Customer Reviews

Sex as a Second Language: A Novel

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

 

 

This book reminded me just how much I love Alisa Kwitney's writing. For me, her books are all about the characters, whose quirks and vulnerabilities she reveals with unusual candor. She's fearless when it comes to putting her protagonists in embarrassing situations and willing to risk having them appear foolish. And yet, Kwitney's characters never strike me as stupid, just as intelligent, insightful people whose insecurities sometimes get the better of them.

Kwitney's sly, dark humor almost always springs from human foibles and genuine fears, and so the laughs come from a place of sympathy. I never feel that she's laughing *at* her characters, or that she considers herself in any way better than they are. We are all, her books seem to say, vulnerable enough to be funny, but perceptive enough and warm enough to laugh at our own flaws.

There is something so very human and so real about the characters in Sex as a Second Language that reading it made me feel not only engaged and entertained, but also touched by the world's messy imperfections, if that makes any sense. For me this may be the best of Kwitney's chick lit novels. It's no coincidence, I think, that this is the first them not to end on a zany or farcical note. Although the humor is still very prominent, Kwitney stays with her main characters longer here, and goes deeper, I think. It feels like a more substantial book.

It is very much about the complexity of communication, the difficulty of navigating not just verbal but also nonverbal
language, about how people's unspoken signals aren't always clear to us, and our own fears get in the way, so that we don't always know what to say or do in relationship to others.

Almost everything in the book comes back to this -- Kat's job as a an ESL teacher, helping her foreign students to chart their way through Americans' values and mannerisms, her former life as an actress, in which she often felt less self-conscious (and therefore more confident) when taking on a role, Magnus's job, which requires him to get close to Kat and try to decipher her, Kat's father's letters that are written in code, the challenges Kat's son faces in the minefield of his interactions with other kids, and Magnus and Kat's relationship burnout and their past difficulties with that most intimate form of nonverbal communication -- sex.

Many romance and chick lit books are ultimately about the obstacles that stand the way of our connecting with other human beings, but few look at them with such honesty and insight. Great literature it may not be, but Sex as a Second Language is IMO a terrific book.

On the verge of 40 and in the middle of a messy divorce from her philandering actor husband, Kat finds herself in need of additional income to provide for her son Dashiell. A teacher of English at a local institute, she still is running from one audition to another in hopes of landing that breakthrough role. With money tight, she decides to take in a border, and her two sexiest male students apply. When Icelander Magnus admits he is celibate, he immediately gets the room. But since they are attracted to each other, he is not celibate for long.

But Magnus is keeping a secret from Kat - he is actually a CIA agent assigned to find out if Kat's secret agent father has tried to contact her in hopes of bringing him out of hiding due to his knowledge of a former Russian republic. Meanwhile, she has a falling out with her two best pals, Zandra and Marcy. She also discovers that not only is her ex, Logan in New York, but he hasn't bothered to see their son in the last six months, and he cleaned out her checking account in hopes of forcing her to sell their apartment since it is the largest asset they own.

Savvy readers will see some later plot points coming a mile away. Kwitney's latest is a departure from her thirty something shoe-shopping, martini-swilling chick-lit heroines. Kat is a real woman with real problems (including a smothering mother), and draws the reader into her drama with hopes that she will get a happy ending.

is my first book i read from this author and to me that book was not worth the money.
the book feels almost as if you listen to one of your friends ordinary problem. the whole book through you wonder where the story is leading you to and leaves you off.
the only interesting part was when kat got in contact with her father you think as you read along that the story is picking up but to your dissapointment its slowing down quick after a few chapter.
to me its a story that has no point or purpose.

I read four of this author's books in a row and for the most part I liked them all and probably would recommend them to other readers of chick-lit. Her stories are engaging and the writing intelligent. So why only three stars? Hard to explain. The first 3/4 of her books are wonderful but the endings tend to leave me wanting to strangle someone. Usually the friends and family of the main character. With people like that in your life, who needs enemies?! On the one hand that's great because that means I became emotionally involved in the story while I was reading it, but on the other hand it leaves me a bit frustrated once the story is finished that the less obvious "bad guys" don't quite get what I feel is their just rewards in the end.

In this particular book, I did have a small problem relating to the male lead (but that may have been a personal bias). The female lead is worthy of her story and her son realistically portrayed (although she does do one amazingly stupid thing that has me questioning her intelligence level). Her friends and family deserve to be shot (figuratively, of course...then again, in some cases maybe not so figuratively). And her ESL students are gems (flawed but beautiful).

Bottom line. Read it. It's good stuff. Whether you get it from the library for a day's entertainment or whether you buy if for your keeper collection is going to be up to the taste of the individual.

I had the pleasure of meeting Alisa Kwitney, and she actually gave me a advanced reading copy. Before she handed it to me, she asked if I like trashy romance novels, but I found the book far from trashy; it was real. I was sucked into the lives of the characters immediately, and by the end I did want more. The book is a fun read, and when I read it I felt like I was watching a movie. Fast, witty, and entertaining, I would definately recommend this book for anyone looking for a little fun in their library.

Did you ever watch American Idol and hear Simon say that the singer's performance was indulgent? That's what I thought of this book ... pure indulgence. I think I have a great vocabulary; however, she was just showing off....and it was distracting and unneccessary.

The plot was good; however, it seemed to have too many focal points. I would have rather read more about the developing relationship between Kat and Magnus. It seemed there were these great leaps...Kat wasn't interested in Magnus, then she liked him and then she loved him in a seriously short time. I usually don't have a problem with that quick of a romance; but it just seemed improbable based on the little amount of time they spent together.

I didn't really like the secondary characters either. Marcy was a character that wasn't needed, neither was her boss. The ending with the students seemed weird; they weren't that close. Zandra, Logan and the mother were just rude and mean.

I struggled to get through it and wished it was just about the likeable Kat and Magnus.

This is a light, quick, easy, enjoyable read. It is enjoyable because of the thesis of the book and the fact that it is a romance. Kat is a teacher of English as a second language and her mother and friends want her to begin dating now that she is divorced. Forty is not the sexual end though and that is the rest of the story.

J. Robert Ewbank author of "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

Kat Miner is running out of luck. Her movie star husband has divorced her, taking off with all the money and leaving behind a son. She is struggling to keep getting acting jobs, but nearing the precious age of 40, jobs are being lost to the more youthful generation. And her mother, living across the hall from Kat and her son, won't keep treating Kat like she is still child- giving her no privacy to have a personal life. The only thing keeping Kat from losing it all is the support of her two best girl friends, and her part time job as a teacher, teaching adults English as a second language.
Magnus Grimmson is one of Kat's students, posing as an Icelandic foreigner struggling to learn English. What Kat doesn't know is that Magnus is an undercover CIA agent, trying to find Kat's reclusive father that abandoned the family when Kat was only 10. Her father is a retired CIA agent, but the agency is desperate for his knowledge on the country of Kyrgyzstan now that political wars are raging. It is now up to Magnus to get Kat on his side to help them track down her father, without letting her know he works for the CIA.
Like all good chick lit novels, Magnus immediately falls for Kat, even taking up residence in her spare bedroom. Through some steamy loves scenes, broken friendships, and our heroine finding happiness, Sex as a Second Language by Alisa Kwitney will be a delight for readers. There are plot twists thrown in at the right moments, catching readers off guard, and a happy ending for all.

I like to occasionally read "against type"; that is, every once in awhile I'll stray into a genre with which I have little familiarity or even interest, such as science writing or romance. Or, in this case, "chick lit", that derisive term lumping together humorous tales of unhappy women. As with any genre, most such books are probably junk but there are a few which stand out. Alisa Kwitney's Sex as a Second Language stands out from the pack.

Kat Miner is a single mom, semi-successful soap actress who swears off men altogether when her husband leaves her for another woman. The story begins as Kat's father, whose relationship with her mother parallels that of Kat's own marriage, comes back into her life after an absence of thirty years. The novel is light, breezy, suspenseful and laugh-out-loud funny, populated by a host of quirky, likable characters.

I read Kwitney's terrific first book, Till the Fat Lady Sings, when it came out 15 years ago. Other than that book I know her work primarily from comics (she was an editor for Vertigo, wrote some stories in the Sandman sandbox and a coffee table art book, Vertigo Visions). She has three other novels I look forward to reading.