Another You [Paperback]

Ann Beattie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 1996

To her latest novel, Beattie brings the same documentary accuracy and Chekhovian wit and tenderness that have made her one of the most acclaimed portraitists of contemporary American life. Marshall Lockard, a professor at the local college, is contemplating adultery, unaware that his wife is already committing it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in a small New England college town, Beattie's latest addresses infidelity, isolation and the lingering scars of childhood.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In her latest novel since Picturing Will (LJ 1/90), Beattie again explores the anxieties of the American middle class. Using a deliberately understated narrative voice, she presents the confused world of college professor Marshall Lockheed and his wife, Sonja. As Marshall ponders whether to tell Sonja about his complicated infatuation with a student, Sonja ponders the pros and cons of revealing her brief affair with her boss. Meanwhile, repercussions from their rather unexceptional indiscretions are about to plunge both Lockheeds into some very unusual territory. In the background are Marshall's dying stepmother, a woman with secrets of her own, and a collection of mysterious letters from the past with significant links to the present. Beattie's detached prose captures characters and events photographically: precise images are put forth for the reader to ponder without authorial analysis or elaboration. At its best, this technique stimulates thought and imagination, but it will not appeal to all readers. Nevertheless, this is essential where Beattie's work is admired.
-?Starr E. Smith, Marymount Univ., Arlington, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 323 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (August 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679734643
• ISBN-13: 978-0679734642
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,434,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A long and pointless journey, March 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Another You (Paperback)

Ann Beattie has a sharp eye and a clean prose style, but she is not a particularly gifted dramatist. Another You is a remarkably stagnant story that bumps along for three hundred pages without building any sort of momentum. The main character, a college professor named Marshall Lockard, is so self-absorbed and fundamentally unlikeable that it's hard to care what becomes of him. The first half of the book concerns a convoluted plot involving one of Marshall's students and an equally unlikeable colleague. The second, slightly more engaging half focuses on Marshall's family, a mysterious subplot involving his deceased parents and stepmother. The two stories intersect but shed no light on one another. I regret the time I spent reading this book and look forward to the day Beattie returns to writing short stories.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Insulting, July 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Another You (Paperback)

This was the first Ann Beattie book I've read and probably the last one I will ever read. The book was insulting to blacks, Southern people, people from Detroit, college students, and the list goes on. The main characters are so self-absorbed that I didn't feel any sympathy for them or care about their lives. I wish McCallum's wife would've done away with him, Marshall, and Sonja in one fail swoop so the book could've ended sooner!

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most wonderful book I have read in years., March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Another You (Paperback)

Ann Beattie, as always, offers a poignant and often biting look at the lives of common individuals experiencing life. This novel, like My Life Staring Dara Falcon, illustrates beautifully the solitude, yet interdependence of our lives.