De speurtocht van Tiffany Trott

by Isabel Wolff, Cherie van Gelder (Translator), Bert Voeten (Translator)

'Tiffany, jij bent een absolute ramp met mannen.'
Na vele hints en opmerkingen van haar moeder en vriendinnen ins Tiffany Trott het zat. Ze besluit op jacht te gaan naar Mr. Right - of desnoods Mr. Allright, altijd nog beter dan de Mr. Catastrofes die haar recente verleden bevolken.

Zo begint Tiffany's memorabele reis door de Love Jungle, slechts gewapend met een grenzeloos gevoel voor humor, een goed hart een onuitputtelijke voorraad optimisme.

Van ongekend saaie diners à deux tot singles-avonden, van dating bureaus tot contactadvertenties en Club Med, niets is Tifffnay te veel. In de jacht op de adonis van haar dromen.

Maar terwijl ze haar verbazingwekkende gebrek aan een partner te lijf gaat, ziet Tiffany haar vriendinnen worstelen met hun eigen leven. Ze vraagt zich af of het vrijgezelschap echt wel zo'n ramp is.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, British Literature, France, London

398 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1998

About the author

Isabel Wolff's ten bestselling novels are published worldwide. 'Ghostwritten', set in present day Cornwall and on wartime Java, was published in the UK in March 2014 and will be published in the US in February 2015 as 'Shadows Over Paradise'. 'The Very Picture of You' was published in the UK and the US in October 2011. 'A Vintage Affair', was an Amazon.co.uk 'Best of 2009' title and was shortlisted by the American Library Assocation for their Reading List awards (Women's Fiction). Isabel lives in west London with her family. Visit her 'Isabel Wolff Author' Page on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @IsabelWolff or visit her website, IsabelWolff.com. Thank you...

Reviews

[Melinda]

I don't think I've ever been happier for a book to end! The main character was so shallow, repetitive, and boring. I only wish I'd figured it out before I got to the point in the book where I felt I needed to finish it. I DO NOT recommend at all! It's a poor poor imitation of Bridget Jones Diary.

[Cláudia · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a waste of time, and why-oh-why do I keep thinking I cannot leave a book in the middle?! Was I still really expecting it would get better?
Fortunately I started reading Isabel Wolff in her later books - sooooo much better and worthwhile, if I had started with this one I'd never picked up another!
This is a very poor and boring and weak and repetitive copy of Bridget Jones, except the main character was really insufferable and annoying, nothing warmed me up to her. Everything sounded so shallow, the constant need of every woman to have a man or they were not worth enough, always the "I'm 37, my life is ending!" - what?!?!?!
And all the "Actually I did not say nothing like that" - I could have hit Tiffany AND the author!!
And that ending.... definitely deserving of 1 star! Don't waste your time with this!

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really funny. Wolff created a character in Tiffany that most single thirty something women can relate to. The situations in the novel were realistic, if a bit tediously episodic at times. Wolff has a good ear for dialogue, too. Some of the conversations between Tiffany and her friends about relationships really rung true (although there weren't any major insights, either). Each of the characters are distinct, although a few are underdeveloped - mostly because there were actually a few too many. It was nice to see a female character not totally lose track of her friends because she's completely consumed in her quest to land Mr. Right. Overall, the book is genuinely engaging and humourous.

On the downside, the book was a little on the slow side at times, and it was too long. I didn't see why Tiffany couldn't forget about Seriously Successful, either. The ending bothered me. I still found it better than Bridget Jones' Diary - unlike Bridget, I could definitely see myself reading this again. However, it didn't quite live up to it's potential enough to garner the fifth and final star.

[rebekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like chick lit, I am not afraid to say it, but I like chick lit that makes me laugh out loud and feel good about being single cuz someday I won't be. this book had potential, I mean the girls nickname is trotter's! Trots diarahea hahahahah right? No. No mention of that. anyway the most annoying thing about the book was the main charachter(Trotter's) kept saying things and then saying, "actually I didn't say that at all."It really annoyed the trots out of me. I read the whole thing anyway cuz i am really bored.

[Cecilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Isabel Wolff. By finishing this book, Ive read all of her novels. Let's just say that her writing improves...since
this, her first novel, was far from her best. If you try her, don't start with this one.

[Sherri Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I enjoyed the story overall, I felt the ending fell very flat considering the Tiffany character bemoans her "single" status throughout the entire book. I thought Kit was wonderful and found myself asking through the entire book as does everyone else, "Why didn't Tiffany marry Kit?"

[Joanne Rawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can honestly say I did not enjoy this book. I found the character Tiffany Trott, so annoying.
No wonder at thirty-seven she had not found a man, I really do not think that any man would touch her with a barge pole, to put it in a nutshell, a stuck up, posh git who did not have a kind word to say about any male.
Ok, yes all women like to make fun of men, its what we do, but after a while I didn’t find it funny, I just felt sorry for the male population out there, as it seems there must be some women like Tiffany, or why would the author write this garbage.
Sorry but this was a no, no book for me.

[Jess]

Terrible, horrible, no good chicklit.

[Sarah Clinch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull, poorly written.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un livre sans aucun intérêt.

[Babs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining chick lit novel tracing Tiffany Trott's journey through the "love jungle".

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this when it was first published and I must have enjoyed it enough to hold on to it for 25 years.

Reading is in 2023; it has NOT Held up to the test of time (and probably to my expectation of what a women in her late 30s would be like).

For starters, a whole book- nearly 400 pages, not like modern trash romances which are lucky to get 300 pages- to be centred around doing nothing but finding a husband? A horrible two dimensional idea of womanhood fitting of Jane Austin’s era, not a modern time. Were we really so single focused even in 1997? Her work barely gets a mention beyond repetitive comments made on dates (ah… the originality of men on dates… well that actually hasn’t changed). Being OBSESSED with a married man she’d met once is also so anti- empowerment.

While somethings haven’t changed- the dating world still sucks only now we pay less for it- overall it just doesn’t work anymore. And that’s hardly the author’s fault. But do agree with other comments made about the repetitive writing style (“actually I didn’t really say that”) being annoying. All in all, I was really glad to finish this and I certainly won’t be keeping it another 25 years.

[Khrys · Rating 1 out of 5]

You wanna read a book with NO story, purpose or substance? You wanna read a book that’s all about internalized misogyny, prejudice and bullshit? You wanna read a book that you’ll finish simply because you have obsessive thoughts that make you feel like you have to finish a book simply because you started it? Then this is the book for you. A woman that is shallow, superficial and many many other unpleasant negative adjectives is set out to find love but turns out she doesn’t actually want to settle down but judges men on the basis if they want / can settle down. I guess that counts as a spoiler but at the same time not because this book doesn’t have a story!!! It’s empty!! Just like all the characters. All horrible or strange women that seem to hate the fact that they are women, all the strange men that have the personality and character depth of a brick. Ridiculously bad.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was the first chicklit book I ever read . It's very interesting to see how life is change since it was right now ( imagine forgetting your mobile phone at home and not freaking out about it now days). I

t's also interesting to see how Isabel Wolff's style has changed since she wrote this!

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book when I felt like reading something simple, girly and funny — I got all of this! Definitely not the kind of book that will ever be called « classics » but who cares, sometimes we need this sort of literature that distracts from troubles and makes laugh. Just start and toss if you don’t like :)

[Mel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was awful - has not aged well and the message of the story is pretty much if you are manless and childless at 37 you are very much on the scrap heap of life . The constant “ actually I didn’t say that “ drove me mad . On finally getting to the end I wonder what the point in the story even was and really wish I’d not wasted my time on it .

[Shabz · Rating 1 out of 5]

second page and already we have the author telling us how women who are single are losers, and a bit about how education is worthless for a girl cause it won't attract men. and that's it. this is what the whole book is about.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. An easy, light romantic novel set in England. What’s not to love?!?

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not my edition.

[Vicky Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed & made me laugh out loud

[Αργυρώ (Ηρώ) Φουτζοπούλου · Rating 1 out of 5]

Κανονικά ούτε ένα δεν του άξιζε αλλά δεν ήθελα να το αφήσω κενό.

[Maarja · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re 30+ something single woman, you can actually relate with this book pretty well. 😃

[Rachel Klein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ce livre était ennuyeux. Je suis contente de l’avoir enfin Terminé.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. An older book (1997), and vaguely reminiscent of Bridget Jones Diary, in that it's basically about a woman desperately trying to find love.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very funny and entertaining. Tiffany Trott is similar to Bridget Jones without all the neurosis.

[Whitney Wynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull, hard to maintain enough interest to finish.

[Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned at 20%. Not for me

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of nothing and the way it just ends can be explained in one word...ugh

[Romantical Skeptic · Rating 3 out of 5]

*"h" for heroine, "H" for hero

Where have all the Good Men gone? That is the question we are faced with in The Trials of Tiffany Trott. And let me tell you, ladies, after reading the whole book, I JUST DON'T KNOW!!!!

So this is basically a Brit Sex in the City. I'm not going to do the regular He/She/Conflict summary for this one because the "she" is a late-thirties Everywoman (good-hearted, attractive, smart, wonderful, been hurt by love before) and the "he", like Mr. Big, is more of a concept than an actual person and anyway the story is a Scheherazade's tale of multiple He's. And the conflict is that there are just no Good Men out there.

Well-written, and sometimes rump-thumpingly hilarious. But you know, I was really exhausted about halfway in. It was just one bad date after another. Maybe the author was kind of representing the sheer desperation of the cause so that by the end of it we, like the h, wish she would just BLOODY FIND SOMEONE ALREADY.

“Better single than badly accompanied,” someone declares in the book. And you wince, dear Skeptic, because you know she's only saying that to be brave. The h doesn't really believe that and it's just sad.

The formula for these things is usually a variant of "the rule of threes" thing. One guy that's all wrong, one that's too "right" and one that seems wrong but is totally right. Maybe introduce another for some high jinks. But there must have been 15 in this one. And I can't tell from the kindle book, but is this book especially long? Also, could it be that I am just projecting? Was I emotionally too zapped by the thought of one of my deserving sisters out there looking and looking and just not finding that I put up walls? I will think carefully about the possibility.

The book ends in an interesting way. But instead of being piqued and intrigued, I was thinking ye gods, not AGAIN.

It was fun for what is was of course, but I often wonder about books and movies that show women as nothing more than almost-marrieds. It's as if she's just skirting through life waiting to get hitched. Surely there is a better way to live. Like if the h were to construct a life as if she were never going to get married, like she's the star of the show, and marriage becomes an awesome "bonus" and not her "entire life's purpose."

http://theromanticalskeptic.blogspot....

[Mandolin · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a string of failed relationships (including one with the philandering Philip and Laura-Ashley-wearing Alex), all Tiffany Trott wants to find is an "ok-looking-bordering-on-the-almost-acceptable" man who isn't afraid of commitment and doesn't play golf. Is that too much to ask? Well, yes, as Tiffany finds to her dismay. Despite the assitance of personal ads, singles events, Club Med vacations and introduction agencies, Tiffany can't seem to find men who aren't heartless, lecherous, stuck in adolescence or...worst of all...married! Thank God she has her friends' marital disasters and pregnancies to pull her attention away from her dismally single state and to help her avoid an entanglement with the one highly unsuitable man who has captured her fancy.


Disappointed is the nicest word I can use to describe my feelings about this book. Isabel Wolff is a talented writer, as she's proven in her most recent works (A Vintage Affair and The Very Picture of You.) Those works showcase her clever humor and witty dialogue. Unfortunately, although this book, her first published, has rough glimpses of those traits, they are overshadowed by the meandering plot and suboptimal characters. These faults are slightly redeemed by Tiffany's hilarious internal commentary (especially the things she would say but doesn't) and her oblivion to her faults (including her obsession with a most undesirable suitor). Too, Ms. Wolff ably captures the life of a single girl on the hunt, full of an equal mix of optimism and despondency. Though I was quickly wearied by the story, I read on doggedly to the end, sure that it would make up for the majority of the book. When I got to the last page, however, I was so upset by the non-ending and completely regretted the time I spent on it. So, unless you just want a laugh, I'd recommend skipping this book and reading Ms. Wolff's much more delightful and absorbing A Vintage Affair!