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The Good Mayor
In a busy little city in a forgotten corner of the Baltic, in an office on the square, the beloved mayor of Dot lies on his office floor, peering beneath his door. Tibo Krovic has come to work from his house down at the end of a blue-tiled path. He’s taken, as usual, the tram seven stops, and walked the final two. He’s stopped for strong Viennese coffee. And now Tibo Kro...more
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Published
(first published 2008)
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This book is so well written there's a danger of falling in love with the author. Particularly when he says things like "Naked and plump and luminously beautiful..."
um... where was I?
Oh. It's a love story. And more. You'll be asked to indulge in a bit of fantasy. You'll be asked to forgive and forget. You'll be glad you did. Fresh and witty, yet full of honest observations on human nature, The Good Mayor is a delight.
um... where was I?
Oh. It's a love story. And more. You'll be asked to indulge in a bit of fantasy. You'll be asked to forgive and forget. You'll be glad you did. Fresh and witty, yet full of honest observations on human nature, The Good Mayor is a delight.
Nov 03, 2008
Amanda
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Oh, I don't know... My mom might like it. And people who like love stories.
Recommended to Amanda by:
Stolen from J's shelves. She gave it a great review and 5 stars
Shelves:
recommended-by-others,
2008
The good guys win. Don't act surprised--it's billed as a love story after all.
At first, I loved this book because it was so lovely and loving and in love. It was almost silly-cute and completely unrealistic. Like some kind of literary ballet, complete with twinkling and tremulos. But I was only half-way through the book--hell, it couldn't have gone on like that forever! I KNEW something bad was bound to happen. And then it did. Something bad. Something really really bad. Something...REALISTIC!
W...more
At first, I loved this book because it was so lovely and loving and in love. It was almost silly-cute and completely unrealistic. Like some kind of literary ballet, complete with twinkling and tremulos. But I was only half-way through the book--hell, it couldn't have gone on like that forever! I KNEW something bad was bound to happen. And then it did. Something bad. Something really really bad. Something...REALISTIC!
W...more
5 likes · like · see review
This novel came out a year ago in the U.K., and will be out in the U.S. in September from Bantam. It's highly unusual in its structure and style, sort of like a magical realist novel set in the North. But that doesn't describe it well at all. It's quite delicious (if a bit slow-going at first)...the mayor of a town named Dot (Ampersand, Dash, etc. are other place names) is in love with his secretary, who is married...the novel explores unrequited love, romance, lust...and ends not quite happily...more
The Good Mayor was recommended by a friend who wasn't sure quite what to make of it, but was fairly sure she liked it, even maybe loved it. So I took it home and started to read and was about a quarter the way through when I realised that i was hooked, but on what? The story, the characters, the imaginative wordplay, the twist of fantasy with reality, magic with emotion, love with hate...
Half way through the book I wanted to make sweet love and eat a sumptious meal - not in any particular order,...more
Half way through the book I wanted to make sweet love and eat a sumptious meal - not in any particular order,...more
When I read the synopsis of this book I thought it sounded good. However when I read it the rhythm of the book was such that it seemed like there was 50's tv show music in the background making it hard for me to read and distracting me. I thought the characters were almost cartoonish and I couldn't connect to them. In the end the book just wasn't for me.
Tibo Krovic is the mayor of a small town called Dot, and has been for twenty years. Everyone likes Tibo, he always says and does the right thing. But Tibo has a secret that no one else knows. Every morning when he gets to work, he closes the door to his office, gets on his knees, and peeks under the door through the crack at her. He is hopelessly in love with her, but she doesn't have a clue.
Agathe Stopak is a married woman who works for Tibo. Her marriage is an unhappy one. One, he is a drunk...more
Agathe Stopak is a married woman who works for Tibo. Her marriage is an unhappy one. One, he is a drunk...more
I got to the last page of this many-paged novel - 465 pages - , closed the book, and said out loud, "Gorgeous, just gorgeous". What a lovely, wonderful, passionate, delicious love story this is. Not at all soppy or syrupy but oh so romantic, with rich, delightful writing and so full of hope!
Tibo Krovic is the mayor of the town of Dot, an average town in some far off corner of north-west Europe (I think). Dot has the river Ampersand running through it, and the neighbouring rival town is called D...more
Simplesmente genial é o que posso dizer de Amor, Ponto e Vírgula, um livro muito bem escrito e com uma história belíssima de amor entre Tito e Agathe.
Na pequena localidade de Ponto, vive um homem angustiado com um amor que julga impossível. O Presidente da Câmara, Tibo Krovic, morre de amores pela bela secretária Agathe Stopak, mas esta é casada, embora o seu casamento não esteja a passar por uma boa fase. Sem que ambos saibam, quando chegam às suas casas, os dois partilham de momentos a dois, p...more
Na pequena localidade de Ponto, vive um homem angustiado com um amor que julga impossível. O Presidente da Câmara, Tibo Krovic, morre de amores pela bela secretária Agathe Stopak, mas esta é casada, embora o seu casamento não esteja a passar por uma boa fase. Sem que ambos saibam, quando chegam às suas casas, os dois partilham de momentos a dois, p...more
Nov 18, 2010
Mrsgaskell
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
7-star,
bookcrossing
My first impression, as this book introduced the town of Dot on the river Ampersand, its patron saint, the bearded Walpurnia, its good mayor, Tibo Krovic, and his unhappily married and beautiful secretary, Agathe Stopac was “charming and delightful”. The mayor’s correspondence with Mayor Zapf of the rival town of Umlaut was quite amusing. But the story takes a darker and unexpected turn once the romance begins between Tibo and Agathe, when her husband’s cousin Hektor Stopak begins to play a more...more
I would like to give this book five stars some days and two stars other days... I settled on 3.5 stars. I was really back and forth on whether or not I like this book. Ultimately I decided that I do like it. If I give up my pre-concieved notions about how romances are supposed to play out, if I remember that the story is in the telling, and if I stop worrying about whether or not I agree with the character's choices and just sit back and enjoy the words then I actually liked it very much.
The fi...more
The fi...more
The Good Mayor is an escapist read set in the small European town of Dot across the Ampersand Sea from the town of Dash. A town where nothing is at it seems. Where folks go around like the mayor's sectretary Agathe Stopak and Tibo Krovic; "good mayor Tibo Krovic" doing what is just but not what is right and wasting their lives away. We have a strega nona "from a long line of stregas". A circus act that only few can see, an emotionally absent husband and other ner do wells. I loved the imaginativ...more
I loved this book. It was beautifully written and a delightful quirky love story.
Magic realism? Oh no, that's not me at all.... but I've just finished this book and it absolutely enthralled me. Good Mayor Tibo Krovic lives in the town of Dash (on the shores of the Ampersand, and in conflict with neighbouring Umlaut). Every morning he arrives early at work so he can lie on his office floor to see the naked toes of his secretary Agathe after she changes out of her wellies. A tale told by Walpurnia, the town's saint, who's covered in warts and has a luxuriant beard. Add in a ma...more
a wonderful love story and a great mix of romance and gentle humour.
the characters and their situation were so real and the magic that makes everything right filled my heart with longing
the characters and their situation were so real and the magic that makes everything right filled my heart with longing
Beautifully, poetically written, this novel is part love story, part fable, part fairy tale, part comedy, part tragedy. As the author himself says, "...this story is much more in the telling than the things that happen in it..." Prepare to fall in love with almost all the characters, from the Good Mayor to the comely Agathe, the sarcastic but tender hearted obese lawyer to the Italian coffee-making 'stregas', even with the villianous, ne'er-do-well Hektor who paints with an angelic gift and offe...more
Dec 21, 2009
Isabella.Chloe .S.
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone thats quirky
Recommended to Isabella.Chloe by:
i work in a book store so i recommended it to me :)
The Good Mayor. a very fun and slightly quirky book with turns that will leave you in tears and then turns that will have you jump from your seat with joy. From the point where you meet Tibo Krovic you know. you know he is a kind and loving man that would treat any woman right. When you meet Mrs Stopak you relies that neglect and loss can make a woman very helpless and at times a little crazy..... the characters that have been used in this book are at times very strange and quite different to ot...more
The story about the Mayor starts out so sweet in that the Mayor fancies his secretary Agathe, who is in a loveless marriage. You fall in love with the characters, especially the Mayor, and then the story... gets weird.
The whole time I was trying to look for symbolism in everything because it felt like there was a huge amount of symbolism, and I was frustrated that I couldn't quite figure it out.
Overall, a memorable story due to the turn it takes.
The whole time I was trying to look for symbolism in everything because it felt like there was a huge amount of symbolism, and I was frustrated that I couldn't quite figure it out.
Overall, a memorable story due to the turn it takes.
Great, great book. (Doesn't get five stars because there were a couple of odd hiccups.) But I loved it. Nicoll gets so many things right. Don't be fooled by the syrupy blurbs - this book has its dark side. Quirks and magical realism are sprinkled throughout, but fundamentally it's about passion, and the many ways we screw up our own lives.
And the writing is often breathtaking. It's lovely - lyrical - but it's also dead-on accurate.
And the writing is often breathtaking. It's lovely - lyrical - but it's also dead-on accurate.
There was something about this book that I really liked in spite of the fact that it's basically a romance (!). I enjoyed the author's really original descriptive style, although it all starts getting a bit weird towards the end. There's not much in the way of action, but (in my opinion) the quirky characters and hint of magic make up for this. This is Andrew Nicoll's first novel and I'll look out for more.
An…interesting book [as opposed to an ordinary book:]. I imagined that Andrew Nicoll used punctuation names as temporary placeholders – intending to loop back and replace them when his first draft was complete. Dot, Dash, Ampersand….nothing wrong with a few subtle lessons in the proper use of punctuation whilst reading a love story.
I loved this book. It was a mix of fable, love-story, and a touch mythic lore ... well, there was something magical in there that required a leap of faith. I dove into this book and enjoyed the very human characters. There were darker elements of the human character to extract a stronger feeling of the joy it also brought.
Thought the magical realism might have gone a little too far with the invisible circus and Agatha becoming a Dalmatian, but Nicoll ties it up in the denouement. Saint Walpurnia as the narrator is pretty satirical; can't decide if it is just funny or a little too biting toward a particular faith.
What a delightful book, so beautifully written with wonderful descriptions that have a sharpness and reality to them, while being very fanciful. The main characters Tibo and Agathe are so lovely and your heart aches for them when things start to go awry. I really wanted it to have a happy ending...
This was a quirky book, but once I become interested in the story, I did enjoy it. A man in love with his secretary. His fantasies, her marriage troubles, and a little bit of magic. Nicely written; it is a little escape from our present busy, busy lives.
This started off very promising, but collapsed into disturbing transformations into Dalmatians, indecisiveness about whether it was magic realism or just lyrical, and a bond between the two main characters that was described but not, in the end, felt.
This sweet, gentle love story filled with magic and humour follows the relationship between the Mayor of a small town called Dot.
This book was great up until the last 100 pages or so, then it became very strange, in an unnecessary way.
This book was great up until the last 100 pages or so, then it became very strange, in an unnecessary way.
Oct 14, 2010
Moira Webster-Larranaga
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-since-3-09
It was good with an interesting choice of narrator. But, it lost credibility with me when the main female character thought she turned into a dog. I mean, come on, really? That's how the author thinks a victim of domestic abuse would react?
What an adorable book. The writing was so lyrical. I just could not put this book down. The begining was just so charming, however the end was just a little bit un-normal but that is what made it such a great read.
There were only 9 reviews on good reads when i decided to read this book and they were all good. Therein lies my mistake - dont judge a book on a good reads rating. I struggled through the first chapter or so and then finally found the book readable but the ending was atrocious..............i wouldnt recommend it but give it 2 stars because at least i could finish it.
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| Libro interesante - Interesting book! | 1 | 2 | Apr 16, 2013 07:38am |
Born in Dundee, Andrew Nicoll has lived all his life within the same few streets by the sea. Once a forester, now a journalist, Nicoll has covered the Scottish Parliament for 'The Sun' for the past ten years. A poet and short story writer before he turned novelist, Nicoll has published numerous stories and poems over the years. His first novel, 'The Good Mayor,' was written during eighteen months...more
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Mar 03, 2009 05:14pm
Mar 03, 2009 05:17pm