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Karlmarx.com
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- GenresFiction
255 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
26 people want to read
About the author
Susan Coll
10 books153 followersSusan Coll is part of the events team at Politics and Prose bookstore, and the president of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. She is the author of the forthcoming Bookish People (Aug. 2022), as well as The Stager, Beach Week, Acceptance, Rockville Pike, and karlmarx.com. A television adaptation of Acceptance, starring Joan Cusack, aired in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 5, 2016
I give any book that managed to get published a star automatically. If I can't finish it I might give it 2 stars based on the premise that it has some kind of value that I just didn't get. I began this book last night and stopped at at page 45. I was having my doubts up to that point but the writing was just barely interesting enough, especially in the Prologue, to keep me interested. Then I ran into this atrocity:
"We spent every night together for two weeks, shifting to the more civilized environs of my apartment. Although we shared an easy physical intimacy, I progressed very little on the information gathering front. I was prepared to devour this man whole. I wanted to hear about his childhood in England and about his favorite teacher and about his first kiss. I wanted to know the history of the small scar on the milky side of his arm. But he seemed reluctant to answer personal questions, and my random sleuthing revealed only that his clothes were mostly from Marks and Spencer; he carried no wallet, but only a bit of loose change and crumpled bills in his pocket; he appeared to have had no dental work whatsoever(in marked contrast to my own multiple crowns and painful root canals); and his underarms smelled deliciously musky."
What the bleeping bleep is that??? Naked, unadulterated, purest, pluperfect shite... Our hero(ine) is a thirty-something, over-educated, under-motivated, "not unlovely" adult child who falls in love with Nigel(!!!) at first chance nano-glance and within a few hours is sleeping with him. He is 1)a smoker who continues to light up in a DC restaurant even after he's been told not to. Is there something charming or interesting about that?; 2)married(says it's over)and still wearing a wedding band; 3)the bearer of a rain phobia acquired from time spent in ornithological research on Bowerbirds in tropical regions(sounds a bit like "The Lady Eve" to me); and 4)a man who declares his possible love on the basis of a stranger's having a cat named Eeyore. Ladies, beware of Brits named Nigel: wankers all. Conclusions? I say they are both idiots and any book about them is not worth the paper it's written upon unless maybe it's written by someone more talented than SC. Death to the promotion of childish codependency myths for profit. For anyone looking for sanity in this area try out Pia Mellody's stuff on love addiction. This book kind of reminds me of "Isn't It Romantic" but more offensive.
- BTW, Ms. Coll is the wife of better-known and just plain better writer Steve Coll.
"We spent every night together for two weeks, shifting to the more civilized environs of my apartment. Although we shared an easy physical intimacy, I progressed very little on the information gathering front. I was prepared to devour this man whole. I wanted to hear about his childhood in England and about his favorite teacher and about his first kiss. I wanted to know the history of the small scar on the milky side of his arm. But he seemed reluctant to answer personal questions, and my random sleuthing revealed only that his clothes were mostly from Marks and Spencer; he carried no wallet, but only a bit of loose change and crumpled bills in his pocket; he appeared to have had no dental work whatsoever(in marked contrast to my own multiple crowns and painful root canals); and his underarms smelled deliciously musky."
What the bleeping bleep is that??? Naked, unadulterated, purest, pluperfect shite... Our hero(ine) is a thirty-something, over-educated, under-motivated, "not unlovely" adult child who falls in love with Nigel(!!!) at first chance nano-glance and within a few hours is sleeping with him. He is 1)a smoker who continues to light up in a DC restaurant even after he's been told not to. Is there something charming or interesting about that?; 2)married(says it's over)and still wearing a wedding band; 3)the bearer of a rain phobia acquired from time spent in ornithological research on Bowerbirds in tropical regions(sounds a bit like "The Lady Eve" to me); and 4)a man who declares his possible love on the basis of a stranger's having a cat named Eeyore. Ladies, beware of Brits named Nigel: wankers all. Conclusions? I say they are both idiots and any book about them is not worth the paper it's written upon unless maybe it's written by someone more talented than SC. Death to the promotion of childish codependency myths for profit. For anyone looking for sanity in this area try out Pia Mellody's stuff on love addiction. This book kind of reminds me of "Isn't It Romantic" but more offensive.
- BTW, Ms. Coll is the wife of better-known and just plain better writer Steve Coll.
April 27, 2021
De Nederlandse vertaling staat vol taalfouten
September 20, 2022
Ich hatte mir das Buch gekauft mit dem Ansatz den Marxismus im Zusammenhang zu den zeitlichen Gegebenheiten besser verstehen zu können. Leider war das Buch dafür überhaupt nicht geeignet. Der Schreibstil war einfach und ich persönlich fand die Haupcharakterin sehr lebendig dargestellt. Dennoch war sie mir konstant zu weinerlich und ihre Vergleiche von sich zu Eleonore Marx waren meiner Meinung nach unpassend. Am Ende hat sich mir auch die Frage gestellt, was genau an Ihrer geschriebenen Doktorarbeit über Eleonore Fiktion und was Fakt ist.
January 9, 2011
I just couldn't get into this book at all. The characters are very one dimensional and unrelatable...
May 22, 2013
a complete waste of time. neurotic character, but not amusing. not much plot (even less that I was expecting). stopped on p. 158, should have stopped on page 8.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews