The Pursuit of Alice Thrift
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- 49,00 kr
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- 49,00 kr
Utgivarens beskrivning
The stunning new novel from a sparkling comic writer who is on the brink of stardom.
Poor Alice Thrift: book-smart but people-hopeless. Alice graduated second in her class at medical school, but hospital life is proving quite a challenge. Evaluations describe her performance as 'workmanlike' and her people skills as 'hypothermic'. Luckily, Alice's roommate Leo, the most popular nurse at the hospital, and her feisty neighbour Sylvie, take on the task of guiding Alice through the narrow straits of her own no-rapport zone.
When Ray Russo, a social-climbing fudge salesman, dedicates himself to a romantic pursuit, Leo and Sylvie harbour serious doubts. Yet as the chase intensifies, Alice's bedside manner begins to thaw. Can this dubious character be the one to lift Alice out of the depths of her social ineptitude? Written with bite, pace and effortless wit, this seriously funny novel puts romance under the microscope with hilarious consequences.
Reviews
'Elinor Lipman's latest novel brings together the rare combination of intelligence, wit, and wisdom. A jewel of a book.' Carol Shields
'Imagine, if you can, a cross between Philip Roth and Melissa Bank.'
Maggie O'Farrell Independent on Sunday
'I started to underline all the bits of Alice Thrift that either amazed or tickled me, but I finally had to quit: there were simply too many.' Anita Shreve
'About the best trick any writer can possess is the ability to make everything look easy, even to other writers who know better. Elinor Lipman possesses this gift in spades, and The Pursuit of Alice Thrift treats head, heart and funnybone with equal respect.' Richard Russo
'Elinor Lipman was born with an ear for dialogue sharper than an electronic listening system. Her situations and her characters sparkle with life.' Elizabeth Buchan, The Times
‘Eleanor Lipman's dialogue of acidic and the comic ending is refreshingly unsentimental. She has created an unexpectedly endearing, well observed heroine.' Daily Telegraph
‘This is a deliciously acerbic comedy, and Dr Thrift's scalpel-sharp wit is worthy of Jane Austen.' Daily Mail
About the author
Elinor Lipman is the author of six other novels, including, The Ladies’ Man, The Inn At Lake Devine and The Dearly Departed, also published by Fourth Estate.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Snappy wit, a clever plot and the sheer fun of a book you can't put down await readers of Lipman's (The Inn at Lake Divine) eighth novel, surely her best to date. The eponymous Alice is a sleep-deprived surgical intern at a Boston hospital. A graduate of MIT and Harvard and a congenital workaholic, she's also devoid of social skills, a sense of humor or elementary tact. Though miserably unequipped with self-esteem, Alice is an intelligent, well-brought-up offspring of upper-middle-class parents. Why, then, does she fall prey to the romantic blandishments of Ray Russo, a vulgar loudmouth and con artist who it turns out lies every time he opens his mouth? That Lipman can make this story plausible, and tell it with humor, psychological insight and rising suspense, is a triumph. Despite her roommate Leo's description of Ray as " a slimeball who won't take no for an answer," Alice fails to see through her conniving beau because she's achingly lonely and because he remains devoted when she's put on probation for falling asleep while assisting in the OR. It's easy for her to dismiss the concern of family and friends as simple snobbery which, in some cases, it is. Lipman's knowledge of hospital routine, especially the bone-weary lives of interns and residents, is a major reason that the plot moves along as smoothly as if on ball bearings. The dozen or so supporting characters, from Alice's horrified parents to her good friends and fellow residents, are vividly three-dimensional. Lipman's eye for social pretense has never been so keen or so cruel. There's a dark moral here that class differences cannot be breached but readers will appreciate the candor.
