Talking to Addison [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Jenny Colgan (Author), Anne Flosnik (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2002

Holly is a frustrated florist whose life doesn't seem to be coming up roses. Fleeing a house-share from hell, she moves in with a motley crew of friends including Josh, a sexually confused merchant banker; Kate, a high-flying legal eagle with talons to match; and the gorgeous Addison, who spends his days communicating only with his computer and those who worship at the altar of Jean-Luc Picard. From the moment Holly catches a rare glimpse of Addison, she's smitten. The only problem is how to get him to swivel his chair from the computer screen to her adoring gaze. After a series of false starts - involving a new friend and mathematician, Finn - Holly coaxes Addison away from his virtual romance and out into the open. While "out in the open" spells disaster for Addison, curiously, her own future begins to bloom. Holly and her friends make desperate attempts to interface with Addison, drag him away from his monstrously ugly, not to mention fiercely possessive, Internet girlfriend Claudia, and get him to communicate with the real world. Will their search for ways to connect with one another - geeks and all - succeed, or will they continue to get their wires crossed?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jenny Colgan's second novel, Talking to Addison, arrives with a flourish following the success of her debut, Amanda's Wedding. Sharp, quirky one-liners complement merciless observations of human foibles and the London scene to make this romantic comedy a cut above the rest.

The story opens with the modern-day heroine Holly trapped in the flat-share from hell with members of Scary Clean Freaks Incorporated, ruled by the obnoxious Carol who "dispensed ... Robert de Niro-to-doomed gangster stares." Even when Holly escapes the suburban inquisition, life still isn't a bed of roses--she's an unemployed florist, in love with a recluse, and being bullied. She's in good company, though, when she moves in with a bunch of equally maladjusted misfits: Josh, a terminally nice boy, has issues; Kate, the high-flying, no-nonsense career girl, wilts every time a married man comes along; and then there's Addison, the drop-dead-gorgeous lodger ("Johnny Depp in geek form") who never leaves his room, already has a girlfriend (albeit over the Internet), and is a certified Star Trek fan.

With Talking to Addison, Colgan ties together her comedic talents and her flair for storytelling to create an offbeat, hilarious tale about an ordinary girl's search for Mr. Right--with the inevitable Mr. Oddballs getting in the way. --Nicola Perry, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Riding goofy, self-deprecating Bridget Jones's coattails in this second novel by the British author of Amanda's Wedding is a clumsy 28-year-old florist named Holly Livingstone, who desperately needs a sympathetic London flatmate. While most women always pick the wrong men, Holly assures us that she picks the wrong places to live. Since she makes barely more than the minimum wage when most of her fellow college grads are concerned with mortgages Holly's apartment prospects are limited to dubious arrangements such as the "Turkish Lesbian Women's Collective" until Josh, a former college classmate of indeterminate sexual orientation, takes pity on her. Josh lives in a rundown old house in Pimlico with posh, business-studies Kate and a rarely seen or heard from computer nerd named Addison Farthing. Once Holly gets one look at Addison, however (by barging into his room, which is equipped like the Star Trek Enterprise), she begins spinning fantasies of perpetual geek bliss. What it lacks in plot, Colgan's spirited, eye-rolling romp tries hard to make up for in characterization of Holly's idiosyncratic flatmates Josh and Kate, her working-class florist acquaintances (including one tough chick who beats her up), various unpromising young men who will never go for her (but sometimes do) and ungainly, unsociable Addison himself. Colgan keeps the dialogue skipping along with tongue-in-cheek, exclamatory asides such as "Poo!" and "Had I let a four-year-old do the shopping?" In the end, it's Holly who has to carry this serviceably silly novel. She is snake-tongued, unambitious, rude a lot of the time, but she'd be almost likable if she didn't sound so familiar. Though the field is dangerously close to being glutted, American readers may fall for this desperate-to-be-liked, lowest-common-denominator girlfriend.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Brilliance Corporation; Unabridged edition (January 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158788920X
• ISBN-13: 978-1587889202
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 4.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,420,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendously funny!, July 20, 2004

By 

Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Talking to Addison (Paperback)

After reading and enjoying Amanda's Wedding, I wasn't sure how Talking to Addison would measure up. I was hoping for a fun, light novel, which I did get, but then there was a bonus -- Talking to Addison was HYSTERICAL!

This book probably has the most real comedy in it that I've ever read. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life. The timing was perfect! The characters were so fantastic and goofy. I loved every second of this book. I hope there is more to come from Jenny Colgan.

Talking to Addison begins with Holly Livingstone living in the land of nightmares. Her roommates are crazy clean freaks, and Holly just can't take it anymore! So she begs her best friend, Josh, to let her move in with him and his roommates. This is where the story really begins. Living in the flat are Kate, a neurotic career-woman, and the ever elusive Addison, who holes up in his cavern of a room instant messaging his agoraphobic girlfriend 3000 miles away. Holly is determined to make him hers, which leads to some very funny scenarios.

I recommend this one very highly. I rarely give chick-lit 5 stars because for the most part they are good, but not earth-shattering. Well, I couldn't help myself on this one! Talking to Addison is super-funny and I think well deserving of the highest praise.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pales in comparison to her first effort, January 11, 2002

By 

CoffeeGurl - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Talking to Addison (Hardcover)

Having read Amanda's Wedding, I became a big fan of Jenny Colgan. She has the humor, irony and quirky approach that has become the trademark style of great contemporary British authors. However, I was slightly disappointed with Talking to Addison, her sophomore effort. It lacks the humor and original comic timing of Amanda's Wedding.

Holly, an out of work florist, is stuck sharing a flat with some rather eccentric people. Josh, the boy-next-door who wants everyone to get along; Kate, the neurotic and self-absorbed career woman; and Addison, the gorgeous geek whose life revolves around the Internet. Addison becomes Holly's object of desire, and she does whatever is in her power to get his attention away from his computer and online girlfriend and unto her. There are some amusing moments in this novel -- there are some twists at the end as well.

Even though it is not as original and witty as her first novel, Talking to Addison is still worth reading, if only for Colgan's ironic humor.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ehmm. Raunchy, Ribald, and Randy, September 13, 2002

By 

Mamalinde "mamalinde" (Dallas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Talking to Addison (Hardcover)

Much, much naughtier than my usual read, still TALKING TO ADDISON was a sublimely droll peek into the life of Holly Livingstone and Friends. The dialogue is quick paced, very British, sarcastic, witty and utterly coarse, lewd, vulgar and bawdy. An eccentric and highly amusing bit of farce that kept me laughing throughout. The reader will meet some bizarrely enchanting characters as well as learn when a kiss is NOT just a kiss. Some screamingly hysterical scenes of "a model of a Modern Major General" together "with many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse."

If you are missing a sense of humor or easily offended or snared in a quagmire of conformity, I would recommend giving this one a pass. Otherwise, click on "Add to Shopping Cart" and get ready to laugh.