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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
Entitled, pretentious, not well-paced, and anticlimactic.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I gave this three stars, but it's more like 4 +- 1. As a couple character studies thrown tied together it was occasionally brilliant and terrifyingly perceptive, as a novel about human beings, it didn't really work.
The plot can basically be summarized as young writer in Brooklyn has a bad relationship because even though he tries not to be, he is kind of a dick. But beyond that, it is really good about inner monologues and thought processes and the general experience of being a sensitive intellectual liberal new york male type person. Sometimes Mr. P. is super perceptive and thoughtful and sometimes he is just totally self absorbed and oblivious. I guess that is true of a lot of people, but he was really oblivious at really really annoying times.
Also, the ending (no spoilers) drove me nuts.
The sentence about who calls people philistines any more struck a little too close to home.
The plot can basically be summarized as young writer in Brooklyn has a bad relationship because even though he tries not to be, he is kind of a dick. But beyond that, it is really good about inner monologues and thought processes and the general experience of being a sensitive intellectual liberal new york male type person. Sometimes Mr. P. is super perceptive and thoughtful and sometimes he is just totally self absorbed and oblivious. I guess that is true of a lot of people, but he was really oblivious at really really annoying times.
Also, the ending (no spoilers) drove me nuts.
The sentence about who calls people philistines any more struck a little too close to home.
Liked it, didn't love it. I found it to be impressively truthful. Maybe it felt like a lot of people I know, but I had a hard time really caring bc the world felt really small.
I liked the author’s writing, just didn’t like what she chose to write about. I’ve got enough male lens.
Lived up to all the rave reviews- easily see myself re-reading this book, which I never do.
I couldn't put this book down. The dialogue, the characters' mannerisms, and body language were so realistic. I normally don't love a book if I don't fall in love with the protagonist, but this was an exception. I found Nate to immature and grating yet Waldman helped me understand him, which allowed me to tolerate him. I adored Hannah.
This would be a perfect book to take on vacation.
I am looking forward to reading more from Waldman.
SPOILER ALERT: I was a little disappointed that Nate never changed or developed a degree of self-awareness. That said, I did like the ending.
This would be a perfect book to take on vacation.
I am looking forward to reading more from Waldman.
SPOILER ALERT: I was a little disappointed that Nate never changed or developed a degree of self-awareness. That said, I did like the ending.
The more I think about this book, the less I like it.
It's not the writing. Waldman has clearly represented her craft in numerous articles and essays, and the prose here is realized and eloquent. Various references to ideas and literary influences abound.
It's the plot. Here, Waldman writes from the perspective of an unlikeable male protagonist, one whose thoughts are derived not so much out of disdain, but apathy. Here described is a modern relationship: Two people like each other well enough, but something goes wrong. What exactly? We're not sure. It's not your star crossed lovers tale or an epic story, so much as the picture of a 'meh, fuck you too' miscommunication that ends without losing much. Waldman provokes the ideas of what makes male serial daters misogynists, and addresses several observations about dating and the contemporary man and woman. But she never answers them, and there's not enough here to start a real discussion.
Trying to piece together any substantial thought about this, I feel a bit like Nate staring into his email: apathetic.
There really is something odd about writers writing about borderline autobiographical writers, too. Is this a specified genre yet?
It's not the writing. Waldman has clearly represented her craft in numerous articles and essays, and the prose here is realized and eloquent. Various references to ideas and literary influences abound.
It's the plot. Here, Waldman writes from the perspective of an unlikeable male protagonist, one whose thoughts are derived not so much out of disdain, but apathy. Here described is a modern relationship: Two people like each other well enough, but something goes wrong. What exactly? We're not sure. It's not your star crossed lovers tale or an epic story, so much as the picture of a 'meh, fuck you too' miscommunication that ends without losing much. Waldman provokes the ideas of what makes male serial daters misogynists, and addresses several observations about dating and the contemporary man and woman. But she never answers them, and there's not enough here to start a real discussion.
Trying to piece together any substantial thought about this, I feel a bit like Nate staring into his email: apathetic.
There really is something odd about writers writing about borderline autobiographical writers, too. Is this a specified genre yet?
Nate's never been popular and that's fine. Now a Harvard grad with a book deal living in the Brooklyn literary scene he spends all his time thinking about high brow things like western guilt and how he thinks that girl in the low cut top probably does have a great personality. Once he meets Hannah he's sure that she is different but is she really enough to shatter his mold?
There has been a lot of buzz around Adelle Waldman's debut novel and I for one think it is much deserved. Equal parts funny and cringe worthy Nathaniel P. is a engrossing and quick read. However don't be fooled by the title, the story may be about the many loves of Nate but this is not a love story.
Nate, for he is never called Nathaniel, is actually kind of a jerk. A likable jerk, but a jerk nonetheless. He is constantly focused on his work, on his past relationships, on how progressive and supportive he can be. In any other novel he'd be intolerable but here, in these pages that feel so much like Brooklyn he springs to life. While he musing on about how he's really not superficial and that he is just as interested in plain smart women as their superficial counterparts he becomes less likable, but more real. Really where Waldman succeeds is in the verity of her characters.
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. is currently sitting atop my "favorite books of summer" list. You should totally check it out.
There has been a lot of buzz around Adelle Waldman's debut novel and I for one think it is much deserved. Equal parts funny and cringe worthy Nathaniel P. is a engrossing and quick read. However don't be fooled by the title, the story may be about the many loves of Nate but this is not a love story.
Nate, for he is never called Nathaniel, is actually kind of a jerk. A likable jerk, but a jerk nonetheless. He is constantly focused on his work, on his past relationships, on how progressive and supportive he can be. In any other novel he'd be intolerable but here, in these pages that feel so much like Brooklyn he springs to life. While he musing on about how he's really not superficial and that he is just as interested in plain smart women as their superficial counterparts he becomes less likable, but more real. Really where Waldman succeeds is in the verity of her characters.
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. is currently sitting atop my "favorite books of summer" list. You should totally check it out.