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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Beginner's Greek by James Collins is a great book about the hardships of love. Peter Russell is sitting on a plane with his ideal woman next to him. Her name is Holly Edwards. The trip from New York to California lets them tell their life stories. As the plane approaches California, Holly decides...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Did not like it at all. The actual story was ok... just too many extra- unneeded details about minor characters.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“I enjoyed the beginning, but it got tedious and predictable.”
Nancy A wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 65535 members found this review helpful“I skimmed through a lot of this book, but the parts I read were really good. Too descriptive at times and a little over dramatic, but I nearly cried at the end. So all in all, it was a good read. If you can imagine a book where everything is over the top exaggerated, this would be it. The villains were super villains. Bad luck was that freak accident one in a billion bad luck that happened more often than not. The drama was even more over the top than a soap opera. And the love was that all time powerful once in a life time true love that no one ever achieves. But I still liked it anyway lol.”
~Tiff~ wrote this review Sunday, October 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Beginner's Greek by James Collins is a great book about the hardships of love. Peter Russell is sitting on a plane with his ideal woman next to him. Her name is Holly Edwards. The trip from New York to California lets them tell their life stories. As the plane approaches California, Holly decides to give Peter her number, and he is ecstatic. He knows that things like this don't happen, and he can't wait to talk to her again. As he gets in a cab, already saying by to Holly, he checks his pocket, and he can't find the paper with her number on it. This was his tragic downfall. Four years later her finds Holly married to his best friend from college, and he engaged to another girl. But, he never forgot about Holly, whom he fell in love with at first sight.
Giselle Sanchez wrote this review Sunday, October 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I liked this book a lot because it was witty. It had immense detail, and it showed how hard love can be. It is one of those "chick-flick" types of books, but with the literary elements of a novel trying to compare itself to other great authors. I liked how the author was witty in his writing. He conveyed emotion very well, and it formed a movie in my head. Over all, this is a good book, its long, but very good.”
“I couldn't get past the prologue. I love a decent rom-com movie but on paper the wooden dialog and stilted situations just don't flow. This is really a personal preference issue and not a general critique of the book.”
Gregg Nicklaus wrote this review Thursday, October 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“HATED IT Read the first 130 pages and last 50 for book club or would have stopped by page 50. Can I give this a negative number?”
mitzi b wrote this review Thursday, August 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“this book was so stupid and unrealistic....about as good and predictable as that john cusack movie, serendipity. I am prob biased because I am not really a fan of romance novels and any author who uses the phrase "make love" loses all credibility with me. However it did get great reviews so somebody likes it.”
Stacey B wrote this review Sunday, August 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“USA Today called Beginner’s Greek “a literary love story for grown-ups,” and Library Journal compares James Collins to Jane Austen. With a write-up like that, I wasn’t at all sure what to expect. I have a bad reaction to hyperbole, so I probably wouldn’t even have started to read the book in a bookstore. But Hachette Book Group had included it in a gift parcel that I won from Nights and Weekends, and I’m so glad, or I’d have missed a rare treat.
Sheila Deeth wrote this review Thursday, July 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
James Collins writes with the same detachment and attention to detail as Jane Austen, but his characters, relationships and predicaments are thoroughly up to date. From promiscuity to trophy wife to lifelong love and devotion, every shape and form of marriage is represented. And the path of true love is ever tortuous, running through coincidence, calamity, and the capriciousness of fate. Near the end of the book, with too many pages to go, I thought all was about to be revealed between the two love-birds, but a final twist threatened to unravel everything. I found myself wondering how the author would bring it all together, but I knew for sure he would. And of course, he did.
This book is truly a comedy of errors, Shakespearean in its scope, Austenian in its charm, and thoroughly modern in its characters and its world. A fine fun read, and it’ll surely make a fine fun movie one day.
”
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“Nah.”
glenz wrote this review Tuesday, June 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
