Customer Reviews

The English American: A Novel

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Best of Both Worlds

'The English American" is both an immensely readable and enjoyable novel, and a story with deep meaning on multiple levels. Likewise, its heroine, Pippa Dunn, embodies the best of both worlds: genteel British upbringing on the one hand, and irrepressible independent American spirit on the other. But there is more; the more you read and reflect, the more is revealed, not only about Pippa, but also about oneself. I felt connected to Pippa and enjoyed traveling with her on her journey "across the Pond" and back again, and also within. It doesn't matter whether you have experienced any of the situations presented by "The English American," whether you are a man or a woman, young or old. It speaks to the human heart, with both humor and spirit.

I will confess that there were parts that I found cute, quirky, even darling. Especially the contrasts between American and British culture. And it was nice for once to have a British character actually defending Americans against all the bashing that seems so prevelant in many novels of similar ilk. However, I cannot believe all the glowing reviews of this book. Sophomoric, predictable writing with an annoying central character and poorly drawn charicatures of supporting characters. Are we supposed to believe that the young ingenue is REALLY so dense that she doesn't see a man falling for her? And the man she pines for, an artist aquaintance from years back whom we get to know superficially through their e-mail exchanges, is so lackluster and one-dimensional I am left scratching my head as to what, exactly, she's so attracted to. With gems such as "Yes, my love. Your nipples were hard, and so was I" ... barfo!

It's hard to find a book that makes you feel and think feelings and thoughts you've not experienced before - but is also a really fast read and therefore PERFECT for the plane or the beach - but this novel is it! Alison Larkin has written a real page-turner that affected me so much I read it in one sitting, my heart thumping as I waited to find out what would happen to the heroine I fell in love with on page one. By the end of it you feel you know the characters personally and the humor is wickedly funny throughout. It's a sexy book too - Nick's emails are HOT! I had the same romantic dilemma as Pippa, and I was so relieved it panned out as it did, but I honestly had no idea what would happen. The characters have stayed with me days after reading it. I loved Pippa and her adoptive parents. And the birth parents were fascinating characters too.
It's like you're spending the pages with a great friend who you just love. It's SO easy to read - I need that. Loved it. Roll on the next Alison Larkin novel!

I would follow Pippa Dunn anywhere--she's a fresh, wonderfully captivating heroine, and the characters she attracts and seeks and smashes up against are nearly as indelible as she is. As a reader I love to be surprised, and The English American is full of surprises. But the biggest one may be that a novel can have so much to say that's genuine and poignant about love and family and yet offer up such a good time along the way. As moving--at times wrenching--as Pippa's journey is, it's also fun and funny, never failing to entertain. Larkin is the real deal, a writer and storyteller whose instincts are dead on.

How I loved this book! I am an avid reader - probably reading at least five or more books a month- so sometimes my choices are disappointing. Not this one. It has joined the list of my favorites and I'll definitely suggest it to my Book Club. It is an interesting story written from the point of view of an adoptee but you don't have to have an adoption connection to enjoy it. I really enjoyed the subtle differences the author brought up between Americans and the English. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good read. Just be sure to put aside the time for it because, believe me, you are not going to want to put it down!
A. Varney

Speaking as an adoptee myself, I can say that Alison Larkin's book, with great humor and truth, allows readers to experience all the feelings an adoptee has on meeting her birth parents. I plan to buy 3 more copies of this wonderful book to give my own children, because she has said everything so much better than I ever could. I laughed and cried my way through it in one day. Ms. Larkin even managed to answer a few questions that I could never bring myself to ask. I highly recommend this book to all adopted adults and anyone who wants to understand an adopted loved one better. And, of course, anyone who wants to laugh!

"The English American," by Alison Larkin, is a funny, charming and poignant novel. Pippa, born in the American south, was adopted by an English couple at birth. Her adoptive parents, Alasdair and Gemma, had a daughter a year after Pippa was adopted. Both were raised in the traditional British upper middle class fashion. However, Pippa with her red hair was physically and temperamentally different from them.

The story line of the book is how Pippa finds her birth mother and father and discovers her genetic roots. It helps that she strongly resembles both her genetic father and mother in looks personality traits. Finding out why she is the way she is, she also discovers the real meaning of family and finds true love.

Separation, alienation, genetics, and family are all topics raised in Larkin's book. We see through Pippa's eyes as she experiences these topics. For me, this was an introspective read because of similar situations in my life. I found "The English American" to be funny, very British, very Southern, well written, and easy to read.

I really couldn't put this one down -- the author does a wonderful job conveying what it's like to love one's family but not quite fit in. The American parents who gave her up for adoption are difficult, complicated people, and she deftly portrays them, and all of the complex emotions they inspire in her and in each other, in all of their awful splendor. Her British parents, while exasperating in their stiff upper lip tea drinking way, are clearly loving and supportive. I also loved how she managed to poke sly fun at each culture while being respectful to both. As her British parents would probably say, well done.

This is a great book. Funny, exciting and she does a great job of keeping you interest. I felt as if i knew her personally when I was done reading.

Unlike most of the reading I've done the past year about adoption and related issues, this first-person novel (only one I've read!) follows one adoptee's search for her roots in depth - thinly fictionalized, it is based upon her own experience being raised by a British couple and finding her roots in New York and Georgia. I relate to her nature, being also drawn to the arts, impulsive and disorganized. Likewise I share her difficulties with attachment and interpersonal relationships. There were many passages which struck chords within me, as thoughts I have had and even experiences I knew personally.

It uses the contrast between cultures as a larger canvas upon which is painted her experience of trying to understand how one person can come from two families and how the experience of adoption shapes one's struggle to define self. As she journeys back and forth from America to England, seeking to redefine her relationships with the family she knows while discovering the family whose heritage she shares, she grows into the unique person she is. This is not something biological children have to do; it is both the curse and blessing of straddling two worlds and two families.

It is also a novel about love - (no, I never thought of myself as a "chick lit" reader, though some might consider this book to be in the genre.) Pippa discovers the nature of the love she has for her adoptive family as she goes through the stages of integrating her biological family into her identity. She feels tugged both ways, and comes to understand that her family of origin is not perfect, but still shapes her nature. I would recommend this book to anyone who is in a relationship or family with an adoptee.

And no thanks - I've seen what Hollywood does to adoption stories, and we don't need another "Juno" or "Then She Found Me"!