Rating: Summary: Ladies' Man, Looking at Some of Life's Regrets! Review: I am an Elinoir Lipman fan. I enjoyed this book, especially the end. All of the sister's had to take a hard look at themselves. They had bought into their parent's world and the ideas and standards of that time, and it was this world that prevented them from living their lives to the fullest. How many of us reach fifty and realize we have been living someone else's version of what life is and not our own. Nash Harvey is the man many a female has run into in a vunerable moment. We want to believe it is love and that last chance for it only to have our dreams smashed back to reality after we have been taken for the fool. I found this to be enjoyable summer reading with more meat to the story and character development then other books designated as women's summer reading. I became engrossed in the lives of the characters and the story held my attention. I would recommend this to women to read. it addresses a vulnerable side of the female sex that they don't always want to show. It speaks of the relationships among sisters and the need for friends to sustain us through the hard times and laugh with us.
Rating: Summary: Divine Review: I am reading The Ladies Man very, very slowly, because I don't want to lose it. I want to be always by my bedside, in case of emergency -- like a revolver. Her way with dialogue and character is simply a joy - I fully agree with the comparisons to Austen. Lipman has adroitly nailed the archetype of the diehard, attention-and-heat-seeking-missile-bachelor to perfection. As a novel it is nimble, sustaining, and frankly delicious. In the place I am at in the book, the veal cassarole has just come down on Harvey's head, and he is playing it for all it is worth --can he get some sex out of this?- you can hear him calculating, as gravy slides down his forehead. Great scene. I can't wait to see what happens, and yet I am also loathe to see it end. Divine, and certainly worth every penny.
Rating: Summary: What a pleasure Review: I bought THE LADIES' MAN because of the review in The New York Times ("I loved every page of this very funny, sophisticated yet good-humored novel") and I totally agree. No, I loved every word! Thanks, Ms. Lipman!
Rating: Summary: Not her best Review: I didn't quite feel Elinor Lipman got it together here. The plot was, at best, sketchy, the characters were shallow, and the dialog laked much of her usual sparkle. Writing in the present tense was not easy to adjust to, and this took the shine out of the first two chapters until I was able to adjust to it. I have to say, that I struggled a bit. The Ladies' Man was very easy to put down.Maybe the next one?
Rating: Summary: Sullies the name of Jane Austin Review: I don't know what it is with so many women writers but they seem to have this thing with Jane Austin. This is Lipman's stab at her and, unfortunately, she drives the stake right through the poor woman's heart. Perhaps it is hero-worship but anyone who truly admires Austin would quickly realize that Austin was writing about her contemporaries and if she were living today she'd more than likely be doing the same. Nevertheless, Lipman is intent on creating a Victorian suburb somewhere in 1990's Boston. The result is a false-feeling novel that caused me to shake my head at the very premise of the thing. It's hard to believe that today there'd be as many people living the chaste Victorian lifestyle as Lipman would have us believe. It's one thing to write the Dobbins sisters that way (perhaps it would have been interesting to play their Victorian attitudes against Modern Boston), it's quite another to write every single other character the same way. Lipman takes pains to update the technology of the novel (pointing out the use of cell phones, CD Rom's, microwaves in repeated, pointless, annoying asides) but fails to update anything else. According to Lipman, most everyone in Boston either lives with their siblings or their parents and everyone is shocked that people actually have sex. The Victorian attitudes were frankly embarrassing and surprising considering the quality of Lipman's other novels. As for Harvey Nash, he's the slick beau stereotypically lifted from practically any Austin novel. Pick one, you'll find a reasonable facsimile of him. He's Hugh Grant from a Merchant-Ivory film in 20 years. I was bored by him almost as soon as I met him. Finally, I must point out that this is a novel with practically no setting, no description, no nothing other than dialogue. It practically reads like a script. As such, it was hard to place these characters in modern times given that the natural inclination given their attitudes is to place them back in Victorian England. I can't believe what a mess this novel turned out to be. Particularly after the smart "Inn at Lake Devine". Maybe next time will be better.
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: The Ladies' Man Review: I found this to be good reading. However I see it as sterotyping women. I know this is a new age but I can't get with all this one night stand stuff. These are the times when women can and are very much taking care of themselves have no need to succumb to such degradation.
Rating: Summary: I was very disappointed! Review: I had often heard what a wonderful author Elinor Lipman is, so I picked the "Ladies Man" as my first book by her to read. The last 50 pages of the book, I had to force myself to finish it.
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: 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.
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