Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fluffed,
By
This review is from: Honeymoon: A Romantic Rampage (Hardcover)
Amy Jenkins created and wrote 'This Life' for BBC2, which was an incredibly intelligent and compulsive piece of viewing. On hearing that Jenkins has written a novel, you immediately picture a huge Dickensian affair of modern London life with multiple characters. Instead of this, we get 'Honeymoon'.'Honeymoon' is the narrator, and you can't help but groan as soon as you hear her name. One of the most attractive things about 'This Life' was its ensemble cast of men and women. Here you only get Honey as a first person narrator, and you immediately feel bereft. Yep, the portraits of men in 'Honeymoon' are okay, but you don't really get any deep insights into any of the characters. Jenkins is scrupulously fair, mentioning that in the majority of marriage break-ups, it's the women who have walked out. But this is as about as close to real life, or any life, as 'Honeymoon' gets. Take 'Mac', for example, Honey's boss. He's something big in Hollywood, we're told. But we never really get to see what he does, apart from paying airfares at propitious moments (a lot of the events in the novel seem dependent on the old-fashioned device of Providence). Because Honey is so shallow, you never really get to care about her, despite her sob story of being orphaned when young. Ed, her groom to be, is so anonymous that he could be Anyman. There is the odd bit of humour, but never really enough to make the novel sparkle. Ed is right when he observes that Honey is far from reaching the heights in the hilarity stakes. Everything about this novel is so... comfortable. Honey and Ed arrive in New York by accident en route to their Honeymoon, and Ed thinks nothing about abandoning their reservations in Mexico to stay in Manhattan. Poor little rich kids, you sigh. Even their best friends and employer turn up in New York. Later on, when Honey has to agonise about returning to England... the fact that she does have such a coterie really renders this dramatic choice meaningless. There are moments of high drama that ultimately fail to get your pulse racing. Jenkins refers to a lot of Cult TV and movies (with Honey ultimately losing all credibility when she claims that Roger Moore was the best Bond), and maybe reading novels is not her first choice of recreation. But you still feel she could have produced something much more meaty than this. The main story is really too girlie to have any great appeal. On the back cover, the legend is 'Fiction: General' which just about sums it up...
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
DON'T BOTHER!,
By karen (Kansas City, MO, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Honeymoon: A Romantic Rampage (Hardcover)
Looking for a lighthearted romantic romp a la Bridget Jones? Well, you won't find it here. Amy Jenkins' debut novel, "Honeymoon," is as unsatisfying as stale wedding cake. I was attracted to this book because of its description on the dustjacket. Well, I should have stopped there- that's the best part of the book. Ms. Jenkins falls into one of the most dangerous traps in modern fiction- trying to create "extra" characters, when all we really care about are Honey, the woman caught between Ed, the nice guy, and Alex, a mysterious bad boy she spent a life-changing evening with 7 years earlier. But, unfortunately, we meet Ven, Honey's younger sister, who is boringly beautiful and vacant, Della, a cliched party girl, Theresa, the token Happily Married Woman, and Mac, the yuppie. For a better read about wedding day jitters, try Suzanne Finnamore's "Otherwise Engaged."
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More than just fluff ...,
By Katie (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Honeymoon: A Romantic Rampage (Hardcover)
I didn't expect much more than a quick, entertaining read from this book, but when it was over, I found I had a lot to think about. If you can stay with the book through the end (and I agree that it includes some rather implausible moments), it's really worth it. Jenkins raises some really interesting questions about the concept of soulmates. I found myself thinking about these questions long after I'd finished the book. If nothing else, read it for an inventive take on love and destiny.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
