Customer Reviews

Fried Calamari

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

What a great idea for a book. Two very human people on a first date trying to impress the other while battling their own insecurities. Simple yet unique. The all dialogue book is very difficult to pull off, but the author does it with some great observations and witticisms without relying on any conventional cliches. Being a single woman in her late twenties, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me some perspective on the whole dating scene. Above all else, it's suppose to be fun.

The "review" below was taken from the page for Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel THE HOURS. Mr. Roman, have you *no* sense of decorum?:.... "Wow. The readers really seem to have extreme reactions to this series of novellas. I thought it was extremely well done. In particular, I appreciated the originality of the work. I also really enjoy the novella format. For readers who like this form, I would highly recommend both The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro and Fried Calamari by D.M. Roman."

I rank Ellis up there with D.M. Roman, the author of Fried...oops, wrong review! That was someone from Merion, PA (say, isn't that suburban Philadelphia, where D.M. Roman lives?) oozing unctuously all over the putrid Glamorama. And what a coincidence that so many of the 5-star reviews on this page also hail from the Philadelphia area!

I highly recommend this intriguing book that is both insightful and very entertaining. Fried Calamari is a candid and very funny look at how people act on a date. Some of their insights into sex and relationships may surprise as they are not at all stereotypical. Most of all, this book is just a lot of fun.

Reading Fried Calamari is like drinking a good glass of Merlot. The reader can sit back, relax and laugh at the anxiety, insecurity, and hope that accompanies a first date (while taking comfort that they are not on the date themselves). I found Fried Calamari to be witty, insightful, and very entertaining. It captures the fun (and horror) that we all have experienced on a first date.

If you want a great, quick read while you're slaving through the latest 400 plus-page novel, I suggest you pick up Fried Calamari. This short, almost novella, 120-something page delectable escapade reminded me of High Fidelity. DM Roman writes about relationships in a way we all think about but are afraid to admit.

Incredibly funny and unusually honest, I breezed through this book in a couple hours. My girlfriend is reading it now. No doubt some interesting conversations will follow about relationships, past and present.

My first read of Fried Calamari probably would have warranted about three stars. It was funny and entertaining and unique enough on a surface level to merit a "worth reading." On a second read, however, I found a wonderful subtext paralleling the storyline. The author does a masterful job of unmasking the characters' respective insecurities in a night of verbal jousting which is nothing more than a verbal one night stand. And at the end of the night, the characters are no closer to any real intimacy than if they had engaged in a sexual one night stand. But the characters do seem to come to a deeper realization and self-discovery at the end that leaves the reader happy for what they didn't do, and hopeful for what they can do.

As to the people commenting on the below reviews being self-promotion, let me just say that I work in a chain-bookstore which has recently been hit by a plague of special orders for this book by a person whose address and phone number don't really exist. The book in non-returnable to the publisher, so we are stuck with it on our shelves. I'll let you try to figure out for yourself who that person might be.

Fried Calamari is a delicious treat that unfolds the story of a first date in an all-dialogue format. I read this book twice. The first time purely for entertainment and on the second read, I tried to pick up all of the insights in the underlying subtext. On both accounts, this book came out a winner.

See review below for "Be Cool" and note the address ... again!!!

Cheesy.

A reader from Haverford, Pennsylvania , February 28, 1999 Sharp, Witty and Cool Another winner from Elmore. He is the champion of great, witty, smart dialogue. Along with FRIED CALAMARI (which also contains very sharp witty dialogue), this is the best contemporary fiction I've read this year.