Nellcott Is My Darling

by Golda Fried

Alice Charles has just moved to Montreal to go to McGill University. She’s never had a boyfriend and doesn’t know how to do laundry. She joins the Film Society and hangs out in the library. She drifts away from boring Bethany, her best friend from high school, and starts to trail after Allegra, the caffeine-addicted, dish-throwing artist in the dorm room next to hers. And, most of all, she thinks about how she’s still a virgin and how she’ll never figure it all out. And then she meets Nellcott Ragland, a 23-year-old who works at Basement Records and wears black eyeliner, and he asks her on a date. Alice tries to hide out in the Film Society office. She spies on Nellcott at the record store. She gets advice from Walker, her filmmaking, womanizing friend from Toronto. But sooner or later her parents are going to visit and watch her cry. She won’t admit it to them, but Nellcott has become her darling.

Genres: Fiction, Literature

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 2001

About the author

Golda Fried is the author of the coming of age novel about a girl's first year away from home at McGill University "Nellcott is My Darling" that was nominated for a Governor General's Award in Canada in 2005 and is now in development. Follow here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NellcottisMy... or here on Twitter: @NellcottMovie. Read film reviews of her favorite movies at www.residuefilmreviews.blogspot.com and writes about writing at www.ificouldwritetoday.blogspot.com.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Other reviewers call this book artsy, beautiful, and simple. This may be one of those books where I "just don't get it." Told in a broken, jumpy style that was not for me, this novel follows Alice as she goes off to college and gets her first boyfriend, Nellcott. It's obvious to the reader and everyone around Alice that he's no good for her, yet she continues to see him.

Alice is a spineless, pathetic girl with no original thoughts except for the occasional whining. Her inner monologues are trite and boring, just like Alice. I am all for the introverted, unlikely hero, but this was just painful for me to read. And Nellcott was hardly fleshed out at all. I couldn't ever really see where he was coming from.

The only redeeming parts of this novel were the ones with Alice's parents. They were hilarious, and I wish they had been more prevalent in the novel. Hahaha, like when Alice's dad tells her that her mom got a dog to replace her. Or when he asks everyone at the table who had had sex to raise their hands and Alice's parents both raise their hands. Haha, those two scenes were awesome.

I wouldn't honestly recommend this book to anyone. Maybe it would bring some comfort to other people who are lonely or homesick in college, but probably not.

This book was sent to me for review by First Reads.

[Jessica Gibbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is seriously one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. The writing in it is even more gorgeous than the cover and I can not get over how much I honestly loved this book. This book follows Alice, a freshman in college who is really socially awkward and has social anxiety. I related so much to this character since I am about to go away to college and have no idea how to do anything, am socially awkward, love old films, and do not really know what I want to do in life yet. I also loved her relationship with Nellcott. As a reader you both love and hate this character so much. You see how much he means to her but also see how much of a horrible person he is. This creates a relationship that you both root for and cringe at throughout the book. This book is very realistic and simplistic and overall just such an amazingly beautiful book that I think everyone, especially younger college students, should read.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book for free from the Goodread's First Reads giveaway.

The writing style in this book is different than anything I have read. It contained short and choppy paragraphs that weren't very detailed. It was a very easy read though despite that and it still had a nice flow to it. It took me awhile to figure out if I hated or loved the writing style and in the end I really loved it! Oddly I also did not like very many of the characters at all, but I liked the story. I found Alice, the main character, do be very boring and devoid of a personality. She seemed to try and impress other people instead of worrying about what she wanted. I really despised Nellcott's character at times. He was very frustrating and annoying to me. Yet, even though I didn't like either main character I didn't want to put the book down. I couldn't wait to finish it. I'm not even sure why or how to explain my rating of a 4/5 when I feel so conflicted about this book. I do think my rating would of been higher if there was a better ending or a more conclusive one.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone! It may not be your cup of tea but it is always interesting to read different writing styles.

[Hannah Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. But I hated it at the same time.

The writing style was perfect for the story. Actually, the style MADE the story. It brought the characters to life for me, which is weird, but somehow the broken, non-descript, jumpy writing gave the book realism. It was easy to feel what Alice felt when it was presented plain and simple.

There was so much poetry in Fried's words, too. It was lovely.

It was sad and beautiful.

I'm not sure exactly what I hate about it so much, but as I was reading I felt an overwhelming annoyance. Maybe at the characters and the situations? But if I was so annoyed it's only because it was presented so perfectly and Fried succeeded in drawing me into the story. I don't really know. But I do know this: as soon as I finished I immediately wanted to start reading it all over again.

[Nathalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly gave this 3 stars at first when I read it a few months ago, and based entirely on the fact that I have not stopped thinking about it, I raised it up to 4 stars. Why am I still thinking about it? Probably because I can never explain to anyone enough how much Montreal is my #1 city love and how it is unfair that I cannot go anytime soon. Probably because this review of university life gave me nostalgia for a much simpler time. Finally, it is well written. It took me some time to realize this, but now, I realize that there are feelings of longing which have no resolve. This story reminded me of just that. It broke my heart when things ended so abruptly. I felt sad for Alice. I get it--finally, four months after finishing the book. I get it.

[Courtney Pigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if I'm biased because this is my creative writing teacher's book, but I really enjoyed the uniqueness of this book. It tells the story in a sort of nonchalant way that made it easy to read, but it was a little hard to follow at times.
The characters really popped and made the story come to life with their realistic and creative personalities. I particularly like the main character, because she was easy to relate to, and she reminded me a lot of myself.
I would suggest this book to anyone who wants to read something a little different than what they are used to.

[Mina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this around my own first year at McGill - the setting being the only reason I'd picked it up. I remember it as unsatisfying and melancholic, and I couldn't stand the fragmented narration. In retrospect I see that I was judging it as a sort of YA comfort read, which it is really not. Rather, it's a literary writing exercise with tediously young characters. Not bad on its own terms, but something you'd have to be in a very particular frame of mind to enjoy.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bittersweet story of first love told from the point of view of a reserved and naive Torontonian attending McGill University in the early '90s. The city truly becomes character in this well thought out little novel. Great for any young person about to embark on the adventure of living away from home for the first time or anyone whose feelings of love for Montreal haven't subsided.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I searched hard for this after it was on a Time Out Chicago "best of" list. Pretty good, but I think Better Than Running at Night is a much better example of the going-to-art-school-and-losing-your-virginity narrative.

[Sandraj · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the bad boyfriend story we all know and love. the one where he's so bad you can't resist and you tell yourself you can make everyone see how good he is. and they do somehow. but not before lots of strange things happen that you spend the rest of your life dwelling on.

[Susannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Fried has such a light touch, and the narrative was consistently peppered with unexpected bits of dialogue, character details (the characters were both familiar types and strikingly real individuals), and gentle literary flourishes.

File under "wish I had written it."

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

(thanks, Erika!)

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the shortlisted titles for the CLA Young Adult Book Award in 2006.

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those books I read because the cover looked cute and I was vaguely interested in Montreal. It was like reading a piss poor Arcade Fire song as a novel.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

More artsy, melodramatic, young adult college relationship stuff. Glad it was such a quick read. The book cover is beautiful. The actual book is just okay.

[Emily W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
Video review coming on my YouTube channel very soon!

[Laine Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming of age story that goes deep into the emotions and thoughts of a young woman searching...for herself and her true darling. Lovely, thoughtful, with a prose style worth savoring!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt many times while reading this book that Gold Fried was inside my head. Cool story with lots of cute references and SUPACUTE sentences.