robynryle's review against another edition
5.0
You know, there are so few books that are about real love, the "boring" kind of married love. The kind of love that instead of making you crazy keeps you sane. This is a book about that kind of love and how hard sometimes it is to really embrace it.
debi_g's review against another edition
3.0
"What she hadn't realized was that once you got through high school, nobody but you gave a damn--or even remembered--what happened to you there" (77).
3.5
3.5
mhoffrob's review against another edition
4.0
Delightful read about love, family, and happiness - and football, sort of. I was wholy invested in the well developed characters and relationships. Truly enjoyable!
iamliterate's review against another edition
4.0
Starred Review: 4/5 stars
Lizzie Bultmann, an often-unlikable poetry lover and the daughter of two unloving psychology faculty, finishes her senior year with a bang when she decides to sleep with the entire starting line of her high school football team – a challenge she dubbed the “Great Game”. A couple years later Lizzie is sitting stoned on the floor of a bowling alley in Ann Arbor, Michigan when she meets her future husband George Goldrosen. George, a dental student from a loving home in Tulsa, is set on a path to become a well-loved dentist and family man. As we follow this non-linear account of Lizzie’s sexual and romantic relationships, we get to enjoy meeting a whole cast of complicated characters that are formative for our protagonist.
This slice of (a crazy) life drama by Nancy Pearl explores family, empathy, friendship, coming of age, and overcoming the past. George & Lizzie is a slow-paced novel that focuses on rich detail setting and complicated characters. Fans of domestic fiction will enjoy this messy, charming, and edgy story of a woman coming to terms with her life choices.
Lizzie Bultmann, an often-unlikable poetry lover and the daughter of two unloving psychology faculty, finishes her senior year with a bang when she decides to sleep with the entire starting line of her high school football team – a challenge she dubbed the “Great Game”. A couple years later Lizzie is sitting stoned on the floor of a bowling alley in Ann Arbor, Michigan when she meets her future husband George Goldrosen. George, a dental student from a loving home in Tulsa, is set on a path to become a well-loved dentist and family man. As we follow this non-linear account of Lizzie’s sexual and romantic relationships, we get to enjoy meeting a whole cast of complicated characters that are formative for our protagonist.
This slice of (a crazy) life drama by Nancy Pearl explores family, empathy, friendship, coming of age, and overcoming the past. George & Lizzie is a slow-paced novel that focuses on rich detail setting and complicated characters. Fans of domestic fiction will enjoy this messy, charming, and edgy story of a woman coming to terms with her life choices.
kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I'm sorry to say I thought the first few pages of this book were pretty awful. But I'm a librarian and I was going to hear Nancy Pearl speak, so I wanted to know something about her book beforehand and I am really glad I kept going. This is a totally insane book and I really ended up liking it a lot. Lizzie is crazy in kind of a bad way, but I still liked her; and George is crazy in an insanely wholesome way, and you can't help but like him too. Neither of them sees reality because their views are so obscured by what's going on in their brains and that's pretty realistic. This is very character-driven. It kind of bothered me that Lizzie was SO haunted by a dumb thing she did in high school. But it was a fascinating book that I couldn't put down because I wanted to see what crazy thing the characters did next.
ariennelazuardi's review against another edition
2.0
The plot holds so much promises and really intrigued me but i feel like the author failed to execute the depth of the character . I’m not a fan of the writing style because it feels like a never-ending orientation therefore i find it a little bit boring.
amanda83's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
madisonbeggan's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
sonia_reppe's review against another edition
3.0
Broadly, it's a love/relationship story. At the core of the story is Lizzie's unhappiness, which stems from being the only child of aloof, closed-off parents-- both psychologists who only saw her objectively as a case study. She feels unloved. Maybe she's pretty messed up? This could explain why, as a senior in high school, Lizzie decides that her goal will be ; which creates problems for her, naturally.
I thought Lizzie was interesting, and almost wished the story would revolve around "The Great Game," (see spoiler), because c'mon, that is a story in itself. But there was actually very little about that.
This could have been an entirely different book--a brooding one that explores the damage of being a child of indifferent parents; but although Lizzie is unhappy most of the time, the overall tone is peppy. She gets her heart broken, but the tone doesn't get emotional or bittersweet, the only time I felt her sadness was she writes out her feelings in a fake letter to the guy she loves.
The timeline skips all around, back and forth, and the focus bounces from character to character, with little tid-bits of their back stories.
The beginning was very busy, a bunch of characters were presented without introduction, and it seemed to belong further back, in the middle first half of the book. It jumped right into Lizzie's depression over the breakup, but it was a weird place to start and then back track from there.
Overall, I enjoyed.
Spoiler
to sleep with the entire football teamI thought Lizzie was interesting, and almost wished the story would revolve around "The Great Game," (see spoiler), because c'mon, that is a story in itself. But there was actually very little about that.
This could have been an entirely different book--a brooding one that explores the damage of being a child of indifferent parents; but although Lizzie is unhappy most of the time, the overall tone is peppy. She gets her heart broken, but the tone doesn't get emotional or bittersweet, the only time I felt her sadness was she writes out her feelings in a fake letter to the guy she loves.
The timeline skips all around, back and forth, and the focus bounces from character to character, with little tid-bits of their back stories.
The beginning was very busy, a bunch of characters were presented without introduction, and it seemed to belong further back, in the middle first half of the book. It jumped right into Lizzie's depression over the breakup, but it was a weird place to start and then back track from there.
Overall, I enjoyed.
kbratten's review against another edition
4.0
This story is not for everyone, but I loved it. Lizzie is barely likeable and George is hardly realistic, but somehow their story is realistic. The audiobook was excellent and did well for the voice of Lizzie.