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Coffee And Kung Fu Paperback – June 3, 2003

by Karen Brichoux (Author)

3.4 27 ratings

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Twenty-six-year-old Nicci Bradford seeks refuge from the trials and tribulations of her personal and professional life with Kung Fu movies, drawing on their timeless wisdom and example to come up with her own unique philosophy of life.

From Booklist

It's a convention of the "single girl in the city" novel that the heroine be charmingly self-deprecating and the overall tone light and optimistic. Brichoux seems to be asking if a novel in this genre can succeed when these conventions aren't observed. Her heroine, Nicci Bradford, is a lonely, Kung Fu-obsessed copywriter for a Boston ad agency, working from paycheck to paycheck and dreaming of life in Hong Kong. Her only friend turns against her after her husband hits on Nicci at a party, and her family lives hundreds of miles away. She may have a kindred spirit in Ethan, who works at the neighborhood coffee shop, but before she can find out, she's swept off her feet by Rob, a wealthy and handsome sailboat dealer. Will she stay with the debonair Rob or pursue the sensitive Ethan? Will she remain in Boston or follow her dreams and move East? The plot frequently veers into melodrama, and the Kung Fu movie allusions seem gimmicky. Still, this novel is a refreshing take on an increasingly crowded genre. Meredith Parets
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

...perfect for a day at the beach. -- Library Journal, May 1, 2003

Warm, smart, and original: a swift Snake in Eagle's Shadow kick to all the Bridget Jones clones. -- Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2003

About the Author

Karen Brichoux was raised in the Far East, the daughter of missionary parents, and now lives in the very center of the country, in Lawrence, Kansas, with her husband. Like her heroine, she enjoys watching Jackie Chan movies.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

NAL Trade
Publication date

June 3, 2003
Dimensions

5.38 x 0.61 x 7.94 inches
ISBN-10

0451209028
ISBN-13

978-0451209023
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ NAL Trade (June 3, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0451209028
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0451209023
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.38 x 0.61 x 7.94 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,316,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #181,768 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #297,111 in Contemporary Romance (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3.4 27 ratings

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Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5

27 global ratings

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D. E. Neves

Chick lit for smart nerds

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2014

Verified Purchase

I love this book. It is funny and touching. Highly recommend. Very nerdy writer, which endears me to her.

One person found this helpful

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Kat

Beach Read

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2009

Verified Purchase

This book opens up a great new category in 'chic lit'. Smart and interesting. Finially heroine who is willing to think and act for herself. It's refreshing to read a book with a smart, independent woman who doesn't sacrifice everything she is just to get the guy.
Nicci's character is perfect. She could be anyone we know, even ourselves. I liked that about the story, I liked that it was easy to imagine Nicci in her every day life.
Karen Brichoux is a wonderful writer. I hope she is planning a sequel, or just more books.

One person found this helpful

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amy

this brew has had its last kick

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2004

Coffee and Kung Fu. Here's my Reading Rainbow synopsis (sans Jordi LaForge). Coffee and Kung Fu is about a 20 something bimbo who lacks personality and authenticity but makes up for her inadequecies through an unhealthy obsession with drinking boring coffee in the AM and ritual Jassimine tea drinking elsewhere. She has some friends in the general sense of the word (meaning, they all want to set her up or need her for something) and works as a copywriter, correcting grammatical errors such as dangling participles. She falls for a painfully cliché rich guy who wears Italian leather shoes and drives an even more agonizingly typical SUV. She goes out with him for the nookie, but is secretly in love with a pathetic Starbucks worker who lets homeless guys come in after hours. They don't say he works at Starbucks but the author talks about him wearing a green apron and I don't know too many coffee shops who have green apron uniforms. Nicci (main character) relates everything back to Jackie Chan Kung Fu movies. Everything she experiences is parallelled to Jackie like, eating coals, two chop sticks being stronger than one. You follow? Right, I wouldn't care either. So Rob, the cliché rich sailboat rental company owning guy ends up proposing and Nicci says no way and henceforth runs away straight into the arms of pathetic Ethan whom she's only exchanged bizare pleasantries with. Meanwhile, Nicci's grandfather, whom she shares a close bond with is sick and eventually dies and Ethan shows up at the hospital, hugs Nicci and then travels back to wherever he came from. Nicci desides to purchase two tickets to Hong Kong, gives one to Ethan and he says, "ok, see you there in a week". The End. The book is laced with italics of what she thinks in her head but is too chicken and too ordinary to say. She has a bland commentary on things in life such as public transit and tea pots which makes the book rather monotonous and ill-exciting. As a character she paints her self to be a lone reed in the wind but is practically just like any other salmon trying to push through society's force only to return to the very place you don't want to be. I applaud graphic artist who designed the front cover because its pretty and bright. I like judging books by its cover and from my opinion, looks like the graphic arts degree paid off and the English degree didn't. I do not recommend this book.

9 people found this helpful

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Books Rock!

Coffee & Kung Fu

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2005

Light read, the main character can really get on your nerves, she just needs to get over herself.

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Dizziey

Three and a half stars; book was an okay read!

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2004

Karen Brichoux's "Coffee & Kung Fu" storyline is like most chick-lits these days; single girl, alone in the big city with a job she hates. In addition to that, the heroine, Nicci, has a unique "love" life in the sense that the only reason she is out with her client, Rob, is that he's great in bed. Even though Nicci knows she can't connect with Rob and they don't seem to have a "real" relationship, she is still willing to stick with him. Then, she met Ethan, from a coffee shop whom she thinks has a "rainbow smile" and Nicci feels she can connect to. In essence, Nicci is not satisfied and unhappy about her life which she feels is going nowhere. Nicci still longs for the days when she was living in the Phillipines with her missionary parents compared to her current drab life. However, there is one thing that seems to cheer Nicci up - Jackie Chan's kung fu movies. An avid fan, Nicci is trying to relate real life incidences with those in the movies. (Mind you, these are not Jackie Chan's current Hollywood movies, but his older Hong Kong ones). Unfortunately, Nicci realizes that it's not quite that simple where in Jackie's movies, good guys always win, or that people would beat up other people to avenge their families' deaths. Something similiar like that.

There are many reviewers here who thoroughly enjoy the book but I must confess that I am not one of them. I wasn't able to relate to Nicci and that the storyline in general wasn't able to engage me. The book seems to be about nothing in general and the storyline wasn't solid enough. In addition, I find the book a bit boring and depressing for me because Nicci seems to be such a difficult character. She finally did the right thing at the end but throughout the book, she is constantly unhappy and she doesn't do anything about it. I wouldn't say this book is bad but it's definitely not one I would recommend to others.

3 people found this helpful

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