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White Palace
An urban tale of love against the odds, in which Max, an upwardly mobile copywriter and Nora, a 40 year-old waitress from the wrong side of town, become embroiled in a torrid affair.
341 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
January 21, 2016
Yes, that "White Palace", the movie with James Spader and Susan Sarandon. But this is the book. And it's one of my top ten faves. Ever. One of the most beautiful, thoughtful, smart and sexy love stories. It influenced me as both a reader and a writer.
"Find out who's important to you, and act accordingly."
"Find out who's important to you, and act accordingly."
October 12, 2025
“He'd been obsessed for so long with Nora's unfitness for him that he'd failed to see that she might be perfectly suited to somebody else.”
― Glenn Savan, White Palace
Max and Nora could not be more different. He is a preppy, somewhat judgmental yuppie who has lost his wife to tragic circumstances. She is a tough talking, sassy, rough around the edges food server from the wrong side of the tracks.And is is much older then Max.
These two people strike up a conversation in a bar. Their subsequent relationship and romance is the subject of the book. Can two people who appear to have virtually nothing in common..make a go of it?
This is not your typical romance novel and in some ways I would not call it a romance novel at all. It is so much more then that. How Max and Nora change and grow was fascinating to read. Nora is a great character, so real it is tough to believe this is fiction. She has a wild sense of humor that often left me laughing out loud. Max, although he starts off as s stuff know it all changes alot. Does this somewhat wacky couple buck the odds and make their relationship work? That's not going to be given away by me. This is literary fiction at its best and this was also a movie starring Susan Sarandon that actually was not half bad.
― Glenn Savan, White Palace
Max and Nora could not be more different. He is a preppy, somewhat judgmental yuppie who has lost his wife to tragic circumstances. She is a tough talking, sassy, rough around the edges food server from the wrong side of the tracks.And is is much older then Max.
These two people strike up a conversation in a bar. Their subsequent relationship and romance is the subject of the book. Can two people who appear to have virtually nothing in common..make a go of it?
This is not your typical romance novel and in some ways I would not call it a romance novel at all. It is so much more then that. How Max and Nora change and grow was fascinating to read. Nora is a great character, so real it is tough to believe this is fiction. She has a wild sense of humor that often left me laughing out loud. Max, although he starts off as s stuff know it all changes alot. Does this somewhat wacky couple buck the odds and make their relationship work? That's not going to be given away by me. This is literary fiction at its best and this was also a movie starring Susan Sarandon that actually was not half bad.
August 31, 2015
I wish this book is more available today on Kindle, etc. It's one of the best love stories I've read, and understandably, was made into major movie, which was also quite good (even with some changes).
On the surface, it's low and racy. Well, if we are to discuss romantic love honestly, we cannot avoid talking about sex. This novel dares to walk on that thin line between rawness and bareness.
The unfavorable reviews on this novel reminds me the famous quote by Oscar Wilde:
The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.
P.S. I read the author's second novel, Goldman's Anatomy, too. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as White Palace -- imho it lost the balance between that rawness and bareness.
On the surface, it's low and racy. Well, if we are to discuss romantic love honestly, we cannot avoid talking about sex. This novel dares to walk on that thin line between rawness and bareness.
The unfavorable reviews on this novel reminds me the famous quote by Oscar Wilde:
The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.
P.S. I read the author's second novel, Goldman's Anatomy, too. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as White Palace -- imho it lost the balance between that rawness and bareness.
June 21, 2013
The novel is better than the 1990 movie with Susan Sarandon and James Spader.
White Palace tells story of a mismatched couple set in the early 1980's. The novel is unique inasmuch as it's a literary romance told from the male character's point of view. It's troubling. It's fun. It's well-written.
Author Glenn Savan died in 2003 at the age of 49 after suffering multiple maladies throughout his adult life. It would have been interesting to see what else he would have come up with had he been able to write more and longer.
White Palace tells story of a mismatched couple set in the early 1980's. The novel is unique inasmuch as it's a literary romance told from the male character's point of view. It's troubling. It's fun. It's well-written.
Author Glenn Savan died in 2003 at the age of 49 after suffering multiple maladies throughout his adult life. It would have been interesting to see what else he would have come up with had he been able to write more and longer.
January 17, 2015
i almost want to give this five star, but i'll go with four and a secret half. not only am i also a jew(ish) advertising writer from the same part of st. louis he talks about, i also worked with this guy for like a week when i was a pup of an intern. i remember one of my old girlfriends reading this over and over. oh, if you have any doubt...of course, white palace is white castle. hmm, i should read this again soon.
April 29, 2008
Loved the book -- great Story -- I really wish they hadn't made the movie they made - because it's all wrong. The movie isn't BAD but it isn't a good "book report" on what is going on in the book.
You know I think I could read this book again 18 years later and see if I still like it as much.
You know I think I could read this book again 18 years later and see if I still like it as much.
July 26, 2019
Hands down, best book I've ever read. Honestly, Glenn Savan was one of the most intelligent--and underrated--writers I've ever had the pleasure of reading when indulging in fiction.
June 6, 2011
I liked this book. I saw the film on television some time ago and then purchased the book a couple of months ago. I love the descriptive tone. The film doesn't do this great story much justice with its ending. I recommend this to anyone who likes "rooting for the underdog"
February 5, 2016
"So, AR, will I like this book? Is this the book for me?" Ah, gentle reader - allow me to advise. Have you recently read anything with Stepbrother and the title and just "omg melted into a puddle of goo?" If you said yes to this question just move along. Do you 5 star books with heroes that have 6 packs? 8 packs? Names that belong to exotic birds and men on soap operas? Again - this is not your book, and I am not your reviewer.
But if you're here for the words, the imagery, the magic of being transported some place other then this is the book for you.
I could tell you about the story - Max is a wound up weirdo who meets white trash Nora - but it doesn't matter. In White Palace what matters are the sentences. The paragraphs. The phrases that make you murmur "goddamn" right before you set your book down and stare off into space. Maybe you'll pick it up and read that line again. 3 times. 4. Bc yeah - this kind of writing doesn't come along very often.
The book is grimy. Dirty. Sordid. And deliciously 80s. The 80s-ist thing I've ever read. There were moments I wanted to shower. Wash my hands. Sniff some Lysol. And there were more than a few moments when I wanted a tiny, greasy, grey, square burger. Better yet a sack of them. With their meaty stench.
If you're not about the story. Not about the hero. Not about the romance. But if above everything you're about the words - this is the book for you.
But if you're here for the words, the imagery, the magic of being transported some place other then this is the book for you.
I could tell you about the story - Max is a wound up weirdo who meets white trash Nora - but it doesn't matter. In White Palace what matters are the sentences. The paragraphs. The phrases that make you murmur "goddamn" right before you set your book down and stare off into space. Maybe you'll pick it up and read that line again. 3 times. 4. Bc yeah - this kind of writing doesn't come along very often.
The book is grimy. Dirty. Sordid. And deliciously 80s. The 80s-ist thing I've ever read. There were moments I wanted to shower. Wash my hands. Sniff some Lysol. And there were more than a few moments when I wanted a tiny, greasy, grey, square burger. Better yet a sack of them. With their meaty stench.
If you're not about the story. Not about the hero. Not about the romance. But if above everything you're about the words - this is the book for you.
October 14, 2008
A fascinating read--very different from the movie (which I saw after I read the book). A story of opposites and human concerns and realities.
I read this because Glenn was one of my writing teachers in college--and who can resist reading something that someone they knew wrote. This was what I expected from him. His characters are not heroes or anti-heroes; they are people, flawed as all of us are.
The ending should come as no surprise.
I read this because Glenn was one of my writing teachers in college--and who can resist reading something that someone they knew wrote. This was what I expected from him. His characters are not heroes or anti-heroes; they are people, flawed as all of us are.
The ending should come as no surprise.
Read
April 27, 2016Max Baron is a 27-year-old widower from the nouveau riche side of the tracks. Nora Cromwell is a 41-year-old fast-food waitress from Dogtown. He has bourgie tastes; she is a philistine. She’s an alcoholic firecracker slob; he’s a tightly wound neat freak. Before long the two are coupling on the lawn.
I read this book after having seen the movie. In the film, Susan Sarandon plays Nora. Nora is supposed to be blowsy, frowsy, unrefined. Put Susan Sarandon in all the bad make-up and mustard-colored denim you want, she’ll always turn up elegant. What’s compelling about Nora’s character is that she’s unattractive with allure, and that doesn’t come across in the film. Susan Sarandon’s Nora is like Audrey Hepburn’s Eliza Doolittle; all it’d take is a costume change to make an easy starlet of her.
Max has the baggage you’d suspect. He describes Nora’s “soft belly” and hamburger cologne with desire and repulsion. He is ashamed of Nora because he fears her reception among his family and peers. Nora is equally unnerved that they’re unevenly yoked. They find each other's class and gender to be suspect. Together they are a pair of undertows.
The movie is definitely a romdram; Sarandon and Spader had chemistry and that made the romance fun. I found the book to be more brainy and less swoony. Max and Nora are conflicted. Their desire is off the charts and yet they both feel weirded out. Questions raised: What distinguishes desire from love? What draws two people together (e.g., fate, practicality, synchronicity, etc)?
I read this book after having seen the movie. In the film, Susan Sarandon plays Nora. Nora is supposed to be blowsy, frowsy, unrefined. Put Susan Sarandon in all the bad make-up and mustard-colored denim you want, she’ll always turn up elegant. What’s compelling about Nora’s character is that she’s unattractive with allure, and that doesn’t come across in the film. Susan Sarandon’s Nora is like Audrey Hepburn’s Eliza Doolittle; all it’d take is a costume change to make an easy starlet of her.
Max has the baggage you’d suspect. He describes Nora’s “soft belly” and hamburger cologne with desire and repulsion. He is ashamed of Nora because he fears her reception among his family and peers. Nora is equally unnerved that they’re unevenly yoked. They find each other's class and gender to be suspect. Together they are a pair of undertows.
The movie is definitely a romdram; Sarandon and Spader had chemistry and that made the romance fun. I found the book to be more brainy and less swoony. Max and Nora are conflicted. Their desire is off the charts and yet they both feel weirded out. Questions raised: What distinguishes desire from love? What draws two people together (e.g., fate, practicality, synchronicity, etc)?
January 26, 2019
It's quite possible that the movie ruined any chances of a non-biased opinion on this book, being that it is one of my very favorite films. I was rather surprised this was made into a film in the first place, because I didn't find the writing particularly good, and the descriptions of her, shall we say, voluptuous figure were off-putting to say the least.
Where the film excels over the book most is how Max falls for Nora in the first place--call it brilliant acting, or primo casting or whatever, but I believed it wholeheartedly. Not so much with the book, I was questioning how these mismatched people found enough common ground to build the story into what it is. I just didn't believe it. Perhaps that is what I mean by the writing.
Just like The Hunger by Whitley Streiber, the book almost pissed me off because it was so different from the film, so much LESS.
Where the film excels over the book most is how Max falls for Nora in the first place--call it brilliant acting, or primo casting or whatever, but I believed it wholeheartedly. Not so much with the book, I was questioning how these mismatched people found enough common ground to build the story into what it is. I just didn't believe it. Perhaps that is what I mean by the writing.
Just like The Hunger by Whitley Streiber, the book almost pissed me off because it was so different from the film, so much LESS.
January 2, 2024
DNF 33%
September 3, 2024
très addictif
mais on sent bcp trop le male gaze, les propos misogynes (même raciste et homophobe de Nora) ont failli me faire lâcher le livre
mais on sent bcp trop le male gaze, les propos misogynes (même raciste et homophobe de Nora) ont failli me faire lâcher le livre
December 13, 2025
i could not put this down and finished the entire thing in one day which i havent done with a book since childhood..am i so back???
March 3, 2019
About the author: Glenn Savan lived here in St. Louis in a modest community that pretty much sits on the demarcation of the county and city. Like a lot of first time novelists, he set his book among the same familiar streets, and municipalities where he grew up. There really is a part of the city named “Dogtown,” and even the ‘hoosier’ bar featured early is still standing. It’s reportedly just as seedy as it was in the 1980’s. (As a side note: to this day, ‘hoosier’ is still the local synonym of choice for ‘redneck’. And while not unique to St. Louis, if you’ve never been to one, White Palace is most definitely the stand-in name for umm.. a unique fast food chain known for their peculiar-tasting and greasy burgers, White Castles.)
Savan’s writing style is very conversational, but still very insightful, and he doesn’t employ any polysyllabic 10-cent words. So unlike DFW, no one will need a dictionary on standby.
After getting his MFA at The University of of Iowa in 1982, he went to work for his father’s ad agency and after an undetermined number of years, he did what many of us unpublished writer types fantasize about, but lack the guts to actually do. He quit his ad agency job, and started waiting tables while he wrote his book over a period of three years. Maybe he had the safety net of going back to his add agency job if he failed, maybe he didn’t. I like to think he pulled a full-on Evil Knievel sans net.
Either way, he took a leap of faith to pursue his dream, and he might have known the ropes of getting published, had a connection, or lucked into finding a genuine agent. Most likely he didn’t. He almost certainly received a sizable stack of rejection letters before Bantam Books finally published him as their very first novel of contemporary fiction in 1987.
He’s a Cinderella story for some of us aspiring writers. From that risky leap of faith, his very first novel didn’t just garner a few unnoticed, but hopeful reviews. It became a best seller, and it didn’t end there. The movie rights were purchased, he and another movie studio type co-wrote the screenplay, and the movie of the same name was released in 1993 starring Susan Sarandon and James Spader.
The thing I find amazing is that the screenplay omitted very little of the book. It did not simplify the characters or plot. It didn’t force it into the latest, sappy RomCom mold. Even the dialogue was left mostly intact. What author could ask for more, much less one with only one book under his belt?
I was, and continue to be, really inspired by this guy. His characters are beautifully imagined. Nora doesn’t suffer as much of the same variety of criticism that a lot of established male writers get, that they’ve gotten something fundamentally wrong with their female characters, or most frequently, of course, their female characters are accused of being over-simplified, and one dimensional.
I’ll say two things in Savan’s defense. First of all, his character Nora is written so well, she’s so completely human and affecting, that after reading the book, it’s as if you’ve known her for a few years. You’ve met her somewhere. Second, speaking for myself (and probably for Savan, too) it may be terrible excuse, but perhaps if we understood women a little more, if they weren’t so complex, distractingly beautiful and consequently so much of a mystery to us... Anyway, he received a small amount of criticism about Nora. It’s unfair, all things considered. Such is life.
Mr. Savan wrote “Goldman’s Anatomy” and it was published in 1993 to critical praise. He ended up teaching Creative Writing at a local university while working on a third novel. And then he died at the very young age of 49 in 2003.
Savan’s writing style is very conversational, but still very insightful, and he doesn’t employ any polysyllabic 10-cent words. So unlike DFW, no one will need a dictionary on standby.
After getting his MFA at The University of of Iowa in 1982, he went to work for his father’s ad agency and after an undetermined number of years, he did what many of us unpublished writer types fantasize about, but lack the guts to actually do. He quit his ad agency job, and started waiting tables while he wrote his book over a period of three years. Maybe he had the safety net of going back to his add agency job if he failed, maybe he didn’t. I like to think he pulled a full-on Evil Knievel sans net.
Either way, he took a leap of faith to pursue his dream, and he might have known the ropes of getting published, had a connection, or lucked into finding a genuine agent. Most likely he didn’t. He almost certainly received a sizable stack of rejection letters before Bantam Books finally published him as their very first novel of contemporary fiction in 1987.
He’s a Cinderella story for some of us aspiring writers. From that risky leap of faith, his very first novel didn’t just garner a few unnoticed, but hopeful reviews. It became a best seller, and it didn’t end there. The movie rights were purchased, he and another movie studio type co-wrote the screenplay, and the movie of the same name was released in 1993 starring Susan Sarandon and James Spader.
The thing I find amazing is that the screenplay omitted very little of the book. It did not simplify the characters or plot. It didn’t force it into the latest, sappy RomCom mold. Even the dialogue was left mostly intact. What author could ask for more, much less one with only one book under his belt?
I was, and continue to be, really inspired by this guy. His characters are beautifully imagined. Nora doesn’t suffer as much of the same variety of criticism that a lot of established male writers get, that they’ve gotten something fundamentally wrong with their female characters, or most frequently, of course, their female characters are accused of being over-simplified, and one dimensional.
I’ll say two things in Savan’s defense. First of all, his character Nora is written so well, she’s so completely human and affecting, that after reading the book, it’s as if you’ve known her for a few years. You’ve met her somewhere. Second, speaking for myself (and probably for Savan, too) it may be terrible excuse, but perhaps if we understood women a little more, if they weren’t so complex, distractingly beautiful and consequently so much of a mystery to us... Anyway, he received a small amount of criticism about Nora. It’s unfair, all things considered. Such is life.
Mr. Savan wrote “Goldman’s Anatomy” and it was published in 1993 to critical praise. He ended up teaching Creative Writing at a local university while working on a third novel. And then he died at the very young age of 49 in 2003.
January 24, 2020
White Palace is set in St. Louis. I am a sucker for anything set in the St. Louis area, or even for anything that mentions St. Louis. When Tom Waits drops "St. Louis got the best of me" in Hold On, or when they stop through Union Station in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and John Candy sells the shower curtain hoops as earrings, or even when a national ad campaign name-dropping middle America flies over an image of the arch for a half a second: I'm in, instant focus.
It's some inferiority complex, some worry about being from a place where "there's not there there," as Gertrude Stein would say. So to see there referenced draws a discernible line and shape around my past.
Most of the time, the lines are drawn around St. Louis as a place to pass through. That is the whole point of the monument, and it's physically created into that space through the city's various infrastructural moments: the river in the 19th and early 20th century culture, the wholesale of the city for a string of INTERstates and the TWA hub Lambert in the mid 20th century, literal flyover country serving as a flashpoint for temporary cultural conflicts and thinkpieces today.
So White Palace isn't about passing through. White Palace is all rootedness, the hauntingness of the dead in our homes. I'm not making any arguments that White Palace does anything new, but it does something new for me: it draws a shape around home, populating the pages with spurs of place drifting off and around highway 40. I was entranced.
Spoiler: We leave home.
Spoiler: St. Louis is a hot, slow ecosystem in the husk of its former self.
Spoiler: The country's rustbasket calcifies race and class lines like nowhere else in the country.
On a sidenote, I really dislike that the relationship's foundation is on violence. If I hadn't seen the film and known that was coming, I think I would've put the book down at that point. But something about the 80's.
I flew through this. I also put on my Spotify Playlist "Bruce Springsteen Feels" as I read through the last 50 pages, which I recommend highly.
It's some inferiority complex, some worry about being from a place where "there's not there there," as Gertrude Stein would say. So to see there referenced draws a discernible line and shape around my past.
Most of the time, the lines are drawn around St. Louis as a place to pass through. That is the whole point of the monument, and it's physically created into that space through the city's various infrastructural moments: the river in the 19th and early 20th century culture, the wholesale of the city for a string of INTERstates and the TWA hub Lambert in the mid 20th century, literal flyover country serving as a flashpoint for temporary cultural conflicts and thinkpieces today.
So White Palace isn't about passing through. White Palace is all rootedness, the hauntingness of the dead in our homes. I'm not making any arguments that White Palace does anything new, but it does something new for me: it draws a shape around home, populating the pages with spurs of place drifting off and around highway 40. I was entranced.
Spoiler: We leave home.
Spoiler: St. Louis is a hot, slow ecosystem in the husk of its former self.
Spoiler: The country's rustbasket calcifies race and class lines like nowhere else in the country.
On a sidenote, I really dislike that the relationship's foundation is on violence. If I hadn't seen the film and known that was coming, I think I would've put the book down at that point. But something about the 80's.
I flew through this. I also put on my Spotify Playlist "Bruce Springsteen Feels" as I read through the last 50 pages, which I recommend highly.
February 11, 2020
I re-read this book last night for the umpteenth time. It is one of my all time favorite novels. What draws me in every single time is the simple beauty of the prose and the compassion with which the author treats all of his flawed characters. I also love the fact that the characters do find redemption of sorts. I love Max and Nora.
March 31, 2010
I waver between one and two stars for this one. On the one hand, I couldn't put it down, but on the other, there were a lot of jarring and almost cheap moments that verged on misogyny. I don't think those moments were intentional, which actually makes them more unsettling. The character of Nora is always described in the most unflattering terms, and until the very end it's made clear that she's not good enough for Max (because she's older and poor and uneducated and has had a hard life, all of which are circumstances beyond her control). While her coarseness serves as an aphrodisiac for Max, it also situates him as superior to her, and he never really learns anything--I have a feeling we're meant to believe that he does, but that's so sloppily implied that I don't buy it. So I guess, actually, I kind of hated this book and its entire tone of white male chauvinism, but it was oddly compelling, so two stars it is. I wouldn't recommend it to any of my female friends, though. It really is pretty offensive. The movie version, while soapy to the extreme, is much better.
October 2, 2007
I read White Palace years ago when I was much younger and it seemed so very grown up to me, like a book a real adult would read and it remains one of my favorites.
January 12, 2024
J’ai aimé ce couple improbable : lui jeune veuf de 25 ans, publicitaire et juif ; elle serveuse au White Palace de 50 ans divorcée et bien en chair.
J’ai aimé les continuels doutes de Nora sur la durée de leur relation et sa fragilité.
J’ai aimé que Max considère Nora comme une petite fille, lui qui s’accroche à elle comme un gamin.
J’ai aimé les bruits : Nora habite dans le quartier de Dogtown et l’on entend sans cesse les chiens aboyer et hurler au loin.
J’ai souri des odeurs : celle du White Palace et celles, corporelles, de Stephanie de Federal Fidelity, cliente de l’agence de publicité de Max.
J’ai aimé le tic de Nora qui joue avec sa boucle d’oreille en corail noir que Max lui a offerte quand elle est stressée.
J’ai aimé que Max ne veuille pas présenter Nora à ses amis ni à sa mère et que ceux-ci accueillent sa compagne à bras ouverts.
J’ai eu peur que le roman s’enlise dans une romance à l’eau de rose, mais l’auteur a su faire rebondir son récit pour que jamais il ne soit ennuyeux ni caricatural.
J’ai toutefois été lassée de lire que Nora ne buvait que des vodka-tonic.
Malgré ce qu’en dit la quatrième de couverture, il n’y a pas tant de sexe torride dans ce roman, et le récit ne tourne pas uniquement autour de l’attraction animale de Max pour Nora, et inversement.
L’image que je retiendrai :
Celle des verres famille Pierrafeu de Nora dans lesquels ils boivent aussi bien de l’eau que du champagne.
https://alexmotamots.fr/white-palace-...
J’ai aimé les continuels doutes de Nora sur la durée de leur relation et sa fragilité.
J’ai aimé que Max considère Nora comme une petite fille, lui qui s’accroche à elle comme un gamin.
J’ai aimé les bruits : Nora habite dans le quartier de Dogtown et l’on entend sans cesse les chiens aboyer et hurler au loin.
J’ai souri des odeurs : celle du White Palace et celles, corporelles, de Stephanie de Federal Fidelity, cliente de l’agence de publicité de Max.
J’ai aimé le tic de Nora qui joue avec sa boucle d’oreille en corail noir que Max lui a offerte quand elle est stressée.
J’ai aimé que Max ne veuille pas présenter Nora à ses amis ni à sa mère et que ceux-ci accueillent sa compagne à bras ouverts.
J’ai eu peur que le roman s’enlise dans une romance à l’eau de rose, mais l’auteur a su faire rebondir son récit pour que jamais il ne soit ennuyeux ni caricatural.
J’ai toutefois été lassée de lire que Nora ne buvait que des vodka-tonic.
Malgré ce qu’en dit la quatrième de couverture, il n’y a pas tant de sexe torride dans ce roman, et le récit ne tourne pas uniquement autour de l’attraction animale de Max pour Nora, et inversement.
L’image que je retiendrai :
Celle des verres famille Pierrafeu de Nora dans lesquels ils boivent aussi bien de l’eau que du champagne.
https://alexmotamots.fr/white-palace-...
April 2, 2021
An urban tale of love against the odds, in which Max, an upwardly mobile copywriter and Nora, a 40 year-old waitress from the wrong side of town, become embroiled in a torrid affair.
My Thoughts: White Palace was a book I read after I had seen the James Spader/Susan Sarandon movie, which I loved and viewed several times.
The language in the book, including the dialogue, mirrored many aspects of the movie, and I especially liked how both the book and the movie showed us Max’s fussy behavior, like constantly straightening the fringes on his rug and arranging his clothes in the closet to emphasize the style and color. Nora, on the other hand, lived a chaotic and messy lifestyle, but her exuberance appealed to Max.
From Max’s point of view, we see Nora’s glaring imperfections, which somehow draw him to her even more than the beauty of his deceased wife.
Their journey together had many ups and downs, and often they seemed very incompatible. When an unexpected event happened, their relationship ended, but Max felt the loss of her deeply. What would he do to reconnect with her? Would they finally pick up the pieces? A 4 star read.
My Thoughts: White Palace was a book I read after I had seen the James Spader/Susan Sarandon movie, which I loved and viewed several times.
The language in the book, including the dialogue, mirrored many aspects of the movie, and I especially liked how both the book and the movie showed us Max’s fussy behavior, like constantly straightening the fringes on his rug and arranging his clothes in the closet to emphasize the style and color. Nora, on the other hand, lived a chaotic and messy lifestyle, but her exuberance appealed to Max.
From Max’s point of view, we see Nora’s glaring imperfections, which somehow draw him to her even more than the beauty of his deceased wife.
Their journey together had many ups and downs, and often they seemed very incompatible. When an unexpected event happened, their relationship ended, but Max felt the loss of her deeply. What would he do to reconnect with her? Would they finally pick up the pieces? A 4 star read.
May 3, 2020
An unexpectedly delicious read. Savan paints his characters with such depth of feeling and attention to detail it's nearly impossible not to wonder happens next. It's not empty histrionics. Each character's dilemmas, flaws and philosophies ring true. You being to care. For some reason, his books are not digital which actually added one more sensual layer to the experience of his story: unwrapping the book from its envelope and turning pages. Even among the crowd of thousands other love stories, there's nothing trite about Max and Nora's tale. I found it completely fresh, original and even a little nostalgic reading about a time period I remember very little. It's disappointing that in his short life he was only able to complete two stories, but I will eagerly await Goldman's Anatomy in the mail.
September 18, 2019
The White Palace! Oh, my word what a surprise! I bought the Italian translation in a used book’s market for €1, and is just wonderful! I enjoyed this book enormously. The love story is awesome. A young advertising executive Max, and a mature beauty Nora are the protagonists. Between them explodes an attraction that is strong, passionate and lustful, despite the very different upbringing and different worlds. The chemistry between them is enchanting, and they are so likeable despite their many quirks. Awesome! But it is not plain sailing for the lovers due to their hang ups.
The Italian version is so beautifully written that I want to get my hands on the English version too, to read the original. I loved this book! I read it in 2 days, I couldn’t put it down. ❤️
The Italian version is so beautifully written that I want to get my hands on the English version too, to read the original. I loved this book! I read it in 2 days, I couldn’t put it down. ❤️
June 17, 2020
3 1/2 stars... I wanted to like it more, but something about the simpleness and predictability of the prose put me off. Sad that it’s out of print though... I’ve never seen the film but while I can definitely see James Spader as Max I cannot for the life of me see Susan Sarandon as Nora - I know Savan was peeved at the watered down depiction of the character and I can already guess what it’s going to be like (too sexy, too safe). This novel certainly screams “make a movie out of me” with all the long-winded monologues/speeches near the end, which is probably what bugged me the most. I can’t deny its addictive accessibility, however.
January 15, 2023
Read this debut novel years ago....it remains one of my favorites.
Max is twenty-seven and recently, tragically widowed. He’s an advertising copywriter on his way up. To his shock and confusion, he suddenly finds himself in the midst of the affair of his life – an incongruous passion for a lusty, hard-drinking forty-two-year-old White Palace waitress.
She’s from the wrong side of town. She’s undereducated. She doesn’t begin to compare to Janey, Max’s lost wife. But Max can’t escape his obsession for the salty, sultry, sensuous Nora. Though the affair begins with their raw carnal attraction, Max discovers, to his horror, that he may be falling in love with this woman from Dogtown.
Max is twenty-seven and recently, tragically widowed. He’s an advertising copywriter on his way up. To his shock and confusion, he suddenly finds himself in the midst of the affair of his life – an incongruous passion for a lusty, hard-drinking forty-two-year-old White Palace waitress.
She’s from the wrong side of town. She’s undereducated. She doesn’t begin to compare to Janey, Max’s lost wife. But Max can’t escape his obsession for the salty, sultry, sensuous Nora. Though the affair begins with their raw carnal attraction, Max discovers, to his horror, that he may be falling in love with this woman from Dogtown.
August 14, 2022
This book was really good. The characters were very original because of how realistic they were, we don't often see that in books (in most of the books I personaly read). The atmosphere was great, the 80's were perfectly pictured. We can consider this book as a romantic one but the fact that it has been writen by a man changes a lot of things that were sometimes even shocking because of the racist things that some of the character said. Also it was interesting to see how rape, religion or racism were seen by this generation of people.
A really, really good book that I recomand.
A really, really good book that I recomand.
August 25, 2021
This is very good. An unusual novel for the time (1986) and still holding good today. Sex is the problem and sex is the solution. Also class, looks, filthiness, prejudice... it's all good. And its a romance too, so what's not to love. The movie is great and both actors brilliant at it. The book is better though, so, perfect.
October 4, 2024
Rarely does a movie do a book justice. The movie had some power but not like the book which still resonates with me in 2024 as it did when I first read it 30 plus years ago.Many times I’ve read Janie’s mother words to Max when they met at the cemetery when I need a reminder that liking or approving of someone is not a requirement for love.
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