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Was It Something I Said
 
 
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Was It Something I Said [Paperback]

Valerie Block (Author)
2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)

Price: $23.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Book Description

December 1, 1998
When Justine and Barry meet during a plane crash just before the Christmas holidays, the relationship that follows is wild, turbulent, and maybe, just maybe, a keeper.

Justine is a pretty, smart, ambitious lawyer who's tired of being set up on lousy dates. Her eighteen-hour work days get in the way of finding Mr. Right, but she'd rather be home with her dog, drinking salad dressing for dinner and watching The Sound of Music on the VCR anyway. Barry is a good-looking food product manager living on the Upper West side with a rich roommate who is juggling three girlfriends at once but never has the rent. Barry seeks his soulmate, but the fact that he hasn't had a date in a year makes things a little tougher.

A comic urban romance about the possibilities and impossibilities of love. Was it Something I Said? is a classic "will they or won't they?" for the nineties that will keep readers guessing until the very end.


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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This funny, painfully realistic first novel skewers the New York singles scene in a blow-by-blow account of the on again-off again romance of two lonely thirtysomething professionals. Justine, a driven lawyer, and Barry, a dissatisfied marketing executive, meet in the aftermath of a nonfatal plane crash. In the course of a year, they work through enough problems to sink any relationship. She's a Republican and had an affair with his roommate. He's a liberal whose bad attitude and temper get him fired. Both have dysfunctional families ready to interfere. Block writes with authority. Her fast-paced narrative, perceptive and sympathetic characterizations, and descriptions of everything from Justine's male-dominated law firm to Barry's roommate's juggling three women all ring true. Readers will be rooting for Justine and Barry to vanquish their insecurities and live happily ever after. For popular fiction collections.?Andrea Caron Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, Kan.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Miracles do happen: an urban love story, Manhattan-set, in which the fact that two lovers have everything stacked against them--insanely controlling parents, manic workplaces, and their own confused selves--results in a brilliantly funny and even wise first novel. Like a 30-something Holden Caulfield trapped in a Dilbert-quality job, Barry Cantor can't help putting his foot in his mouth--usually when he's just won his point. Partner--track lawyer Justine Schiff--is his polar opposite: supremely in control, absurdly well-paid, completely type A. But the strain of her extremely public singledom and the effect of the blighted lives she sees around her at her patrician white-shoes law firm leave her wide open to a transformation the night her plane crashes on takeoff at LaGuardia. Bonding with seatmate Barry while throwing up together, Justine soon finds herself with a bed- and soul-mate who talks funny to waiters, leaves his underwear on the floor, and has for a roommate the billionaire's son who once jilted her. The tale unfolds in a New York minute, alternating between the glossy misery of Justine's Wall Street megadeals and Barry's valiant efforts to wrest meaning from selling novelty candies, in scenes that ring true and funny. The result is foreordained, but doesn't detract one whit from the ride--probably because, like a New York Jewish Hepburn and Tracy, Justine and Barry can make an uneventful evening at home crackle with wit and incident. Only the subplot with the billionaire's son eludes a tidy conclusion. From the peculiar angst of the rich and workaholic to the pinball rhythms of America's eternally boyish men, Block has taken the pulse of love in the '90s with verve and panache. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Washington Square Press (December 1, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0671025864
  • ISBN-13: 978-0671025861
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,410,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

61 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (14)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (9)
1 star:
 (23)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.5 out of 5 stars (61 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Was it something she wrote?, December 3, 1999
This review is from: Was It Something I Said (Paperback)
The author is obviously a great writer, she shows style and potential, but why did she invent the most incredibly obnoxious and shallow characters I've ever read? Justine was the worst one, she's someone I wouldn't be friends with if she were real. Barry was not any better. The only decent character there was Pipa, but hardly interesting. Don't bother reading this book---read In the Drink or Otherwise Engaged instead.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars I kept waiting for it to get better but it only got worse., November 18, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Was It Something I Said (Paperback)
What a disappointment. The characters have absolutely no depth, they are all superficial, shallow, and worst of all--artifical. They were down right annoying! I didn't want to get to know them or delve futher into their situation.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars It makes good fire wood., November 9, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Was It Something I Said (Paperback)
If you run out of fire wood this winter, just use this book instead
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
At 7:30 A.M., Barry Cantor flew up the Saw Mill River Parkway blasting Abbey Road. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
crashing plane, fruit bits
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Barry Cantor, Maplewood Acres, Packer Breebis, New York, Noah Clurman, Fosdale Cleat, Justine Schiff, Nicky Lukasch, Caesar With Bacon, Dennis Delaney, Meredith Zazlowe, Rhoda Weisenblatt, Vince Anspacher, West Side, Connie Tischler, Park Avenue, Quality Control, Alex Schiff, Andrew Anspacher, Colin Christie, First Avenue, Fitzsimmons Chemical, Galsworthy Paper, Henry Ford, Jack Slaymaker
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