Customer Reviews

Millard Fillmore, Mon Amour: A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After being damaged to the core by his high school sweetheart, Plato Fussell has given up on love.  Between being rich and obsessive compulsive, Plato knows that finding someone that honestly loves him will be nearly impossible.

When love finds Mr. Fussell again, it is with another obsessive compulsive patient...    whom he finds out just happens to be his psychiatrist soon to be ex-wife.

Once you add the health problems of his father, his mother's wild antics - this book will keep you giggling for hours.
As a nurse and romance author who worked with psychiatric patients for almost two years, it was not hard at all to picture this family and all their little quirks. 

I really connected with this book also in the fact the I graduated from High School the same year as Plato Fussell.  I could imagine very vividly his High School years and what was going on at the time in the world.

Mr. Blumenthal does an excellent job in portraying these serious psychological problems into a book full of hilarious antics.  One of the most interesting psychological romances that I have ever read!

This isn't your casual love story. This is a story about a slightly eccentric Plato G. Fussell, rich, handsome, and a bit obsessive-compulsive. I loved the storyline as it was rich in great detail and Blumenthal's use of puns kept me smiling throughout the entire novel. Moreover, Plato becomes such a lovable character that you don't realize how crazy he really is! I enjoyed this book because it is lighthearted, and carries a somewhat whimsical tone. It is a story that will warm your heart as it has warmed mine.

If Woody Allen were still making funny movies, they would be a lot like John Blumenthal's books: full of hilarity, wisdom and the quirkiest characters this side of a Tom Robbins novel.
In his latest, we meet Plato G. Fussell, a garden variety neurotic who happens to be writing the definitive 10 volume biography of America's most forgotten President, Millard Fillmore. Plato, who believes that romantic love is nothing but hogwash, has a slight problem meeting women: he tends to speak gibberish in their presence, an uncontrollable tick of some sort. He spouts spoonerisms and says names backwards. But when he happens to meet the delectable Emily Thorndyke, a woman afflicted with a whole other set of equally interesting neuroses, he can't help but fall in love with her, in spite of his dismissal of romantic love as "a monstrous flimflam perpetrated on the gullible masses by a cabal of soulless profiteers."
The book has more than a few unexpected twists and turns and kept me guessing the whole time. And the ending is a marvelously crafted surprise. But Blumenthal is more than just a simple comedy writer - his novels tell us something profound about the human condition and "Millard Fillmore, Mon Amour" is no exception.

It's not easy to make me laugh aloud when I'm all by myself reading, but John Blumenthal did with his latest hilarious book, "Millard Fillmore, Mon Amour."

Between the hypochondriacal antics of Plato G. Fussell to those of his even-weirder mother, this book will keep your floor clean because you'll be rolling all over it.

My friends can always use a laugh, so I bought a bunch of copies for holiday gifts.

Characters that could have been eccentric stereotypes are anything BUT in this charming novel about a curmudgeonly scholar and his quest for love despite a nervous affectation that will have you rolling off the bed. Hysterical fiction with just enough historical tidbits thrown in for perfect flavor.

Plato Fussell isn't looking for love. He doesn't believe in the concept of finding that one true soul mate is even possible. If you were to ask, even he would reply of how the concept is nothing but "unmitigated hogwash." Yet, fate seems to enjoy playing with one's beliefs and Plato soon finds himself questioning the very truth of the thinking that has helped him for so many years.

I have to admit; I wasn't quite sure what I was in for when I began reading. Not much of a history buff, the idea of mulling over pages and pages of endless ramblings on the subject of our once famous but now seemingly forgotten President, Millard Fillmore, was intimidating to say the least - but I was so very wrong in thinking this, for with an effortless grace John Blumenthal instead has created a work not even close to my initial expectations.

In the first few chapters, we meet Plato Fussell, a dithering neurotic with a strong belief in the non-existence of true love. Through humorous recollection tainted with the reality of life-long repercussions, we find out about the man and the reasons behind not only his lack of belief but also the reasons of why he is as he is.

Upon the prodding of his psychiatrist, the amiable Dr. Wang, he is encouraged to try to initiate contact with the member of the opposite sex. Now for many this task would be effortless, but for the poor Plato, plagued with the innate ability to reverse words at the least provocation and engage in spoonerisms to protect himself, the very idea alone is enough to cause him to experience a bevy of reactionary emotional and physical responses.

However, as he attends the event where he is to complete the task put forth by Dr. Wang, Plato again falls short of the challenge and instead retreats to the safety of his notes by finding a secluded spot away from the main event. All seems as if it would remain as it is - at least until he is victimized by an errant light purple missile thrown by a woman who will in only a short time throw his life into upheaval and start a completely unexpected sequence of events that will change Plato forever.

"Millard Fillmore, Mon Amour" is a surprising diversion from the predictable; a humorous romp through the mind of a neurotic as he deals with the chaotic events that both precede and instigate the ever so unexpected conclusion of this wonderful work.

So very well done, John!

Review by Dehanna Bailee, http://dehanna.com

How many books:

Keep you smiling or even laughing out loud till the very last page?

Amaze you with their intelligence. This book isn't just funny. It's "smart funny."

Evoke a deep respect for the author not just as an artist but also as a craftsman. Because this guy really knows how to tell a story.

Want an enjoyable read that leaves you laughing AND makes you feel like it was time well spent? Get this now.

I could not recommend this more highly. I loved it.

This is a story about Plato G. Fussell.

He grew up in California with interesting parents. His father was a pharmaceuticals rep who spent much of his time looking at boating magazines. His mother was afraid of germs, and after the retirement of his father was a virtual recluse, never leaving their apartment.

Plato grew up geeky-and from kindergarten was nicknamed Play-do. As he grew up he harbored a crush on a schoolmate, but did nothing about it.

After college he made some wise investments and became very rich. During his 10 year reunion he ran into his crush and after a whirlwind romance they married. Shortly after though they divorced and she took half of his money and ran off leaving Plato not believing in love.

Plato picked up some of his mothers neuroses and he sees Dr. Wang, psychiatrist several times a week. The psychiatrist has a picnic every year for his patients and several years after the divorce Plato meets a woman with whom he thinks he could be interested in. However it turns out that this woman is Dr. Wang's wife. He is not sure how to proceed, but soon begins falling for her.

During this time Plato is dealing with several other interesting situations

1. His love affair with Millard Fillmore. Ever since he was a kid he has been fascinated with the President. While is is grappling with his feelings for Dr. Wang's wife he is writing a book about Millard Fillmore's life. Plato has a friend who is interested in letters, and Plato asks him to call if he ever gets one written by or written to Fillmore. Shortly after he meeting Wang's wife he gets a call about a letter written by L.M. to Fillmore that seems to indicate that they were lovers. This interested Plato because during the time the letter was written he was a widower and had not quite met his second wife. Doing research Plato finds clues to think that L.M. was a man which interests Plato even more

2. His father has a heart attack and dies. After the funeral Plato and his mother find out that his father had another wife and son living on the East Coast. Then Plato finds out that his father was not a pharmaceuticals rep, but a spy. This leads to his formally agoraphobic mother to take a lover (the man that Plato hired to look after her), eat food she formerly would shunned and leave her apartment to go dancing.

Also during this time his ex wife makes an appearance, claiming that she changed her ways.

All in all all an interesting book. One thing that I though was interesting was an underling message of how much do we really know about people that we thought we knew really well. In the book Plato grapples with this in regards to his father, girlfriend, ex, and Millard Fillmore.

From the title, I didn't know what to expect. What I found was a very funny and engrossing story with surprising twists, dark humor and a wonderful heart. Blumenthal's writing and literary POV reminds me of the great Peter De Vries ("Reuben, Reuben"), that rare combination of scathing humor, rich characters and unanticipated deep emotion. The ending was a complete and utterly moving and satisfying surprise.

This book had me in stitches I laughed so hard. If you are looking for a quick read that will entertain in a lighthearted way, this is your book. The characters - every last one of them - are quirky but believable. Would love to see this made into a movie.