Rating: 
Summary: Ladies Man At Bay
Review: Elinor Lipman is concerned with second chances. In her previous romance, The Way Men Act, she described the slow and accidental re-union of a divorcee with the high school flame she never wed. In The Ladies' Man she puts this basic question of whether it's possible to go back in a more complicated frame. Harvey Nash, the professional romancer of the title, follows the trade of commercial jingles composer and returns to Boston fleeing his West coast live-in lover, Dina, whose modeling career has given way to a commercial practice massaging feet. The woman he abandoned, failing to turn up to their engagement party thirty years earlier, is Adelle Dobbin, also encumbered - by two sisters, Lois and Kathleen, both also single. It is Lipman's endeavour to explore not only the damage which Harvey's breach of faith did to the marriageability of all three, but also how his re-appearance in their lives unexpectedly jarrs them back into motion, a bowling ball among the cob-webbed skittles.Adelle fundraises for non commercial TV, Lois (the middle one) works for the Employment Office and Kathleen owns a lingerie boutique whose doorman, Lorenz, she flirts with and finally dates in the flurry of Harvey's return. (He arrives at midnight, flirts with all three in turn, and moves Kathleen to break a casserole over his head.) The doorman's building also contains Cynthia John, a financial consultant Harvey seduces on the plane East, who throws a music recital to show him off (a masterful scene of music snobs volte facing into success worshipping applause at Harvey's one ubiquitous coffee ad refrain). The initial charm and inexplicability of Harvey's relentless boyish seduction is gradually stripped away by Lipman's gaze - he emptied Dina's bank account on the way from LA but calls her to forward the residual payment cheques which are his only income. The scene of Nash Harvey (his professionally reversed name) inspecting the dilapidated parental home he first left Boston to flee, reduced to staying there rent free if he is to stay at all, is quietly fierce, as is the scene of Adelle breaking down in the changing room of her sister's shop: "Dell, are you alright?" "No," she says softly. But these scenes are always harnessed to comedy, as Harvey's vengeful ex Cynthia walks into the store, as Adelle's remembered one sexual encounter was with a randy academic whose pedagogic urge leads him to view his member as a teaching aide. These scenes are ruefully funny, a bitter undercurrent to the frothy shake of Lipman's style, making her books a smooth but satisfying brew.
Lipman's gems in this book are the minor characters: Lorenz the doorman's traditional father who thinks Kathleen is too good to sleep around with and won't vacate the apartment, Adelle's shy station boss admirer Marty whose sexual harassment paranoia and self-doubts she deftly hits, the boyish deputy Sherrif brother Richard Dobbin, whose reflexive picking up on waitresses is a less exploitative counterpart to Harvey, part of Lipman's ongoing project shaking her head at men's odd ways. Her one failure is Byron Sprock, the passing playwright Dina conjugates with, whose glibness is too close to Harvey's with no grain of depth, perhaps why Dina wants to get her ladies' man returned. The exquisite handling of the plot's spinning plates never let you feel much will ever fall out of hand, but Lipman's acid eye won't let you think she's been too kind or glib while sending Harvey on his way. Stern in its judgements but kind to its readers and characters, it is a wise and easy book to read.
Rating: 
Summary: nice read, but not my favorite Lipman
Review: This was an enjoyable read. The characters are funny, engaging and familiar. The story is primarily about 3 sisters who have all settled into spinsterhood and live together. Then this guy, Harvey Nash, a true ladies man, comes back into their lives, supposedly seeking forgiveness from Adele, the sister he'd left at the alter many many years ago. His presence ripples into their supposed contentment, with intriguing results. Nothing truly sensational happens, just a series of related events that kind of fold into eachother. This isn't my favorite Lipman, but it's not because it's written any worse or the characters less engaging than those in "The Inn at Lake Divine" or "Isabel's Bed" (my two favorites). It's because the characters were simply older, and their story less familiar. Therefore, it was more a glimpse into the lives of others only, rather than something I felt I could immediately relate to. Nevertheless, I definately recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Basically no plot, strong at the start, weak after that
Review: I really wanted to like this book. I mean, I only picked it up at the book store because of the interesting cover. It looked like a good read tho, and I really tried for it to be just that. The book starts out ok, but it just keeps going downhill. The entire story is basically nonexistant. It's almost a book without a solid narrative, and just dialogue between the characters, who I might add, are some of the most boring I have ever read. You have 3 sisters who seem to be stuck in the middle ages, Adele seems to be ruined by one man leaving her, Lois just seems to be a moron with no clue on anything...Kathleen seems to be the only character who isn't a frightened woman, yet she's so boring, you don't even really care. I was rather confused as to what I was supposed to be feeling for Nash Harvey, was I supposed to feel sorry for him and like him or hate him? He seems like a decent guy at the start, but as you get further along, you realize he's slime, and you don't even care what happens to him in the end. I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters ultimately, and the fact that there is no real plot here, it makes the book drag on for what seems like a decade. The ending is probably the worst part of the book, it's as tho Lipman wrote this book as a bunch of everyday conversations thrown together, and at the end, she couldn't think of what else to say and promptly ended it. I've never read any of her other books, but if this is any indication of her talent as a writer, I highly doubt that I ever will.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but ultimately unsatisfying comic novel
Review: Lipman's comic novel concerns Nash Harvey (or Harvey Nash, depending on who knows him), the ladies' man of the title. Nash unceremoniously dumped the eldest of three sisters twenty-five years ago. Without a word as to the basis of his actions, he disappears only to reemerge into their lives. Nash is slime--that much is clear--as he is willing to flatter, sleep with, and then dump women according to his current needs for money, housing, and work. Unfortunately, for this book to work, it needs to be understood WHY he is so appealing to a spectrum of women. Is it his looks? His charm, which seems so transparent? Or is the point that these women that Nash preys upon are lonely and insecure? Whatever the answer, it is inevitable that most readers will want to see him get his comeuppance by the end of the novel. And he does--but only to a limited extent. I wanted him to go down much, much more ignominiously, and for that reason the ending was unsatisfying. The novel also lacks a resolution as to the relationship among the three sisters, which is severely strained by Nash's arrival. What makes these three women act as they do? How do they feel when he's gone? I was interested in the book throughout--my only problem is that I wanted more resolution at the end.
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