A master chronicler of our life and times." —Newsday
"A very funny book. . . . If Jane Austen had been crossed with Oscar Wilde... read full description
"A very funny book. . . . If Jane Austen had been crossed with Oscar Wilde... read full description
reviews
Dec 19, 2007
Monica
rated it: 
I would like to be more driven to read fiction, I sure collect enough of it.
I'm not exactly bowled over by the first tweny pages, it seems kind of vacuous, but I'll keep with it.
I've finished and I still say reading this book was almost torture for me. Supposedly it was meant to be this way -full of vacuous charachters: a closeted bisexual wife abandoning magazine publisher, the abandoned wife advice columnist, her sister, her mother and assorted aquaintences I didn't car More...
I'm not exactly bowled over by the first tweny pages, it seems kind of vacuous, but I'll keep with it.
I've finished and I still say reading this book was almost torture for me. Supposedly it was meant to be this way -full of vacuous charachters: a closeted bisexual wife abandoning magazine publisher, the abandoned wife advice columnist, her sister, her mother and assorted aquaintences I didn't car More...
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Nov 23, 2011
Lily
rated it:
Lucy the heroine is supposed to "shimmer" but she comes across as cold and basically lifeless. Her inability to love is never really explained, but we're meant to understand it's not her fault because . . . well just because. On the other hand, boyfriend Hildon is ultimately dismissed as a "cad" but Beattie never really gives him a chance, or explains why the stunning Lucy can't do any better. People who are meant to be tragic come across as grotesque, and people meant to be
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Dec 04, 2011
James
rated it: 
The more Ann Beattie I read the more I am intrigued by her writing style. This is much more satiric than the last two I read and I found a lot of it to be milk-through-the-nose funny (the submarine cake scene was one of the funniest things I've ever read). It reminded me quite a bit of Oscar Wilde and Evelyn Waugh in that the humor only accentuates the shallowness of the characters. Many people have complained that this book seems dated - but I don't mind that so much. Satire is written for a pa
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 09, 2012
Perry
rated it: 
Love Always is about this woman Lucy and what happens to her and the other people in her life when her sister's soap star daughter comes to visit.
The thing I like about Love Always is the thing I like about all Anne Beattie's books in that I like how her characters think about the other characters. They'll have these like really judgemental thoughts about each other and, as a reader, it really kind of shakes you up and influences your opinion, when you hear another opinion about a char More...
The thing I like about Love Always is the thing I like about all Anne Beattie's books in that I like how her characters think about the other characters. They'll have these like really judgemental thoughts about each other and, as a reader, it really kind of shakes you up and influences your opinion, when you hear another opinion about a char More...
May 13, 2008
Unbridled
rated it:
First Beattie. Found her prose capable but less than stimulating and found many of her metaphoric efforts to be clumsy. She does have a storytelling talent. Her main characters are developed with skill and the story moves along at an easy clip. The book works when it combs through the textures of its main characters, but it also seems to throw away its gains for a compromised net effect. The humor was mild and tepid, consistently at play, and nothing to shake you out of the narrative. Overall I
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Jul 31, 2011
Spike
rated it: 
Silly. Trite. 80's references drove me crazy. Annoyingly clever, but then 2/3 of the way goes off course into a serious story. Too many problems to expound on here. Don't waste your time reading this one.
Jan 06, 2009
Brendan
rated it:
I picked it up at the junk shop for a nickel, and I thought it was great. I think about it poignantly, as if I used to be its boyfriend.
Aug 16, 2009
Judith
rated it:
Love Always by Ann Beattie is a very 1980's comic novel about lifestyles of the glitterati. New Yorkers seek peace and beauty in Vermont, and they do find the beauty, but growing up is not for everyone.
Aug 10, 2009
Scott
rated it: 
Generally enjoy this kind of story, multiple interrelated characters with no real protagonist and many story lines. This is the first of Beattie's novels that I've read. I'm a big fan of her short stories, of which she is a master. Unfortunately, Love Always didn't last for me throughout. May give it another shot down the road. Rating: 3.4
May 29, 2008
Sarah
rated it:
Read this book and enjoyed it, though it was pretty melancholy. On the strength of this short little book, I picked up "My Life, Starring Dara Falcon." Be ye not so stupid. It was terrible.
Feb 09, 2012
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