Love and Other Impossible Pursuits

by Ayelet Waldman | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0385608810 Global Overview for this book
Registered by pinkozcat of Claremont, Western Australia Australia on 8/20/2006
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This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by pinkozcat from Claremont, Western Australia Australia on Sunday, August 20, 2006
This is a replacement copy to keep the bookring going.

The back cover blurb:

>>>Passionately in love with her husband, Emilia has a secret, guilty loathing for her precocious little stepson, William - a forty-year-old in a five-year-old's body, whom she picks up from nursery every Wednesday afternoon. He is lactose intolerant, she feeds him dairy products; he mustn't get cold, she pushes him - accidentally - into a pond in Central Park. How can she forgive William for living, when her own cherished child has gone.

Love and other Impossible Pursuits is funny, candid and raw, a humerous and emotional novel about family in today's fractured society.<<<

Journal Entry 2 by pinkozcat from Claremont, Western Australia Australia on Sunday, August 20, 2006
This replacement book is to keep the ring going.
To see entries for Copy No.1 please click here



Participants
Viola7 -
michyj - received 12-9-06
astro2480 - received 26-9-06
Saki - received 12-10-06
Back to pinkozcat





Journal Entry 3 by pinkozcat from Claremont, Western Australia Australia on Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Wrapped and ready to post to Viola7 tomorrow. Enjoy ...

Journal Entry 4 by Viola7 from Brisbane, Queensland Australia on Sunday, September 10, 2006
This was a replacement copy and I've written the journal entry under the other one's number!

Journal Entry 5 by Viola7 from Brisbane, Queensland Australia on Sunday, September 10, 2006
received two of these a while ago, but I have had a lot of trouble lately so I couldn't keep up with my bookcrossing rings, etc. I am really sorry and I'm going to send them both on this week.

I did read this - I stayed at Mum's place for a while. There's no computer there and mine had to be fixed up.

Anyway it was an interesting study of love and betrayal, but the style was rather 'in your face' for me. Emilia, a young lawyer, falls in love with her married boss. His wife isn't very nice to him so it's understandable that he leaves her for Emilia. The problem is her rather obnoxious step-son, William. This is not helped by the fact that the former wife dotes on William and poor Emilia can't do anything right where he is concerned.

Emilia has to try and overcome this, her guilt about the break-up of the marriage, and her ambivalent feelings about her father who betrayed her mother. She has a lot to contend with!

I liked the book but I found the style and the characters a bit hard to warm to. Emilia was easy to identify with, but a bit 'loud', I felt. It's a very well-written, modern book and the account of life in New York was also very interesting.

Journal Entry 6 by michyj from Albert Park, Victoria Australia on Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Just received this in the mail. I am half way through a book, so will start this one next.

Journal Entry 7 by michyj from Albert Park, Victoria Australia on Sunday, September 24, 2006
At first I didn't care for Emilia too much, I got sick of her 'poor me' attitude. The more I got in to the book, the more I loved to read about the relationship between Emilia and William. Thanks for sharing this book pinkozcat. I'll post when I get astro2480 address.

Journal Entry 8 by astro2480 from Lismore, New South Wales Australia on Monday, September 25, 2006
Arrived today ... a couple more before it, but won't be too long before I get to it.

Journal Entry 9 by astro2480 from Lismore, New South Wales Australia on Friday, October 6, 2006
When I started this I wasn't sure if I'd be finishing it. But I did - I had to see what happened!

I didn't like the women in this, or the husband much!! I ended up feeling sorry for William. What hope did he have with the adults he was surrounded with. I think he liked Emelia from the start, when he let his guard down they had a great time, but struggled with the whole loyalty to mum thing and that he wanted his parents back together. Of course Emelia's attitude didn't help him.

Off to Saki on Monday ... thanks pinkozcat.

Journal Entry 10 by Saki from Melbourne CBD, Victoria Australia on Thursday, October 12, 2006
Received in the mail yesterday. Thanks, astro2480.

Journal Entry 11 by Saki from Melbourne CBD, Victoria Australia on Monday, January 1, 2007
This book was more 'chick lit-ish' than I expected, but I enjoyed it all the same. I didn't think Emilia was so bad (although she was pretty awful to her own mother while complaining so much about her step sisters' behaviour). I was actually quite touched by the way she grew to respect William as an individual, not simply to love him as an extension of Jack. And she certainly cast a brutally honest eye over the way her 'great love' for Jack had destroyed William's family life. Like Viola7, I also enjoyed the book as a portrait of New York life, and I particularly liked the way Ayelet Waldman wove her own love of Central Park into the narrative.

Thanks for the opportunity to read the book, Pinkozcat, and apologies for the delay in returning it. I have put it in the mail this afternoon.


Journal Entry 12 by pinkozcat from Claremont, Western Australia Australia on Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Arrived home today. Thanks to all who participated in the bookring.

Journal Entry 13 by pinkozcat at Napoleon Street in Cottesloe, Western Australia Australia on Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Released 17 yrs ago (1/18/2007 UTC) at Napoleon Street in Cottesloe, Western Australia Australia

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Journal Entry 14 by pinkozcat at Napoleon Street in Cottesloe, Western Australia Australia on Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Released 17 yrs ago (1/18/2007 UTC) at Napoleon Street in Cottesloe, Western Australia Australia

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