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Very Nice
Rachel Klein never meant to kiss her creative writing professor. Zahid Azzam never planned to become a houseguest in his student's sprawling Connecticut home, but he does. Becca Klein never thought she'd have a love affair so soon after her divorce, but when her daughter's professor walks into her home she does, and the affair is...a very bad idea.
This novel zigzags between the rarified circles of Manhattan investment banking, the achingly self-serious MFA programs of the Midwest, and the private bedrooms of Connecticut.
This novel zigzags between the rarified circles of Manhattan investment banking, the achingly self-serious MFA programs of the Midwest, and the private bedrooms of Connecticut.
290 pages, Hardcover
First published July 2, 2019
About the author
Marcy Dermansky
8 books29.1k followersMarcy Dermansky is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Hurricane Girl, Very Nice, The Red Car, Bad Marie and Twins. Her new novel Hot Air will be released in the spring of 2025.
Marcy has received fellowships from MacDowell and The Edward Albee Foundation. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey with her daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,036 reviews
July 10, 2019
This is a vicious little novel, smart, efficient, mean, full of terrible people behaving terribly, incisive observations about a certain class of people pretending they had no hand in the state of the world. Writers don't come off too well, either. Absolutely delightful.
July 9, 2023
3.5 stars
This droll novel brings to mind the game 'Six Degrees of Separation' - based on the theory that any person on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that number five or fewer.
The characters in this story have only one or two degrees of separation so it's easy to get from A to B to C, etc.
Okay, pay close attention now.
One of the main characters in the book is Rachel, an undergraduate student at a college in New York City.
Rachel has crush on her creative writing instructor Zahid Azzam, a handsome, award-winning writer from Pakistan.
Summer break is about to start and Rachel, who's going home to Connecticut, has agreed to care for Zahid's standard poodle Princess while the professor goes to Pakistan - to be with his dying grandmother. Zahid has other troubles as well. He's spent the big advance for his second novel and hasn't made much progress on the book.
Before Zahid leaves Rachel seduces him, concluding that the mutually enjoyable sex means the professor returns her passion.
Lovestruck Rachel takes Princess to her family home in Connecticut - a lovely large house with a swimming pool.
As it happens Rachel's mother Becca is living there alone because her beloved standard poodle Posey just died, and her (not so beloved) husband Jonathan recently left her for another woman. Becca immediately becomes enthralled with Princess, who returns her affection.
Becca is an elementary school teacher who's off for the summer. So she spends her time painting, shopping at Whole Foods, cooking gourmet meals, musing about Hillary Clinton's sad loss, and caring for the dog.
In the meantime, Rachel works as a day camp counselor. One of Rachel's campers, Amelia, comes from a troubled family and Rachel gets more involved with them than she should.
Zahid returns from Pakistan after only two weeks because his grandmother died. He has nowhere to live now, however, because he sublet his apartment for the summer. Zahid's tenant is a gorgeous black lesbian named Khloe who works as financial analyst for Rachel's father Jonathan.
Khloe is also a twin sister to writer Kristi, the 'burr' who pushes Zahid to get going on his book, advance his career, etc.
When Khloe's not at work in Jonathan's firm, she's drinking in upscale bars and making plans to seduce her childhood babysitter Jane, whom she's been in love with since the age of five. As it happens Jane is Zahid's new editor, and - being starstruck by the famous writer - likes to go to Khloe's sublet and snoop through Zahid's clothing, shoes, accessories, etc.
Since Zahid has nowhere to lay his head (so to speak) he decides to go to Connecticut to visit his dog Princess. To make a long story short - he stays. Zahid finds he's able to make progress on his new book in this environment, and he and Becca enjoy eating together; walking the dog together; swimming together; and so on.
Becca and Zahid embark on a torrid affair, while poor oblivious Rachel waits for the professor to sneak into her bedroom at night. And waits and waits and waits.
Meanwhile, Jonathan's relationship with his much younger girlfriend Mandy, who's an airline pilot, isn't going well. Jonathan doesn't like living in Mandy's tiny New York apartment and he misses the comforts of home. In addition, when Jonathan gets sick, Mandy doesn't coddle him like Becca would have.
When Jonathan happens to be in Connecticut he spots Becca and Zahid walking Princess on the beach and thinks that's not okay....so he decides to do something about it.
The novel is narrated in the rotating voices of Rachel, Becca, Zahid, Khloe, and Jonathan, so we get insight into what each one of them is thinking and doing. The characters' motivations and interactions are, in turn, selfish, funny, sad, disturbing, surprising, quirky, and so on. Rachel is the most likable of the bunch, since she's honest and the others are deluded about how 'decent' they are.
All in all, an entertaining book with a touch of frivolity.
You can read my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
October 1, 2020
Update -- This is a darn fun-reading book -- Its a $1.99 special today -- good deal! :)
....Turkey, avocado sandwiches for lunch...
....Naughty summertime sexcapdes in the swimming pool...
....a male novelist/writing Professor behaving badly
....wealthy suburban life in Connecticut
.... a sexy divorcee ...
.... a love struck crush creative writing student.
.... messy, sexy, darkly-funny shenanigans...
.. sharp witty dialogue
....racial and gay innuendos...
....Princess ( Posey) the poodle is loved by everyone...
....deliciously flawed characters
... etc etc etc.....
“He knelt down and petted his dog. He put his face in her poodle hair. Oh gosh, this man was a mess. His eyes were bloodshot. His blue shirt was dirty. He was carrying a leather backpack that looked expensive. He was wearing loafers in the middle of summer. Without soaks, at least. I wondered if that was uncomfortable. Posey licked him. Again, I was struck by the unfairness of it all. I felt tears well in my eyes”.
....an ending that had me killed over with laughter!!!
DON’T MISS IT....
Fantastic summer-time guilty pleasure!!!
....Turkey, avocado sandwiches for lunch...
....Naughty summertime sexcapdes in the swimming pool...
....a male novelist/writing Professor behaving badly
....wealthy suburban life in Connecticut
.... a sexy divorcee ...
.... a love struck crush creative writing student.
.... messy, sexy, darkly-funny shenanigans...
.. sharp witty dialogue
....racial and gay innuendos...
....Princess ( Posey) the poodle is loved by everyone...
....deliciously flawed characters
... etc etc etc.....
“He knelt down and petted his dog. He put his face in her poodle hair. Oh gosh, this man was a mess. His eyes were bloodshot. His blue shirt was dirty. He was carrying a leather backpack that looked expensive. He was wearing loafers in the middle of summer. Without soaks, at least. I wondered if that was uncomfortable. Posey licked him. Again, I was struck by the unfairness of it all. I felt tears well in my eyes”.
....an ending that had me killed over with laughter!!!
DON’T MISS IT....
Fantastic summer-time guilty pleasure!!!
June 24, 2019
Cringe-inducing. Every single character is horrendously selfish - not a single one of them worth rooting for. The "story" (?) is non-existent, since it's basically just an exploration of people's myopic self-centeredness (and don't even get me started on that ending - ridiculous). Dermansky's writing is a bit uneven, and in the beginning, especially during Rachel's chapters, the sentences are stupidly short. The only redeeming quality for me was that this was a fast read so I got it over with quickly.
September 14, 2022
A creative writing professor makes a couple of questionable decisions and finds himself in the big middle of trouble. A young aspiring writer has her sights set on a scenario that is not playing out to her satisfaction. While a 50-something mother mourns her beloved dog, her husband takes the opportunity to leave her in favor of a much younger woman, only to find himself increasingly irritated by his newbie's neverending "insipid abbreviations" and emojis in her texts. I may not have actively liked any of these individuals, but I was definitely interested in how things would end up playing out for them. I must say the ending was just about right in every way.
I have become a complete nut about this author since reading Hurricane Girl. That was my introduction to Marcy Dermansky. I do not know how to tag the genre, but I have seen minimalist mentioned in conjunction with this type of writing mentioned. Whatever it is, I am a captive audience until I read everything she has written. Not even pretending to exercise any willpower here. Reading these novels is like eating ice cream.
I have become a complete nut about this author since reading Hurricane Girl. That was my introduction to Marcy Dermansky. I do not know how to tag the genre, but I have seen minimalist mentioned in conjunction with this type of writing mentioned. Whatever it is, I am a captive audience until I read everything she has written. Not even pretending to exercise any willpower here. Reading these novels is like eating ice cream.
March 12, 2019
I liked the dog. That's about it. There was no redeeming qualities to any of the characters presented. The liberal overtones were completely unnecessary and basically made the characters even more ridiculous. But maybe that was the point? The dog. I liked the dog.
April 3, 2023
Very Nice, by Marcy Dermansky Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
Dermansky serves up the scenario of a male university professor having sex with a female undergraduate. The good professor then turns up (and stays) at the student’s house and becomes involved with her mother. This student’s father has recently left the mother for a beautiful female pilot. There are a small cast of extras including a pair of sexy female twins, one a lesbian and one straight. The lesbian twin works with the student’s father, and is renting the, the professor’s flat. The straight twin is the professor’s best friend.
Things go pear-shaped in this romantic farce. Of course they do.
Coincidences run free. The most likable character was a standard poodle called Princess – the professor’s. Yes, this guy is involved in everything and is well up to his neck in it.
I was unsure about this when I started, but after a chapter or two – I just LOVED IT. I was so immersed in this romp, I was even reading it as I was walking between rooms, on the toilet, outside (I never read outside – it’s too sticky), I took it in the car in case I broke down, and of course I read it in bed.
Brief chapters are rotated between each of the characters and are written in the first person. This produces an immersive experience. There were even suspenseful, risky undertones humming away in the background – I never quite knew how this was going to finish.
5 Stars
Dermansky serves up the scenario of a male university professor having sex with a female undergraduate. The good professor then turns up (and stays) at the student’s house and becomes involved with her mother. This student’s father has recently left the mother for a beautiful female pilot. There are a small cast of extras including a pair of sexy female twins, one a lesbian and one straight. The lesbian twin works with the student’s father, and is renting the, the professor’s flat. The straight twin is the professor’s best friend.
Things go pear-shaped in this romantic farce. Of course they do.
Coincidences run free. The most likable character was a standard poodle called Princess – the professor’s. Yes, this guy is involved in everything and is well up to his neck in it.
I was unsure about this when I started, but after a chapter or two – I just LOVED IT. I was so immersed in this romp, I was even reading it as I was walking between rooms, on the toilet, outside (I never read outside – it’s too sticky), I took it in the car in case I broke down, and of course I read it in bed.
Brief chapters are rotated between each of the characters and are written in the first person. This produces an immersive experience. There were even suspenseful, risky undertones humming away in the background – I never quite knew how this was going to finish.
5 Stars
July 23, 2019
While this is certainly a smart book, it is probably not the deepest novel ever written - still, it is great fun, and sometimes, intelligent fun is more than enough to warrant 4 stars. Dermansky plays with the discrepancies between self-image and the perception of others when she tells the story of a love triangle between a naive, young college student, her mother and her creative writing professor. Told in a linear fashion, but from constantly shifting perspectives, we learn about the thoughts, motivations, convenient self-deceptions and scheming of the protagonists, and we meet and look through the eyes of their social circles. At the sidelines, the author also reflects and frequently mocks current phenomena and themes - from gun laws to corporate culture-, and it is often hilarious and surprisingly bold.
Rachel has a crush on Zahid, her 36-year old Pakistani professor, sleeps with him and agrees to be his dogsitter while he is travelling in exchange for a good grade. As it's semester break, she takes Princess, the poodle, along to her mother in Connecticut in order to cheer her up - Becca has just been dumped by Rachel's dad for a younger woman, and her own poodle has died. Of course, it doesn't take long before Zahid, who is struggling to finish his new novel and to find a new job, shows up on the doorstep, intrigued by the beautiful house with a pool and a fridge that's always full. All three of them have their own agendas and their own side stories, and Dermansky does a great job intertwining her narrative threads - it might not always be all too plausible, but it's always entertaining.
But this author is at her best when she renders her characters arguing with themselves, their inner monologue reflecting how they try to frame the narrative that is their own life: Rachel tries to convince herself of a certain idea of Zahid, Zahid is trying to convince himself of a certain self-image, and Becca is trying to find her new role as a single woman - or isn't she? And then there is a whole cast of minor characters, all of them with distinctive roles and attitudes, all of them deeply flawed and very human - a wonderful gang of people to hold up the novel and propel the story forward.
I listened to the audiobook, and I put it on every minute I could, because this story is truly addictive (not related to content, but hey: That cover is also great!). I definitely need to read more Dermansky!
Rachel has a crush on Zahid, her 36-year old Pakistani professor, sleeps with him and agrees to be his dogsitter while he is travelling in exchange for a good grade. As it's semester break, she takes Princess, the poodle, along to her mother in Connecticut in order to cheer her up - Becca has just been dumped by Rachel's dad for a younger woman, and her own poodle has died. Of course, it doesn't take long before Zahid, who is struggling to finish his new novel and to find a new job, shows up on the doorstep, intrigued by the beautiful house with a pool and a fridge that's always full. All three of them have their own agendas and their own side stories, and Dermansky does a great job intertwining her narrative threads - it might not always be all too plausible, but it's always entertaining.
But this author is at her best when she renders her characters arguing with themselves, their inner monologue reflecting how they try to frame the narrative that is their own life: Rachel tries to convince herself of a certain idea of Zahid, Zahid is trying to convince himself of a certain self-image, and Becca is trying to find her new role as a single woman - or isn't she? And then there is a whole cast of minor characters, all of them with distinctive roles and attitudes, all of them deeply flawed and very human - a wonderful gang of people to hold up the novel and propel the story forward.
I listened to the audiobook, and I put it on every minute I could, because this story is truly addictive (not related to content, but hey: That cover is also great!). I definitely need to read more Dermansky!
August 3, 2024
Well, it’s a good thing Dermansky is coming out with a new novel, since I now have none left. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait until Spring! You know those authors you can always turn to and know exactly what you’re getting? Dermansky is one of those for me, someone who can immerse me when distracted, delight and entertain, all while addressing something deep.
Here she explores romantic and sexual exploitation of women with her usual innocent characters, exposing hypocrisy and nuance in predator and prey alike. She gives enough distance and humor to maintain a light touch, dropping in the pathos in bite-sized surprise. I felt like the guilty listener of neighborhood gossip.
I did find the chapters from the male characters’ POVs to not be as engrossing as the females.’ They felt necessary, they just had less of a magnetic pull. At the start, her writing was so sharp that it revealed much from what was not said. As it progressed, it gave me more, and I settled into the comfort of knowing all was going to be ok.
Here she explores romantic and sexual exploitation of women with her usual innocent characters, exposing hypocrisy and nuance in predator and prey alike. She gives enough distance and humor to maintain a light touch, dropping in the pathos in bite-sized surprise. I felt like the guilty listener of neighborhood gossip.
I did find the chapters from the male characters’ POVs to not be as engrossing as the females.’ They felt necessary, they just had less of a magnetic pull. At the start, her writing was so sharp that it revealed much from what was not said. As it progressed, it gave me more, and I settled into the comfort of knowing all was going to be ok.
March 3, 2019
Call something a "literary soap opera" and I can't read it fast enough. Here is one about sex, writing, race, and politics. The lines Dermansky walks are fine and she navigates them expertly--with humor and razor sharp insight. This is a novel that is insanely addicting and insanely juicy. Also sometimes just insane. I love it so much.
December 19, 2019
This was just... really underwhelming. I honestly don't see the point of this book.
It's about a bunch of horrible people doing things. I don't mind reading about unlikeable characters, but at the end of the day I want to be able to take at least something away from a reading experience. Here, I got nothing. Boring, uninspired, and despite its short length kind of a slog to get through.
It's about a bunch of horrible people doing things. I don't mind reading about unlikeable characters, but at the end of the day I want to be able to take at least something away from a reading experience. Here, I got nothing. Boring, uninspired, and despite its short length kind of a slog to get through.
July 3, 2019
I know I probably shouldn't be saying this too loud but I have never read a Marcy Dermansky book before. I have read reviews of her work. Some of my most keen and thoughtful Goodreads friends have described her previous work as witty, defiant, buoyant and electric. So when I saw this on offer I knew I just had to read it.
Indeed, Very Nice reads like a guilty pleasure that you can devour in one sitting. The plot seems simple - a lauded author sleeps with one of his students then falls in love with her mother. But that's the magic of Dermansky. Everything is not what it seems. All of her characters are flawed, quite unlikable in fact. Their lives are painted with a veneer of accomplishment and success but there is so much more simmering below the surface.
Dermansky's prose is constructed with simple short sentences that intricately connect her characters. In subtle fashion she deftly weaves politics, sexuality, gun violence, misogyny and racism into a clever and entertaining tale.
Indeed, Very Nice reads like a guilty pleasure that you can devour in one sitting. The plot seems simple - a lauded author sleeps with one of his students then falls in love with her mother. But that's the magic of Dermansky. Everything is not what it seems. All of her characters are flawed, quite unlikable in fact. Their lives are painted with a veneer of accomplishment and success but there is so much more simmering below the surface.
Dermansky's prose is constructed with simple short sentences that intricately connect her characters. In subtle fashion she deftly weaves politics, sexuality, gun violence, misogyny and racism into a clever and entertaining tale.
October 1, 2019
I think of Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky as a near-perfect book, and the only reason I didn't write "a perfect book" is because it's more perfect than perfect--like all the most perfect of things, it has a fatal flaw or two to keep it interesting.
And then came The Red Car which was almost, almost as near-perfect as Bad Marie.
So it could be just by comparison that I thought this book was just "very good." After two novels that were wrenchingly feminist in their own, unique, fascinating, and strangely dysfunctional way, this novel seemed to land in a less strange and less marvelous country, to my mind.
And then came The Red Car which was almost, almost as near-perfect as Bad Marie.
So it could be just by comparison that I thought this book was just "very good." After two novels that were wrenchingly feminist in their own, unique, fascinating, and strangely dysfunctional way, this novel seemed to land in a less strange and less marvelous country, to my mind.
August 7, 2019
"Very Nice" is very funny some moments and very dark in others, and always very surprising. Marcy Dermansky has a fantastic sense of humor (and irony), but beneath this tale of mothers and daughters and the literary sensation they sleep with is a penetrating examination of the world in which are living.
July 20, 2019
Very Bad.
This book reads like the author threw every literary fiction cliche into a blender, poured the resulting word slurry onto a blank page and called it a day.
At one point, I started to think it might be a parody of literary fiction tropes, but it would have to be much smarter to pull that off.
This book reads like the author threw every literary fiction cliche into a blender, poured the resulting word slurry onto a blank page and called it a day.
At one point, I started to think it might be a parody of literary fiction tropes, but it would have to be much smarter to pull that off.
August 31, 2021
What a difference a cover makes! I read this a billion and a half years ago back when it looked like this . . . .
I really enjoyed the book. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut I never posted a review because I suck in general when it comes to posting reviews. Then recently I saw someone post a photo of this over on the 'Gram . . . . .
And I was all like “ooooooh I need to read that” because cartoon covers = kryptonite so there’s no use fighting them. Imagine my shock when this was a selection already on my embarrassingly large “Currently Reading” shelf. As Brit Brit would say oops, I did it again.
The only thing you really need to know before starting Very Nice is that it offered up some strong Something’s Gotta Give vibes . . . .
And that, my friends, is not a bad thing.
I really enjoyed the book. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut I never posted a review because I suck in general when it comes to posting reviews. Then recently I saw someone post a photo of this over on the 'Gram . . . . .
And I was all like “ooooooh I need to read that” because cartoon covers = kryptonite so there’s no use fighting them. Imagine my shock when this was a selection already on my embarrassingly large “Currently Reading” shelf. As Brit Brit would say oops, I did it again.
The only thing you really need to know before starting Very Nice is that it offered up some strong Something’s Gotta Give vibes . . . .
And that, my friends, is not a bad thing.
March 17, 2020
This fun novel concludes with such a bad pun that it made me burst out laughing. It also reminded me of Chekhov’s maxim that “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.”
Of course, a lot of the loaded weapons in this book are metaphorical, which is basically about beautiful privileged people doing terrible things to each other. Dermansky also has a go at the cult of the author as ‘celebrity’, and the cutthroat world of publishing, where you are only as solvent as your last advance. Also, in this Connecticut version of a perfect world, literature is ‘fashionable’ as opposed to being comprehensible:
“Did you like it?”
“It was long,” I said. “I wanted to like it. Even the sentences were long.”
“I know. It’s supposed to be a masterpiece. I read review after review and no one complained about the sentences. I think there is something wrong with both of us.”
Of course, the fact that our acclaimed first novelist is of Pakistani descent does raise a few eyebrows, though Becca is sufficiently liberal to note the “sad truth” of “the lack of diversity in our town … You had to be married to a banker to afford a house here. That limited the population.”
Said population gets a welcome boost when Zahid Azzam rocks up at the front door of Becca’s house. “Was Zahid Azzam even a man? More like a grown-up boy. A Peter Pan. An asshole. An artist.” He is ostensibly there to collect his dog, an apricot-coloured standard poodle, that Becca’s daughter Rachel had been looking after while Zahid attended the funeral of his grandmother in Pakistan.
If that sounds complicated, Dermansky proceeds to super-size her soap opera of a plot, as Zahid falls for the mother (this after allowing the daughter to seduce him at her college, where he teaches literature.) I read somewhere that even the dog is unfaithful … which is technically true, as Becca takes a shine to Princess, especially after her own dog had died and her husband left her. “It was ridiculous,” Becca notes. “Could I fall in love with a dog that quickly?”
Becca, a teacher, once had a neighbourhood kid pull out a gun in class, which he (naturally) obtained from his NRA-loving, Trump-tooting father, an event that comes back full circle in a very surprising way (remember Chekhov.)
I had never wanted to hurt Rachel. It had never occurred to me. It was just that she was young. She was young and impressionable, so of course she was going to get hurt. That was just part of life. That was part of being alive. We did not have to regret what we had done. It had been nice. Very nice.
Of course, a lot of the loaded weapons in this book are metaphorical, which is basically about beautiful privileged people doing terrible things to each other. Dermansky also has a go at the cult of the author as ‘celebrity’, and the cutthroat world of publishing, where you are only as solvent as your last advance. Also, in this Connecticut version of a perfect world, literature is ‘fashionable’ as opposed to being comprehensible:
“Did you like it?”
“It was long,” I said. “I wanted to like it. Even the sentences were long.”
“I know. It’s supposed to be a masterpiece. I read review after review and no one complained about the sentences. I think there is something wrong with both of us.”
Of course, the fact that our acclaimed first novelist is of Pakistani descent does raise a few eyebrows, though Becca is sufficiently liberal to note the “sad truth” of “the lack of diversity in our town … You had to be married to a banker to afford a house here. That limited the population.”
Said population gets a welcome boost when Zahid Azzam rocks up at the front door of Becca’s house. “Was Zahid Azzam even a man? More like a grown-up boy. A Peter Pan. An asshole. An artist.” He is ostensibly there to collect his dog, an apricot-coloured standard poodle, that Becca’s daughter Rachel had been looking after while Zahid attended the funeral of his grandmother in Pakistan.
If that sounds complicated, Dermansky proceeds to super-size her soap opera of a plot, as Zahid falls for the mother (this after allowing the daughter to seduce him at her college, where he teaches literature.) I read somewhere that even the dog is unfaithful … which is technically true, as Becca takes a shine to Princess, especially after her own dog had died and her husband left her. “It was ridiculous,” Becca notes. “Could I fall in love with a dog that quickly?”
Becca, a teacher, once had a neighbourhood kid pull out a gun in class, which he (naturally) obtained from his NRA-loving, Trump-tooting father, an event that comes back full circle in a very surprising way (remember Chekhov.)
I had never wanted to hurt Rachel. It had never occurred to me. It was just that she was young. She was young and impressionable, so of course she was going to get hurt. That was just part of life. That was part of being alive. We did not have to regret what we had done. It had been nice. Very nice.
September 1, 2020
No one is very nice in “Very Nice” but that is par for the course with Dermansky. This novel made me laugh and kept me off balance. A fast vacation read with some heft.
January 22, 2020
I suppose the whole point is that nothing and no one in this book is very nice at all. That's an understatement: everyone in this is utterly awful and I couldn't have cared less what happened to them - I only finished because it's such a short book and I didn't want to give up on something so soon into the year.
(If I had intended to make any 2020 resolutions, maybe mine should have been to give up on things when it's clear they aren't worth it and save my time for the things that are!)
I also hated the writing style. All the sentences are the kind of short and abrupt that you might find in an Early Reader or a Ladybird book aimed at 5 year olds, and no one uses contractions in the dialogue, which feels extremely stilted and unnatural. These two points are especially jarring considering how much swearing there is (and this is not a comment made out of prudishness, I think half my vocabulary at the moment consists of variations on the word "fuck"), because it all feels like a weird clash between childish and contemporary and I couldn't get a handle on it. Each sentence repeats, and repeats, and then a new thought is thrown in suddenly out of nowhere and never explained. There's no way to tell whose point of view we're reading from at any given moment, beyond the characters names at the beginning of the chapters - there's a single homogenous voice throughout. In fact, there's a misleadingly great moment early in where the first two POV characters, mother and daughter, talk about the fact that they don't like long sentences, which the pivotal character Zahid uses in his critically acclaimed first novel:
"Ahh," I thought, "This is a clever thing the author is doing. The author is acknowledging the way the book has been written so far. The author is doing this to show us how our characters are thinking. When the writer character Zahid is introduced he will use long sentences. His long sentences will be different to the short sentences of Rachel and Becca. This is how we will know that he is different too."
(turns out the writing tone is catching)
... except that aside fomr him being an even more awful character to spend any time with than the other awful characters, his chapters sound just like the others. The whole thing just felt like a chore.
An extra star because the final scene was actually kind of brilliant, especially the last paragraph. Other than that, I wouldn't really recommend this one to anyone.
(If I had intended to make any 2020 resolutions, maybe mine should have been to give up on things when it's clear they aren't worth it and save my time for the things that are!)
I also hated the writing style. All the sentences are the kind of short and abrupt that you might find in an Early Reader or a Ladybird book aimed at 5 year olds, and no one uses contractions in the dialogue, which feels extremely stilted and unnatural. These two points are especially jarring considering how much swearing there is (and this is not a comment made out of prudishness, I think half my vocabulary at the moment consists of variations on the word "fuck"), because it all feels like a weird clash between childish and contemporary and I couldn't get a handle on it. Each sentence repeats, and repeats, and then a new thought is thrown in suddenly out of nowhere and never explained. There's no way to tell whose point of view we're reading from at any given moment, beyond the characters names at the beginning of the chapters - there's a single homogenous voice throughout. In fact, there's a misleadingly great moment early in where the first two POV characters, mother and daughter, talk about the fact that they don't like long sentences, which the pivotal character Zahid uses in his critically acclaimed first novel:
"Did you like it?"
"It was long," I said. "I wanted to like it. Even the sentences were long."
"I know. It's supposed to be a masterpiece. I read review after review and no one complained about the sentences. I think there is something wrong with both of us."
[...] "No," I said. "We appreciate short sentences. His book might just not be for us."
"Ahh," I thought, "This is a clever thing the author is doing. The author is acknowledging the way the book has been written so far. The author is doing this to show us how our characters are thinking. When the writer character Zahid is introduced he will use long sentences. His long sentences will be different to the short sentences of Rachel and Becca. This is how we will know that he is different too."
(turns out the writing tone is catching)
... except that aside fomr him being an even more awful character to spend any time with than the other awful characters, his chapters sound just like the others. The whole thing just felt like a chore.
An extra star because the final scene was actually kind of brilliant, especially the last paragraph. Other than that, I wouldn't really recommend this one to anyone.
August 1, 2019
Please don't waste your time. This novel is mildly entertaining at best. The writing is horrible, something that a freshman in college would write in an entry-level English class. And that's probably being generous. Most of the sentences are too short and seem incomplete, like the author is unable to write complex sentences. The characters are boring and superficial, with the author failing to make me care about them.
March 29, 2019
What a wonderful read! The bizarre interconnections of a small group of people and their emotional lives are explored in this delicious dramedy of manners. I had the urge to create a chart detailing all the relationships.
Ordinarily, one can point to a catalyst, but there are several catalytic agents at work propelling the plot. Was it the relationship between Rachel and Zahid, her professor? Was it the decamping of the pater familias to his mistress? Was it Becca’s vulnerability after losing her husband and her dog?
I won’t even begin to analyze all the relationships, coincidences and connections, but trust me, this is a great read. Denansky does a great job in allowing each character to have a voice in this novel. I loved them all, maybe not Jonathan, who left his wife. This technique allowed the reader to understand each of the characters, and feel sympathetic towards each one.
I was absolutely mesmerized by this novel. I loved the absurdity of their interrelationships and the quirkinesses of this totally original novel.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to sink into this unlikely assemblage. I am still reflecting on their relationships and trying to picture their futures.
Ordinarily, one can point to a catalyst, but there are several catalytic agents at work propelling the plot. Was it the relationship between Rachel and Zahid, her professor? Was it the decamping of the pater familias to his mistress? Was it Becca’s vulnerability after losing her husband and her dog?
I won’t even begin to analyze all the relationships, coincidences and connections, but trust me, this is a great read. Denansky does a great job in allowing each character to have a voice in this novel. I loved them all, maybe not Jonathan, who left his wife. This technique allowed the reader to understand each of the characters, and feel sympathetic towards each one.
I was absolutely mesmerized by this novel. I loved the absurdity of their interrelationships and the quirkinesses of this totally original novel.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to sink into this unlikely assemblage. I am still reflecting on their relationships and trying to picture their futures.
January 12, 2020
My first read of 2020 was a gas! Marcy Dermansky is a funny, clever, smart writer, and I breezed through this novel in two days. She does a beautiful job of creating five distinct voices for five distinct characters, each of whom has a clear intention. Then she ensures that each character's goal is in direct conflict with another character's goal. Dermansky's characters are refreshingly unique, including money-obssessed Khloe, a lesbian whose love for her former babysitter goes unrequited, and self-absorbed Zahid, the wunderkind writer who deludes himself into thinking he's more interested in those around him than he is. By the end of the novel the clashing intentions of all these characters come to a head and I raced through the final pages to see who was going to come out the winner. I would have to say that prize goes to Dermansky.
April 24, 2019
All the WASPy coolness of THE ICE STORM with...some actual warmth, this book is stylish, sleek, hilarious, I loved it. I am upset that it ended. I want this nice world back.
July 20, 2020
What a clever, engaging story Marcy Dermansky has written about life in a small Connecticut town. She makes us feel like we are there – in the gorgeous house with a sparkling swimming pool, at the café where Rachel meets her mother after working at a day camp, at the town beach. Dermansky reveals the hearts and souls of a beautiful, dog loving mother, her college-age daughter, a rich father who strays from home with a seductive female pilot, a male professor/novelist who emigrated from Pakistan, twin bi-racial women ( one works in finance for her dad and the other is a novelist/professor at Iowa). The spicy dialogue rips along the page. Dermansky ‘s sparse writing style moves the story forward as we get to know this multi-faceted cast of characters. Their voices are touching, sometimes antagonistic, although ultimately heartbreaking, as they move in and out of each others’ lives during a long, hot summer. We hope that 19- year- old Rachel Klein will return to college in the fall as a wise young woman, eager to continue her studies. I didn’t want this very nice novel to end.
Read
July 18, 2019DNF at 155 pages in.
October 9, 2019
this may have been the worst book ever written
July 9, 2019
Rachel is taking care of her writing prof's poodle in exchange for a good grade. She also slept with him, but because she wanted to, not for an A. She takes the dog home for the summer, where her mother is still adjusting to life without her husband, who has left her to live in Tribeca with an airline pilot. Zahid, the writing professor, had a successful debut novel but he's spent the advance for his second novel long ago and now needs to find a new teaching position, so he sub-lets his apartment to the sister of his best friend, a woman who works in the male-dominated world of finance.
This is a short novel with many characters, all of whom get to be the centers of their own chapters. And the novel has a broad reach, from dissatisfaction in an affluent commuter town, to the misogynistic reaches of New York finance, to the inner workings of publishing and academia. So it shouldn't work. The characters should be one-dimensional. And yet, Marcy Dermansky manages to pull it all off. There are a ton of characters, all of them behaving in the most outrageous of ways, yet they all feel very human. Zahid may be sleeping with the mother of the student he once slept with, and to be angling very hard to become her kept man, but somehow I couldn't not be pleased when his writing was going well. Dermansky has a talent for connecting her characters to the reader very quickly, regardless of what kind of self-destructive behavior they are engaged in or how selfish they are and here that talent is able to take a large collection of characters, all behaving badly, in a wide variety of situations, and make a cohesive novel out of it. I do prefer it the intense experience she creates when keeping her writing tightly focused on a single character (The Red Car is a fantastic book) but with this book, Dermansky set her difficulty rating much higher and landed every jump.
This is a short novel with many characters, all of whom get to be the centers of their own chapters. And the novel has a broad reach, from dissatisfaction in an affluent commuter town, to the misogynistic reaches of New York finance, to the inner workings of publishing and academia. So it shouldn't work. The characters should be one-dimensional. And yet, Marcy Dermansky manages to pull it all off. There are a ton of characters, all of them behaving in the most outrageous of ways, yet they all feel very human. Zahid may be sleeping with the mother of the student he once slept with, and to be angling very hard to become her kept man, but somehow I couldn't not be pleased when his writing was going well. Dermansky has a talent for connecting her characters to the reader very quickly, regardless of what kind of self-destructive behavior they are engaged in or how selfish they are and here that talent is able to take a large collection of characters, all behaving badly, in a wide variety of situations, and make a cohesive novel out of it. I do prefer it the intense experience she creates when keeping her writing tightly focused on a single character (The Red Car is a fantastic book) but with this book, Dermansky set her difficulty rating much higher and landed every jump.
October 28, 2020
Immersing so much into the Super Rooster last week brought up the books I still hadn't read from this year's Tournament of Books regular long list. Like the last book I read by Marcy Dermansky (The Red Car,) this was a quick read. This focuses on a host of characters and how they intertwine. The title leads to a joke in the end that I almost forgive the author for; I chuckled. Both poodles and avocado toast figure into the story. It would be an ideal beachy, forget your troubles, life is frivolous read so you might want to get it for the week we have coming! (Election week 2020)
September 1, 2019
3.5 rounded down
Perfect summer reading - light, fast-paced, witty, lots of unlikeable characters making morally questionable decisions and becoming entangled in each other’s lives - but it didn’t *quite* come together for me in the end. It just felt like there wasn’t quite enough character development for my liking. The ending was almost farcical but I guess that was pretty fitting. Recommended if you liked Fleishman is in Trouble; definitely a similar vibe.
Perfect summer reading - light, fast-paced, witty, lots of unlikeable characters making morally questionable decisions and becoming entangled in each other’s lives - but it didn’t *quite* come together for me in the end. It just felt like there wasn’t quite enough character development for my liking. The ending was almost farcical but I guess that was pretty fitting. Recommended if you liked Fleishman is in Trouble; definitely a similar vibe.
June 25, 2023
I'm starting to think the title might have been ironic, because I can't actually think of anything Very Nice about this book.
I would comment on the plot, but there doesn't seem to be one. 300 pages of shitty people, doing shitty things, with no real end in sight.
I would comment on the plot, but there doesn't seem to be one. 300 pages of shitty people, doing shitty things, with no real end in sight.
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