Was it Something I Said?

by Valerie Block

How do two people find love in New York City? Barry and Justine meet on an airplane over LaGuardia airport just before the Christmas holidays. Barry is a food product manager who hasn't had a date in a year. He lives in his parents' old Upper West Side apartment and has taken in a spoiled, rich roommate who has three simultaneous girlfriends but never has the rent. Barry's colleagues at work are all married, so are his friends - and most of them are having children. He really wants to find 'the one'.
Justine is a pretty, smart and ambitious lawyer on the partner track at a hotshot New York mergers and acquisitions firm. She is sick of the dating scene and has had a string of bad luck. Her friends and colleagues keep trying to fix her up, but her patience is running out. She'd rather be home at her apartment on the Upper East Side with her dog, drinking salad dressing for dinner and watching The Sound of Music on the VCR.
These two meet under the most dangerous, absurd and ultimately romantic circumstances. But will they realize that they're made for each other?

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Humor, Romance, New York

359 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[June · Rating 2 out of 5]

“August had come like sickness.”

At first I thought it was pretty good, then I thought it was okay, then by the last 100 pages the book had devolved so much that I didn’t even understand the point of the story anytime. I guess I should have expected this book to be widely unrealistic…it started with a plane crash…

[Lynnda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not finish reading this book because I didn't want to. On the surface the book looks promising, but man was I wrong. I hated the superficial characters except for one. It was pointless and very boring.

[Marti]

I'm not even sure what happened in this book. Justine and Berry survived a plane crash. They give half an effort at dating. Changes and people come along. A few scares. I didn't relate to anyone in this story.

[Jill Upton(ogood) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t really expecting to like this after reading the reviews. It’s actually the lowest rated book on my tbr. It was a bit of a slow read for me but apart from that it was enjoyable. Just a normal passing of lives for a couple.

[Ktbird · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parts of it were funny, but all of the characters had a pretty ugly side that simply wasn't compelling.

[Atea Angelone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it exciting from start to finish

[Lisa Diee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not even finish.

[Jess Madhu · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf

[Eb Mcdermott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why did I have this book? Why did I bother finishing it? It was promising at the beginning….funnily enough I was on a plane when I started it. Word of advice - don’t do that.

[Coffee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Haven’t read it but my friend did and that was enough

[Sherrie]

It was very poorly written. I read the first ten chapters. Read a whole other book. Came back to it and read the last three chapters. Still poorly written.

[Omdog · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book around a decade ago completely based on the back cover description. Specifically what sold the book for me was the part where the back of book blurb alludes to the female protagonist drinking salad dressing alone in her Manhattan appartment. I thought, with a premis like that, it sounded right up my alley.

Turns out that whole judging a book by its cover business, is correct, because seriously, what a dissapointment. To begin with, the real main character isn't even said female protagonist. To continue, neither of them had any qualities that I found likeable, and the most realistic and believable character throughout the entire book, was the shithead roomate to the male protagonist, who'd had an affair with the female protagonist before the two had ever known eachother, let alone begun sleeping together.

I mean, really, what can you expect when the first chapter basically lays out for you that the leading man stalks/manipulates the leading lady? It seems that the entire story is supposed to be Their story, with the roomate and the cook thrown in to balance the foils, but bottom line is, Justine and Barry are boring, and irritating people.

I did read it, and I had to force myself to get through to the end, hoping there'd be something worthwile about Barry or Justine, something I connected with, something profound and educating.

It wasn't badly written, it wasn't even a bad story really. There were parts I laughed at, a handful of situations I recognized as having been present in my own life, but overall it fell short of my expectations. Of course my expectations had more to do with the idea that Justine would be drinking salad dressing, which as it turns out never once happened in the course of the book. So.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read about the first 100 pages, then skimmed the rest of it in order to find out if it even HAD a plot. This book takes the most bare-bones cliché of a romantic comedy, and festoons it with clever-sounding, disjointed prose that indicates nothing and goes nowhere. I got the feeling that it may have been one long series of inside jokes, instantly familiar to upper-middle-class Jews from Manhattan, but it didn't make me care. I kept slogging through chapters, waiting either for 1) something to happen; 2) some character development to take place; or 3) some unique insight to emerge out of all the neurotically enumerated, trivial observations. Eventually I gave up.

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like some other reviewers, I found the characters to be wholly unlikeable and aimless. There are a lot of characters introduced and they don't have any meaningful connection to each other. You know the plot's not going anywhere when three-quarters of the way into the book you're still waiting for something momentous to happen or for the point of the story to emerge. Actually, after Barry loses his job, I thought that was a development that was really going to lead to something more revelatory. Nope. I should've stopped reading earlier.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contemporary novel about love and life in New York City. Justine and
Barry meet during a plane crash, and this is the story about there
relationship. Two people in their mid-thirties who have remained
single thus far, and what ups and downs they go through on their way
to either marriage or calling it quits. Gets into both of their minds,
so you see their story from both points of view.

Easy read, fairly entertaining.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

What bothers me the most about this book was the overabundance of questions without question marks. I appreciate that the characters are both flawed when so many books idealize heroes or heroines or make their characters obvious villains, but I didn't find either of the main characters particularly likable. I did finish it because I had a mild curiosity as to what was going to happen, so I guess that's something.

[Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took this book out of Kirsten's backseat before she could donate it to the library. It was entertaining and funny, a little kooky, very New York. Even though it is about young, professional thirty-somethings, it had some poignant and touching moments, and univeral themes. Even we old folks could identify.

[Terri]

I barely remember this book, I read it so long ago. What I can recall is that it contained enough mildly funny parts to send my copy to my mother. And after she read it, we agreed Block would be an author to watch because she seemed to have potential. I also think that in the late 90s, she was at least on to something with a singles life-style read ...

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I remember reading this book when it came out in 1998 and loving it . . . and then I looked at other people's reviews on here and found that it was almost universally hated. Huh. I think I may need to read it again to see if it holds up. I remember laughing out loud at quite a few points, if that's worth anything. Oh well.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the book had no plot I thought it was pretty amusing, I picked this up at the doctors office in the free book section since I had forgotten my own book at home. It was light easy reading and I guess i seemed to be the only one who enjoyed it. Guess it was what I needed at the time. Would I reread it? No but it was funny enough to finish

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, which I read on holiday. It's a light easy read and easy to pick up and put down. I wouldn't rush out and buy her next book (this was her first) but would read it if I happened upon it.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the very first "chick lit" I read and it really hit home at the time. It was the 90s, I was looking for love in all the wrong places, I had an idealistic fantasy of how life should be. This book really hit a nerve with me. Just like the characters, I really wanted to settle down.

[Amy]

I started this and gave it a good 100 pages, but it didn't grab me at all. I'll release it through BookCrossing and hopefully it will find the perfect reader. I thought the concept of meeting during a plane crash a different one.

[Smudgedink7 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed Barry and Justine including their issues at work, with family and with each other. The organization was a bit spastic but I wanted to see what happened in the end. If Pippa and Vince were cut out I'd be ok with it.

[Tracy Crowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one cracked me up - a nice easy read, a fun adventure of two quirky main characters.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable chick lit set in Manhattan.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

feels dated...you've read it before. 'don't make a scene' the author's most recent book is much, much better

[Miriam]

A love story about real people: he's losing his hair, she is a perfectionist; she makes more money than he does; he loses his job---as I said, real people, really falling in love for real.

[Laney Stoddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever and captivating

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

UGH...never thought I would get through it.