Share <Embed>

Buy New

$7.00

List Price: $24.00
Save: $17.00 (71%)

$7.00

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Ships from and sold by CatharsisBooks.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

This item does not ship to France. Please check other sellers who may ship internationally.

Deliver to

Buy Used

$4.99

+ $0.00 shipping

Deliver to

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by breaktimebooks

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Other Sellers on Amazon

Add to Cart

$8.15
+ $24.00 shipping

Sold by: Books Mela

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

My Latest Grievance Hardcover – April 10, 2006

by Elinor Lipman (Author)

41 customer reviews

See all 14 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$4.63

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$7.00

$3.00

$0.10

Paperback

"Please retry"

$3.98

$0.10

Audio CD, Unabridged, Audiobook

"Please retry"

$37.95

$4.00

“Almost nobody writes serious entertainment with more panache” than Elinor Lipman, wrote the Chicago Tribune. From her debut novel, Then She Found Me, which in the words of the Washington Post revived the art of “screwball comedy for the newly dawned nineties,” to her most recent, best-selling The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, which the Philadelphia Weekly hailed as “the most perfect piece of prose writing to come along in quite a while,” Elinor Lipman has set the gold standard by which other comic novelists are judged.

Now her pitch-perfect new novel, set in 1978, introduces us to the beguiling Frederica Hatch. Born and raised in the dormitory of a small women’s college, and chafing under the care of “the most annoyingly evenhanded parental team in the history of civilization,” Frederica is starting to feel that her life is stiflingly snug. “I had no intention of blending in. I wanted to be who I’d become, the Eloise of Dewing College, the full-time residential expert in an institution that others occupied only fleetingly.”

Into this cozy world comes Miss Laura Lee French — a wannabe former Rockette and the new dorm mother at the college where Frederica’s parents teach and live. Laura Lee proves to be the enthralling and glamorous antithesis of the Hatches, whose passion for liberal political causes is all-consuming — even Frederica’s Barbie dolls have been anatomically corrected. As Frederica says, “The timing was excellent . . . Just as I was craving more attention, along came Laura Lee French, dorm mother without a day job, single, childless, and ultimately famous within our gates.”

“Like an inspired alchemist” (New York Times Book Review), Lipman turns this seemingly routine faculty hire into a catalyst for havoc and hilarity. For it happens that Miss French — in the distant past — was married to none other than Frederica’s earnest and distinctly unglamorous father.

As in her previous novels, Lipman writes “in a delicious style that is both funny and elegant” (USA Today), rendering serious subjects “through a lens of humor and hope” (Boston Globe). The results? Vintage Elinor Lipman — delightful, memorable, and touching.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $33.69

These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman Hardcover $7.00
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by CatharsisBooks.
$3.99 shipping
The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman Hardcover $7.77
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by Zebra Express.
$4.68 shipping
ISABEL'S BED by Elinor Lipman Hardcover $18.92
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by 2ndlifebooks and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Elinor Lipman

62

Paperback
$10.50
Elinor Lipman

149

Hardcover
$13.11
Elinor Lipman

102

Hardcover
13 offers from $7.66
Elinor Lipman

133

Hardcover
$10.00
Elinor Lipman

62

Hardcover
$7.77
Elinor Lipman

50

Hardcover
$19.99

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Frederica Hatch—the articulate, curious, and naïve narrator of Lipman's eighth novel—proves the perfect vehicle for this satiric yet compassionate family portrait. It's 1976, and psych professors David and Aviva Hatch are honest with their daughter to the point of anatomically correcting Frederica's Barbie dolls. In all their years as a dorm family at a small women's college outside Boston, though, no one mentioned Laura Lee French, David's first wife (and distant cousin). Frederica, now 15 and ready for rebellion, delights in Laura's arrival on campus as a new dorm mother; David and Aviva look on nervously as the two become fast friends. In contrast with Frederica's right-thinking, '60s radical parents, Laura Lee becomes the delicious embodiment of all the moral and psychological complexities of a flawed world beyond campus. Meanwhile, campus itself looks very little like an ivory tower as major scandal brews amid petty gossip. As in previous novels, Lipman addresses sensitive issues (anti-Semitism, adultery, dementia) with delicacy and acerbity. She also nails the shifts and moods of an angry teenager, a grandmother in denial, a philanderer in hiding and a campus in shock. By the end, a smart young girl learns compassion for a world that can be grotesquely, hilariously, disturbingly unfair. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Elinor Lipman's eighth novel (after The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, **** Sept/Oct 2003) exhibits her trademark social satire, facility with dialogue, and humor. Like her other novels, it addresses themes close to the heart: the bonds between parents and children and between fiction and reality. Covering a few decades, the novel offers a smart, funny protagonist and outlandish, if highly realistic, situations. Yet while the Seattle Times called the novel Lipman's "best work so far" and the Washington Post couldn't praise the author enough, the Chicago Tribune felt that Lipman's wit masked genuine emotion. Only USA Today thought the novel descended into poorly plotted melodrama. The general consensus, however, is that My Latest Grievance is worth a reader's every second.<BR>Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition edition (April 10, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618644652
ISBN-13: 978-0618644650
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 41 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,833,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #48912 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary
- #81835 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Be the first video

Your name here

Customer reviews

Write a customer review

See all 41 customer reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

AnandaK

Have some fun

July 18, 2013

Verified Purchase

I liked this book. Yes, some of the characters are a little broadly drawn, but the patter of the narrator (a 16-year-old girl who lives with her parents in a college girls' dormitory) is delightful. Frederica, whose parents are professors and "houseparents" at a small girls' college in Boston, is adept at sizing up the adults (and young adults) who surround her. She lovingly puts her parents down in a way that rings true for a precocious teen who's grown up around teen and 20-something females. Her parents are the type of progressive, post-hippy, educated, social scientist parents in the 70s who want to raise their child as an equal. Sometimes it backfires. I enjoyed this book so much more than "The View from Penthouse B" by the same author. It's a quick, light read and makes me want to read more of Elinor Lipman.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Anne

2 Stars = 5 Z's... zzzzz

September 11, 2007

Verified Purchase

This was the first book of Lipman's that I read, and I bought it based on the reviews that I have read here. While everyone else seems to be big fans of her work, after reading this book I am left wondering what all the hype is about.

This book was about as satisfying as a glass of tap water. Far from being "precocious" and "witty," the narrator Frederica comes off like a garden variety brat. What exists of a plot is weak and uninteresting, and we are left to meander along with the dry, dry characters hoping for something good to happen. I'll save you the $11.16: Nothing happens!

I guess Lipman is writing what she knows about since according to her author's blurb she has experience working for a university (the setting of this novel) and came of age during the same time as our little Frederica, but come on lady, if this is the best story you have inside you, I feel bad.

Another reviewer likened reading this to eating candy. I liken it to chewing a piece of gum that lost its flavor really quickly. Ptooey.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

A Fabulous Return to Form

May 20, 2006

Verified Purchase

I've read all of Lipman's novels--all are good and some are great. This one is exceptional--perhaps my favorite, although there will always be a special place in my heart for Then She Found Me.

The protagonist, Frederica, is Eloise at the College--not University, because the school where her intelligent, progressive professor parents teach is definitely small and not particularly selective. Her parents belong to a finer educational sphere, but they toil without complaint, not just as educators but as union reps.

Why are they not at a better school? Fate and the fact that Frederica's father is still paying beaucoup alimony to his ex-wife and cousin. When Frederica discovers the existence of this former wife in an unexpected way, she is fascinated by her, and their ever-morphing relationship is at the heart of this fine novel.

Lipman treads some of the themes she has explored in the past--societal prejudices against cultural Judaism, campus life, marital infidelities, and everyday narcissism. Yet her characters shine through with their own unique light; I was particularly admiring of Frederica's parents and I think the author is, as well. Occasionally, Frederica's arch dialogue is just a bit too precociously clever, but her heart and mind are grounded in healthy and--dare I say it--traditional values.

If you have enjoyed Lipman's work in the past, I suspect you won't grieve over the cost of My Latest Grievance, but consider it money and time well spent.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

****

Elinor Lipman at her Almost Best

April 5, 2006

Verified Purchase

Elinor Lipman's novels are a delight to read, and I eagerly await the publication of each of her books. She is a master of comic prose, witty dialogue, and improbable plots that make the reader squirm with discomfort, as her characters teeter on the brink and often fall into the precipice of socially unacceptable behavior. I find myself thinking, "Oh no, she's not going to go there", and then I gleefully wonder how is she going to do it. One thing is certain: her plots are never predictable. "My Latest Grievance" is narrated by precocious 17 year old Fredericka Hatch who is the very observant only child of David and Aviva Hatch. They are socially liberal, politically correct parents who teach at a small eastern women's college where they live as houseparents in a dormitory. David is also the faculty union president and handles co-workers' grievances against management. Their dormitory apartment is the only home that Fredericka has ever known, and she has been treated since infancy as a college mascot. Fredericka knows everyone and everything that is going on. She is smug in her belief that her parents share everything with her. Then, one day she receives a pearl necklace from Laura Lee French and learns that Laura Lee was her father's first wife. Although Laura Lee's initial motivation is unclear, she insinuates herself into their lives by applying for and getting a job as housemother in a neighboring dormitory. Laura Lee is embarrassingly flamboyant, self-involved, histrionic, and above all a sexy manhunter who sets her sights on the college president. To put it mildly, Laura Lee is the antithesis of David and Aviva French, and her indiscretions snowball into a veritable avalanche of repercussions. Snappy dialogue and Fredericka's sardonic observations make this a quick and entertaining read. However, it's not quite as satisfying as Lipman's earlier works: "Then She Found Me", "Isabel's Bed" or "The Inn at Lake Devine". The ending of "My Latest Grievance" is not romantic but equitable.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Buy New

$7.00

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Buy Used

$4.99

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Other Sellers on Amazon

My Latest Grievance Hardcover – April 10, 2006

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From Bookmarks Magazine

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

Customer reviews

Read reviews that mention

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Most recent customer reviews

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Buy New $7.00

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Buy Used $4.99

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Other Sellers on Amazon

My Latest Grievance Hardcover – April 10, 2006

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From Bookmarks Magazine

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

Customer reviews

Read reviews that mention

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Most recent customer reviews

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Buy New

$7.00

Buy Used

$4.99