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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
After I finished this book I had the impulse to slap my husband just because he's a guy... Than I remembered he's awesome and he's nothing like Nate so I hugged him instead!
I can't still believe ut was written by a woman... She just nailed it... I had to go back to the cover and check a couple of time to be sure... I'm definitely going to read more about her because if she can write about a guy so well I can only imagine what she can do with women.
I can't still believe ut was written by a woman... She just nailed it... I had to go back to the cover and check a couple of time to be sure... I'm definitely going to read more about her because if she can write about a guy so well I can only imagine what she can do with women.
I never write reviews bc my opinion will always differ from someone else's. I feel long as you enjoy a book what's it matter if I do. But outside of the fact that the female author was able to so convincingly portray Nate to almost fool you into thinking this was written by a male I have no other opinion of this book. Approximately halfway through I realized there was no plot line anymore and the story was never going to reach a point. I stuck with it though because I always feel like I've commited this much time might as well finish it, I can't leave a book unfinished. When I made it to the last 50 pages I stopped reading and started skimming. When I reached the last 20 I stopped skimming and started reading the first 3 words of every paragraph. I just wanted it over. By the time I was able to say I was done I was also able to say I was right. The book didn't amount to anything. No unique insightful thoughts, no "ah-ha" moment. Even with books I've hated I've seen the point behind them but with this I was actually left thinking "what was the point of this? What was the point of this entire book?" To me, worthless waste of time.
I feel about reading this book the way its protagonist felt upon reading an overly lengthy e-mail from his ex: "He hadn't bee attentive to every sentence; he wasn't able to be. Reading the e-mail was so unpleasant that he found himself skimming. He felt as if doing so were a courtesy to her, as if he had caught her in an embarrassing posture ad were politely averting his eyes." In my case, "her" refers to the author.
This just didn't resonate with me. I tried several times but I just didn't find it remotely interesting or compelling. Abandoning this one ...
insightful, witty and portrayal of literary / hipster social circles in brooklyn; i haven't come across another novel that rings as true to that particularly modern scene. A smart critique of how smart 'post-feminist' men with elite degrees can still be completely lousy to the women in their lives. But i couldn't get past how infuriating I found Nate, the lack of depth to any of the female characters, and how utterly unredemptive the ending is.
I liked this, and it was definitely engaging and relatable in the sense that I live in NYC and know people in publishing/who are neurotic, but I can't say I loved Nathaniel P, and I kept waiting for an "ah ha!" moment that never came (at least, for me). I also can't imagine how this book would be received by anyone who's not in or close to the Gen Z/NYC/hipster/lib arts degree bracket(s)...
Have you ever read a book where you kind of want to punch the main character, very hard, in the face? Because Nate is that guy.
Whilst not told in the first person, throughout The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P you are in Nate's head. He's a twenty-something writer living in Brooklyn, of course. He's a super decent guy because he knows stuff about feminism and cares about issues of equality. But he thinks that women just haven't written that much notable literature and that they are incapable of being alone, unlike men. Whenever his female friends or his girlfriends get upset he instantly zeroes in on their physical flaws. He's uncomfortable about the idea that his friends might not find his girlfriend attractive. Also gentrification is really bad but, like, coffee shops.
So he's a super fun guy to spend time with.
I don't mind unlikeable lead characters, so long as the author isn't trying to make you warm to them. A really good example of this is [b:Solar|7140754|Solar|Ian McEwan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320510358s/7140754.jpg|7404751], which I really enjoyed despite Beard being awful. Waldman clearly doesn't want you to warm to Nate, and succeeds; which is interesting in the sense that had Waldman been a guy I get the feeling we'd be expected to feel sorry for Nate. Or that he is representative of how tough it is to be a man dating today.
I also just loved Hannah, Nate's main love interest in the book, who I warmed to despite wanting to reaching through the pages and tell her to come to her senses.A lot of people have issues with the ending of the novel, that there is no warm feeling of redemption or anything. But I guess that's simply because many guys, or people in general, continually make the same mistakes when it comes to love and Nate is definitely one of them.
This is a three star book, simply because I have no desire to go anywhere near Nate's life again and I can only really recommend it to people if they have a super high tolerance for really grating protagonists.
Whilst not told in the first person, throughout The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P you are in Nate's head. He's a twenty-something writer living in Brooklyn, of course. He's a super decent guy because he knows stuff about feminism and cares about issues of equality. But he thinks that women just haven't written that much notable literature and that they are incapable of being alone, unlike men. Whenever his female friends or his girlfriends get upset he instantly zeroes in on their physical flaws. He's uncomfortable about the idea that his friends might not find his girlfriend attractive. Also gentrification is really bad but, like, coffee shops.
So he's a super fun guy to spend time with.
I don't mind unlikeable lead characters, so long as the author isn't trying to make you warm to them. A really good example of this is [b:Solar|7140754|Solar|Ian McEwan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320510358s/7140754.jpg|7404751], which I really enjoyed despite Beard being awful. Waldman clearly doesn't want you to warm to Nate, and succeeds; which is interesting in the sense that had Waldman been a guy I get the feeling we'd be expected to feel sorry for Nate. Or that he is representative of how tough it is to be a man dating today.
I also just loved Hannah, Nate's main love interest in the book, who I warmed to despite wanting to reaching through the pages and tell her to come to her senses.A lot of people have issues with the ending of the novel, that there is no warm feeling of redemption or anything. But I guess that's simply because many guys, or people in general, continually make the same mistakes when it comes to love and Nate is definitely one of them.
This is a three star book, simply because I have no desire to go anywhere near Nate's life again and I can only really recommend it to people if they have a super high tolerance for really grating protagonists.
Really well written but good god did I hate everyone in it.