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Ken's Reviews > The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.
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Whew. It's tough to get into the love affairs of Nathaniel (call him "Nate") P. if you don't much care for Nathaniel (call him "Nate") P., and really, I didn't. At all. Not that it's deadly to dislike a protagonist. Poe pulled it off with aplomb. First-person creep POV, but the reader's still there. But Nate? He's just so much milquetoast angst. Shallow, despite his supposed Ivy League intelligence. And his biggest love affair is with himself. Yawn.
As for the girls, you can't help but wonder what's wrong with them. Have they no sense? The Emperor wears no clothes here. It's marketed as a savvy, 30-something, Brooklyn-is-cool situated novel about love these days, but if this is love, we need a new word for the real thing.
The other drag on the narrative is the writing. It seems, in many spots, to be a lot of telling. Not that telling can't work sometimes. Here, it just doesn't. This happened, then that happened; Nate saw her, then Nate thought this; what happened a minute ago, is happening again -- only differently maybe because the girl's hair is longer than the last's or her laugh more affected or her monologue more boring, and Nate is micro-analyzing every blessed moment. In fact, in one section, Nate admits to be sensitive to the charge of overthinking things. Oy. Small wonder! In the end, it's just a long slog through a lot of sameness passing as clever social commentary. Or not passing.
Bottom line: No Exit, Brooklyn-style.
As for the girls, you can't help but wonder what's wrong with them. Have they no sense? The Emperor wears no clothes here. It's marketed as a savvy, 30-something, Brooklyn-is-cool situated novel about love these days, but if this is love, we need a new word for the real thing.
The other drag on the narrative is the writing. It seems, in many spots, to be a lot of telling. Not that telling can't work sometimes. Here, it just doesn't. This happened, then that happened; Nate saw her, then Nate thought this; what happened a minute ago, is happening again -- only differently maybe because the girl's hair is longer than the last's or her laugh more affected or her monologue more boring, and Nate is micro-analyzing every blessed moment. In fact, in one section, Nate admits to be sensitive to the charge of overthinking things. Oy. Small wonder! In the end, it's just a long slog through a lot of sameness passing as clever social commentary. Or not passing.
Bottom line: No Exit, Brooklyn-style.
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Reading Progress
August 14, 2013
–
Started Reading
August 14, 2013
– Shelved
August 15, 2013
– Shelved as:
finished-in-2013
August 15, 2013
– Shelved as:
contemporary
August 15, 2013
–
Finished Reading
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by
Jane
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rated it 2 stars
Aug 21, 2013 06:52AM
You put it very well. I was so tired after I finished the novel that I couldn't put a proper review together. Your take on it is consistent with mine. Thanks for composing this!
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Sure thing! Glad to see it's not just me being a curmudgeon again....
I agree, you expressed my hard-to-express feelings so well! Awesome review!
yes to all of this.
You don't have to like the main character to think a book is great. I mean, who could like Humbert Humbert?
That said, Waldman is no Nabokov, and I just need to finish it for my book group and get back to reading Trollope.
I've read plenty of quality books with loathsome characters. See reference to Poe in paragraph #1 of review. I heart Poe. I even spell his middle name right: A-L-L-A-N.
Oh thank the earth. I thought I was alone in thinking this book was downright eye-roll worthy. Especially since there's about three pages worth of praise for this book.
Jenna wrote: "Oh thank the earth. I thought I was alone in thinking this book was downright eye-roll worthy. Especially since there's about three pages worth of praise for this book."As the old church hymn goes: "You'll never walk alone...!" ;-)
