Reviews

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman

kdepuy's review against another edition

4.0

I loved this book, couldn't put it down - read it in one day flat. I haven't read anything quite like it in a very long time. It's one of those that you get really frustrated and annoyed with the main character, but at the same time totally understand and sympathize with why she does what she does. However, the sole reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because of the author's pretentious overuse of "big"/obscure words. I consider myself well-educated, and well-read with a firm grasp of the English language and an above average vocabulary. However, I visited dictionary.com far more often during the course of this book than I think I have in all my years since high school combined. (Some of my favorites - subcutaneous, braggadocio, lugubrious, hydrocephalic, sybarite, self-aggrandizement.) I get it - Ms. Waldman and her characters are highly intellingent beings, I just wish she didn't feel the need to make her audience feel quite so inferior. That said, I plan to read "Red Hook Road" next, which has come highly recommended. I hope the same trend is not present in that work, as I doubt I'd be able to tolerate anything further from her.

babyruth510's review against another edition

3.0

Just ok, nothing special. The main character wasn't that likeable.

margocandela's review against another edition

3.0

I have to admit I skimmed and read ahead so I know what happens even though I was pretty sure I knew from read what I read on the book jacket. Good writing though, very polished chick lit.

haugh's review against another edition

3.0

I'm never a fan of the precocity of children in literature, but this was a sweet read of loss, love, and life.

kymme's review against another edition

5.0

This book is so good I don’t understand why it hasn’t won all the awards. I’ve been ugly crying in an airport for a half hour as I finished it, completely unaware of what else has been going on around me. Waldman’s Emilia is one of the most fully realized protagonists I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet in a book. The story is funny, sad, wry, painful, delightful, worrying, devastating, uplifting. William is perfection. The sentences are delicious and the observations and detail impeccable. So freaking good.

lisanussd's review against another edition

4.0

very poignant, funny, real and heartbreaking. The writing was stellar.

jenniferdenslow's review against another edition

3.0

Waldeman’s mainstream novel has a narrative voice reminiscent of The Devil Wore Prada or The Nanny Diaries. Emilia Greenfield got the guy---and his small son by his first marriage. Emilia’s fragility in the wake of the death of their daughter threatens her marriage more than the conflict over parenting her stepson and dealing with the ex-wife.

debi_g's review against another edition

4.0

In literature as in life, it's hard to witness grief. The main character of this book, like a breathing, grieving person, makes me respond with feelings of helplessness, impatience, and sympathy all at once. I was rooting for her, I was in her shoes, yet I was not fond of her. This shattered woman is flawed, which makes her feel so much more human than a product of the page.

Waldman has a lovely way of twining words and meanings so that they are somehow simultaneously poignant, original, and familiar.

act_10's review against another edition

5.0

Read my review here!

http://areadersrapture.blogspot.ca/2012/12/cosleeping-naps-and-love-and-other.html

mfabiano726's review against another edition

I had a very difficult time identifying with Emilia. She was very selfish and highly self-absorbed. This turned out to be a disappointment, as I had expected something much better based on the recommendations that it has received.