Rating: 
Summary: Not normal Tim, but still great
Review: I enjoyed this book and Tim O'Brien's signature style. Once again, as with Northern Lights, it is disconnected from Vietnam, but it has ties. Tom Chippering is a veteran and their is a chapter dealing with it, holding true to Tim's faithfullnes to his past.However, if there is anything Tim is great at writing it's the human psyche under any circumstance. Here, he beautifully portrays a pathetic, middle-aged sex addict who isn't very good at his antics of screw everything I can. He has charm, but is too hung up on his past to use it to its full potential. Instead, he is hellbent on seeking revenge upon his ex-wife, a disturbed in her own way, obsession of Chippering's. It has humor and drama, skepticism and redemption. It isn't normal Tim O'Brien. If you've read The Things They Carried, Going After Cacciato or If I Die In A Combat Zone and you really liked those for being about Vietnam, then this is not for you. But if you are a fan of literature in general and Tim O'Brien's beautiful language and, in my eyes, flawless style, then please, buy a copy of this and enjoy it. It is easily readable in a day or two because there is a subtle tension that sneaks up on you and grabs hold right at the end, so you're thankful you didn't put it down. This is a great novel. I give it my highest recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad
Review: I wanted to like this book, really, but after 70 pages or so, I realized life is too short to waste on crap like this. Where to start? The lead character speaks like someone in a Stephen King novel. For instance, who have you ever met someone in real life who introduces themself with their full name, including middle name? Now, that wouldn't be so bad if, like King, it had a good plot. But I didn't believe this one for a microsecond. The whole family watched from a window as the teen couple kissed? The girl in the lingerie store cheerfully tried on clothes for the lead character? Come on. When the protagonist showed up in the yard of his family's old house and started weeping, I made a vow to myself: If he wound up bedding the woman who came outside to chase him away, I was outta there. I'm glad I followed that vow.
Rating: 
Summary: Of course he's obnoxious. That's the whole point.
Review: Let me explain something to the folks who disparage Tomcat in Love because the narrator is a self-centered, obnoxious prig: This is a novel about a guy who is a self-centered, obnoxious prig out for revenge on his ex-wife and her lover. It is a hilarious portrait of a total jerk. I loved it.
Then again, I have to admit to being an Updike fan. I even like Philip Roth! And, OK, maybe I'm old--but more of a dog than a cat. I haven't read John Cheever, but if he deserves as much scorn as O'Brien, Roth, and Updike, I'll have to check him out.
Rating: 
Summary: "The world doesn't revolve around Abe Chippering."
Review: Linguistics professor Tom Chippering is still mourning the loss of his wife, Lorna Sue. He can't accept the fact that she's dumped and divorced him and is now living with a wealthy tycoon in Tampa, Florida. Chippering is determined to get Lorna Sue back--and have some revenge along the way. Chippering is a Vietnam veteran, so first he does a little reconnaissance in Tampa, and he discovers that Lorna Sue's brother, Herbie, conveniently lives just a few streets away from his sister. Thomas has a long-standing score to settle with both of them, and the root of the trouble stems from a childhood incident. My first problem with the book ... the main character Tom Chippering is an obnoxious, self-centered, egomaniac. He doesn't listen to anyone else's problems, and to Chippering, women are a sum total of their physical attributes (and this is supposed to be a source of amusement). This, quite frankly, annoyed me so much, I had a difficult time finishing the book. Also the character is supposed to be a Linguistics professor, and while the author briefly mentioned the title of a class or two, and numerous female students, I found the characterization extremely unbelievable. Chippering's profession is just a coat hanger to stick the character onto. He could be anything--a car salesman, an undertaker--it really doesn't matter. Also the author's meandering style was annoying. He has a fixation with cumbersome footnotes, and the information in the footnotes is worthless, distracting, and nonsensical. Finally, Chippering states that he longs to get his wife back, and yet this is also implausible as the wife is clearly an undesirable crackpot, and Chippering seems to have plenty of entertainment with his female students, and well ... anyone who looks remotely female. The idea--the ex-husband trying to win back his wife through fair means or foul--with a little revenge along the way--was an engaging one. Unfortunately, the main characters were unappealing and largely uninteresting. Unappealing, nasty characters can be great fun to read about--if the author handles the characters in the correct manner. In this novel, Chippering is unleashed--it's not pleasant, not funny, and after a while, his shallow, one-dimensional, flawed character and continual escapades become boring--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written and hilarious
Review: My first read of Tim O'Brien, and it was easily my favorite book in some time. His writing style is intelligent, sensitive and humorous at the same time, and I found myself laughing along with TC's own incredulity at how the opposite sex, the "weaker" sex, could constantly have him on the ropes and eventually robbing him of his formidable language skills. The section of him recovering from his institutionalization was hilarious. Great book, not one to miss.
Rating:
Summary: Non-combat work shows a different side of O'Brien
Review: Some readers may have a hard time getting into this book just because O'Brien has been so identified as THE guy when it comes to combat, Vietnam, their effects on society and ordinary men, etc. But there's a score of writers stuck on war-themed novels, and what always elevated O'Brien was that he is such a stronger and more imaginative writer than any of them. And that hasn't changed just because the genre of this novel has. It's highly entertaining, if not as socially poignant as his previous works, and expertly written. Had I read the premise of the story and it was by your average top-selling author of this genre, I wouldn't have given it a second chance. But it's O'Brien, and he would be hard-pressed to create a bad novel. The characters are memorable and almost Vonnegut-like in many of their odd traits and quirks. A good lawn-chair read over a slow weekend that will entertain you without the weight of his usual works.
Rating: 
Summary: Revenge Can Be Sweet
Review: This is my first novel by Tim O'Brien though I have heard many wonderful things about his writing talent. I read Tomcat with a on-line buddy, and I think this was a perfect book to read together. There are so many wacky, hilarious scenarios that must be shared with others in this novel! *Tomcat in Love* reminded me of The War of the Roses, a former couple going after each other with verbal shotguns, passive aggressive attacks and even bombs and fireworks. If you've recently gone through a painful break-up or divorce, this novel may be a cathartic experience. Tom Chippering is a linguistics professor that happens to love women; nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, his love for women becomes an obsession that eventually ends in divorce. His ex-wife, Lorna Sue, was able to find love again in Tampa, leaving Tom simpering at home, alone. Tom in solitude quickly becomes Tom in vengeance mode! Overall, Tomcat in Love is an entertaining read. It wasn't my favorite *man scorned* novel but good for a quick diversion.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book I've Read All Year!
Review: This is the story of Thomas H. Chippering, as told by Thomas H. Chippering, who should be the poster child for the "Unreliable Narrator" that every literature major is forced to study. He's as deplorable and self-obsessed as Ignatius Reilly in "Confederacy Of Dunces," as morally hazy as Humbert Humbert in "Lolita," and he's presented with circumstances as funny as any invented by T. Coraghessan Boyle, Joseph Heller or Eric Kraft. The lengths to which Chippering will go to avenge the loss of his beloved Lorna Sue, and the offenses he commits along the way, comprise some of the most absorbing fiction I've ever read. There isn't a dull passage in the book, and there are many that are so densely packed with visceral humor that they justify repeated re-readings. One chapter in particular, where Chippering auditions to replace the deceased M.C. of a local cable access children's show -- only to suffer a nervous breakdown on the set -- is so profoundly tragic and funny that it gave me goosebumps. Tim O'Brien may be the most underappreciated author in America today, despite -- or maybe because of -- his agonizingly realistic portraits of the American war effort in Viet Nam. The fact is that O'Brien is a powerfully descriptive and ingenious storyteller, and this is one of his most engaging books. In some respects it is a far cry from "The Things They Carried" and "Going After Cacciato," but in other respects "Tomcat In Love" is the perfect successor and complement to those hard and poignant war classics.
Rating:
Summary: Wickedly funny, yet still touching
Review: Tim O'Brien has been a favorite of mine for nearly 25 years. His books are always deep and insightful, but they reached new levels of somberness with "The Lake of the Woods". "Tomcat In Love" is a delightfully unexpected left turn and reveals a surprisingly sharp comic talent. I usually find it difficult to enjoy a novel with a protagonist I can't admire. But Thomas Chippering is so delighfully self delusional that you can't help but giggle as he digs himself in deeper with every scheme he contrives. And yet amazingly you find yourself rooting for this buffoon as reaches new depths of social ineptitude. Other reviewers mention that Chippering is an unreliable narrator, but it is important to realize that he actually believes all the lies he is telling. Half the fun of reading this comic novel is reading between the lines to distinguish where what is really happening diverges from what Chippering is telling you. This is a funny, funny book. Even so, it confronts the reader with many serious issues, particularly the objectification of women. There's plenty to think about while you are laughing at the characters. That's one reason this book stays with you much longer than most comic novels. I gave a copy of this novel to my father, and after he finished it he sent it along to my brother. Tim O'Brien is exactly a generation between me and my father, and while there's plenty we can't see eye to eye on, we both found this novel extremely entertaining. Tim O'Brien is a treasure. Read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Wickedly funny, yet still touching
Review: Tim O'Brien has been a favorite of mine for nearly 25 years. His books are always deep and insightful, but they reached new levels of somberness with "The Lake of the Woods". "Tomcat In Love" is a delightfully unexpected left turn and reveals a surprisingly sharp comic talent. I usually find it difficult to enjoy a novel with a protagonist I can't admire. But Thomas Chippering is so delighfully self delusional that you can't help but giggle as he digs himself in deeper with every scheme he contrives. And yet amazingly you find yourself rooting for this buffoon as reaches new depths of social ineptitude. Other reviewers mention that Chippering is an unreliable narrator, but it is important to realize that he actually believes all the lies he is telling. Half the fun of reading this comic novel is reading between the lines to distinguish where what is really happening diverges from what Chippering is telling you. This is a funny, funny book. Even so, it confronts the reader with many serious issues, particularly the objectification of women. There's plenty to think about while you are laughing at the characters. That's one reason this book stays with you much longer than most comic novels. I gave a copy of this novel to my father, and after he finished it he sent it along to my brother. Tim O'Brien is exactly a generation between me and my father, and while there's plenty we can't see eye to eye on, we both found this novel extremely entertaining. Tim O'Brien is a treasure. Read this book!
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