Customer Reviews

Adriane on the Edge

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A nice weekend read. The book felt a little unfinished but will bring a tear to your eye. Poor Adriane is not living in a fantasy world like so many stories I have read lately but trying to deal with alot of emotional baggage that almost anyone can feel great deal of empathy towards.

Adriane Gelki is a young woman with problems who tries to improve her life by living with "abandon", not worrying about the consequences of her actions. She is alternately likeable and exasperating as her attempts at change lead her to do some good things and also to sometimes act like what could most charitably be described as a spazz. Each chapter is a rather self-contained episode of her life. While the book is a fun read with a mix of serious and funny content, the problem I had with it is that it felt more like a series of short stories than a novel with a conclusion.

At twenty-eight Baltimore area single, Adriane Gelki struggles with her existence caused by her deep rooted feelings of being unwanted and unloved by anyone ever since her parents committed a double suicide. She works at City Hall's Office of Neighborhood Enhancement, but feels like a member of the living dead as her gut wrenching loneliness reaches every aspect of her soul and in a self prophecy Pygmalion Effect prevents her from reaching out to others, which in turn isolates her further.

Digging into her heart for courage, Adriane vows to live life on the edge, which in her case is a very tiny but critical step towards meeting someone. Joking, a new concept for Adriane, she solicits an undercover cop only to be arrested for prostitution; sentenced to counseling, Adriane feels at home when her therapist drops dead during their session. Every effort to join the living seems to lead to a further setback; even her adopted dog bites her during the night. Still Adriane continues her pledge to live albeit not to successfully.

ADRIANE ON THE EDGE is an amusing yet deep character study of a young woman trying desperately to find herself beyond the shadow life she lives by connecting with others; a daunting task for an individual never recovered from her parents' suicides. The series of incidents that Adriane fumbles and stumbles through are hyperbole that leads to a dark serio-comedy as beyond the laugher is the fundamental need to belong. Paul Mandelbaum uses graveyard humor to provide a picture of hope even when the darkness engulfs seemingly every molecule that makes up a person who just wants to connect with anyone.

Harriet Klausner

yes, i judge a book by its cover, and that's what attracted me to this book. then, reading that it takes place in baltimore, my home town, i decided to buy it for the local interest aspect.

unfortunately, that was the only thing i really found redeeming about the book. it seemed more like a collection of short stories, jumping around from episode to episode in the main character's life. some of the episodes seemed too fantastic to make it a believable novel, and Adriane came across as too unrealistic. some of her actions made me cringe in embarrasment for her!

i guess i was expecting more of a mid-life crisis novel set in baltimore, but i was sorely disappointed once i was done reading the book. i felt like it had no real storyline, and the character just wasn't believable to me.

If this is chick lit, it is chick lit as written by Evelyn Waugh. Mandelbaum's fiction is dry, incisive and inventive. He knows that life is essentially tragic and just as essentially ridiculous, yet also somehow glorious. Adriane is the best kind of comic character, hilarious and deeply moving.

I know Sierra has moved along to Caesar III, but we could really use the guide to Caesar II. Come on, Amazon, surely you can dig up three measly copies of this book for the threee people on this "review"!

I recently found this game ......but alas cannot locate a gaming guide for it... New or used ...will pay for the shipping

can anybody pleas etell me where i can bet this book?

polar23@mailexcite.com