ichirofakename's review
3.0
I picked this up because I so loved her most recent novel, Ducks, Newburyport. This is nothing like it, except for one 3-page sentence near the middle. Fascinating and well-drawn characters, ongoing light cleverness. Feminism and art laden. But I found the ending quite off-putting.
SPOILERS:
Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy's sister dies, boy gives an insane speech, boy gets girl back. Excellent until the speech, which jumps the shark, a rabid feminist manifesto, inadequately set up, and a jolting change in tone. I actually skipped over it. Followed only by a saccharine sweet coda-like happy resolution, the end. Oh yeah, I also didn't read the several self-indulgent appendices which pad out the volume.
SPOILERS:
Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy's sister dies, boy gives an insane speech, boy gets girl back. Excellent until the speech, which jumps the shark, a rabid feminist manifesto, inadequately set up, and a jolting change in tone. I actually skipped over it. Followed only by a saccharine sweet coda-like happy resolution, the end. Oh yeah, I also didn't read the several self-indulgent appendices which pad out the volume.
lola425's review
3.0
A good, but flawed book. I admit I often found myself laughing out loud. Harrison's relationships with the women in his life--with Bee, with Mimi, even with Gertrude--were the strongest part of the book. Harrison's conversion to a radical sort of feminism, as embodied by his manifesto, was distracting, almost beside the point, which is where the "flawed' part comes in, since the development of the manifesto is the skeleton upon which the rest of the book hangs. Which is not to say that the manifesto makes the whole book ridiculous, it doesn't. Like all modern day manifestos parts of it make total sense and other parts are just this side of cray-cray. The book is worth reading and not the mess that Christopher Buckley's review claims it is in the NYT Book Review. Buckley's review, in fact, probably supports the need for the existence of such a manifesto. Buckley seems to take major offense to Ellmann's appendix and the use of italics (wha?) which if such techniques were employed by the likes of, say, David Foster Wallace, might be lauded as post-nodernly genius-like. I am not saying that this book was a work of genius, but I won't dismiss it because Ellmann reach might have exceeded her grasp.
momey's review
4.0
this is a really enjoyable read especially the second half. at first though i felt i was reading an extended stand-up sketch. thats a problem with first person narratives--they can easily become that sort of thing. anyway feel a little bad giving this 4 stars because by the end (of course) I *was* cheering.
final verdict--a good read and I really do wish men talked like this!
final verdict--a good read and I really do wish men talked like this!
jenloukay's review
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
msginam's review
1.0
I feel bad leaving a 1 star but that was so disappointing. The last 50 pages was just predictable and lame. It’s not often I read something and when I finish wish I had that time back but that’s how I feel
snhawkins's review
1.0
This book was horrible. The character was a douche. There were WAY to many list and it was going nowhere. I gave it 134 pages before I finally decided not to waste another minute of my life reading a horrible book. Apparently it is suppose to be funny???
samstillreading's review
4.0
I’ve never read a book by Lucy Ellmann prior to Mimi, and man, do I feel bad about it! If Mimi is anything to go by, Ellmann writes with so much emotion that I’m sure copies dance around the shelves on their own! This book is chock-a-block bursting with feelings – all feelings ranging from ecstatically, insanely happy to the shattered emptiness of loss. Mimi moved me to the point where I was starting to reflect the protagonist (Harrison Hanafan) in his feelings.
Harrison is a plastic surgeon, but different to any of the stereotypes you may link with his profession. He’s the type of man who feels everything that’s going on – a sensitive soul. He doesn’t particularly like the shallow nature of his job, but he’s the type of person to rescue a stray cat on a snowy street and take it home. He loves cartoons, music and has a Melancholy List of things that make him feel that way. Perhaps a little eccentric, but truly a nice guy.
On Christmas Eve, Harrison trips and starts sliding down the icy street. His fall is broken by a woman who picks him up and puts him in a taxi. That woman is Mimi and over the year that follows, they will meet again as life takes them on impossible journeys from love to loss and passion.
Passion is a good word to describe Mimi. Ellmann writes wholeheartedly and it’s also clear that she has done a lot of research. There must have also been a lot of planning involved in taking Harrison to the extreme emotions and situations. I certainly didn’t foresee the contents of the speech he makes to his former high school! I liked the way that Harrison was a whole person, not just his job – his love of music, fear of public speaking and completely susceptible to falling in love.
The book also covers some serious topics – incest, murder and feminism. Feminism tends to creep up and then take over the last part of the book. There’s a whole section in the appendix (how cool that a fiction book has an appendix!) covering Harrison’s thoughts on this matter. His ideas were a little too out there for me in places, but I enjoyed his passion for the subject.
Overall, I adored the way this book took me on a ride of feelings as crazy as any roller coaster. I’d definitely read more from Lucy Ellmann!
Thank you to Bloomsbury Sydney for the review copy.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
Harrison is a plastic surgeon, but different to any of the stereotypes you may link with his profession. He’s the type of man who feels everything that’s going on – a sensitive soul. He doesn’t particularly like the shallow nature of his job, but he’s the type of person to rescue a stray cat on a snowy street and take it home. He loves cartoons, music and has a Melancholy List of things that make him feel that way. Perhaps a little eccentric, but truly a nice guy.
On Christmas Eve, Harrison trips and starts sliding down the icy street. His fall is broken by a woman who picks him up and puts him in a taxi. That woman is Mimi and over the year that follows, they will meet again as life takes them on impossible journeys from love to loss and passion.
Passion is a good word to describe Mimi. Ellmann writes wholeheartedly and it’s also clear that she has done a lot of research. There must have also been a lot of planning involved in taking Harrison to the extreme emotions and situations. I certainly didn’t foresee the contents of the speech he makes to his former high school! I liked the way that Harrison was a whole person, not just his job – his love of music, fear of public speaking and completely susceptible to falling in love.
The book also covers some serious topics – incest, murder and feminism. Feminism tends to creep up and then take over the last part of the book. There’s a whole section in the appendix (how cool that a fiction book has an appendix!) covering Harrison’s thoughts on this matter. His ideas were a little too out there for me in places, but I enjoyed his passion for the subject.
Overall, I adored the way this book took me on a ride of feelings as crazy as any roller coaster. I’d definitely read more from Lucy Ellmann!
Thank you to Bloomsbury Sydney for the review copy.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
louisefbooks96's review
5.0
This book was a pro woman feminism book which I fell in love with and also a beautiful love story as well which made the story even more appealing to read ! Book was amazing and you could easily read it a couple of times without getting bored ! Enjoy the book people you'll never get bored of it
jillysnz's review
3.0
The book itself is quite fluffy and fun when compared to the end notes. It has a lot to say about family and art and the world being ravaged by men. I like her writing and will look out for more of her books.
bianca89279's review
5.0
Praised be the goddess of reading and writing for bringing this book to my attention. It's "only" taken half a year for me to get that special kind of giddiness that comes along when I read something that enchants me, surprises and/or delights me. Lucy Ellmann's Mimi is that kind of book. Had I not read and loved Ellmann's epic Ducks, Newsburyport, I probably wouldn't have considered this book. After all, it's not very popular or highly rated. Such a shame because it's on another level. Plot-wise, this is relatively simple. But it's the writing, the tone, the strong female characters that just make this novel a stand-out.
Harrison Hanafan is the narrator of this novel. He's a fifty-year-old, affluent, plastic surgeon. He's a bachelor, who lives in a very nice apartment in the Garment District, New York. He's just gotten out of a five-year relationship with a pretentious, preposterous New York socialite. It's New Year's Eve, he is home alone with a sprained ankle and feels terribly lonely. He's got too much time on his hands, too much thinking going on. His only living relative, his sculptress sister, Bee, lives in England. Their relationship is very warm and loving, although they're very different people.
Unexpectedly, Harrison falls in love with a woman who's not his type. She's a formidable woman, quite the feminist. She's far from perfect physically speaking. She's close to his age, again, not really his type. I was bemused and perplexed by their relationship, if I'm being honest, I thought it was wishful thinking on Ellmann's part, but it's fiction, one can dream, right?
A few lists, music scores, letters, manifestos and other interesting tidbits appear in this novel, especially in the Appendix. Lots of little things and details delighted me. The language is playful and extremely clever. Also, this is an unapologetically feminist novel. In this case, it didn't bother me in the least that it was so obvious and it preached to my convictions, things that bugged me in other novels. I guess the devil is in the detail.
I'm not doing this novel justice with my quickly penned review. I just wanted to proclaim that I loved this novel.
Hats off to Lucy Ellmann.
Harrison Hanafan is the narrator of this novel. He's a fifty-year-old, affluent, plastic surgeon. He's a bachelor, who lives in a very nice apartment in the Garment District, New York. He's just gotten out of a five-year relationship with a pretentious, preposterous New York socialite. It's New Year's Eve, he is home alone with a sprained ankle and feels terribly lonely. He's got too much time on his hands, too much thinking going on. His only living relative, his sculptress sister, Bee, lives in England. Their relationship is very warm and loving, although they're very different people.
Unexpectedly, Harrison falls in love with a woman who's not his type. She's a formidable woman, quite the feminist. She's far from perfect physically speaking. She's close to his age, again, not really his type. I was bemused and perplexed by their relationship, if I'm being honest, I thought it was wishful thinking on Ellmann's part, but it's fiction, one can dream, right?
A few lists, music scores, letters, manifestos and other interesting tidbits appear in this novel, especially in the Appendix. Lots of little things and details delighted me. The language is playful and extremely clever. Also, this is an unapologetically feminist novel. In this case, it didn't bother me in the least that it was so obvious and it preached to my convictions, things that bugged me in other novels. I guess the devil is in the detail.
I'm not doing this novel justice with my quickly penned review. I just wanted to proclaim that I loved this novel.
Hats off to Lucy Ellmann.