Customer Reviews

A Much Married Man (OME)

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

 

 

Who says the joys of frivolity aren't worth a quick read? Really enjoyed "A Much Married Man." I told a friend to buy this light and airy souffle of a book and he nearly did not, based on these reviews here on Amazon, which nearly all miss the mark. Let me set the record straight.

This book is a minor classic on par with Trollope. It's not literary by any stretch, but it is way better written than the average eurotrash summer novel. Coleridge's comedy of manners never misses a beat in its satire of late 20th century English and Mediterranean upper-class life. The dialog is perfect, the settings and the characters are authentic and the plots ring true to life. Parts of the book are laugh-out-loud funny. And as for the benefits of having a major lifestyle magazine editor for an author, there are no off-details, even down to the cars, the luxury shopping lists, the cooking, the landscaping and the decorating. If you can differentiate between a "Tatler" and a "Taki," if you can place Annabel's and distinguish between Mustique and Mauritious, if you know the basics of the Barings bank scandal and if you've ever read dailies from three different European countries at once, you will smile and you will laugh at least twice a chapter. Addressing the "moral" concerns of one of these reviewers, I would point out that Coleridge is fair-minded enough to find as many faults as virtues in all his characters, the best of which (the mysterious muse, Amanda Gibbons) will stay with you long after you turn the final page. A great beach read for gossip-loving fiction readers.

In my opinion, you must trade credulity for an irrestible read. It is doubtful that even a quarter of the events in this book could have happened to one man - also doubtful that such a character would gladly surround himself with children - some not even related. The ending reminded me of "We'll rent a barn; we'll have a show!" the answer to all problems in old Judy Garland movies. Having said this, it's still true that if you love glimpses into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, you will find this book impossible to but down. One of the key words should be "feudal" - surely this describes Anthony lifestyle at Winchford. All those spare homes in which to deposit friends and illegimate offspring! How delicious! - and the bits with Dita as chatelaine of a grand English county home are fascinating.
Buy it and take it on vacation along with the latest "Hello!" - you won't be disappointed!

Starts out very promising and entertaining with Amanda the wild bride who runs away, then Sandra, the nanny turned bride, then Nula, the new age nut case who he doesn't marry, but just becomes irritating when he married the social climber Dita, especially with her rapist son Morad. The "hero", Anthony Ascombe, is a good but weak man who puts up with way too much from his weird women, but this finally becomees too much with Dita and Morad, although they are both very good character studies, one of the nasty side of adolescent lust in a spoiled rich kid, and the other in the spoiled but very polished social climbing wife Dita. W

Spoiler Alert for comments below:
hen one of his step sons ruins his bank with out of control spending, and Morad gets acquited for rape, and Anthoney loses his bank and then immediately rebounds to host the music fair on the property, it shows that this author has no concept of crime and punishment, morality, etc. I did not even finish the very end, I was so disgusted. First 3 quarters, or a 7.5, last quarter is 2.5

This was one of the best books I've read in a long time. Before I get to what I loved about it though I have to comment on the confounding marketing job on this book! The langorous youths on the cover implied something like Brett Easton Ellis set in England. Then the comments - "witty look at British moneyed class" -- had me thinking Julian Fellowes. Totally confusing! This book was nothing like either genres.

Instead what we have is an unpretentious but fun rompish read about a sweet but plainly somewhat muddled man, Anthony Anscombe, who is refreshingly honest and straightforward and an altogether lovely protagonist, if a little infuriatingly short-sighted at times. But that's what we come to adore about Anthony, in particular his predilection for totally unsuitable women. As his life unfolds over the years, you may love/hate his wives but you'll always love him. I felt like his poor mother by the end of the book, like I'd lived a lifetime of hopes and disappointments with him. Yes, the plot details are a bit fantastic in places, and the women sometimes too unbelievable in their idiosyncracies. But they're never boring and defy stereotypes just enough to put them on the fine line between fascinating and acceptable.

What is lovely about Anthony though is his wonderful relationships with his children. He may be terrible at reading women but he's great at understanding his children. There is nothing jaded in this book at all about Anthony's attitudes towards family loyalty.

In all, a great read. Yes, it's witty and funny, but wittiness and mirth do not a great book make. It's much deeper than its frothy marketing job implies and it's much sweeter. If you yearn for that sweet old-fashioned age-old corner of the English countryside; and that sweet old-fashioned age-old corner of the human heart, look no further.

You know, I've never read anything by Coleridge before (but I do plan to read his backlist now), but I don't THINK this novel is "slapstick" or "satire" or "rollicking funny". I think it's a well-written, enjoyable story.

I'm not sure if the editorial reviewers read the same novel that I'm reading now. Good story, though.

This was such an enjoyable read. I would probably have enjoyed it even more had I been more familiar with the English class system; it is so obviously a spot-on comedy of manners. I agree with previous reviewers: it is most certainly not a 'satire' -- it is way too good-hearted to be that. There were a couple of laugh-aloud moments, but mostly I just kept turning the pages and smiling at this very large interesting cast of characters. I found Anthony very very appealing; if you don't, then it's all over for you, because he is what holds the book together. His string of wives is purposely selected from various representative 'types' of English class and as such it most clearly functions as satire -especially with Dita -but again, at its heart, it is in no way a satire. My only negative: the end was a bit too frothy for me, and I found myself skimming the final 20 pages, because I found it far too 'feel-good;' it was only at this point that it lost its footing and became Hollywood-ish in its ending. But then in the final few pages, it regained its humor and balance and voice Really, I closed it with a very contented sigh. It is intelligent, and a strong character and class study with fun plot turns. Strongly recommended, particularly if you're feeling a little down and don't care to think TOO much, but want to think a bit.

Never heard of the book or the author and took a chance when I spied it in the bookdstore. How glad I am that I did. A totally enjoyable read about upper class British life. I can't wait to check out some of the authors other books and recommend this one to my friends.

This book is so much fun to read! More and more characters pile up, yet Coleridge infuses life into all of them. Just when you think it's winding down, the story ramps up for a rollicking great ending.

There's no accounting for taste, and I must say that the reviewers who post 4 or 5 stars for "A Much Married Man" have very different taste from mine. The folks at Kirkus reviews used the phrase "overlong and overplotted" to describe Coleridge's book "With Friends Like These", and I find this to be an apt description of "A Much Married Man".

The story starts well enough, with a young Anthony Anscombe falling head over heels in love with the ethereally beautiful Amanda Gibbons, pursuing her across the continent to the south of France to win and marry her, but well before the halfway point it has bogged down amid a welter of characters and plotlines--and I found myself wishing that the protagonist, Anthony Anscombe, would grow a spine and tell some of his ex-wives and their variously clueless, grasping, over-bearing, and needy relatives to piss off. The final straw came, for me, with Anthony's remarkably-ill-advised 3rd marriage to Eurotrash millionaire-husband collector Dita, who eventually overturns and overruns his world. I started skimming pages just before their wedding, and what little enjoyment I had gleaned from the book up to that point was quickly siphoned away by these poisonous characters. I only finished the book, ultimately, to find out how Anthony's oldest child, Jasmine, and his not-quite-stepdaughter, Katie, would turn out--I had long since stopped caring about any of the other characters.

I have previously read only one of Mr Coleridge's books, "Godchildren". Similarly densely-plotted and heavily inhabited with a plethora of characters, "Godchildren" at least has a few characters with whom one can feel sympathetic, and who prevail over circumstances to come out of the story in good shape. The Anthony Anscombe character in "With Friends Like These" has the admirable quality of having the desire and intention, if not always the ability, to be a caring and loving father to his children and his step-children, though at least one stepson is a spoiled, detestable Eurotrash creep--unfortunately, he hasn't the strength of will to stand up to any of the adult women in his life, from his snobbish, over-bearing, married-up and now "plus catholique que le pape" mother to his various wives and one singulary ill-advised mistress.

Even in a story which is set in the quiet Oxfordshire countryside, on one of the last semi-feudal demesnes where the local "squire" rules a great estate and the accompanying village, Coleridge cannot resist the temptations of the glitter and flash of London and European high society, though he would be well-advised to try. Mr Coleridge seems determined to ensure that his readers are constantly reminded of his position in the glitzy "Ugly Betty" world of Conde-Nast's frothy glossy-cover society magazines, not by anything so crass as direct reference, but by never failing to introduce that world into his storylines. If he were to turn down the intensity a bit, Coleridge's stories would be much more satisfying reads--but I fear that subtlety is not within his power.

For readers who are interested in reflections on British society and class distinctions, I heartily recommend Julian Fellowes' books "Snobs" and "Past Imperfect" -- both of which are quieter, more thoughtful--and to my mind, truer--portraits of that world -- over Mr Coleridge's books. What a pity that Mr Fellowes has written only the two...

I found this a struggle to complete. Mostly because I did not like "Ant" the main character.
I agree with an earlier reviewer "Water for Elephants" is a much better summer read.