About Schmidt (Ballantine Reader's Circle) [Paperback]

Louis Begley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ballantine Reader's Circle | Publication Date: September 8, 1997

"A fine new novel... The great pleasure of reading Louis Begley [is] his exceptional literary intelligence."
The New York Times Book Review

"Begley again demonstrates that he can reveal the complexities of society and personality with a clear eye and graceful style... Morethan meets the requirements of graceful fiction."
Time

Proud, traditional, and impeccably organized, Albert Schmidt is a button-down lawyer of the old school.  But now, after years of carefulmanagement, his life is slowly unraveling.  His beloved wife has recently died.  He stumbles--or is he being pushed?--into earlyretirement.  And his daughter, his only child, is planning to marry a man Schmidt cannot approve of, for reasons he can scarcely admit, even to himself.  As Schmidt gropes for resolutions, he finds unexpected hope in an intense passion that comes out of the blue.

Set in the Hamptons and Manhattan, infused with black humor and startling eroticism, About Schmidt is both a meditation on lonelinessand on the power of romance to unlock the most impenetrable recesses of the heart.

"Comical, tough, unsparing; it is as if Louis Auchincloss had exchanged the kid gloves for brass knuckles... Interesting and nervy."
The Washington Post Book World

"A powerful story of a man's fall from grace... The Remains of the Day come[s] to mind."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Stunning."
Los Angeles Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Albert Schmidt is a retired lawyer who misses his recently deceased wife, has an unhealthy diet, is a mild anti-Semite and owns a nice home in the Hamptons he feels compelled to offer to his daughter as a wedding present. Said daughter, Charlotte, is a yuppie in all the worst ways. She handles public relations for tobacco companies, doesn't want the house in the Hamptons, and is about to marry a buttoned-up Jewish lawyer. The conflict takes off from there in this finely told tale of retirement, inheritance, and death. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Both Auchincloss's sophisticated comedies of WASP manners and the terrain mapped in Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day come to mind as comparisons for Begley's new novel, but his discerning intellect and lapidary prose distinguish this powerful story of a man whose fall from grace has a double-edged irony. Albert Schmidt retired from his job in a white-shoe New York law office during his wife's terminal illness. In his 60s, he lives in her magnificent family home in the exclusive Long Island community of Bridgehampton, where he makes sardonic observations about those who betray his archaic values and rigid social standards. The most egregious traitor is his beautiful, brilliant (i.e., Harvard summa cum laude) daughter, Charlotte, whose decision to marry a blatantly ambitious Jewish lawyer is a bitter blow to Schmidt?although he remains outwardly civil. Schmidt has no idea that his cool, remote behavior has alienated Charlotte, that she is aware of the veiled anti-Semitism he himself denies and that her new family, which Schmidt thinks vulgar, offers the warmth and human contact he has never provided. With sublime, delicious irony, Begley shows Schmidt's bizarre metamorphosis from a pillar of rectitude to a silly old fool; a Puerto Rican waitress younger than Charlotte is the instrument of Schmidt's descent down the primrose path. Taking advantage of Schmidt's loneliness, streetwise Carrie uses her sexual wiles to move herself and her drug-dealing boyfriend into his house and life. Begley guides the narrative with smooth aplomb and dry humor, providing a wealth of acutely observed social detail and a clear depiction of emotional dysfunction. Though his classic Holocaust novel, Wartime Lies, is a standard Begley can't improve upon, this elegant, sophisticated novel is another study in self-deception that confirms his reputation as a masterful literary novelist.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (September 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449911160
• ISBN-13: 978-0449911167
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Case closed - Schmidt not guilty, March 2, 2003

By 

Matthew Krichman (Durango, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: About Schmidt (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

This book is so simply written that it just might fool you into thinking that it is a simple book. Far from it. This is a rich, layered, nuanced plot with complex characters and powerful themes of loss, anti-Semitism, aging, and generation gaps. I found myself getting so lost in the pure pleasure of reading this novel that I frequently forgot that I was reading a book that was short-listed for the National Book Critics' Circle Award - a prize usually given to novels that require effort to muscle your way through.

Begley's background as an attorney shows through clearly. He is not your typical writer. You'll find little of the literary fluff, not much symbolism, no strong attachment to any particular technique or structure. Instead, his minimalist prose allows the reader to focus on the story, on the characters, and most importantly, on the themes. Much has been said about the notion that the reader is supposed to pass judgment on Schmidt - hence the title, a legal reference implying that the author is presenting a case or a brief. But is there any doubt about who is guilty and who is innocent here? Schmidt, for all of his flaws, is clearly the hero. Yes, he feels more comfortable with people of his own kind than with outsiders, but who doesn't? His heart is in the right place, for the most part, and Begley draws a rich portrait of a daughter who becomes self-absorbed in her unjustified resentment as she distances herself from her father. Begley's exploration of this rift is beautiful for its subtlety, and for its ability to present a morally unambiguous case without sacrificing its complexity.

Who can explain, however, the bizarre adaptation for the screen that recently came out? It resembles the book in virtually no respect, and makes one wonder why the bothered to pay for the rights to the book. The book as it was would have made an excellent movie - one can only speculate as to why and how Hollywood took such an excellent book and, with much effort, turned it into such a mediocre film.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah, loverly, loverly, July 20, 2003

By 

Marki Shalloe (Marietta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: About Schmidt (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

By now you've probably seen the movie, and read reviews that say movie and book are quite different. 'S true. But they are at heart the same...gently exploring a prickly yet subtle man, leading a life of quiet desperation, less tears than wistful sighs, less chest-pounding than weary acceptance. The movie pokes you a little bit more, but I guess it has to. Plot is not the deal here, nor is dialogue, even. It's all character. Schmidt is in a period of great loss, his catastrophic losses (retirement, wife's death) ill preparation for the smaller, more damaging ones (daughter patronizes him, he realizes the relationship was based on the mother and he was just an extra). This book reminded me of Updike's 'Rabbit' series, though this one is a more pleasant read. I was glad to find this author and will read more of his. Highly, highly recommended.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I want to hang out with Schmidtie!, July 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: About Schmidt (Hardcover)

Having never read Begley before, I did not know what to expect. I'm happy to report that once I got used to his style (complex sentence constructions), I settled in and really enjoyed this book. Albert Schmidt, it seems, should be someone whose butt we want to kick. He's grouchy and way too stuck on himself. But he's also quite observant, and this is ultimately what made me like him. He can sniff out a phony at twenty paces and he's not afraid to challenge those who pry too deeply (witness his altercation with his son-in-law-to-be's mother, a psychiatrist who takes it upon herself to lift Schmidtie from the depression he's been in since the death of his wife. He combats her phychiatrist's offensive with his attorney's defense and it's rather humorous). Though Schmidt spends much of the book moping around and looking back on his life, he begins to let his hair down when he takes up with a feisty waitress, who gets him thinking about possibilities. Is she only doting on him to get a big tip? The passages in which Schmidt and Carrie's relationship develops are really touching. In Albert Schmidt, Begley has created a truly memorable character in less than three hundred pages. Begley's prose is elegant -- it's obvious he worked hard on this book. I wish I could say the same for Richard Ford, whose "Women with Men" I read just before this book. Compared to Begley's latest work, Ford's collection is light and airy, puff pastry crud. I recommend Ford read "About Schmidt" before he embarks on his next project