Can Joe help it if he falls in love with people who don't make him happy? And what about Helena?she's in love, but somehow this isn't enough. Shouldn't it be? And if it isn't enough, does this mean she's not really in love? It certainly seems to be spoiling the love she's in. And let's say there's a volcano underneath the city?doesn't that make things more urgent? Does urgency mean that you should keep the person you're with, or search for the best possible person? And what if the best possible person loves someone else?like the Snow Queen, for instance?
This novel may not answer these questions, but nevertheless the author and publisher hope it will be of interest.
Can Joe help it if he falls in love with people who don't make him happy? And what about Helena?she's in love, but somehow this isn't enough. Shouldn't it be? And if it isn't enough, does this mean she's not really in love? It certainly seems to be spoiling the love she's in. And let's say there's a volcano underneath the city?doesn't that make things more urgent? Does urgency mean that you should keep the person you're with, or search for the best possible person? And what if the best possible person loves someone else?like the Snow Queen, for instance?
This novel may not answer these questions, but nevertheless the author and publisher hope it will be of interest.
Daniel Handler has written three novels under his own name, including The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and Adverbs, and many books under the name Lemony Snicket, including All the Wrong Questions, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the picture book 13 Words.
"This lovely, lilting book...dramatizes love's cross-purposes with panache." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"The stories are clever, unsettling, confusing, and often brilliantly moving." -- Library Journal"Brilliantly kooky and off-kilter." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer"[Handler] oozes wit and he's an astute social observer. The book's offbeat sweetness charms." -- Charlotte Observer"Daniel Handler [is] something like an American Nabokov." -- Dave Eggers
The qualities that draw millions to Lemony Snicket-absurdity, wicked humor, a love of wordplay-get adulterated in this elegant exploration of love. Handler brings linguistic pyrotechnics to a set of encounters: gay, straight, platonic and all degrees of dysfunctional. Amid the deadpan ("Character description: Appropriately tall. Could dress better.") and the exhausting ("Love was in the air, so both of us walked through love on our way to the corner.") are moments of blithe poignancy: quoth a lone golfer, "Love is this sudden crash in your path, quick and to the point, and nearly always it leaves someone slain on the green." In "Obviously," a teenage boy pines for his co-worker at the multiplex while they both tear tickets for Kickass: The Movie. In "Briefly," the narrator, now married, recounts being 14 and infatuated with his big sister's boyfriend, Keith. "Truly" begins "This part's true," and features a character named Daniel Handler, who has an exchange about miracles with a novelist named Paula Sharp. Handler began his career with the coming-of-age novel The Basic Eight; this lovely, lilting book is a kind of After School Special for adults that dramatizes love's cross-purposes with panache: "Surely somebody will arrive, in a taxi perhaps, attractively, artfully, aggressively, or any other way it is done." (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
"This lovely, lilting book...dramatizes love's cross-purposes with panache." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"The stories are clever, unsettling, confusing, and often brilliantly moving." -- Library Journal"Brilliantly kooky and off-kilter." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer"[Handler] oozes wit and he's an astute social observer. The book's offbeat sweetness charms." -- Charlotte Observer"Daniel Handler [is] something like an American Nabokov." -- Dave Eggers
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
