Almost Perfect

by Alice Adams

Punctured by frequent fights and impassioned reconciliations, Stella and Richard's love affair threatens to rupture under the force of a dark secret, in a novel chosen by The New York Times as a Notable Book of 1993. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Alice Adams was an American novelist, short story writer, academic and university professor.

She was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia and attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1946. She married, and had a child, but her marriage broke up, and she spent several years as a single mother, working as a secretary. Her psychiatrist told her to give up writing and get remarried; instead she published her first novel, Careless Love (1966), and a few years later she published her first short story in The New Yorker. She wrote many novels but she's best known for her short stories, in collections such as After You've Gone (1989) and The Last Lovely City (1999).

She won numerous awards including the O. Henry Award, and Best American Short Stories Award.

Reviews

[Denise Hlavka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read Alice Adams but ran across several of her books at the library. In parts this was a fascinating character study of narcissistic personalities, and in parts very engaging. Often the writing seemed similar to Joan Didion, but that would be a stretch. Stella and Richard love each other to obsession that then becomes habit and dependence. The plot waivers with too many incidental characters, but was overall pretty interesting.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like I should be embarrassed that I loved this book so much. But I'm not. It's sheer delight - a cast of overly dramatic characters, and a plot line filled with love triangles, cheating, disease, and murder. I relished every moment.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suspect Ms. Adams may have been binge-reading Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin when she decided to write Almost Perfect. Colorful Characters, mostly centered in San Francisco, unruly sex lives, everything it takes to make a really quirky story. It was a wild fast coaster ride.

[Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I really liked Second Chances by this author. I liked this one less but it was still pretty good. The character development in Second Chances seemed richer than in this book. But it was still an enjoyable read.

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really stupid book that never quite got to the point, and a really stupid ending.

[Tracey Wear · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a waste of the English language.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

***4.5 stars***

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book

[Jasmine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was at one of the smaller regional library branches to pick up a book that was on hold and decided to look for a few more as I have been reading quite a bit lately. After not finding a few that I had in my head I decided to head into the stacks and just pick up a few books. This was one of them. The setting of San Francisco during the late 80's, has the author replaying all of the cliché situations of the day: gay men, the AIDS epidemic, the straight older woman who surrounds herself with young gay men, etc. I found the characters to be somewhat shallow making it a little hard to feel sympathy or empathy for them.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first library download for my Kindle. The list of available books is chockablock with best sellers and genre series, so I grab at anything that doesn't look like that. Alice Adams rang a faint bell. I almost threw in the towel in the beginning, the writing was so lackluster, so Redbookish. But now in the middle I got hooked into the story. Too bad, the ending was not impressive.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in a couple of nights. Compulsively readable story about a couple who have their ups and downs. Richard is a successful artist/designer and Stella is a newspaper reporter. Her star is on the rise and his is on the ebb. Set in San Francisco in the early days of the AIDS scare.

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

The authors prolific use of parentheses drove me to distraction. Still the book barely held my attention; that is I actually finished it. Wish the author gave more insight into Stella's character. Was completely entertained by Richard's self portrait.

[Amy F. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really thought I was reading Alice Munro for a while, then realized I got Alice Adams by mistake. Whoever she is. Oops.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't remember why I read this book; don't remember anything about it, positive, negative, neutral.

[PM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Adams work but this was minor stuff for her.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

If what Richard and Stella had was love, I'll live without, thank you very much!

[Maryellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've read one Alice Adams book, you probably found it enjoyable. If you've read three, you've read two too many. Truth.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not outstanding but some interesting twists

[Kathi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shouldn't even have listed it as read, since I was bored to tears and just stopped after page 89

[Abeer ElAshkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

almost boring