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Maynard And Jennica: An Improbable Urban Romance and Wildly Original Debut Set in New York City
A wildly original debut,Maynard and Jennica is both a hilarious urban comedy and a captivating love story. In the summer of 2000, while riding the uptown number 6 train, the musician/filmmaker Maynard Gogarty first encounters the beautiful Jennica Green.Though their initial meeting is brief, when fate next brings them together a romance ensues, and as with most things in life, everyone has an opinion.Delson tells the story of this improbable love affair through the voices of Maynard and Jennica, along with their family, friends, and assorted characters (among them two attorneys, three journalists, and a rap star) pulled into their dizzying orbit.He brings to life a pair of lovers who are flawed, complex, at once eccentric and deeply familiar—and in whose story we continue to feel invested long after we’ve turned the last page.In the words of Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, “this book is the reason we should all read first novels.”
305 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
June 28, 2017
DNF. Got to page 175 out of 292 (so well over half way, props to me) and I just can't read anymore. Sooo boring!
*I feel I should clarify that this is definitely not a book I would have chosen for myself; it was another "Blind Date With A Book" purchase. So if this book does look appealing to you, you may like it. But I don't.*
*I feel I should clarify that this is definitely not a book I would have chosen for myself; it was another "Blind Date With A Book" purchase. So if this book does look appealing to you, you may like it. But I don't.*
September 5, 2011
The story of how Maynard and Jennica got together in New York City is okay. The premise of the storytelling--that various bystanders would all crowd around and stick in their two cents--held the promise of being amusing. After all, how many stories have narrators that include a macaw and a subway train emergency brake. But before long the story became overwhelmed by the cuteness factor, all the characters seemed to speak in the same voice, and there were entirely too many chapters taking byways that were simple amusing vingettes taking up space and energy from a rather slight story.
This isn't a bad book. It is simply a rather silly one.
This isn't a bad book. It is simply a rather silly one.
November 30, 2007
I'm glad I got past the promotional blurbs, which to me undersell this book. "Funny" and "moving" and "human"? Maynard would have something to say about that last one (what else could it be? Feline? Avian? Prawn?), and all three are suspect from a critical perspective (moving = "I felt something!" Do reviewers really have no idea how therapied this makes them sound?), not to mention practically equivalent in our debased critical vocabulary (ever since the Holocaust, I suppose, what with the supposed unfunniness and unemotionalness and inhumanity of Nazis and all). "Witty" and "page-turning" don't cut it either, the first a buzzword for the vapid gossip of the Talk of the Town pieces Delson parodies, the other dim praise indeed: good suspense is a wonderful thing, but to praise a book by saying that it actually. Makes. You. Want. To. Read? Well.
With all that said, I did find Maynard and Jennica funny, and moving, and witty, and I turned the pages rather fast, and that is partially because the book permits, and glories in, the kind of suspicion that I indulged myself in above. But what's more important to me is that the book is rich, challenging, and artful. I found myself in the presence of a provocative, curious, passionate, and expansive mind, and THAT is a rare thing. So those of you who are looking to be moved will probably be moved, but those of you who want more out of a book will find that too.
With all that said, I did find Maynard and Jennica funny, and moving, and witty, and I turned the pages rather fast, and that is partially because the book permits, and glories in, the kind of suspicion that I indulged myself in above. But what's more important to me is that the book is rich, challenging, and artful. I found myself in the presence of a provocative, curious, passionate, and expansive mind, and THAT is a rare thing. So those of you who are looking to be moved will probably be moved, but those of you who want more out of a book will find that too.
March 25, 2009
Ugh, so, you know how sometimes a friend of yours who you like pretty well but isn't one of your inner circle will be dating a guy who you really want to throat-punch? And you can't say anything to her because you're not that close, and you don't see them often enough to broach it with the people who are the intersection of you and her in the Venn Diagram that is life? Well, that guy is Maynard, and that girl is Jennica. And just as it happens so often in life, Maynard so drags the book to this obnoxious-boater-hat-wearing-making-silent-films-about-dog-crap-and-thinking-that-"dignity"-is-his-word place that you just stop going to places where they're going to be together.
Delson's not a bad writer, though, and it's a quick read, so hey, you could always pick it up and see if I was just unusually sensitive to asshatness the day I read it.
Delson's not a bad writer, though, and it's a quick read, so hey, you could always pick it up and see if I was just unusually sensitive to asshatness the day I read it.
May 25, 2010
Telling the story of the romance of a late 20s couple in New York. Billed as a comedy by the author. Didn't really like it.
The tale told from the viewpoint of all the characters quickly gets annoying and just feels gimmicky. Plus there are the annoying - punctuation quirks. Afforded to - the main characters. Like, whatever.
I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm not American, Jewish or a New Yorker but there's a distance between my sympathies and those of the characters. Maynard is pretty smug and unlikeable; Jennica is flat and wholly bland. I never felt any affinity for them and I couldn't really like it. Not my kind of thing.
The tale told from the viewpoint of all the characters quickly gets annoying and just feels gimmicky. Plus there are the annoying - punctuation quirks. Afforded to - the main characters. Like, whatever.
I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm not American, Jewish or a New Yorker but there's a distance between my sympathies and those of the characters. Maynard is pretty smug and unlikeable; Jennica is flat and wholly bland. I never felt any affinity for them and I couldn't really like it. Not my kind of thing.
April 23, 2008
Sometimes it seems like the whole point of reading a book is a single sentence. Maybe it wasn’t even meant that way by the writer, but it strikes something personal in the reader, some memory, some feeling, some wish. I guess that is what the Secret Life of Reading is all about. Here, it was one tiny passage about the darkness inside a house at the coming of dusk-- “It is a melancholy time: all you need do is switch on one lamp and the inside and the outside will separate, held apart by the reflections in the glass, and evening will begin.” It’s the “separate” that gets me, like swishing a knife down between night and day, in and out.
Other than that sentence, the book wasn’t as funny (certainly not "uproarious") as I could have hoped, nor as annoying as I feared. I’m tired of reading about Sept. 11 in NYC, and I think publishers must now be on to this – there wasn’t a hint on the jacket, or in any review. I’m glad they’ve developed a belated sense of shame in this area, but less than glad that I keep getting hit with the same Momentous Moment in every NY book I innocently open.
Other than that sentence, the book wasn’t as funny (certainly not "uproarious") as I could have hoped, nor as annoying as I feared. I’m tired of reading about Sept. 11 in NYC, and I think publishers must now be on to this – there wasn’t a hint on the jacket, or in any review. I’m glad they’ve developed a belated sense of shame in this area, but less than glad that I keep getting hit with the same Momentous Moment in every NY book I innocently open.
May 24, 2014
It really takes a lot for me to put down a book before reaching the end. My friend has a rule that if she gets 50 pages into a book and still doesn't like it, she'll stop reading it. I gave it an extra push; I got to page 59. By then the main characters were uninteresting and the style of the book (interview style) was grating on my nerves. And the consistent use of the words "like" and "whatever" certainly didn't help either. Too many good reads out there to waste my time on this.
May 24, 2017
So, uh, are all New Yorkers really this...nuts? I mean, "needy." No, I mean nuts.
Waffling between 2 and 3 stars.... This was mostly "meh" with one "hell yeah" section. So let's just get to that.
In the section/chapter titled "This is THE FOURTH PART," Maynard Gogarty says what are described as "unacceptable" things about 911, specifically the country's reaction to the events. It's a glorious, raw, obnoxious and totally true rant. Basically, he's lashing out at the "We're all New York" crowd.
He makes some powerful points about the perverse hypocrisy of a chunk of America. Again, it's impolitic but true. And I'm surprised someone hasn't gotten butt-hurt and whined about his rant in a review.
But for me, the rant sort of saved the book.
Otherwise... Maynard and Jennica is the comic love story of a pretentious filmmaker (the kind who films people picking up dog shit and calls it art) and an uptight, obnoxiously stereotypical Jewish woman. Their love story takes place during a few months that precede and follow the destruction of the towers on 911.
The narrative engages in the quirky conceit of telling their love story though many, and I mean "many," points of view. Maynard, Jennica, their parents, their siblings, the landlord, Maynard's crazy Russian/German/Jewish/con-artist wife, random people on the subway, and birds. Yeah, birds. Done in moderation, the gag is cute. But it turns faster than potato salad left in the sun. I mean, there are sections (I hesitate to call them scenes, more like info-dumps) devoted to long dead relatives' opinions on random things. It's...over-cute and dull.
Aside from his rather brilliant observation that America loves to glut itself on tragedy (above), Maynard is a pretentious twit. Just when I'd start to find him funny, he'd take a hard turn to pompous. I'm not sure what the point of the weird boater-hat-Great-Gatsby-vintage-clothing look was, other than to broadcast, at a million Watts, that "This character is quirky!"
Jennica is a self-absorbed, entitled, condescending princess. Nuff said.
The only redeeming character in the book--whose story I'd totally read--was Jennica's high school best friend, Nadine. Nadine was a hoot.
Ana, Maynard's conniving wife (he married her so she could get a visa and eventually become a U.S. citizen), is somewhere between hateful and fascinating.
But the rest of the characters, including the titular characters, were either forgettable, or too Woody Allen crazy.
Waffling between 2 and 3 stars.... This was mostly "meh" with one "hell yeah" section. So let's just get to that.
And you who have flown a flag since that tragic events of--your most sacrosanct day. You flag-fliers, you in the tricolor "never Forget" T-shirts, you with the American flag pins in your lapels. Each of you is personally--gah!
...
Oh, yes, how sobering it must be for the terrorists to see America's mortgage-holders and lease-holders united in taping newspaper flags to their windows.
In the section/chapter titled "This is THE FOURTH PART," Maynard Gogarty says what are described as "unacceptable" things about 911, specifically the country's reaction to the events. It's a glorious, raw, obnoxious and totally true rant. Basically, he's lashing out at the "We're all New York" crowd.
Oh-the pleasure all of you take in your misery! You all are so happy to eat your stomach-turning "comfort food." You all are so pleased to be "glued to your TV."
He makes some powerful points about the perverse hypocrisy of a chunk of America. Again, it's impolitic but true. And I'm surprised someone hasn't gotten butt-hurt and whined about his rant in a review.
But for me, the rant sort of saved the book.
Otherwise... Maynard and Jennica is the comic love story of a pretentious filmmaker (the kind who films people picking up dog shit and calls it art) and an uptight, obnoxiously stereotypical Jewish woman. Their love story takes place during a few months that precede and follow the destruction of the towers on 911.
The narrative engages in the quirky conceit of telling their love story though many, and I mean "many," points of view. Maynard, Jennica, their parents, their siblings, the landlord, Maynard's crazy Russian/German/Jewish/con-artist wife, random people on the subway, and birds. Yeah, birds. Done in moderation, the gag is cute. But it turns faster than potato salad left in the sun. I mean, there are sections (I hesitate to call them scenes, more like info-dumps) devoted to long dead relatives' opinions on random things. It's...over-cute and dull.
Aside from his rather brilliant observation that America loves to glut itself on tragedy (above), Maynard is a pretentious twit. Just when I'd start to find him funny, he'd take a hard turn to pompous. I'm not sure what the point of the weird boater-hat-Great-Gatsby-vintage-clothing look was, other than to broadcast, at a million Watts, that "This character is quirky!"
Jennica is a self-absorbed, entitled, condescending princess. Nuff said.
The only redeeming character in the book--whose story I'd totally read--was Jennica's high school best friend, Nadine. Nadine was a hoot.
Ana, Maynard's conniving wife (he married her so she could get a visa and eventually become a U.S. citizen), is somewhere between hateful and fascinating.
But the rest of the characters, including the titular characters, were either forgettable, or too Woody Allen crazy.
November 26, 2007
I picked up this book based on a rave review in the NY Times book review a couple Sundays ago -- it's a quirky and sweet story told from about 40 different characters' points of view, Maynard and Jennica being the threads holding the cast together. Each interview begins with a short description of the person (or thing) giving an account of the part of the story in question (e.g., "James Cleveland, age twelve, describes what Maynard looked like under the air-conditioning vent on the uptown No. 6 train [early August 2000]"). The effect keeps each storyteller in check while relating the tale...
The tale is essentially the love story of Maynard and Jennica, told against the backdrop of an impending September morning in 2001. While the attacks thankfully aren't exploited, they certainly shape the narrative and the relationships in the book.
Overall, the book is a really enjoyable and funny read (I never knew the process of naming a cat could be so hilarious!). It's heartwarming without being cheesy, and adds enough cynicism to make it believable.
The tale is essentially the love story of Maynard and Jennica, told against the backdrop of an impending September morning in 2001. While the attacks thankfully aren't exploited, they certainly shape the narrative and the relationships in the book.
Overall, the book is a really enjoyable and funny read (I never knew the process of naming a cat could be so hilarious!). It's heartwarming without being cheesy, and adds enough cynicism to make it believable.
October 29, 2007
This is the second book written by a briliant writer right around my age in a row that I adored. I need to start reading only novels penned by writers who are over forty. These young guys are making me jealous.
Maynard & Jennica is the story of the relationship that transpires between avante-garde filmmaker Maynard Gogarty and extremely Jewish Jennica Green. He sees her on the subway, gains a crush on her. She sees his film, gains a crush on him. A relationship begins. Eventually, the relationship ends because Maynard has rather heartless opinions about the events of September 11. Everything works out in the end as it's supposed to.
Did I mention that Maynard is married to a European immigrant who needs a visa and wants Maynard to report her as missing after the attacks on September 11 so that they can cash in on a million dollar insurance claim? No, I didn't. And Maynard never mentioned it to Jennica.
This is a rollickingly funny book, the amusement of which is only better served by the style it's written in. Presented as an oral history of the relationship, we get (sometimes conflicting) testimonials from close friends, family members, innocent bystanders, a macaw, and, in one instance, the emergency brake of a subway train. I guarantee that you will laugh out loud.
I loved this novel. Highly recommended.
Maynard & Jennica is the story of the relationship that transpires between avante-garde filmmaker Maynard Gogarty and extremely Jewish Jennica Green. He sees her on the subway, gains a crush on her. She sees his film, gains a crush on him. A relationship begins. Eventually, the relationship ends because Maynard has rather heartless opinions about the events of September 11. Everything works out in the end as it's supposed to.
Did I mention that Maynard is married to a European immigrant who needs a visa and wants Maynard to report her as missing after the attacks on September 11 so that they can cash in on a million dollar insurance claim? No, I didn't. And Maynard never mentioned it to Jennica.
This is a rollickingly funny book, the amusement of which is only better served by the style it's written in. Presented as an oral history of the relationship, we get (sometimes conflicting) testimonials from close friends, family members, innocent bystanders, a macaw, and, in one instance, the emergency brake of a subway train. I guarantee that you will laugh out loud.
I loved this novel. Highly recommended.
April 2, 2012
They are the most flawless, yet so horribly flawed couple ever.
This book was so witty and smart and frustrating because of the use of randomly placed “-“s (though I’m sure Delson had a reason for putting them where he did, I just don’t understand that reason). The input of many other people (alive and dead), some animals, and inanimate objects was fun to read.
Oh, it says on the book jacket that someone may be buying the film rights to this book! I would see it in a heartbeat if it does actually turned into a movie. It’d be interesting to see how a dorector will play out the many different POVs.
Anyway, if you’re considering reading this book - DO IT! It’s funny, witty, and worth the effort!
This book was so witty and smart and frustrating because of the use of randomly placed “-“s (though I’m sure Delson had a reason for putting them where he did, I just don’t understand that reason). The input of many other people (alive and dead), some animals, and inanimate objects was fun to read.
Oh, it says on the book jacket that someone may be buying the film rights to this book! I would see it in a heartbeat if it does actually turned into a movie. It’d be interesting to see how a dorector will play out the many different POVs.
Anyway, if you’re considering reading this book - DO IT! It’s funny, witty, and worth the effort!
November 26, 2007
This started out fun and wacky, and then got tiresome quickly. Over the course of the book, it is told through the perspective of several characters - like, 30 of them or something.
March 10, 2008
There is "quirky" for a reason and then "quirky" for quirky's sake. This book is the latter.
February 8, 2009
pretentious boring
Read
August 10, 2011got bored with this, didn't finish it.
February 18, 2017
I just cannot get into this book. I fell asleep twice while reading. It's slow, boring, and blathering.
May 4, 2017
I just couldn't finish it. Some parts were intriguing. Some weren't. Some was tedious. The way it was presented was a struggle to read.
October 28, 2018
Two somewhat neurotic New Yorkers meet and fall in love, like something out of a Woody Allen film. How does one make this plot fresh? The book is cleverly told from ~35 different perspectives that are well integrated. I most closely identified w/ Maynard - he's the slightest bit uptight, and he likes to dress in retro fashion; he would generally rather spend time alone. He sees other people as interesting but ultimately not unique, not special; he calls on the hypocrisy he sees in the Sept 11 NYT obituaries.
The book is funny and clever and cute but ultimately fails to do anything truly different. Jennica and Maynard seem rather aimless; they want what everyone wants but seem reluctant to accept that fact. They are solipsistic, and this kept me from loving them.Why are we so obsessed w/ "liking" the characters?
The book is funny and clever and cute but ultimately fails to do anything truly different. Jennica and Maynard seem rather aimless; they want what everyone wants but seem reluctant to accept that fact. They are solipsistic, and this kept me from loving them.Why are we so obsessed w/ "liking" the characters?
June 7, 2020
Clever, clever, clever format. One NYC life/romance story with 35 narrators. Light humor, serious themes, forward-moving plot despite the telling-what-happened-already voices, and well-timed dashes of angst for plot heft. Character studies balanced with multiple perspectives; multi-layered 'he said/she said.' Classic movie witty repartee with a modern twist. Very deft use of 9/11 not as a cheap joke but also not as a main theme or core to the plot. Many characters to care about, enjoy, or even love to hate (or at least roll eyes at); Ana takes the cake as the quirky foil to a lot of better intentions. A sophisticated yet easy read.
August 9, 2017
What an odd book. The narrative mechanism is switching constantly between characters' to tell the tale was both charming and infuriating. Some stuff about 9/11 that I'd also wondered or pondered: like the group cultural experience of grief, the dust masks being weirdly "in fashion," and how we choose to memorialize strangers. Those parts were quite good.
October 23, 2017
Ugh, get over yourself, Book. This book is as overdone as the main dude’s twee hipster wardrobe. I am halfway through the book and I just can’t take the meandering diversions and asides and general irritatingness of the whole thing. Get to the freaking point already! Dropping to find a book that moves at a normal pace.
June 11, 2020
The author thinks he is hilarious and I’m sure in certain quirky precious circles, he is. But the concept, the lead characters’ names, the clothing. It all annoyed me. The most interesting part was the description of Nadine’s family’s refrigerator contents.
January 11, 2025
My very first DNF. I could literally skip pages of certain perspectives, and I wouldn't have missed any big changes to the plotline. Unfortunately it got so bad to the point where I *think* I grew bored (and impatient!) and stopped reading overall.
May 13, 2018
Couldn’t get past page 40. Too quirky; I felt I was being written AT
May 28, 2019
This book was good and original although the characters were hard to connect with. Very modern, urban, and NYC.
Read
August 6, 2019Amazing, loved it, challenging, dying to read it again
(S-mentions sex)
(S-mentions sex)
March 27, 2024
An amusing telling of a story about relationships around the time of nine eleven...a lot of different perspectives supplied by myriad narrators.
tbr-own-digital
September 29, 2017A bunch of kindle deals for Valentine's day - most of them look good!
Find them from the Kindle Daily Deal page.
Maynard and Jennica $0.99
Frances and Bernard $1.99
A Certain Slant of Light $1.99
First Comes Love $1.99
The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff $1.99
Cupid $1.99
Barefoot Season $2.19
The Frontiers Saga $1.99
Furies $1.99
(additionally, once you own the kindle book you can get the audible book for $1.99)
The Captive Maiden $0.99
The Merchant's Daughter $0.99
The Fairest Beauty $0.99
The Healer's Apprentice $0.99
Find them from the Kindle Daily Deal page.
Maynard and Jennica $0.99
Frances and Bernard $1.99
A Certain Slant of Light $1.99
First Comes Love $1.99
The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff $1.99
Cupid $1.99
Barefoot Season $2.19
The Frontiers Saga $1.99
Furies $1.99
(additionally, once you own the kindle book you can get the audible book for $1.99)
The Captive Maiden $0.99
The Merchant's Daughter $0.99
The Fairest Beauty $0.99
The Healer's Apprentice $0.99
Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews