Curtis, Curtis, Curtis, what have you done? Now, that I have read ALL your books, I can say you really hit a Sophomore Slump with "The Man Of My Dreams."
The characters are all lackluster and pathetic. The boys are worse than the girls. You try to develop something out of Hannah Gavener, as you trace her almost twenty year trajectory from whining teen to accepting spinster, which I did not care for at all. I could not stand her at the beginning, and the Hannah at the end was more self-defeating than empowering.
What the hell were you trying to do? Lose readers???????? If I had read this, when it first came out, I would not have gone on to the others, which more than made up for this.
Hannah's sister, Allison, and her cousin, Fig, are pigs! Fig's transition at the end is utterly superfluous, and unconvincing. I did not believe a word of it.
But to leave Hannah, at the barbecues, with her police woman roommate, accepting her spinsterhood, is to leave her defeated. Even during my spinsterhood period, I never stopped believing I would find someone. And I did.
Maybe I don't get it, because I am not a woman. But, if I were, I would have felt sold out by Curtis, who is telling girls, if you don't find someone, then stop believing you will, and accept your spinsterhood.
What a rotten message to convey. You might as well tell them to go into the convent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you like Curtis Sittenfeld, and want to keep on doing so, but have not read this, then please skip it.
As for me, I will be wary of her next novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment