The Ladies' Man

Rating:
Summary: Funny and endearing
Review: I loved the characters and the intertwining plots in the book. Elinor Lipman takes a whole cast of characters and makes you care about them. I enjoyed every page.

Rating:
Summary: not much substance
Review: This was the third Elinor Lipman book that I have read this summer and this was the least interesting of the three. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Inn at Lake Devine' and 'The Way Men Act' but was bored with this one. I find it hard to believe that the Dobbin sisters waited until Harvey Nash came back into their lives to find any sort of excitment or romance. Since Harvey Nash had no redeeming qualities I found it difficult to care about his character.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment following Inn at Lake Devine
Review: Loved Inn at Lake Devine and looked forward with anticipation to reading another Lipman novel. I still remember Inn... months later but can hardly remember the characters in Ladies Man just a couple of weeks after finishing. I did not find the plot particularly exciting or interesting but did enjoy Kathleen and Lorenzo's relationship. I will purchase another Lipman novel hoping it will equal Inn at Lake Devine -- as yet none have.

Rating:
Summary: Her best
Review: I just finished reading all of Lipman's books when this novel was released. This is definitely her best. The stage is set in the opening lines when Lipman describes how the sisters set up bottles at their entry door to protect against intruders every evening. They are all just a little bizarre, just what you would expect from three 50ish sisters who live together. And as for Nash Harvey - I am dying to find out how long it will take Dina to fall for his "charms" again in a possible sequel. A man more confident of his charms has never been described in print. I found it gratifying that the love lives of the sisters begin to turn around when Nash departs Boston. I have enjoyed all of Lipman's books, but I had more or less decided that they were flawed with conventionally happy endings (think about it - they all have the strong girl character finally marrying the man of her dreams at the end) until I read this one.

Rating:
Summary: Silly and a waste of time
Review: I enjoyed Inn at Lake Devine and was looking forward to another good book. However, this was an extremely silly, pointless novel. The characters were shallow (especially the male) and totally uninteresting. I kept on reading it and hoping it would improve, but it didn't. What also made it uninteresting was the author's writing style of always using the present tense. I found this annoying after a while.

Rating:
Summary: A sparkling novel
Review: Like all of Lipman's novels, this one sparkles. Her characters are interesting, hilarious, and best of all, real. It's obvious that she writes about what she knows, and that makes for an entertaining, and sometimes touching, novel. One of her best.

Rating:
Summary: A great , easy summer read
Review: Long after I finished this book I still am fond of the characters. At last a book about women over a certain age who are neither pathetic, nor nymphomaniacs. I thought the characters were very well portrayed and would love to read a sequel!

Rating:
Summary: The worst!
Review: I read the Inn at Lake Devine and loved it. There was an endearing character, real human feeling, some depth. This is a shallow novel with shallow characters. "He" is so totally unlikable and the women so ridiculous I called it a wrap at about page 70.

Rating:
Summary: Includes the most delicious sex scene you will ever read
Review: Among other delights. You will find yourself quoting this one over and over -- when you've picked yourself up from the floor. Nash is the perfect ladies' man but all of Lipman's men are charmers; Richard, and Lorenz's father, are alone worth the price of admission. This is witty Lipman at her wittiest. You'll pray for a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Every friend you give it to will bless you.
Review: A perfect comic romp. I couldn't bear to let these characters go -- or remember the last time I read anything this side-splittingly funny. Lipman has the golden touch.