The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel
by Alain de Botton (Goodreads author!)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 237)
Read in September, 2008
This book won't end.
Part self-help novel, part comedy, the author is insightful about love and the condition of loneliness. But the intelligence is a little too deliberate and showcase-y for my taste. De Botton weaves zillions of cultural, psychological, and philosophical references throughout the narrative. Which is nice because I won't read much of the primary stuff on my own. Ever, actually.
Sometimes I get tired of books like this, which tend to explain everything to a reader (stick-f...more
Part self-help novel, part comedy, the author is insightful about love and the condition of loneliness. But the intelligence is a little too deliberate and showcase-y for my taste. De Botton weaves zillions of cultural, psychological, and philosophical references throughout the narrative. Which is nice because I won't read much of the primary stuff on my own. Ever, actually.
Sometimes I get tired of books like this, which tend to explain everything to a reader (stick-f...more
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This writer is BRILLIANT!! So insightful, funny, erudite. He analyzes the complete cycle of a relationship from lust to bitter breakup. He is SO emphatically on the woman's side, which I liked ;) Oh, and he also uses diagrams and drawings to make his points - very original.
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Read in August, 2007
This was an utterly endearing little oddity of a book. The story of a relationship from the start to the finish, it's main purpose is to analyze every step of the relationship from various different philosophies, from psychiatric to literary. It's strangely charming, and completely enlightening, and fun. Also, much better than the subtitle, which I think may be a reference to something but frankly I'm not sure. I hope it is, because otherwise they made a fascinating book sound like terrible chic...more
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this is starting to annoy me... i usually really like parts of de botton and dont like others, but its hard for me to read this one. i think the stereotypes are a little much for me, even though that's probably intentional. From what I've read, I thought his other book in this vein, On Love, was more polished and enjoyable.
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recommends it for:
People who can still see the French in English translations
This is the best of the three de Botton books I've read. I think I finally got a bit creeped out when I saw that How Proust Can Change Your Life was also listed as "Self Help." And Kiss and Tell simply wasn't memorable. I think that my de Botton phase, like my Tom Robbins phase, has come to a definitive end.
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
Great book on the course of a relationship from beginning to end from the pont of view of the female character, Alice. In the same vain as On Love, this novel is full of diagrams, analsyses, and meanderings about our behavior in a relationship.
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recommends it for:
cynics
witty little book by an author who obviously thinks he is smarter than you. Characters aren't terribly likable, although who is when they are in love? Anyway, good little philosophical side-notes and observations about the nature of relationships.
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This is an old favorite... so I thought I'd recommend it to the goodreads crowd. As the subtitle suggests, 3 great pastimes. This is a fun, light little endeavor. Wait, I need a cigarette. Oh, wait again, I don't smoke...
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2008
Worth a read. Reminded me of how much harder it was to be a really young adult...the heartbreak, the insecurity, the constant guessing at what the other person is thinking... So much nicer to be older and not give a $%#$.
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Read in July, 2005
I bought my copy from a secondhand shop in London by chance. Not the best de Botton novel, but his witty interjections of literature, art, and philosophy between descriptions of life in London is always welcome. (de Botton)
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This book is not really about sex, shopping, or novels, but besides from an inappropriate subtitle, it is a great book. Allain de Botton does an amazing job of putting philosophy into everyday life.
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I really enjoyed Botton's On Love, and it sounds like he approaches this with the same quirky style, so when I saw it 1/2 price at the Strand I couldn't resist.
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A fun read, like all of de Botton's books. His thoughts on relationships are hilarious -- and reassure me that I'm not alone in my overanalytical and confused ways.
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