|
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914 EAN: 9780684862927 ISBN: 0684862921 Label: Scribner Manufacturer: Scribner Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 208 Publication Date: August 03, 1999 Publisher: Scribner Studio: Scribner Editorial Review: Product Description: 'What's the difference between imagining a story and finding yourself in one anyway?' asks the narrator of this witty and infectiously appealing meditation on love, writing, and office politics. When her master's degree in the history of punishment proves useless, our narrator resorts to taking a job as a receptionist at the stodgy Academy of Material Science in London and, indeed, finds herself in the middle of a novel. Since most overeducated office workers do something else to save themselves from dying of boredom (like reading Remembrance of Things Past), she uses her time to write about her frustrating current romance. But her endeavor is thwarted at every turn by the flood of phone calls, packages, and visitors that punctuate a receptionist's day (nagging interruptions that are acknowledged with special icons on the page). Another obstacle to her literary ambition is that the object of her lust has insisted she keep their affair secret. Referring to him only as 'the man who mustn't be mentioned' (or the MWMM, or simply the ^^^^), she attempts to tell their story from the beginning but increasingly finds herself distracted by events in the present. As time passes, the characters in her office begin to intrigue her -- in particular a shy, elderly engineer named Philip Scroll. Despite its initially dull appearance, the workplace becomes ever more captivating, dragging the narrator away from her love story and forcing her to consider all sorts of vital topics, from the history of the telephone to neo-Victorian office hierarchies (made most apparent during lunch hour) and the meaning of celebrity. The future of her new romance -- not to mention the fate of her current live-in boyfriend -- and the plot of her novel hang in the balance as she is consumed by the bizarre workings of the Academy. Irresistibly clever and unpredictable, Ringing for You introduces the sharpest young voice of the recent British literary invasion. It is sure to delight anyone who has ever been perplexed and distraught by affairs of the heart -- and anyone who has ever felt overqualified for a job. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Definate proof that you can't judge a book by its cover!Wow...this book is SO not what the cover says. It looks (and the blurb on the back concurs) like it should be a light read, much like Bridget Jone's Diary. Nothing could be further from the truth! I enjoyed this book immensely, although when I started, I was a bit annoyed because it seemed so shallow. It wasn't until I was about 70 pages in that I realized that it was NOT a light book; rather, it is a fairly accurate portrait of a realistic woman. Rating: - Dissapointing endingWhen I first started reading this book, I thought it was great. It was cute & funny, & I felt like I could relate to the main character. But as the book went on, the story got boring & senseless. All in all not a bad read, but the last 50 pages or so might put you to sleep. Rating: - don't judge it by the cover.I bought this book on a whim because to me, it looked like a "poplit" sort of book; something light, airy, and good to read when you don't want to think too deeply. While "Ringing" does have some interesting points, it's been marketed to completely the wrong audience. The prose are mostly cynical and brooding, which, while interesting, is drawn away from by the icons throughout it as well as the general tone of the description and cover. It looks like something lighthearted and simple, while really it is much more heavy -- a slice-of-life look at a life that isn't very happy or inviting. The protagonist is a woman who isn't fond of her job and is looking forward to moving onto something more impressive; doesn't care much for her boyfriend and carries on a side relationship with an unpredictable man who does't want her writing about him in her 'novel'; and generally views everyone around her with a maudlin and cynical eye. Comparing it to "Bridget Jones" is unfair, because the story itself isn't really Jones-esque -- the way it's packaged, however, is. This is not a happy book, this is not a cheerful book, and it will probably just annoy you if you approach it from that perspective. If you're looking for some rich, irony-heavy prose and don't mind it being interrupted by odd little pictures of telephones here and there, this is a pretty decent book. Rating:  - I wish I had more to say....except that after reading this novel go on and on about nothing, words are hard to come by. I thought the premise of this book was very promising. However, at about the third chapter, I was tired of it. Having spent money on it, and being caught without a back-up read at the gym, I plowed through. This book was so completely uninteresting that I almost stopped reading it entirely with only fifty pages left. I forced myself to finish it, however, as I had come that far. There was a surprise at the end to somewhat reward me for my perseverance. However, it was a small victory, seeing that I cannot get the hours I wasted on this book back. Rating: - smart and entertainingDon't believe those reviews that say the book is unfunny-- this short read is both witty and intelligent. I laughed out loud on several instances. It's a great weekend indulgence. |
Continuing a fortuitous tradition of capturing the Sondheim legacy on video recordings, this performance was filmed before a live audience in Los Angeles during the 1982 national tour. Almost 20 years later, Hearn returned to the role opposite Patti LuPone in an acclaimed concert production. But Sweeney Todd is an especially compelling experience in this 1982 version, complete with the clever staging tricks (e.g., the barber's chair) and as close to the original cast as we're likely to see. --David Horiuchi
