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Oct 18, 2011

Sita rated it:

I have been asked by a few people who enjoyed this book, why I gave it 1 star. So this is it:

1. I ~~disliked~~ hated all the characters, they annoyed me, especially the main character's, being inside her head was a very, very painful experience.

2. The main character was also a friggn nympho. All she thought about was getting down and doing the nasty and the opposite sex of course.

3. The plot. Could someone please tell me what it was? Was it just this girls life, b More...

0 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2008

Jonna rated it:

Hm. I liked it -- really, I did -- and I LOVED Prep. But what Prep was that this isn't was multi-layered. While it was Lee Fiora's journey, it was also a lot more than that, not to mention a thrilling roman a clef, though Sittenfeld denies this.

Here, we're presented with a rehash of Lee Fiora, and quite honestly, that's all we're presented with, only this time, she's less interesting and focused on one thing only: relationships with the opposite sex. I think that's what bothered me More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 28, 2008

Aimee rated it:

I read this book because the library happened to have it checked in while I wait for my requests to come in and I read Prep, which I enjoyed enough, but not as much as the critics did. Perhaps it is merely the timing, but The Man of My Dreams (and I would agree with previous reviewers in advising you to ignore the title--it's not really about the man, anyway) really had me examining my own life thus far and what I have learned about myself through my relationships as Hannah has. I am 28 as Han More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Jenny rated it:

knew as soon as I picked this up that I would fly through it, and not for any lack of weight on the part of the novel; it's just that I LOVE CURTIS SITTENFELD. Something about her clean, guileless style clicks with me and I hang on her every word, even when what she is saying makes me uncomfortable, which happens kind of a lot; what she writes about hits close to home with my own myriad issues. Sittenfeld's tell-it-like-it-is narrators, both here and in Prep, seem to find that secret place insid More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 11, 2010

Erica rated it:

As soon as I finished Prep, I immediately put this book on hold. It's Curtis Sittenfeld's second book and it just came out in May. After I finished Matilda, I started this book. I went into it with high expectations and it didn't catch me quite as quickly as Prep but then again it isn't the same book and I wouldn't want it to be. Over the last few days this book has really caught me and I'm loving it. I find myself, once again, really identifying with the main character Hannah. She's making so m More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2009

Nicola rated it:

This novel covers similar ground to Sittenfeld’s Prep. In fact, it’s not hard to imagine it as the continued story of Prep’s insecure heroine, Lee, as she navigates college and post-college life. Unfortunately, though the writing style and themes are similar to Sittenfeld’s first novel, Man of My Dreams feels like the work of a far less mature author.

To put it bluntly, it’s a boring book. Boring and depressing. Sittenfeld’s previously-displayed flair for turning the banal into someth More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 08, 2009

Jenn rated it:

I really LOVED this book. It takes a lot to get a 5-star out of me, though...and I thought Prep still had it beat, so 4 stars it is.

Regardless, Sittenfeld is such an amazing author. Sometimes, when reading her books, I get distracted in thinking "she is SUCH a good writer" and I forget to follow the storyline and have to re-read. Few authors have this affect on me. I cherish the ones that do!

I love the flaws she gives her characters. They aren't the typical " More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2008

Geraldine rated it:

I read this book under protest, because I hated "Prep" (what a letdown after all the hype, especially since I've been obsessed with boarding school since reading "A Little Princess" at age six. Plus, I secretly resent people who are not much older than I am, yet manage to write bestsellers.) However, I can't get a library card until I can prove that I live in this godforsaken state, so I bought it for three bucks. Anyway, I thought it was lightyears better than "Prep, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2009

CJ rated it:

I'm not sure what it is I don't like about Sittenfeld's novels. I didn't like Prep all that much, but others seem to enjoy her work, so I thought I'd give The Man of My Dreams a try. It was OK. Quick read. Could be nice on an airplane or as a book to keep in your bag to read while you wait in line or at the doctor's office. It just didn't really grab me. I didn't like really any of the characters, didn't empathize with them. At best, I felt sorry for them. Mostly I just wanted them to stop their More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 18, 2007

Ryan rated it:

I know that a lot of people find Curtis Sittenfeld's characters too unlikable, but I think they are just so honest and real that they freak people out. I wasn't sure if I'd like this book as much as I loved Prep, but I think it's actually much more maturely written. I was sucked in immediately, as with Prep, and just find Hannah's insights to be, if frustrating or wrong sometimes, also quietly profound. I could barely put it down. It kept me up at night because I just couldn't stop reading i More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2008

Liz rated it:

The main character like in the authors first book,"Prep", is a self-involved, miserable, jealous, personification of every negative stereotype that men say about women. This book sends an awful message to women. You are not incomplete without men. There is no perfect man and you do not have to pretend to be something you are not to get one and keep one. The only character in the book that likes herself and has any fun is painted throughout the novel to be an awful, selfish person. I wi More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2008

Mandy rated it:

I'm not saying this is the best book I've ever read, but it definitely made me think. And it definitely didn't fall into the category of normal chick lit (all about shopping, men, and martinis, etc) - in my opinion it was far from it. I enjoyed Sittenfeld's writing style and the fact that she assumed the reader would be intelligent, therefore not overwriting with mundane facts or too much explanation. I think the end could have been fleshed out into a couple more chapters but I'm not sure it More...

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Jul 17, 2007

Sherrie rated it:

This is a book that suffers from what I like to call “Cry Ass White People” syndrome. We follow the main character, Hannah, as she grows from a dysfunctional young girl to a dysfunctional young adult. Hannah had "been raised... not to be accommodated but to accommodate," Welcome self-esteem problems! Hannah seeks professional help while attending college (see cry-ass white people) and feels better about herself. Hannah finds thrills by being a *third wheel* tagging along with her More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2008

Yasmin rated it:

i don't know if i missed something while reading this, but it def wasn't worth the read. i read some other reviews and didn't particulary agree with them. it was an easy read, but there are plenty of others out there that aren't so self defecating.

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 11, 2010

Erica - rated it:

As soon as I finished Prep, I immediately put this book on hold. It's Curtis Sittenfeld's second book and it just came out in May. After I finished Matilda, I started this book. I went into it with high expectations and it didn't catch me quite as quickly as Prep but then again it isn't the same book and I wouldn't want it to be. Over the last few days this book has really caught me and I'm loving it. I find myself, once again, really identifying with the main character Hannah. She's making so m More...

0 comments like

Dec 17, 2009

Valerie rated it:

This is a so-so book that I bought because I enjoyed Prep, and there's a couple of passages of exquisite writing where the author captures the essence of feeling ambivalent about love and what it's all supposed to mean, but on the whole...it's kind of meh. Decent writing, but nothing very interesting. I had a Borders gift card, I bought the book, I read it, I moved on. Reading this book is kinda like being treated to a so-so meal, one you don't mind eating but are glad you didn't pay for. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 18, 2010

Bianca rated it:

I read Curtis Sittenfeld's debut novel, Prep, sometime in 2008 and absolutely loved it! In fact, it became one of my favorite all time novels and I was really looking forward to reading this book by her.

The Man of My Dreams follows Hannah Gavener from young adolescent to her late 20's. From the title you would think that it was fairytale-ish but it's not. Hannah obsesses over "Mr. Right" but will find out later how perfect couples really don't exist.

I think Curt More...

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Apr 12, 2010

Christi rated it:

I think the author does a great job of finding an authentic voice for her main characters. Hannah is so stuck in her own head and so worried about what everyone else must think about her that she sits on the sidelines through most of college. Opting to go to bed at 7:30 on a Friday night rather than go out and risk making a fool of herself or doubting that she's pretty enough or skinny enough or confident enough. I get that. I think we all have those kinds of doubts now and then.

Ha More...

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Aug 13, 2009

marg rated it:

Prep, this was not. I held off reading this in part because people said it wasn't nearly as good as Prep and in part because of the stupid title - how could a book be? Anyway it was in the apt we were staying in in Paris and I ran out of library books so I took it for Shabbos and figured it would at least be readable.
My issues are as follows: It's hard not to compare with prep especially sicne the protagonists are very similar - however, where Lee was, I felt, refreshing and charming while More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 25, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

Curtis Sittenfeld's The Man of My Dreams is another coming of age piece however this time written while the character ages to be much older than the last book. The main character, Hannah comes from a fairly disfunctional family, and as she experiences and is faced with different relationships, she's not quite sure how to navigate the complex feelings involved. I couldn't decide whether Hannah suffered from a low self esteem or if she was just horribly uneducated about how to feel, but the charac More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 17, 2009

Kelly rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 06, 2011

Helen rated it:

It started out quite promising, but never really developed as it might. Hannah is the central character and she has a tough time dealing with people and relationships. She says some things that are possible better left unsaid, the little white lie type untruths. To the question "Do you like my new boyfriend" her truthful response might be honest, but it makes for a complicated life.
It starts with her parents separation (not amicable) and her relationship with her father seems to More...

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Aug 08, 2011

JackieB rated it:

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Jul 31, 2010

Sariah rated it:

I got this book because I was actually looking for something else by the same author, but everything else was checked out. This wasn't a bad book... it just wasn't great. It was simply okay. We are supposedly following the journey of a woman (who happens to be MY AGE... weird, really. Don't know why.) as she figures out relationships, love, and sex. The problem I had with it is that she doesn't ever really grow. The first little bit of the book is her at 14, then we jump to freshman year of coll More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Catherine added it

I am not entirely sure why, but I couldn't put this book down. I started reading it in the early evening, and finished it a t 1:30 am. On a week night. Hannah is our girl, and we follow her for the second half of her almost 30 years, at fixed intervals in time. She has a traumatic childhood, with a verbally abusive father who never apologizes (which isn't my scenario, but it certainly sounds familiar) and a mother who appeases him until she cannot stand it any longer--but her family continue More...

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Jul 13, 2011

Melissa rated it:

Holy cow, this book was about me! (Narcissistic much?) So many times throughout this book I said to myself, "I have thought this thing exactly!" There are definitely books I felt I could relate to, but never a book that so closely paralleled my life as this did. At the end of the book I cried (Chapter 9 is specifically heart rendering for me), and I can't imagine that the ending would bring many readers to tears as it did me. Part of the reason for my tears was that, although this More...

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Apr 29, 2010

Cara rated it:

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Jul 10, 2009

JFN rated it:

I wish I could give this book more than three stars as it contains some incredibly sharp, hitting-so-close-to home passages and observations that truly stunned me, but....I fucking hated the main character, Hannah. And the thing is, I don't know that she was supposed to be so loathsome. I'm all for annoying, flawed protagonists - just check out my reviews of House of Mirth and Mayor of Casterbridge - but Jesus, if Hannah isn't just hopeless and gross. As my friend Michelle put it, Hannah's not t More...

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May 30, 2010

Julie rated it:

After putting Prep down, unfinished because I just couldn't stand being thrown back into the wholy akward world of a 14 year old, I read American Wives and adored it. So, I decided to give Miss Stittenfeld another chance. There is no question that she is an excellent writer, no question that she does an outstanding job of character development and that the people in her novels seem so very real, but I just don't like the story. Some people appear to be enamoured with these characters as evidence More...

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Dec 11, 2008

Holly rated it:

I really enjoyed this book! I was a fan of Sittenfeld's first book Prep</> because I really felt like she captured the awkwardness and self discovery of the teenaged main character. With The Man of My Dreams she delivers that awkwardness and self discovery again, but this time with even more accuracy

The plot surrounds a girl who doesn't understand men or her relationship to them, and is trying to define it for herself over a decade that begins in her teens when her parents More...

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