The Pursuit of Alice Thrift

Dr. Alice Thrift doesn't excel at interpersonal communication. Actually, that's putting it lightly. She's an intern who wants to become a surgeon, works long hours, and takes everything seriously. When Ray Russo, a former near-patient for a nose job, starts calling her and asking her out, she's rather flattered and can't quite see how this could go wrong, despite the advice of everyone around her.

I was in the mood for something light and knew an Elinor Lipman book would fit the bill. Despite, or perhaps because of, her serious nature, Alice was a really fun heroine. I'm not so great at reading people either, but even I was a step ahead of Alice and sometimes laughing at her naivete. She tells you on the very first page that her show more relationship with Ray doesn't work out, so reading this felt kind of like watching a car wreck - you just can't look away. show less

I’ve read some reviews where the reviewer didn’t like Alice Thrift. I could not understand. I thought Alice was the most amusing character I’ve read in a long time. She’s so gauche, so left-footed, so lacking in any social skills that I just had to love her. And witnessing her metamorphosis, with the help of her former roommate and her neighbor, was a pure delight. I don’t think she’ll ever be the world’s best conversationalist, but she certainly learned to hold her own throughout the story.

Elinor Lipman has written an extremely funny story about Alice Thrift, M.D. She is pursued by the fast-talking Ray Russo and it’s pretty obvious from the outset that Mr. Russo is a liar and a cheat. But the story is so humorous and show more told so well, I just kept turning pages to see how Alice was going to get off probation at the hospital and how Ray Russo was going to get what was coming to him. The ending of the story did not disappoint! I’ve enjoyed all the books I’ve read by Elinor Lipman, but I think perhaps this was my favorite. show less

Lipman's books look as if they must be 'guilty pleasure' books, but I swear they're good--Lipman has a singular voice and dry sense of humor. They're in a class of books that is hard to come by--maybe not 'literary fiction' but fun: well-written keen studies of people. Though I and others might argue that they are 'literary fiction'! If only the covers didn't scream 'chick lit'...

"The Inn at Lake Devine" remains one of my favorite books, and "Pursuit" illustrates why: Lipman can really write female characters, and female characters *I can relate to*, which is incredibly, incredibly rare. She’s got a great protagonist in Alice—smart, poor social skills, makes dumb, self-destructive mistakes of the *exact* kind I can (and do) see myself making. In fact, parts of this book were kind of hard to read, they hit so close to home. But in the end, I loved Alice, and I love that somewhere out there in the world of fiction, she exists.

However: why end the book just when it’s starting to get interesting? We’re told from the beginning that Ray, the man pursuing Alice, is bad news, and every single thing he does show more says—no, screams in bright, bold, neon letters—RAY IS BAD NEWS, and yet the book ends…with the revelation that Ray is bad news? No! I want more, much more, of how Alice moves on with her life. Lipman gives us wonderful, tantalizing hints of how she’s grown and changed, but I wanted to see them in action, dammit! show less

Can an upper-middle-class doctor find love with a shady, fast-talking fudge salesman?

Quirky characters and sharp wit highlight Elinor Lipman's The Pursuit of Alice Thrift.

Alice Thrift, a surgical intern at a Boston hospital, is high of IQ but low in social graces. She doesn't mean to be acerbic, clinical, or blunt. Into Alice's workaholic and wallflower life comes Ray Russo, a slick traveling fudge salesman in search of a nose job and well-heeled companionship, but not necessarily in that order. Is he a con man or a sincere suitor? Good guy or bad?

I enjoyed Alice and am looking for more books by Lipman. If you're tired of the same old same old, I suggest that you give Alice a try.

Chick Lit. Unquestionably. Does that automatically make it bad? No, I don't think so. I guess the main negative aspect was the predictability of the outcome and the lack of character depths. However, it was quite a pleasant read, and I guess there was an element of reality, at least in terms of my (unreal?) life. That is, the idea that a person might stupidly allow themselves to be drawn into a relationship which anyone could see wasn't going to work, just because the person wants to feel needed. I needed a fairly lightweight book after my previous one (The Poisonwood Bible), and this performed that role admirably. I liked Lipman's style (this was my first taste of Elinor Lipman) enough to make me start another of hers - "My Latest show more Grievance". I'll see how that compares before I start making judgments about the author. After all, she's a favorite author of one of my favorite readers! show less

Elinor Lipman's novels either delight me or leave me cold. This one was a little different -- it almost delighted me, but I needed a sweater while I read it. Alice is a hard kind of character to write. She's incapable of accessing her own feelings or reaching out to others, something that Lipman conveys so successfully that the reader feels just as alienated from the main character as she does from her life. All in all this novel glides along on the surface, and it never really digs down to where the interesting stuff might be. What's really frustrating is that Lipman actually gets Alice to the point where things are going to happen, and then she ends the book. I will grant that there are some quirky characters, very memorable --but show more even they float above the narrative. show less