Another You

by Ann Beattie

To her latest novel, Beattie brings the same documentary accuracy and Chekhovian wit and tenderness that have made her one of the most acclaimed portraitists of contemporary American life. Marshall Lockard, a professor at the local college, is contemplating adultery, unaware that his wife is already committing it.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Relationships, The United States Of America, American Fiction

323 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 1995

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

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The question here, or maybe dilemma, is what do we know about other people. Or maybe, how much can we know or do we really want to know? For instance, we all know that there are things between our parents, secret or private things that we will never discover, just as our marriages (or relationships) have their own private histories and secrets. There are parts of our family history that will never be revealed to us, such as why two members don’t speak or have something between them that keeps them a bit distant from each other. And what would be our reaction if we did know? How would other people react if they discovered your secrets? That is the question that this book plays with.

Marshall is and English professor at small college in a New England college town who picks up one of his female students hitchhiking in a snowstorm; instead of taking her directly to her apartment and then going home, he invites her to a diner and begins to contemplate adultery. (A side note here: why is it always an English professor? That’s what I am and I wish that a professor of some other subject to be accused of lechery. Oh, right, it’s just that we know poetry…) From the diner, he calls his wife, Sonja, and lies about where he is and with whom, even though it’s not yet necessary. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, Sonja is already having an adulterous relationship with her boss; they work together in his real estate agency and often sneak off to play naked hide-and-seek in the unoccupied properties. Marshall´s colleague, Jack, has been accused of rape by the roommate of the student who Marshall picked up, not to mention also having a potentially homicidal wife. Finally, the chapters in the first half end with mysterious letters from a man, “M”, who writes to an equally mysterious woman while reporting on the mental decline of his wife. This mix is what fuels the questions of how much can we ever know about the lives of others, or even about ourselves, what we admit to and what we’d prefer not to. For example, Marshall is haunted by his vague memory of the night when his mother left; he was only three years old at the time, and like most three-year-olds, he couldn’t quite grasp what was happening nor can he clearly remember it now as an adult.

This was an entertaining read but not a great book for me. It read like one of those late-night soap operas, Dynasty or Dallas, where every second chapter ended with a plot twist; someone suddenly revealed something that someone else didn’t know about, a plot twist which made me either want to gasp at the sudden revelation, or gag because I was getting tired of this after a while. I solved the mystery early on, but it’s not fleshed out until the end. I think it’s worth reading in any case; Ann Beattie is one of those authors who I always saw in the bookshops when I lived in the USA but never got around to reading. (She may have been overshadowed by the other Anns, Tyler and Patchett.) I’m glad I had the chance at last and hope to come across others of her books in my used-book searches.

[Katie Kenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on the way we relate to one another in society, between friendships, families, lovers, and all the tangled in-between relationships, not-quite friend but more than acquaintance work colleague, stepmother that was more motherly to you than your own mom, but that you can't quite look at that way, boss that becomes lover, then friend.

I found myself a little annoyed with the writer's style at the beginning, mainly because it made me slightly uncomfortable - but I had to remind myself that is not always a bad thing. It made me uncomfortable because it made me think about things in my own life, and that is something a good book *should* do.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slowmoving, convoluted plot. There are brief spurts of beautiful prose, but not nearly enough to keep me excited about coming back to this book.
What I learned: it helps (in a modern novel anyway) to have some physical description. These characters were even flatter because I could not conjure up an image. BAH.

[Colleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it. I only picked it up because it was well reviewed. Totally banal and cliched book.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

A domestic drama of adultery in a small New England town; Sonja and Marshall contemplate adultery- and their friend McCallum is accused of raping young Cheryl, a student at the local college. The novel veers from domestic drama, to characters lost within themselves and trying to connect out of love. The title is appropriate because each character tries to find something about a past love towards the one they're being intimate with. New Hampshire to Florida, and back- complete with a homicidal madman who writes letters to a woman named Martine, this makes for an interesting but bougie read.

[Morgan Henley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not always convinced by this book, but it had a magnetic pull that kept bringing me back. And I’m glad I did. It finished strong and rich. It is slow at times, but get through it. I’ve never read Beattie before but I can tell right away she’s my type (fully developed & imperfect characters, dialogues that are thrilling to read). But perhaps the most seductive to me were the twist and turns, which sometimes felt a bit too much, but at the end seemed less hoaky and more like how complicated and bizarre real life actually is. And I wish there’d been more Gordon time!!

[Valeri Drach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do any of us really know the story we are born in to. Certainly not Marshall, an English professor used to being sarcastic and having the ability to quote the likes of T.S. Elliot, finds that he knows little about his life from his childhood onward. His wife, his student and even his colleagues have secrets. And even more importantly, has he simply been sleep walking through life?

[Lolly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started and restarted several times but I found the plot unbelievable and the characters unappealing. Slow, slow going. Finally gave up after page 133.

[Alexandra Naughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. Memory and secrets weave the plot.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Beattie novel, and found it hard to read.
Maybe shades of questions and concerns about teaching that I've had over a long time.
Will not recap the plot.
Suffice it to say that caring people sometimes goof up, screw up, and make some life for themselves.
Teachers teaching poetry who don't write poems?
Incredibly awful people who lie and keep on lying and...?
And siblings trying to remember what their life was like in childhood.
Memories and dreams and nightmares.

[Maryanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beattie has changed--which I suppose is human and inevitable; however, the writing in Another You was not the spare, sharp, insightful prose I remember of her earlier work but almost its opposite. Paragraphs go on for pages, dialogue is banal, and characters are unconvincing and hyperbolic. a disappointment (especially since mine is a signed copy).

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel explores the anxieties of the American middle class through the narrative of a man emotionally distanced from his life. Ann Beattie, one of America's finest authors, looks at the lives of common individuals experiencing life; illustrating the solitude of our lives, but also our interdependence.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Life on a college campus with emphasis on sexual activity.

A dysfunctional husband and wife don't seem satisfied with their lives so look for excitement elsewhere.

Other professors are seeing what undergrads they can seduce.

The school president looks for ways to make money.

Characters were not very exciting and the plot uninteresting.

[Linda DiMeo Lowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking and evocative. There's a story within the story told through letters that's not finished until the end of the book. Beattie's writing reveals how a father's withdrawal and abuse as a child affects a person throughout their life. This book was so good I want to read it again and look for more nuanced meanings.

[Karley Klopfenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got halfway through this book before I realized that I knew the author, Ann Beatty. Her descriptions of Key West were...colorful.

[Rachel]

Ann Beattie sticking to her true form.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am more partial to her short stories.

[Beth Shields-Szostak]

1st edition, signed by author

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked most about this book was that it was an advanced readers copy. All the spelling and grammatical errors cracked me up.

[Xiong Weiwei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult plot. A thoughtful book I have read.

[Susan Beecher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling and well-written novel.