Customer Reviews

Tomcat in Love.

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Tim O'Brien is, without a doubt, America's premier chronicler of the Vietnam War. Going After Cacciato and The Things They Carried have become classics of that era and even In The Lake of the Woods deals largely with repercussions of the war's aftermath. Tomcat in Love, however, bears no resemblance to any of O'Brien's previous works and it is, amazingly, far more inventive, original and creative.

Tomcat in Love is the darkly comic story of Minnesota resident, Thomas Chippering, a pompous, middle-aged Professor of Linguistics who has deluded himself into thinking he's irresistible to women...all of them. As Chippering, himself, says, "My celebrated biweekly seminars...are almost always booked to the limit with attentive, worshipful, ardent young lollipops eager to widen their horizons." Not since Nabokov created Humbert Humbert, has there been a more thoroughly unlikable and self-deceiving central character or one whom we so much love to hate.

Chippering is definitely a man in love with words. "Words," he says, "have genuine substance, mass and weight and specific gravity." In fact, it is words and his knowledge of them, that places Chippering far above the ordinary man and woman. For, although Chippering flirts outrageously with every woman he meets, they all rebuff him, a problem Chippering falsely attributes to their far inferior linguistic skills. It's not that he's unattractive, he thinks, women have simply failed to appreciate him. The sad truth is, Chippering has been betrayed by the very words he loves so much. He does possess the skill to manipulate words, but at the cost of being able to feel even one honest emotion, about himself or others.

Betrayed by words and betrayed by his wife of twenty-plus years, Lorna Sue (she left him for a Tampa real estate tycoon), Thomas Chippering decides to seek revenge. Exactly what this revenge entails encompasses Lorna Sue's diabolical brother, Herbie, who, as a child, had attempted to crucify Lorna Sue...literally. Although he only managed to pound one nail through her hand, Chippering still believes Lorna Sue to be scarred for life, emotionally as well as physically, and he bitterly blames Herbie for the loss of his wife.

Chippering finally finds an ally in Mrs. Robert Kooshof (he cannot call her by her first name), the wife of an imprisoned veterinarian. Together they leave for Tampa where Chippering is hateful but hilarious as he concocts first one scheme then another in an effort to destroy Lorna Sue's marriage. Once again, though, Chippering falsely attributes his own sense of betrayal to a loss of linguistic skills rather than to his wife's abandonment. "The betrayal of love," he says, "...seems also to entail a fundamental betrayal of language and logic and human meaning." Even awash in a sea of betrayal, Chippering retains his pomposity.

Does Chippering ever exact revenge? Does he ever get his well-deserved comeuppance? Our desire to know is great enough to keep us reading to the book's totally twisted and demented end.

Tim O'Brien certainly took a risk with Tomcat in Love, but he also proved he could write satire of the highest order. The fact that he makes this hyperbolic story and its cast of unlikely characters as believable and true-to-life as his previous books is testimony to his talent as a writer. Even greater is O'Brien's ability to make us care about this self-deluding Lothario par excellence. For underneath the hilarity, the manipulation and the black comedy, O'Brien has wisely planted connections that reverberate in all of us: Words have power, but words lose their meaning when devoid of the emotion that makes us human. In the final analysis, Thomas Chippering is as tragic a man as anyone could imagine.

I'm enormous fan of Tim O'Brien, but to be honest, I wasn't sure of what to make of this book when it came out in hardcover. Seemed wacky, I thought. Instead, I recently picked it in paperback, and just read. I was in store for an extraordinary journey.

You have never met anyone in literature like Tom Chippering. You can't help but pull for the guy. The story is engrossing, hilarious, and often quite moving. Love, revenge, memory, friendships, new beginnings, letting go, devastation. Even if you are not much interested in the English language, you will never look at it the same way again.

I don't want to say much more about the plot, but I will say that it is constantly riveting. At the end, I cried. I'm not sure why...perhaps, sadness or happiness or emotional exhaustion...perhaps, as Tom would say, I'll never know.

I do know you should order and read this book immediately. O'Brien only enhances his status as my favorite living american writer. There is no equal.

I enjoyed this book and Tim O'Brien's signature style. Once again, as with Northern Lights, it is disconnected from Vietnam, but it has ties. Tom Chippering is a veteran and their is a chapter dealing with it, holding true to Tim's faithfullnes to his past.

However, if there is anything Tim is great at writing it's the human psyche under any circumstance. Here, he beautifully portrays a pathetic, middle-aged sex addict who isn't very good at his antics of screw everything I can. He has charm, but is too hung up on his past to use it to its full potential. Instead, he is hellbent on seeking revenge upon his ex-wife, a disturbed in her own way, obsession of Chippering's. It has humor and drama, skepticism and redemption.

It isn't normal Tim O'Brien. If you've read The Things They Carried, Going After Cacciato or If I Die In A Combat Zone and you really liked those for being about Vietnam, then this is not for you. But if you are a fan of literature in general and Tim O'Brien's beautiful language and, in my eyes, flawless style, then please, buy a copy of this and enjoy it. It is easily readable in a day or two because there is a subtle tension that sneaks up on you and grabs hold right at the end, so you're thankful you didn't put it down. This is a great novel. I give it my highest recommendation.

Like the best of O'Brien's work, In The Lake of the Woods and The Things They Carried, Tomcat in Love is a supremely satisfying work of modern literature. Yet the depth of the characters, most notably Thomas Chippering--the most complex protagonist that you're ever likely to find--and the scope of the story make those master works look sketchy by comparison.

The book is somewhat of a comedy, but the tragedy of Tom's lost love is anything but comic. It is real and poignant and it will surely make you remember, all to unpainfully, lost loves of your own. Just as you begin to sympathize with him, though, O'Brien shows what a chauvinistic scoundrel Tom can be. His so-called appreciation for women gets him into all sorts of trouble at work and at home.

We also learn that Tom is capable of obsession that drives him to thoughts of revenge that will make you start to question his sanity. Whether or not those thoughts will be turned into action remains a very uncomfortable mystery until the end of the book.

Those who like clean-cut main characters who are easy to figure out within a few pages will no doubt hate this book, as will some who do not understand that while Tom may think highly of himself, O'Brien might not. Either way, it is hard to deny the skill and craft of Tim O'Brien. Whether you like him or dislike him, seeing the world through Tom's eyes is a fascinating experience that will, at turns, make you laugh and shudder.

The book is well written. The characters are three-dimensional. The theme is not trivial. Why did I feel so uncomfortable with it? Perhaps for the same reason I feel so uncomfortable watching Seinfeld or the show by the same writer, Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm: The characters build their own doom, and they never get it. There are many funny themes. Jack Benny had a shtick where he thinks he's very sexy, and he's not, and we know it. Thomas Chippering is also like this. He thinks he is irresistible, but once he opens his mouth any woman realizes he's bad news, and he's rejected. In fact, most of his warped observations are very funny when we realize he's totally deluded. But I know people like this, and they aren't funny at all. They are deeply self-destructive. In fact, he takes us through his psychoses and shows us the psychoses of the wife with whom he is obsessed. They are really horrible. When he comes upon a woman of worth he uses her mercilessly and denies the gem he has. In the end, he is redeemed, but can't totally drop his patterns of deception and self-deception. The word play is fun, resembling John Barth's trips to the funhouse. Portnoy and Humbert Humbert come to mind, but I could feel sorry for them. Chittering is so destructive I couldn't do even that. I read it through to the end because my book discussion group was reading it, but I would rather I hadn't had to.

Tim O'Brien has been a favorite of mine for nearly 25 years. His books are always deep and insightful, but they reached new levels of somberness with "The Lake of the Woods". "Tomcat In Love" is a delightfully unexpected left turn and reveals a surprisingly sharp comic talent.

I usually find it difficult to enjoy a novel with a protagonist I can't admire. But Thomas Chippering is so delighfully self delusional that you can't help but giggle as he digs himself in deeper with every scheme he contrives. And yet amazingly you find yourself rooting for this buffoon as reaches new depths of social ineptitude. Other reviewers mention that Chippering is an unreliable narrator, but it is important to realize that he actually believes all the lies he is telling. Half the fun of reading this comic novel is reading between the lines to distinguish where what is really happening diverges from what Chippering is telling you.

This is a funny, funny book. Even so, it confronts the reader with many serious issues, particularly the objectification of women. There's plenty to think about while you are laughing at the characters. That's one reason this book stays with you much longer than most comic novels.

I gave a copy of this novel to my father, and after he finished it he sent it along to my brother. Tim O'Brien is exactly a generation between me and my father, and while there's plenty we can't see eye to eye on, we both found this novel extremely entertaining.

Tim O'Brien is a treasure. Read this book!

I love Tim O'Brien. No one tells a story like him. The way he creates and develops characters, the way he moves plot along, the way he unravels and reravels a story is incredible. His deescription of human emotion could not be more accurate. His laugh out loud means of desribing the tangible and intangible are unrivalled in contemporary literature. AND, his writing is not pretentious. I had a hard time with this book. I love reading O'Brien's prose - the way he almost seems to be talking to you over a couple of beers. I couldn't stand Thomas Chippering! He was very much like John Irving's "Garp". Most certainly NOT someone I would waste my time trying to be friends with! BUT...he is real. Thomas Chippering is a real and believable person. His thought processes are very similar to ones many readers have had, although in my case, about different subject matter. I am not obsessed with the female of the species, nor am I as self-absorbed or obsessed with nostalgia as Chippering. However, the excuses he uses to explain how he got to be a self-absorbed nostalgic womanizer and why he HAS to be this way all makes perfect sense. The manner in which he comes to these conclusions is a manner any person could apply to interpret his or her own lifestyle and mannerisms. I don't know how many friends I would tell to read this, but if you want to understand how similar you are to the neighbor or co-worker that you hate, read it.

I have loved every book I have read by Tim O'Brien, but have put off reading this book for a long time. It is such a departure from his other books, it is tough to believe this is O'Brien. It felt more like I was reading the latest deviation of Philip Roth's Zuckerman series, focusing on the libido of a middle-aged man. While there are aspects of this book I like, I would have never acknowledged this book if it were not Tim O'Brien.

In the early pages, the main theme of the book seems to be revenge. This type of conflict would prove to be an interesting read if the theme was followed through. Instead, the protagonist devolves into a whiny narcissist who is hard to like. While conplaining that his wife left him, he chases anything in a skirt. This leads him into some damaging situations. Based on his motives, it is hard to feel sorry for him. The scorned lover/revenge plot returns periodicially throughout the book, but never gains traction.

While the reader knows there is a twist coming at the end, the reader may not expect the final twist. This leads me to believe that O'Brien had a solid concept for the novel that he never developed to its potential between the beginning and the end.

This is not the novel readers should begin a journey through the O'Brien catalog with. If this is done, a reader may not continue the journey to the next book. O'Brien has written great works of fiction about Vietnam-related themes and non-fiction about Vietnam in general. This step outside the comfort zone did not go so well.

To borrow a term from Tomcat in Love, anybody can be "squid-like" and spray ink on a page, but not just anyone writes as well as Tim O'Brien. This is a book that I cannot recommend to all of my female friends because the protagonist of the story is such a freaking womanizer. But, for the truly unfaint of heart who consider great prose above social etiquette, I can wholeheartedly point to this book and call it genius.

We follow Thomas Chipperling through a rather trying year of his life following the breakup of his marriage. It is at once a bleak portrait of man's obsession with woman and a fantastical story of revenge going awry. I laughed out loud many many times, and the real reason I would not award the novel 5 stars is because I felt quite mired down with the story at times. O'Brien is an amazing wordsmith, and I was really touched at times by the humanity of Thomas. In the end, all actions are more than understandable, and I would encourage anyone who felt stuck in the story tellers quicksand to hang in with the book. It rewards in the end. I think that comedy can be trickier to create than drama, and so, this comic novel does deserve high praise, indeed. If you want to laugh and you admire linguistic acrobats, then this is a compelling read.

I am a little embarassed to admit how much i like this book. O'Brien is a smart cookie and I always enjoy books that surprise me with the unexpected but not just random weirdness. I laughed out loud at the pathetic Chippering and thought of the list of guys I'd like to buy a copy for - heh! If you want to know what goes through the mind of a book-smart, life-stupid, self-absorbed womanizer this would be a start. And if you relate to this character -- SEEK THERAPY NOW!