My Life, Starring Dara Falcon

by Ann Beattie

In her latest novel, the author of Another You combines intensely realistic description and an effortless command of mood to examine the treacherous difference between love and fascination--between what we know about other people and what we think we know.  Dara Falcon is someone other people think they know.  Charismatic and theatrical, she has no sooner arrived in a New England town than she is wreaking havoc in the lives of her new friend Jean and her family.  As Ann Beattie follows Dara's antics, she braids subplots and vibrant characters into a work that is compassionate, tartly funny, and teeming with life.  

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Book Club

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Ann Beattie (born September 8, 1947) is an American short story writer and novelist. She has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and a PEN/Bernard Malamud Award for excellence in the short story form. Her work has been compared to that of Alice Adams, J.D. Salinger, John Cheever, and John Updike. She holds an undergraduate degree from American University and a masters degree from the University of Connecticut.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine that you are bored and vaguely shattered - are you there yet? good. add to this that you can concentrate just enough to read something clear and realist, without the flare of jarring neo or magic realism. There you have it in a nutshell. It is Ann Beattie time. You might want to read a thick library book such as this one here. I think in the 90s a book of her short stories got me through a day or two of a tiresome Writers Colony - the caretaker relentlessly commented on my late wake up time, the water came with a warning, and the modular farmhouse slept four of us, a middling painter, a psychic, a healthy woman from Seattle, and myself. Oh, I read a lot of Ann Beattie and anything else I could get my hands on that month in the late twentieth century, and I don't remember a damn paragraph of it. This book weighs easily three quarters of a pound. Brava!

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have been more fun to read if it was bad. Instead it was just boring, full of frustrating detail and repetitions about the life of a not particularly sympathetic protagonist and her friendship/obsession with a local actress. Jean had a rough childhood and married early into a relationship that wasn't working well, so when she meets the charismatic Dara Falcon she is flattered and energized by their friendship. Sadly Beattie never makes the relationship between the two women plausible enough on either side and most of the internal drama and self realization is both unearned and uninteresting. Meh.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember what appealed to me about this book, that caused me to request it on paperbackswap. It's more than chicklit, thank heaven, but what is it really?

I read the title wrong at the start: My Life, Starring Dara Falcon. I thought it was all about Dara Falcon, and that it would be a first-person accounting of Dara's life. It is first-person, but that person is Jean. Jean's life is so affected by her relationship with Dara that Dara takes center stage.

In fact, Dara is an actress. Better, perhaps, than many realize. She is manipulative yet insightful, and she soon attracts Jean's interest. She slams Jean with compliments that Jean is sensible enough to set aside, but the sorcery works. Bit by bit Dara becomes involved in the lives of others in Jean's life, and at times this makes it difficult to maintain a friendship with her.

Others warn Jean off but she doesn't want to hear it. Ultimately, maybe it's possible that Dara's effect on Jean was far from all negative. She awoke something in her. Would her life have gone very differently if Dara had not been in it? Would it have been better or worse?

Initially I was put off by the loooong paragraphs. Beattie indulges in these pages-long paragraphs frequently, and it makes me tired just to look at them. In a few places I also felt that the story had slipped and I was reading something rather adolescent. Nevertheless, there is enough there that it kept me going.

[Glendalee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started off really good for me but then it just went sort of downhill because the main character pissed me off. I also think that Dara Falcon was this person who was ruining everyone’s life but we don’t really see much of her or understand why she had this power over everyone.

If I could give this 2 1/2 stars I would because I did enjoy the beginning but I just wished that the plot was more fleshed out and that the subplot connected a little more.

This was an interesting read but it did not blow me away.

[Christopher Eckerdt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* My first Beattie experience. I enjoyed many of her themes and psychological musings regarding the behavior of the characters however the protagonist came off as so accusatory and self indulgent that her POV was spoiled for me a bit. Solid command of the language however and I look forward to looking at her short stories as I understand that is where she thrives.

[Sarah LaFleur · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! I was so surprised to read all the criticism of Beattie's work. I found it witty, irreverent, and addicting. The dialogue and characters were so interesting and I felt like I knew Dara from a past life. Great fiction read!

[Natalie Lavin · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was such a drag

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this about 8 years ago and so have lost the details but I definitely remember the general storyline and I quite liked it then.

I feel equally pulled to books that show me a new perspective/educate me and those that are a reflection of my experiences. Anne Beattie does the latter. As a white middle-class woman who was raised by a white middle-class woman, I find her stories pretty relatable.

I must disclose that I am incredibly drawn to books about complicated, frustrating, at-times-unhealthy, female relationships that make you wonder, "why the hell are they friends?" I have ladies in my life I love dearly, but I can count them on one hand (ok, a little more than one hand, but that sounds better than "less than two hands"). The rest have been a revolving door of girls/women eventually filed under "where are they now?" That, perhaps, sounds flaky or fucked up, but I doubt one would say that if I were referring to romantic relationships. Few women talk about how friendship functions much like romance in that it works for a time, then you break up.

I thought Beattie did a nice job explaining why we are suddenly drawn to someone and don't completely understand why, given how they treat us/make us feel/we treat them. So many stories are told about the complexities of romantic love, so I am always pleased when a story comes along about the the love, or lack thereof, and the fickleness of friendship.

[Allie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anne Lamott claims that in this book, "Beattie is in top form....a cool and contained pleasure, much like that of eating subtle and delicious mints one by one." Unfortunately, not everyone enjoys mints, much like not everyone will enjoy this book.

Personally, I felt as though the "coolness" of this book made it difficult to spark my interest. The long dialogue, long narrations, and long scenes all felt a little too drawn out for my taste. Some parts were written a little too meticulously while others moved too quickly and maybe should have been given more focus.

Although I didn't like it I hope that if you're reading this book you'll enjoy it! I'm sure a lot of people will find this book fascinating.

Have a good read!

[Grant · Rating 2 out of 5]

the few stories i've read of her i liked a lot. so when i bought this i was expecting a good read. it was a real let down. i didn't care about the characters, especially the protagonist, i have a lot of reviews that say this, but this is yet another novel i think should have been a short story. when i finished it, i thought "was that it?" as if she couldn't have come to that conlusion in 50 pages.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. The only reason I finished this was because I was on a trip and I was stranded with only this option. There were a few lines that spoke to me, and the rest drove me BONKERS. NOT RECOMMENDED.

[Julia Williamson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure why I felt compelled to finish this book. It ended up feeling like a self-indulgent late-night dorm room conversation about the girl everyone wants as a friend but then ends up hating.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why I actually finished this book - the main character was boring and bland. The only interesting thing was her friendship with Dara Falcon. I could have spent those 4 reading days much more wisely...

[Lorie Kleiner Eckert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Completely forgetable...

[Judy]

I only read 50-100 pages and just could not get interested in the people or the story. I decided it wasn't worth my time to continue.

[Linda DiMeo Lowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good read. I've had some Dara Falcon's in my life. I hope I never have another.