of these people, I also kept rolling my eyes at them. The plot, in addition, was a little too pat, a little too perfect -- it's the fantasy of how life will work out, and while it's a lovely fantasy, I wanted more reality.
I wanted to like this book more than I did like it. It's certainly charming, and it's got lovely tangled threads of human relationships. But all the characters were just a little too good, and they were all a little too prescient. While I wanted to have coffee with several of these people, I also kept rolling my eyes at them. The plot, in addition, was a little too pat, a little too perfect -- it's the fantasy of how life will work out, and while it's a lovely fantasy, I wanted more reality.
September 28, 2008
this was a good story--full of twists and turns, but i have to admit that, having not read this type of popular novel in a long time, i was a little shocked by all of the promiscuity in the book. i guess i'm a little out of touch with the way people are living their marriages today...or at least in books! however, this was definitely a page-turner and it was fun to have a book i "couldn't put down".
January 10, 2010
Fairy tale or satire? It was hard to tell in this comedy of manners set primarily in New York City but after resisting this book for several years due to people telling me how charming it was, I have to admit I enjoyed everything about it, beginning with the first sentence:
When Peter Russell boarded an airplane, he always wondered whether he would sit next to a beautiful young woman during the flight, and, if so, whether he and she would fall in love.
When Peter Russell boarded an airplane, he always wondered whether he would sit next to a beautiful young woman during the flight, and, if so, whether he and she would fall in love.
March 26, 2008
I wouldn't be so hard on this book, except that it got rave reviews and didn't deserve them. It's fluff. A silly, self-consciously-written soap opera of a book. The author was formerly an editor at Time. I'd hate to think that accounts for the rave reviews. Or maybe I'm missing something. If you loved it, tell me why.
May 30, 2008
Don't waste your time unless you like exhaustive descriptions of setting, clothing, etc. Entire chapters are devoted to describing the entire of life of a secondary character just to explain his or her motivation for doing one thing that affects the plot.
The author does achieve an appealing tone of a British comedy of manners but the plot is just dull and the characters are too.
The author does achieve an appealing tone of a British comedy of manners but the plot is just dull and the characters are too.
July 16, 2008
Disappointing book. I don't mean a far-fetched plot per se, but additionally, I found the writing somewhat boring in places & the characters not that interesting. I did finish the book, but I can't honestly recommend it.
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