** romeo and juliet separated by insecurity, social class, and cluelessness

** switchin' in the kitchen...well done

850-page detective thriller...excellent plot...tortured prose style: archaic words, old-fashioned expressions completely at odds with the american setting...read the english translation which can only be an improvement on this guy's atrocious prose

diverting page-turner by downton abbey actress

** if you enjoyed "stoner" by john williams (1965), you'll enjoy this dated-in-a-funny-way (1973) novel about a middle-aged college prefessor who...you know

*** Short, historically based (sort of...the sources are scant) sketches written in an archaic style. These must be a nightmare to translate.

* Way too scholarly for me most of the time with whole stretches discussing people I've never heard of, but the insights into Seinfeld, the Marx Brothers, Larry David, even Adam Sandler, are priceless. Also some good jokes—with philosophical context—if that's your thing. Holocaust survivor arrives in heaven and tells God a concentration camp joke. "That's not funny," says God. "Well, I guess you had to be there," survivor replies.

* Billed a modern-day Madame Bovary, this novel reminded me rather of Houellebecq (cold, matter-of-fact, emotionless, verbose descriptions of what should have been meaningful human activities), John Williams' "Stoner" (vast desolate panorama of a lonely life fast-forwarded slowly), and Karl Ove Knausgaard (minute description of the functioning of a Nespresso machine, for example).

*** Well written and well done. The two parts seem unconnected. Yet part one would be pretty sickening without part two which is a perfect antidote. I could have done without part three: I knew Ezra was a creep.

*** Good first novel. Brit girl lands in Manhattan, meets people. Pros: Hermione Hoby gets the NYC details right, the characters are memorable, and the plot is entertaining. Cons: she uses the word "plangent" twice.

*** smart dude...great insights into Nabokov...funny...worships Bellow

*** only 77 pages...surreal story written in antiquated style...lots of archaic vocab