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Loading... Liaisons étrangères (original 1984; edition 1997)by Alison Lurie
Work InformationForeign Affairs by Alison Lurie (1984)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Enjoyed this tremendously but perhaps it is because I could so identify with Vinnie and her depressive imaginary dog who slopes around whenever she’s feeling blue. Poor Vinnie finds happiness but doesn’t appreciate it, and her fellow academic falls terribly in love with an inappropriate target and both of them are so wonderfully good at procrastination very little work gets done at all. Lovely, well-rounded characters with serious issues but who feel so very familiar I wanted to sit down with them for a brew. Well, Vinnie anyway. An excellent read for fans of Britain, academe, and the minute but persistent snobberies we all carry about for no known reason. This book has been in my home library for at least 15 years and when preparing for a recent trip, it seemed to jump out at me - I had to take it with me. What a wonderful read it has been. Two visiting literature professors from the same university are on research grants in London. At first, that seems to be the connection - that, and their extremes of physical attractiveness/unattractiveness. These professors have "affairs" with people who are not typical Londoners and these affairs are disparate in all aspects: one affair is not as it seems, while the other is almost painfully genuine; one is based on false impressions, while the other is authentic and honest; the represented classes are different; and one is based on feelings of entitlement and manipulation, whereas the other is candid and truthful. The writing and the stories are beautifully done and accurately depict areas well-known to the author: London and academia. The prose is perfectly executed and the dialogue is very well paced. I wish I had not left it on my bookshelf for so long. no reviews | add a review
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HTML:This Pulitzer Prizeâ??winning novel follows two American academics in Londonâ??a young man and a middle-aged womanâ??as they each fall into unexpected romances. In her early fifties, Vinnie Miner is the sort of woman no one ever notices, despite her career as an Ivy League professor. She doubts she could get a man's attention if she waved a brightly colored object in front of him. And though she loves her work, her specialtyâ??children's folk rhymesâ??earns little respect from her fellow scholars. Then, alone on a flight to London for a research trip, she sits next to a man she would never have viewed as a potential romantic partner. In a Western-cut suit and a rawhide tie, he is a sanitary engineer from Tulsa, Oklahoma, on a group tour. He's the very opposite of her type, but before Vinnie knows it, she's spending more and more time with him. Also in London is Vinnie's colleague, a young, handsome English professor whose marriage and self-esteem are both on the rocks. But Fred Turner is also about to find consolationâ??in the arms of the most beautiful actress in England. Stylish and highborn, she introduces Fred to a glamorous, yet eccentric, London scene that he never expected to encounter. The course of these two relationships makes up the story of Foreign Affairsâ??a finalist for the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award as well as a Pulitzer Prize winner, and an entertaining, poignant tale from the author of The War Between the Tates and The Last Resort, "one of this country's most able and witty novelists" (The New York Times). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author's personal No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I'm reading Lorrie Moore's [b:Birds of America|19631|Birds of America Stories|Lorrie Moore|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223320940s/19631.jpg|1769] right now and so I decided to look up her bio and found out she was taught by Alison Lurie at Cornell. I was like, Where do I know that name? And then I remembered that I read this back when I had this crazy idea that I would read every Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. ( )