The Man of My Dreams - Softcover

Sittenfeld, Curtis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812975391 ISBN 13: 9780812975390

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 2007

Synopsis

"Being raised in an unstable household makes you understand that the world doesn't exist to accommodate you, which, in Hannah's observation, is something a lot of people struggle to understand well into adulthood."-from The Man of My Dreams

In her acclaimed debut novel, Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld created a touchstone with her pitch-perfect portrayal of adolescence. Her prose is as intensely realistic and compelling as ever in The Man of My Dreams, a disarmingly candid and sympathetic novel about the collision of a young woman's fantasies of family and love with the challenges and realities of adult life.

Hannah Gavener is fourteen in the summer of 1991. In the magazines she reads, celebrities plan elaborate weddings; in Hannah's own life, her parents' marriage is crumbling. And somewhere in between these two extremes-just maybe-lie the answers to love's most bewildering questions. But over the next decade and a half, as she moves from Philadelphia to Boston to Albuquerque, Hannah finds that the questions become more rather than less complicated: At what point can you no longer blame your adult failures on your messed-up childhood? Is settling for someone who's not your soul mate an act of maturity or an admission of defeat? And if you move to another state for a guy who might not love you back, are you being plucky-or just pathetic?

None of the relationships in Hannah's life are without complications. There's her father, whose stubbornness Hannah realizes she's unfortunately inherited; her gorgeous cousin, Fig, whose misbehavior alternately intrigues and irritates Hannah; Henry, whom Hannah first falls for in college, while he's dating Fig; and the boyfriends who love her more or less than she deserves, who adore her or break her heart. By the time she's in her late twenties, Hannah has finally figured out what she wants most-but she doesn't yet know whether she'll find the courage to go after it.

Full of honesty and humor, The Man of My Dreams is an unnervingly insightful and beautifully written examination of the outside forces and personal choices that make us who we are.

About this title

Product Description:

Rare Book

Review:

"Entertaining and thought-provoking." -- Observer

'Hannah, the protagonist of Sittenfeld's new novel, is a kind of female Charlie Brown: shy, hapless and downtrodden' -- The New York Times

'Sittenfeld has an extraordinary gift for verisimilitude,
capturing gestures, speech and the flares of emotion that can determine a
relationship' -- Guardian

'Sittenfeld proves herself once again to be a rigorous and wily stylist.' -- The New York Times

'Sittenfeld unpicks people's motivations and hang-ups meticulously...witty and astute, excellent on the technicalities of sexual awakening' -- Sunday Times

'Sittenfeld's prose, which has that elusive ability to seduce
you...is a joy to read' -- Time Out Book of the Week *****

'another acutely observed coming-of-age tale, in which a young woman's fantasies about love collide sharply with the realities of life.’ -- Harpers Bazaar

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0812975391
• ISBN 13: 9780812975390
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304