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58th out of 85 books
—
914 voters
Foreign Affairs
by
Alison Lurie
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
Virginia Miner, a fifty-something, unmarried tenured professor, is in London to work on her new book about children’s folk rhymes. Despite carrying a U.S. passport, Vinnie feels essentially English and rather looks down on her fellow Americans. But in spite of that, she is drawn into a mortifying and oddly satisfying affair with an Oklahoman to...more
Virginia Miner, a fifty-something, unmarried tenured professor, is in London to work on her new book about children’s folk rhymes. Despite carrying a U.S. passport, Vinnie feels essentially English and rather looks down on her fellow Americans. But in spite of that, she is drawn into a mortifying and oddly satisfying affair with an Oklahoman to...more
Paperback, 292 pages
Published
November 14th 2006
by Random House Trade Paperbacks
(first published 1984)
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3.5 stars. This book felt a little incongruous to me. I could easily have believed it was written in/about the turn of the century by a british author. there is a sharp formality to the writing.yet, in fact, it was written in 1984 and takes place in the current day with fairly frequent references to a modern world (the current president, punk rock...) the characters could all easily be transferred to Downton Abbey,with which i am currently obsessed. although the sexual references are certainly m...more
This novel tells the stories of Vinnie (short for Viriginia) Miner, a tenured 54 year
old literature professor at the fictional Corinth University in New York, who travels
to London for a six month sabbatical to research children's folk tales and rhymes
as well as the story of Fred Turner, a well-bred 29 year old assistant professor in
the same English department as Vinnie who is also doing research in London.
Vinnie is described as a small, plain woman who feels that her romantic possibilities,
wh...more
old literature professor at the fictional Corinth University in New York, who travels
to London for a six month sabbatical to research children's folk tales and rhymes
as well as the story of Fred Turner, a well-bred 29 year old assistant professor in
the same English department as Vinnie who is also doing research in London.
Vinnie is described as a small, plain woman who feels that her romantic possibilities,
wh...more
This books was romantic, witty, and charming, and I enjoyed every word. Lurie's novel is about Vinnie Miner, a 54 year old academic, and Fred Turner, Vinnie's much younger colleague. Both of them spend a semester in London doing research on their latest projects. Although only mildly acquainted, their paths cross several times in the city as they pursue their work and each fall into an unexpected affair. In some ways Vinnie's and Fred's affairs are parallel and in some ways they are the inverse...more
This delightful little novel is lighter fare than the typical Pulitzer winner. Don’t look for a deep exploration of universal truth or a treatise on the meaning of life. That is not to say that this is mere fluff. Lurie has plenty to say about both the dark and more noble faces of Human nature. Her insights though, served with a generous dose of restrained humor, are as delectable as a maple sugar candy melting on your tongue. While an undercurrent of humor is sustained throughout the work, this...more
As the heroine of "Foreign Affairs" complains, there is no grand romance in our culture for the middle-aged, only for the young and beautiful. This book is a delightful counter to that truism, the story of what happens to an unmarried and acerbic professor of English literature when grand passion strikes her at fifty-five. The book follows two threads - Fred, a young academic, and Vinnie, the spinster professor, both of whom have come to London in search of scholarly research. Instead, separatel...more
The Pulitzer is a funny thing. This book made me look up what other books had won the prize, because the feeling of Foreign Affairs is mostly sort of a light romp, and my vague feeling about the Pulitzer was that it was generally for a heavier type of book. But really there is a range - everything from The Road in 2007 (could it GET any heavier?) to the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay in 2001. But still, it seems an odd choice somehow.
That being said, Foreign Affairs has some exceptional...more
That being said, Foreign Affairs has some exceptional...more
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Pulitzer 1985 - This is another 3 1/2 stars book - not a great novel but enjoyable and readable. The book is essentially two stories that are somewhat woven together. The first is that story of Virginia (Vinnie) Miner - a professor of Children's literature - in her mid-50s and on her way to London to do some research. The second is that of Fred Turner - Fred is a junior member of Vinnie's English Department - young (early 30s?), very good looking and recently separated from his wife - an outspok...more
It started slow and kind of grew on me as I read. The characters weren’t all that likable at first but I ended up really enjoying the relationship of Vinnie and Chuck (the Oklahoman). There could be a great discussion about the two of them. In fact, this book made me wish I belonged to a book club! There is a Q & A with the author as well as discussion questions at the end.
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Two tortured love stories set in London, told with dry humor. The main character is Virginia (Vinnie) Miner, an American "fifty-something unmarried tenured professor," who likes to think of herself as "essentially English," and also feels that her days of romance are over, but she somehow finds herself drawn to a recently unemployed sanitation engineer from Tulsa, OK, who is visiting London on a (gasp!) group package tour.
Then there's Fred Turner, her younger counterpart from the English Departm...more
Then there's Fred Turner, her younger counterpart from the English Departm...more
This 1985 Pulizer Prize winning novel tells the story of two American academics in London. Both are in England to work and both find themselves involved in romantic entanglements. Vinnie Miner, a lonely professor in her 50's who feels more at home in England than America, has an unlikely affair with a large, brash Oklahoman that dresses like a cowboy. She is embarrassed by him, yet falls in love despite herself. Fred Turner, whose marriage is on the rocks, falls for a British actress who is not...more
I loved this book!!!!! It was funny and insightful. I love books about academics behaving oddly, because they do it so naturally. It is set in London and it involves love adventures. Very very satisfying. You will laugh. This won the Pulitzer Prize for Alison Lurie several years back. Go find it. It is worth rediscovering.
Charming study of contrasting dichotomies, litered throughout the entire books.
I am glad that I found this book while I am struggling and exploring what it means to be an Asian writer for an English speaking readership. It was interesting to see a theme more typical of "racial minorities" being explored so flawlessly in "normal white literature," mainly contradiction in self identity versus how society views your identity, self consciousness, and understanding of romantic relationships. Perhaps...more
I am glad that I found this book while I am struggling and exploring what it means to be an Asian writer for an English speaking readership. It was interesting to see a theme more typical of "racial minorities" being explored so flawlessly in "normal white literature," mainly contradiction in self identity versus how society views your identity, self consciousness, and understanding of romantic relationships. Perhaps...more
I loved this book. I’m saying that off the bat, because this is not going to be a balanced review. At all. I am a twelve-year-old girl worshipping One Direction when it comes to this book. If asked about this book in person, I will likely giggle and squeal and say stuff that might be comprehensible in the loosest definition of comprehension, but that’s about it.
Now, unlike that tween, I do understand why someone might not like my new fascination and could even name some of the book’s faults (ass...more
Now, unlike that tween, I do understand why someone might not like my new fascination and could even name some of the book’s faults (ass...more
This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985. I've brought it home from the library before, never happening to read it. This time, I took the reviews seriously and went to work. It's not initially a page-turner.
The story and viewpoints of two, lonely, American academics independently doing research sabbaticals in London would conventionally end up with them together. This one is wonderfully more rich and complicated.
This book sneaks up on you, stepping off with the juxtaposition of the life experi...more
The story and viewpoints of two, lonely, American academics independently doing research sabbaticals in London would conventionally end up with them together. This one is wonderfully more rich and complicated.
This book sneaks up on you, stepping off with the juxtaposition of the life experi...more
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I had no idea what to expect from this, and I loved it from nearly the first page. It felt a bit like Mary Renault's The Friendly Young Ladies and a little like A.S. Byatt's Babel Tower, and Possession. Except it was its own. There were academics (Possession) and life in a changing, upheaving word (Babel Tower). And for the Mary Renault, I dunno. Maybe I'll remember.
It felt dated -- formal, anglophile, restrained -- but then spoke frankly about sex. But still dated: in 1984, was it still common...more
It felt dated -- formal, anglophile, restrained -- but then spoke frankly about sex. But still dated: in 1984, was it still common...more
I picked this one up because it happened to be sitting on my couch (my spouse had just read it). I'm not usually attracted to those literary books in which "not much happens" (plot summary: a lonely woman goes to England), but I was pleasantly surprised to be sucked into this one almost immediately. It's one of those books where the reader ends up knowing the characters better than the characters know themselves. The author is quite deft with showing character thoughts which don't quite match ch...more
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I particularly enjoyed this book. My edition has a forward by Lurie where she talks about the ways in which we change when we are on the fringes of a culture because we are tourists--we see more because all of our senses are heightened but we understand and have access to less.
Additionally, this book is about the roles we play, that we take on, in order to satisfy some notion that we have convinced ourselves is our true self--from actors to cowboys to academics, each of the four main characters...more
Additionally, this book is about the roles we play, that we take on, in order to satisfy some notion that we have convinced ourselves is our true self--from actors to cowboys to academics, each of the four main characters...more
Mar 19, 2007
Librarian
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A pulitzer prize winning book.....a cleverly told character study of 2 lonely people and the courage it takes them to open themselves up to love.
The story of two english professors from a large american university simultaneously on sabbatical in London. Fred Turner is a young handsome scholar of 18th century drama who left home with his marriage in tatters. He falls in love with a glamorous british TV star and they carry on a torrid love affair. Vinnie Miner is a 54 year old, single, plain-looking expert on children's literature and rhyme. She meets and falls in love with a sanitary engineer from Oklahoma in England escaping a dead marri...more
Understated and underrated -- even if it did with a Pulitzer -- a clever, unpretentious, eminently readable novel.
I'm glad I never tried to become an English professor.
Lurie is wonderful at deconstructing human relationships into their most basic motivations and fears. To this end, she maps out an interesting web of academics, socialites, and expats in (late 1970s?) London. I also really like how she steps back and considers how people are implicitly viewed in our society based on their age and gender. The drawback of all of this, I would say, is that our narrator spends paragraph after paragraph with a given character -- parsing out each thought process in th...more
The Love Affair is with Britain.
This is a gem of a novel and I praise the Pulitzer committee for choosing a book that is so witty and fun to read. While the story is about two different "odd couples," the real love affair is with Britain and all the possibilities it offers for the traveler. Vinnie is not your typical heroine--you may love or hate her, but she is real and I really cared about her journey. The novel is full of other quirky characters, too, that you will keep you amused throughout....more
This is a gem of a novel and I praise the Pulitzer committee for choosing a book that is so witty and fun to read. While the story is about two different "odd couples," the real love affair is with Britain and all the possibilities it offers for the traveler. Vinnie is not your typical heroine--you may love or hate her, but she is real and I really cared about her journey. The novel is full of other quirky characters, too, that you will keep you amused throughout....more
I'm discovering all sorts of writers I'd never otherwise discover by scouring the used bookstores in NYC, usually to so-so results. But Alison Lurie is a great find, a tremendously entertaining and captivating writer whose novel about two American academics in London had me in thrall all day today. Lurie won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for this book, with good reason, drawing comparisons to Henry James and Edith Wharton and Jane Austen - all very good company. I'm going trolling for more of her s...more
This book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1984. While there is nothing particularly profound about it, it is a very readable, well-paced addition to the 'academics abroad' genre. The story is reminiscent of David Lodge’s excellent “Changing Places”. However, where Lodge’s two academics are English and American transplants, respectively, Lurie follows the progress of two American academics, each on a 6-month leave in London.
One of the pleasures of this particular genre is the author’s free...more
One of the pleasures of this particular genre is the author’s free...more
I sort of enjoyed this book, but I have to say I find it rather fluffy, in the most literary way. It's charming and twee, filled with witty (if by now perhaps cliched) observations about academics (the people) as well as the-British-and-Americans-are-so-different. It's a nice book to pick up and put down, but I don't find it particularly challenging or deeply emotionally rewarding. The writing and characters and even plot are all fairly similar to Anne Tyler's work, so if you have enjoyed Tyler,...more
Vinnie Milner and Chuck Mumson - wonderful love story. Fred Turner and Rosemary Radley? Their plot line didn't do much for me, other than to further reflect how much I liked VM/CM. I did like the wonderfully astute observation that very attractive people simply can't accept, when denied something (love, good theater tickets, employment) it may be because people are simply not interested in them (but there has to be some OTHER reason! It can't possibly be something to do with me! So-and-so must b...more
This book has a wonderful set of characters and the author has cleverly created a story of life in London, based around two academics, Vinnie and Fred on academic leave from their American university. Vinnie in her fifties and Fred in his twenties have two completely different perspectives on life. Although Vinnie and Fred's lives intersect from time to time they develop interesting relationships with others and Alison Lurie, in my opinion, has written a superb novel.
Although this book was written in 1984 and a few oddities like typewriter appear in the story and traveling to Europe is not as easily as the story makes it seem, it is a wonderful book and well worth the read. The language, vocabulary and the layers of the characters relationships are just wonderful. I so enjoyed the characters and although not the most charming "character" and a bit of a pest; I became rather fond of Fido. It's a Pulitzer prize winner and you'll see why.
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Alison Lurie (b. 1926) is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author of fiction and nonfiction. Born in Chicago and raised in White Plains, New York, she joined the English department at Cornell University in 1970, where she taught courses on children’s literature, among others. Her first novel, Love and Friendship (1962), is a story of romance and deception among the faculty of a snowbound New England colle...more
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