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Promenades Avec Les Hommes (2010)

by Ann Beattie(Favorite Author)

2.84 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

2267024039 (ISBN13: 9782267024036)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Christian Bourgois

review 1: This book has no plot. Nothing of value is ever learned. The title 'Walks with men' would suggest we will learn something about men and their behaviour but nothing of this sort happens. Some reviews suggested it reveals the human psyche/nature/something but if there was such a point to this book it flew right by me. None of the characters developed or had arcs of any kind. Events(if the boring things that are described can be called that) happen in a hacked, chopped and put together sort of way. The main character loses contact with people all the time and then stuff happens to those acquaintances but that stuff doesn't really seem to move or even effect the story. The protaganist was annoying. It is not understandable at all why she would have a relationship with a man wh... moreom everyone(even the godamned neighbour) disliked and warned her against. That's not 'manipulation' that's plain stupididty. Oh by the way I never saw the 'manipulation' part. The dude was an insecure controller sure but Jane has figured out his tricks before long and even points them out to him and he never develops or alters those tricks YET she still stays with him lord knows why. He was a svengali-a person who manipulates you into thinking you will not produce anything of value without them. Here's the thing though; this Harvard graduate in filmwriting(or just plain writing?) doesn't pursue a career in writing for the entirety of her relationship with this man. He doesn't seem to teach her better writing skills nor teach her anything life altering either. She also manages to write a voice over for a film and a book later on but none of this is in anyway related to her lover/mentor. Also you'd think writing is something that needs practice and dedication but our protaganist Jane can churn out award winning stuff just by the sheer desire of it.This nothing-exciting-happens plot and we-know-nothing-about-any-character's-motivation is apparantly the minimalist way to write. Perhaps I should do a research paper on minimalist writing and re read the book but as far as I was awaare, horrible plot AND characters was simply called bad writing. The prose was good I'll give the author that, but thats about all that can be said positively. Given the way this book was praised it's probaably one of those books that is immediately considered genius simply because no one can understand it.
review 2: I found the book to be "interesting" enough to keep reading, but there is no real story line to the book. Her thoughts are scattered, and all over the place. I tend to enjoy books with a concrete story line, so this threw me for a loop. The book was short enough too, where had it been any longe it would have become a book I NEVER finished. Its always nice to read something out of your normal genre. less

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