- Paperback: 231 pages
- Publisher: Grove Press; Reissue edition (January 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0802134092
- ISBN-13: 978-0802134097
- Product Dimensions: 18.3 x 12.4 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #297,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Two words on the cover ("a novel") are the only hint that this unusual first book is fiction and not autobiography. The unnamed narrator is a London architect who becomes involved with Chloe, a graphic designer. After about a year, Chloe leaves him for an office-mate, and, as a result, the narrator tries (unsuccessfully) to kill himself. Eventually he gets over Chloe and falls in love with someone else. The novel's action is minimal; the balance of the book is given over to the narrator's obsessive analysis of his relationship with Chloe. (There are diagrams--such as the seating chart of the Boeing 767 where they met--that are meant to illustrate various ideas with which the narrator toys.) The book was likely intended as a Barthesian look at that peculiar heart condition called love, but the overblown and pretentious writing obliterates any comparison, peppered as it is with such winking turns-of-phrase as "cartographic fascism." The author is clearly intelligent and well- read; perhaps some day he will put those assets to good literary use.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Chloe and Alain meet in a plane flying from Paris to London and fall in love. Their romance lasts only about a year, and after they have parted the narrator/author uses scenes from their time together as illustrations of his philosophical anatomy of romantic love. Chapters are formed of numbered paragraphs so that the book resembles a classical philosophical disquisition, and it's on this level that it reads best. First novelist de Botton writes well--dozens of sentences glisten with aphoristic insight--but neither Chloe nor Alain really engage our interest, and their story seems too slight to support all the heavy philosophizing. Recommended only for sentimental young romantics with a penchant for philosophy, readers who thought Nicholas Baker's Vox ( LJ 11/15/91) was profound, and writing teachers who need an example of what happens when you write a novel before you have much life experience.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clever and fun,
By
This review is from: On Love (Paperback)
How can a love story go together with philosophy? Or how can a youngman, who thoroughly studied philosophy, fall deeply in love, without thinking too much and asking himself too many questions?The beginning of the story happens in the sky, in a British Airways flight. And after that, as it happens in every love story, both protagonists come down to earth. And this is the moment when everything starts. The story of this novel is simplicity itself: a love affair, from its very beginning to its very end. De Botton's narrator describes falling in love with Chloe, being in love with her, and then getting over her, actually a quite banal thing. But what makes the book interesting and captivating is the way he manages to show everyday love in characters who are not particularly appealing, considering all aspects of love, especially the everyday and trivial. According to Alain de Botton, there are two ways to understand love: a mystical one, or at least mythical, and a philosophical one. This book takes both ways seriously and banters them gracefully. On one hand we have signs, destiny, romantic fatalism, Cupid and on the other we have Plato and Kant. I am sure that many of you will recognize themselves in the stories the author tells and will admit that he or she said or did the same things when was in love. I also have to say that Alain de Botton is prone to think too much sometimes and makes big deal out of small things, philosophizes a lot. Despite this, this little book is very clever, written with a lot of common sense, nerve and surprises (the story is full of drawings, charts and diagrams) and it can be read by the ones who are cheated or dissapointed by a love story. It is well written and fun to be read. It is something that will remind you that some things should not be always taken too seriously.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just brilliant; as tasty as your favorite dessert,
By Sketchgrrl "vegwriter" (Boynton Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: On Love (Paperback)
Who says you can't judge a book by its cover? I was paying for a bookstore purchase one day in NYC and the cover of this book, on a rack near the cash register, called out to me. I bought it and it sat around for a few months. One day I picked it up and read it. I was transfixed, by the playfulness and wit of the writing and by the deep work the intellectually curious main character goes through in his attempts to understand the woman he's fallen in love with. He's never entirely sure where the object of his love, Chloie, is coming from, and spends much time analyzing the situation from every imaginable angle, sharing it all with us, the readers. I loved this, the idea that a man wrote this book about a man who is as perplexed as a woman is when she's on the precipice of a love affair with a guy she can't fathom. This book was as comforting as chocolate, and as delicious, a heady banquet for the romantic soul. As I read the book, I was wishing I knew the author, because he's on the same wavelength as me. I can't wait to check out his other books!
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Greatest Books Ever,
By "wsowers2" (Harrisonburg, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: On Love (Paperback)
Absolutely hilarious! His analogies are superb and he captures what it is like to be single through the full stages of a relationship, start to the inevitable breakup.YOU MUST BUY THIS BOOK!
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