Six Weeks

by Fred Mustard Stewart

Laugh and cry over the most poignant love story of them all--about a young enchantress with a short time to live and a lifetime of courage to give.

Genres: Fiction

202 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

American popular novelist, several of whose books were filmed.

Stewart came to be best known for his intercontinental sagas. Year in, year out, the 600-page mark didn't daunt him, a far cry as this was from early hopes as life as a concert pianist, something which had inspired his 1st novel The Mephisto Waltz (1968) which also began his lucrative connection with the film industry. Born in Anderson, IN, he was the son of a banker &, after the Lawrenceville school, near Princeton, NJ, he studied history at Princeton University & later piano at the Juilliard School in Manhattan. By the 1960s, he realised he wasn't going to succeed as a pianist & with marriage to a literary agent, Joan Richardson, in 1967, he began to write, & found immediate success with The Mephisto Waltz.

With The Methuselah Enzyme, Stewart showed wit, but it was clear that it wasn't Henry James. There was, however, a certain charm to Six Weeks (1976), told by a married aspirant for a Democratic senatorial nomination who becomes infatuated with a cold-cream heiress, largely at the behest of her 11-year-old, would-be nymphet daughter who, beset by cancer, has less than two months to live. Nabokov it isn't, but certainly better than the 1982 film with Dudley Moore & Mary Tyler Moore.

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is yet another example of memory jog about books that I read decades ago and had forgotten about. I read this book in 1982 after seeing the Dudley Moore movie that was inspired from it. It is sentimental schlock, and the one firm memory I retain from it is thinking that it was much worse than the movie. Roger Ebert named Six Weeks one of the worst movies of 1982, which gives some perspective as to how bad the book is.

[Natasha Castillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta novela estuvo en mi estantería durante dos años, llego allí por una especie de ayuda que me querían dar, bien ni lo tome en cuenta en el tiempo que necesitaba 'ayuda'. Luego este libro genero otro recuerdo que fue el fallecimiento de un ser querido que también lo había leído y blablabla... En fin, el punto es que no me interese en el libro porque pensar en leerlo seria el fin de muchas cosas, y me traían tristes recuerdos, y bueno no espero nunca eso en una lectura.

Estos días no tuve nada 'ligero' que leer y me dedique a ver mi estantería y pues estaba ahí el libro 'haciéndome ojitos' y por fin lo tome y poco a poco lo fui leyendo.

Todo comienza con el congresista Bill Dalton, el cual quiere llegar al Senado, y por ser muy divertido y diferente a los demás se hace la admiración de una pequeña de tan sólo de 11 años. Sin embargo sólo le quedan seis semanas de vida y ha elegido a Bill para que cuide a su madre (Charlotte), después de su muerte, la cual es una de las más millonarias de NY, aunque podría dañar su imagen y no poder llegar al Senado.

En general la novela es muy normal, no me genero ningún tipo de emociones mas que una pequeña molestia por algunas malcriadeces que podía tener Nicky y algunas cosas mas irrelevantes en el trama.

Creo que pude haber leído esta novela hace mucho, pero bueno que va, es ligera y va bien para pasar el rato. No mas queda con una especie de trauma pre-lectura, que luego se toma como un chiste.

[Cindy Griffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked Six Weeks up at a library sale. The characters were not believable and the story seemed to go nowhere. The book is filled with tragedy, but these tragedies were treated as if they were simply a bump in the road to each character s own selfish desires. While I was interested in the premise of the book, I found it very disappointing.

[Bronwyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

it,s a good book and will make you laugh and cry

[Natalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insatisfactorio.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a movie I loved as a kid with Mary Tyler Moore as Charlotte Dryfus and Dudley Moore as Bill Dalton. It was a shmaltzy movie but I loved it nevertheless. It seemed like the right season to read the book because I remember in the movie it was right around Christmas time and they do all the seasonal NYC things - skating at Rockefeller Center, seeing the Nutcracker, taking a horse drawn carriage around Central Park - all the things. Of course in the book this doesn’t happen. Instead of going to NYC they go to San Francisco. The book had some other key differences too. For one, Charlotte and Bill have an affair whereas in the movie they decide not to. Secondly, Nicky does not know she is dying in the book until the very last chapters. In the movie she is in her third relapse of leukemia and has decided to forgo any more treatment. In both the film and the novel, Nicky has no symptoms at all, but in the movie she knows she only has six weeks to live and is trying to fulfill a bucket list of sorts.

This book was written in 1974 and to say it’s cringey at certain points is an understatement. Nicky is over-sexualized both in her own statements and how others see her. There was a little of that in the film but it had been toned down quite a bit from the novel. Overall the book and the film are far from award winning but in my opinion, the movie was better than the book which is rarely the case!

There’s a movie review in the New York Times from December, 1982 that I found amusing after reading this book. It makes me want to rewatch this movie during the holiday season for sure!

[Frank Lanzillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short book I had picked up somewhere I don’t even remember where. It made me feel sad for the basic story line is tragic but the main characters are easy to like and you just want things to work out! Regardless of how you interpret it I have done so in a way I want it to end.
Glad I picked it up!!

[José Juan · Rating 3 out of 5]

lo senti como una de esas pelis domingeras que te ves y quedas satisfecho pero tampoco tendras muchos recuerdos de ella, es un libro bastante ligero un poco pesado en partes si la politica no te gusta pero que es entretenido y hasta chistoso, bonita experiencia la verdad.

[Palou Duran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro yo ya había intentado leerlo y no pasé de la página 50 y ahora, esta segunda vez dándole 4 estrellas SÓLIDAS me hace reforzar mi idea de que los libros tienen que llegar en el momento correcto de tu vida y si el mismo libro no te siente listo, te frena de leerlo.

[Heidi Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fast read, an okay story. However, too much vulgarity in 1976 for an 11 year old and too much profanity for my taste. Adultery not my thing either.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para mí este ha sido uno de los mejores libros que he leído, hay una mezcla de partes cómicas con partes de tristeza y con partes de amor.

[Maritza Campos · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I have ever read in my entire life. Also, extremely creepy and inappropiate. Just threw it into the trash.

[Domenico Curciarello · Rating 3 out of 5]

la storia sarà anche poco credibile, ma mi ha fatto pensare riguardo come certe relazioni possano essere completamente condizionate dall’esterno, per il resto un libro carino

[Máximo Galarza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historia con principio y fin obtuso. Pero hermosa.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty predictable, characters not believable--read it during a slow time at work--better than sitting starring into space I guess

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A married man falls in love with a woman whose son is dying.

[Agustina · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will laugh and cry at the same time reading this book. Happy and sad at the same time.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read for such a heavy topic.

[☯Lilbookworm☮ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, distasteful book.

[Dante Loza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi primer libro leído excelente para jóvenes

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

HB-B @ 1976, 9/85. An eleven year old girl has six weeks to live and changes many peoples lives around her. Okay.