Funny Accent: A Novel [Paperback]

Barbara Shulgasser-Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2002

Funny, sophisticated and fiercely intelligent, 32-year-old Anna Schopenhauer has one weakness: men old enough to be her father. Heading home to Scarsdale for her father's 70th birthday party, she wants to break the pattern and plots revenge on a family friend--the first older man in her life--about whom she has written a recently published short story in The Atlantic Monthly. Wry and sharply observant, Funny Accent introduces a fresh new fiction talent.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Titillating....This debut novel is smart, funny and hot.” —Glamour

“[A] wry tale of sex...complexly portrayed. Thanks to whip-smart insights on love and lust, revenge and responsibility, Anna’s struggle to break free of Misha’s far-reaching grasp proves subtle, moving and true-to-life.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Shulgasser-Parker is adept at giving her characters keen, if not profound, psychological insights...her workoffers a witty, entertaining commentary on the puzzling, often-bizarre world of male-female relationships.” —Chicago Tribune

“A lovely combination of a self-conscious narrator and a feeling heroine.” —The Boston Globe (Recommended Summer Reading)

“Barbara Shulgasser-Parker writes about sex and love with a rare and refreshing precision.”
—Diane Johnson, author of Le Divorce

About the Author

Barbara Shulgasser-Parker is a native New Yorker. She was on staff at the Chicago Sun-Times and was a film critic for the San Francisco Examiner for thirteen years. She wrote, with Robert Altman, the film Pret-a-Porter, and her work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Glamour, The Chicago Tribune, and Mirabella. She lives in Santa Monica, California with her husband Norman Parker.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Picador (June 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312300433
• ISBN-13: 978-0312300432
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,912,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Funny Accent, October 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Funny Accent: A Novel (Hardcover)

I had hoped to be drawn into the novel and "see" the events from the primary character's point of view. What I found was a very linear presentation of events. Though the premise of this book is touted as the story of woman who falls for men old enough to be her father, I found that this story was rather about a woman who continually falls for egocentric men who would be less than good for her, no matter what their age. And while it is often said that women who date older men have "father issues", the trail the author takes to make this point was a little abrupt to suit me. While this is a very well-written book, I was somewhat disappointed in the content presented, thus the two-star rating.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny That Way, August 19, 2005

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Funny Accent: A Novel (Hardcover)

I enjoyed FUNNY ACCENT a great deal, although I have an earlier edition than the one pictured here, one whose cover sports Saul Steinberg's photo of an "Intellectual Couple" wearing paper masks that make them look like Mr. and Mrs. Peanut.

Anna is a wonderful creation, she is a free lance writer in Chicago who publishes a story in the prestigious Atlantic Monthly, called FUNNY ACCENT. First we get the story (which she has called, "Funny Accent"), then we get to hear the repercussions of what happens to her once the story, with its revelations of her own personal life and that of her Lithuanian-American family, gets around.

Anna is drawn to older men, some of them much much older than herself, and she attributes this to having been molested as a teen by a family friend called Misha. While he worked slowly and thoroughly, seducing her gently, he drew the line at having physical sex with her, and finally she threw herself at him and was rejected. By then she was twenty and too old for the creep, whom she now saw at family gatherings dancing with a young girl of thirteen, the same age she had been when she had become his prey. "He leaned toward the girl and his profile disappeared into her hair. He was whispering and she, her hand cupped over her mouth, was giggling."

The story gets complicated by Anna's other entanglements. She is living with a playwright called Gregory who's not only a Dentile, but a drunk. She is carrying on sort of a Madame de Stael flirtation with an internationally celebrated novelist from Chicago who will make readers think instantly of a thinly disguised Saul Bellow, pretentious, four times married, a perfectionist in his writing and a wild man in his personal life.

In addition, once Anna's parents get a copy of the ATLANTIC, they are shocked and dismayed to find out that it is through this vehicle that their daughter is making what amounts to a cry for help. Were they so self absorbed that they failed to see their dear Misha was making advances to Anna when she was a mere 13? Anna's mom, Sonia, in fact, has had a flirtation going on with Misha herself. He once asked her to marry him, yet she was already together with Max so it didn't happen.

Finally, Misha himself is heard from. Anna gets a call from him saying, "I've read your story."

What happens next is beyond your wildest dreams! Shulgasser Parker is a master novelist and will keep your imagination twitching as she brings us closer and closer to the insidious, glorious heartbeat of real life. She divulges the puzzling inner workings of an immigrant family, who, having escaped the Kosovo ghetto find themselves still at odds with mainstream US society. Misha is a memorable creation. Like the character Marcello Mastroianni played in PRET A PORTER (the Altman movie written by Shulgasser Parker) he is a charming man in late middle age who commits some reprehensible acts, but for whom he cherish a special fondness nevertheless--a mischievous rogue we can't help but like a little bit.

This is a fine book, one of the best novels of 2001. I only wish it had done better at the bookstores, for too few of my friends have read it. Barbara Shulgasser Parker should be getting the awards and book club bids that Diane Johnson or Jane Smiley does. Hope she writes another book soon!

4.0 out of 5 stars Sparsely eloquent. A book ripened near perfection., June 27, 2005

By 

Naa "the Mighty" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funny Accent: A Novel (Paperback)

Barbara Shulgasser-Parker writes a novel seemingly devoid of extras. No extraneous jabber to divert you from her prose. No inessential thoughts that clutter her focus...Whether her point is important probably lies somewhere with her subject. Since I don't care a whit about a woman drawn to her father's agemate, the substance of the novel came from a masterful ability to shake all the extra words off a page. What remains is a delight for the weekend socialogist...complex, delicious, insightful and succinctly robust.