The English American

I read this on the assumption that it was a fluffy romance. It is not. It is an easy read, to be sure, but it is also a very rich one. The CiP data make it sound like it's about adoption, and while that's certainly the organizing premise of the story, there's far more to it than that. It touches on topics such as identity, nationality, nature vs. nurture, self / other, public / private, and probably a couple of other things. To me it seemed often to be threatening some disastrous turn of events; and if the ending was a bit trite, well, that's not uncommon. I thought it read noticeably more literarily than the things I've been reading lately. Its tone reminded me of Isak Dinesen's short stories.

Pippa Dunn, having been adopted by a Bristish couple in her infancy, feels deeply the ways in which she differs from family and friends. Ultimately locating her birth parents, she discovers she is actually an Georgian redneck with a British accent. Underlying issues of identity, nurtue vs. nature, and nationality are hadnled with a light, deft touch, humor and humanity. There is a set piece at a funeral which had me absolutely in stitches. This book came out of Larkin's semi-autobrtiographical one-woman comefy sketch. I had the pleasure of attending a readingh at the Berkshire Wordfest this past fall. My friend bought the audiobook, which she thought was hilarious. Perhaps because I could hear Larkin's voice in my head, I found it show more equally so. Print or audio, I don't think you can go wrong. show less

As someone who loves British culture, and also has a crazy southern family, I loved the English American. The book captures life in both America and in Britain from the perspective of both an outsider and an insider, with a delightfully funny heroine, Pippa, at the center.

When I first started the book I wasn't sure what to expect--a stand up comedian writing a book based on her stage act?--how is that going to work? But Larkin does a great job getting inside Pippa's head and using her voice to take the reader along on her journey. Pippa's honesty throughout her journey is enjoyable to read and funny, and is the thing that makes her so lovable.

And while this book is a little chick lit-ish, I really think its more of a coming of age show more story than the traditional chick lit, which is much more focused on chasing guys and dishing to friends. The book is really about Pippa finding herself, she just happens to find a guy or two along the way too. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a fun, makes you smile as you drink your earl grey, read. show less

Beautiful things happen in the library. One of my favorite hobbies is perusing the stacks at random, searching for bits of gold that stand out amongst the copper. And, once again, I found one. The English American is the story of a woman who learns to accept herself, those around her, and, most of all, the power of love. If you are an American who enjoys reading about England, or a Brit who likes reading about America, this is the book for you.

Pippa decides it's time to figure out who she really is -- knowing she's adopted, she notices all the ways she's different from her English family. So she hunts down her American birth parents and actually moves to New York to work for her birth mother. While the initial impressions are favorable (her birth father is hilarious in some ways) eventually truth overcomes idealism. For a good part of a year, Pippa lets just about everyone she meets in America take advantage of her, but a series of crises opens her eyes, and she finds out where she really belongs. I liked Pippa, she is funny and warm. Her interior conversations, largely focused on the differences between life in England and America, show her intelligence and humor. I found show more the book suffered from a slow pace (until the last 20 pages when all of a sudden everything is resolved). Easy read. show less

(possible spoilers) I enjoyed this book. As I understand it her primary goal was to focus on the challenges of being adopted, the search for one's birth parents and the impact of that search on all involved and to do that with humor and warmth. I think that she did that. In the process she did a great job of describing the pulls between cultures. She was presenting it in terms of the two countries, but I saw personality style as well. I think that it was also the story of the heroine's journey. She leaves her home to travel into the world, has many adventures, slays dragons and then returns home stronger and more appreciative of the gifts in that home place. It is also a story about having a vision of an archetypal mother, searching for show more that dream, and learning, as we all do, that ultimately it is about being that nurturer to ourselves. There are a number of issues that came up in the book that never got explored – one significant loss in her past (that I won't describe here) which could also have had an impact on her fears of abandonment, who the primary characters were in the book really and how how they get this way. Also, the characters were very much stereotypes. We never really saw them as multi-dimensional until the end in her interactions with her adoptive parents. However, I think that her purpose was more to bring understanding with humor to the challenges of an adoptee and that I think she did well. show less

I've had this book in my audio library for at least five years. I'm not sure why I put off listening to it for so long . . . maybe because it sounded a bit chick lit-ish, or maybe because of the rather squeaky chick lit-ish voice of the reader, the author, Alison Larkin. So was it chick lit? Yes--and no. Pippa Dunn=e is a 28-year old single woman looking for love and looking for herself. It's her inability ot commit that leads Pippa, an adoptee, in search of her birth parents: she has abandoned a series of good relationships when she fears that her partner will reject her.

Pippa has know since she was 10 that she was adopted but knows nothing about her birth parents. The novel takes us through her journey: the complicated communications show more with the adoption agency, which is bound by law to withhold information; the arrival of a letter from her birth mother, written as she was being given up for adoption; the negotiations of an attorney who finally puts her in touch with her birth mother--an American! Eventually, Pippa moves to America to learn more about herself and her parents--and she gets more than she ever expected. In the course of her journey, she begins to question her own identity but ultimately finds herself.

This isn't the type of book I would normally read, but I did enjoy it. It's nice to take a break from more serious books every now and then. show less