Customer Reviews

The Man of My Dreams

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The wonderfully misleading thing I found about this book as well as 'Prep' was that you think it's just another fluffy coming of age story complete with a wry, sarcastic narrator who always has some witty, glib comment to make while achieving a rich and deserving fictional happiness.How far this is from the truth. Sittenfeld carves out young Hannah Gavener's quest for her prince charming and happily ever after with a blunt end of sobering reality. Not afraid of embuing Hannah with some ugly characteristics makes her so much more identifiable, and consequently sympathetic and relatable. Sittenfeld is a terrific writer, and most importantly one that continues to not be afraid to present people as they really are without a concern for what anyone thinks.

When your first book is as amazing as Prep, your second book had better be great. Readers have high expectations. We know what we can rightfully expect.

Curtis Sittenfeld, unlike a lot of young writers with one successful novel on the shelves, didn't fail her audience with The Man of My Dreams. The story follows Hannah from childhood through adulthood, in and out of relationships as she struggles to find a way to be happy and comfortable and true.

The writing is wonderful, capturing the moods of a bad camping trip, of being trapped in a car with a bullying father, of the ambivalence a woman feels with a too-doting lover. Hannah rings very true to life; there is nothing exaggerated or false.

The writing and character developments may be great, but the book feels very much like a short-story collection, like a variation on Melissa Bank and her latest book The Wonder Spot. This isn't a failure, but it's a surprise. A reader could rightfully expect something more original from Sittenfeld, something more profound.

Being pleasantly entertained is wonderful, but one hopes that Sittenfeld reaches a little out of her comfort zone for her next book.

It would be great if she could channel the writing into something that is more than the sum of its parts.

I mostly enjoyed reading this novel and got through it quickly, but started liking it less almost the minute I finished it. The format was very "Prep" like, what with the skipping over from one time period to the next. However, whereas this device worked well in "Prep," perhaps because time was gated by the beginning and ending of four years of school, here I found it abrupt and jarring. If anything it left too much to be filled in by the imagination. I almost had the sense the book (and writing) were rushed to capitalize on the success of "Prep" so that the author did not become another "Donna Tartt." The last chapter, in particular, seemed like a cheap way out and was overwrought IMO.

Ms. Sittenfeld is an excellent writer and I hope that in her next outing she tackles a different theme ("Dreams" was essentially a carbon copy of "Prep", thematically) and that she follows a more traditional, linear format just to see if she can pull it off.

While most of Sittenfeld's first novel "Prep" left me gasping with post-traumatic stress symptoms born of my own adolescence, this follow up simply left me gasping for a real plot and credible, likeable characters. The writing, while still intelligent, has a flat, static quality, lacking the definition, clarity, momentum and preternatural emotional wisdom of its predecessor. Hannah inspires little in me but impatience, and most of her supporting cast members are either too vague or too stylized to be understood and/or believed.

Ironically, this second novel is perhaps a more authentic snapshot of the murkier, less rarified adolescence many experience; I recall being acutely conscious that the voices of Prep's youthful characters were imbued with a suspiciously advanced wealth of insight and mastery of language. Nonetheless, it is the crystallization of such insight that makes most memoir-style/coming of age stories worth reading, not merely the excrutiating--and often colorless--'real-time' detail of the journey.

I have the sense that Ms. Sittenfeld, no doubt justifiably energized and enthused by her debut success, has rushed into an 'afterthought' sophomore effort, retreading what feels like unused surplus material from earlier ideas. I hope that she will take a good long trashy summer vacation...an autumn sabbatical...whatever further hiatus may be necessary for her to refresh and further refine her obvious gifts into richer, more fully-realized work.

First off, yes I know I spelt "Grown" as "Groan". That's because essentially this book is almost like watching Lee Fiora - the main character in Sittenfeld's debut novel Prep, grow up into a college-aged, then twentysomething, cynical yet often insightful outsider.

Hannah Gavener has suffered from low self-esteem plagued by insecurity and mistrust for men since the age of 14, when her parents marriage falls apart. Over the next decade or so you watch as she grows up, explores the different types of relationships out there - casual, unrequited, platonic, open, and meaningful - and how she functions within them. Along the way you learn about Hannah's distaste for society's false social cues, and her secret idealism for others. The book is supported by several interwoven storylines from sub-characters including her gorgeous yet wild cousin Fig, her kind-hearted yet irritating sister Allison, and other various family members including her parents as they rebuild their lives without one another.

Ultimately I can't review this book without touching on Prep - since that is where most people will have heard of Sittenfeld and its how most people will come across this book.

The two are quite similar in that they are divided into 9-10 'chapters' which are really interweaving short stories set at different points in the main character's life. They both feature a narrator (although Lee is in first person, Hannah is almost entirely written in third person) who suffers from insecurity and self-doubt, particularly when it comes to the realms of socialibility and relationships. They both feature daughters straining to find autonomy from their slightly estranged parents.

They're different though, based solely on the age gap. Lee is in high school, and as such all of the events in Prep take place at one school, over four years, with many of the same characters reoccuring and building on the story. Hannah's story takes place in four different locations over a much larger span of time - representing the varied experiences of adulthood quite fully...but also disparingly. Much like in TV shows that fail to ignite fans during the high school to college transition, the Man of my Dreams suffers slightly since the storyline is not so tightly knit with an established cast of characters.

The other main difference is apparent between the attitudes of Lee and Hannah. While both are somewhat 'outsiders', Lee is relatable again and again to virtually every teenager's feelings of insecurity - past or present. Hannah on the other hand, is often so far gone off the unsociable deep end that you want to give her a firm shake and tell her to just suck it up and be friendly!

That being said - Man of My Dreams is still a great book as it straddles quite eloquently the realms of fiction, 'biography', literature, and to a small degree, chick lit. Curtis Sittenfeld is not your average writer and perhaps my favourite thing about her books is not the characterization or the plots but the acute attention to detail. The observations her characters are so mundane and ordinary, or at other times extremely insightful, you can't help but appreciate their cleverness. I look forward to reading more from this author!

"The Man of My Dreams" is definitely not the bland and banal book that its pedestrian title would imply. As a follow-up to "Prep", once again author Curtis Sittenfeld tackles the turf of a young person's angst. This time however, we get quickly past the protaganist's adolescent years and into young adulthood. "Hannah" struggles with her "issues" with great wit and humor, not to mention insight. An Alaskan camping trip Hannah takes with her sister and two other (male) companions is absolutely hilarious.

Yet this is not a silly, frivolous, fluff novel. Sittenfeld's spot-on descriptions of character(s), and Hannah's observations about them are sure to delight, and I can guarantee the reader will recognize some of their own family and friends throughout. (Hannah's "evaluation" of the passive-aggressive nature of her sister Allison is particularly penetrating.) Even peripheral characters like Mrs. Dawes are described in such a way that one can easily visualize the moment and relate.

Sittenfeld has won me over; I intend to keep reading for as long as she is inclined to write.

This novel revisits the major themes of "Prep": (1) social outcast girl (2) with difficult, overly demanding father (3) grows up to believe that men cannot love her. (4) Becomes fixated with notion that she is unattractive/boring. (5) Has blissful car ride with unattainable hot boy who flirts during the car ride and then (6) has no contact with him for years. (7) Has demoralizing "affair" with compulsive sex addict who pursues other women while also sleeping with her. (8) Lacks interest in boy (tutor in "Prep," earnest boyfriend here) who worships and bores her. Is eclipsed by prettier girls. Obsesses with the notion that only pretty girls will ever count and she's not one of them. (9) Takes baby steps towards "makeover" (learns to eat pasta in front of others in Prep, thereby displaying newfound confidence; loses the glasses and gets contact lenses here) but never displays any real spunk, energy, or appetite for life.

The difference is that where "Prep" is claustrophobically, stiflingly intense, and compellingly readable if lifeless, "The Man of My Dreams" is mere pallid, unsatisfying chick lit: it's a fairly lightweight, non-tragic novel about young woman coming of age & trying to find Mr. Right. But it's chick lit without the fun accessories, the overpriced shoes, the drunken one-night stands with the wrong guy, the hilarious/reckless girlfriends, the glamorous job, the fun urban nightclubs. Less intelligent writers like Plum Sykes have produced more satisfying fare, like "Bergdorf Blondes," because their characters have some fun and glamor.

I knew as soon as I picked this up that I would fly through it, and not for any lack of weight on the part of the novel; it's just that I LOVE CURTIS SITTENFELD. Something about her clean, guileless style clicks with me and I hang on her every word, even when what she is saying makes me uncomfortable, which happens kind of a lot; what she writes about hits close to home with my own myriad issues. Sittenfeld's tell-it-like-it-is narrators, both here and in Prep, seem to find that secret place inside me that needs to be poked, and they poke me there, repeatedly. In her main characters I see reflected back onto myself so much that is familiar: old bad habits, mostly, some of which are, of course, still hanging around. She outs me to myself, though, and for that I am eternally grateful.

There is something brilliantly refreshing about Sittenfeld's no-nonsense approach; there is something wonderful about never knowing where she'll go because she sees things so much more clearly than the rest of us.

The Man of My Dreams is Curtis Sittenfeld's second novel. I was expecting it to be just as wonderful as the last, yet it fell short. While the book was good and well written, the plot did not continuely move. The ended was not like I expected it to be, but not in a good. I was able to relate to the main character fairly well as I was able to in Prep. Curtis Sittenfeld is an excellent writer but unlike many other authors I feel her first novel was by far better than her second. If you liked the writting style of Prep I would highly reccommend this novel, yet if the reason you liked Prep was solely for the plot, then don't read this book.

Hi. It's me, Curtis. I know you asked me to write to you, but I didn't know if you meant once, or regularly, or maybe just a postcard. Anyway, I've been busy. I wrote a best-selling novel, Prep, and then I had to cope with the pressure to write another one. It took me three years to write 304 pages. Like I said, I've been busy.

This is the novel that I vowed I wouldn't write until I was in love. I mean, I've always felt like I have something to say about the subject. But I was worried that people would think I was writing chick lit. They don't understand that this is a serious subject. Who cares about geopolitical conflict and global warming? There's nothing more relevant than the struggle of young American woman to find men to define themselves against. But I definitely didn't want anyone to think that THE MAN OF MY DREAMS is autobiographical. It's all about an unimaginative and spiritually stunted young woman who can't get a boyfriend, you see. I wouldn't want people to think my life was like that. But now I'm married. My husband's name is Matt, he proposed to me on top of a volcano in New Zealand, and he's so dreamy! (I'm using this word ironically, of course.) So now there's no risk that anyone will identify me with Hannah, the protagonist of THE MAN OF MY DREAMS. Of course, that would be stupid, anyway. Hello? I'm a best-selling novelist, and Hannah is just a teacher at the end of the book.

Of course, I used to teach at St Albans School for Boys, myself. That was one of the most fun periods of my life. The nice thing about teenage boys is that they don't judge you for being tall and slightly overweight. That's true, but no one would believe it, so in the book, I made Hannah's students into autistic boys so that their affection for her would be more plausible.

Even if you're writing serious fiction, you have to give the people what they want. And I know that what my readership wants is cliched vignettes of high-school angst, college angst, and young-adult angst. But as a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, I would NEVER stoop to writing chick lit! THE MAN OF MY DREAMS is Serious Fiction. You can tell because it doesn't have a happy ending.

Life really is stranger than fiction sometimes.