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Hello. I am Daniel Handler, the author of this book. Did you know that authors often write the summaries that appear on their book's dust jacket? You might want to think about that the next time you read something like, "A dazzling page-turner, this novel shows an internationally acclaimed storyteller at the height of his astonishing powers." Adverbs is a novel about love -- a bunch of different people, in and out of different kinds of love. At the start of the novel, Andrea is in love with David -- or maybe it's Joe -- who instead falls in love with Peter in a taxi. At the end of the novel, it's Joe who's in the taxi, falling in love with Andrea, although it might not be Andrea, or in any case it might not be the same Andrea, as Andrea is a very common name. So is Allison, who is married to Adrian in the middle of the novel, although in the middle of the ocean she considers a fling with Keith and also with Steve, whom she meets in an automobile, unless it's not the same Allison who meets the Snow Queen in a casino, or the same Steve who meets Eddie in the middle of the forest. . . . It might sound confusing, but that's love, and as the author -- me -- says, "It is not the nouns. The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done." This novel is about people trying to find love in the ways it is done before the volcano erupts and the miracle ends. Yes, there's a volcano in the novel. In my opinion a volcano automatically makes a story more interesting.… (more)
Life is not a progression from the beginning of a story to the end, it's a mess of contradictory ideas and occurences. This book reflects that fact with wit and a brilliantly, honestly chaotic style. ( )
I think this book was intended to be quirky and/or ironic, but instead it is just excruciating. And what was the point of the numerous homophobic slurs, anti Semitic comments, and casual references to "fat" as a pejorative? Not recommended. ( )
Various loosely interconnected stories about love and sex and relationships. I didn’t much enjoy it, although there were some good quotes. The fractured narrative, the lack of closure, the way you could never be sure if a character was someone you’d met in a previous chapter or just happened to have the same name … I understand that these aspects were intentional and probably the whole point of the book, but I found it really frustrating and it didn’t work for me. Plus, pretty much none of the characters were nice people, and as far as I recall, absolutely none of them were happy, so that soured me on it a bit too. ( )
I wasn't sure about this book when I started it, but its motifs, repetitions, and rotating cast of characters got under my skin. None of them were hugely likeable, but they were all hugely human. ( )
What do you mean where does the music come from? Where does the music ever come from? The guy says to the girl Something is on my mind and the girl says Really? What is it? and somebody in the orchestra hits a note and they sing. That's where the music comes from. --Morrie Ryskind on the set of a Marx Brothers movie.
Dedication
For Rook--for whom else the book on love?
The author would like to thank the following people: Lisa Brown, Charlotte Sheedy, Ron Bernstein, Don Halpern, Susan Rich, Josh Greenhut, Darla Spiers, Kezia Pearlman, Paula Sharp, Ayelet Waldman, Helena Echlin, Don Clows, and Amanda Davis, much missed.
First words
Love was in the air, so both of us walked through love on our way to the corner.
Hello. I am Daniel Handler, the author of this book. Did you know that authors often write the summaries that appear on their book's dust jacket? You might want to think about that the next time you read something like, "A dazzling page-turner, this novel shows an internationally acclaimed storyteller at the height of his astonishing powers." Adverbs is a novel about love -- a bunch of different people, in and out of different kinds of love. At the start of the novel, Andrea is in love with David -- or maybe it's Joe -- who instead falls in love with Peter in a taxi. At the end of the novel, it's Joe who's in the taxi, falling in love with Andrea, although it might not be Andrea, or in any case it might not be the same Andrea, as Andrea is a very common name. So is Allison, who is married to Adrian in the middle of the novel, although in the middle of the ocean she considers a fling with Keith and also with Steve, whom she meets in an automobile, unless it's not the same Allison who meets the Snow Queen in a casino, or the same Steve who meets Eddie in the middle of the forest. . . . It might sound confusing, but that's love, and as the author -- me -- says, "It is not the nouns. The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done." This novel is about people trying to find love in the ways it is done before the volcano erupts and the miracle ends. Yes, there's a volcano in the novel. In my opinion a volcano automatically makes a story more interesting.
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