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On Love: A Novel

by Alain de Botton

On Love: A Novel Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The best-selling author of How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Art of Travel revisits his utterly charming debut novel, On Love.

The narrator is smitten by Chloe on a Paris-London flight, and by the time they've reached the luggage carousel he knows he is in love. He loves her chestnut hair, watery green eyes, the gap that makes her teeth Kantian and not Platonic, and her views on Heidegger's Being and Time — but he hates her taste in shoes.

Plotting the course of their affair from the initial delirium of infatuation to the depths of suicidal despair, through a fit of anhedonia — defined in medical texts as a disease resulting from the terror brought on by the threat of utter happiness — and finally through the terrorist tactics employed when the beloved begins, inexplicably, to drift away, On Love is filled with profound observations and useful diagrams, examining for all of us the pain and exhilaration of love.

Review:

"A tour-de-force pleasure of a first novel....A dissertation/novel on romantic narcissism that's both intellectually stimulating and emotionally touching. A very promising debut." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"Imagine...a young British Woody Allen with the benefit of a classical education and you have the nameless and exquisitely erudite narrator of On Love, a first novel by Alain de Botton, who seems to have been born to write." The Boston Globe

Review:

"The book was likely intended as a Barthesian look at that peculiar heart condition called love, but the overblown and pretentious writing obliterates any comparison....The author is clearly intelligent and well-read; perhaps someday he will put those assets to good literary use." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"The smart and funny On Love is just the strong cup of coffee needed to clear your head after a sticky sweat like The Bridges of Madison County. On Love is romantic reality." The News and Observer

Review:

"First novelist de Botton writes well...but neither Chloe nor Alain really engage our interest, and their story seems too slight to support all the heavy philosophizing." Library Journal

Review:

"A dazzlingly original, erudite and witty journey through all the vagaries of romantic love. A total delight." Josephine Hart, author of Sin and Damage

Synopsis:

In this dazzlingly original first novel, Alain de Botton tells of a young man smitten by a woman on a Paris-London flight. On Love plots the course of their affair from the initial delirium of infatuation to the depths of suicidal despair, as the beloved, inexplicably, begins to drift away.

About the Author

Alain de Botton is the author of three works of fiction and five of nonfiction, including How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Consolations of Philosophy, and The Art of Travel. He lives in London.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780802142405
Author:
de Botton, Alain
Publisher:
Grove/Atlantic
Author:
Botton, Alain
Author:
Alain de Botton
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
FICTION / Literary
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
Edition Number:
Revised edition
Edition Description:
Revised Edition
Publication Date:
February 2006
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Language:
English
Pages:
240
Dimensions:
7.38 x 5 in 7 oz

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Related Aisles

On Love: A Novel Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$7.95 In Stock
Product details 240 pages Grove Press - English 9780802142405 Reviews:
"Review" by , "A tour-de-force pleasure of a first novel....A dissertation/novel on romantic narcissism that's both intellectually stimulating and emotionally touching. A very promising debut."
"Review" by , "Imagine...a young British Woody Allen with the benefit of a classical education and you have the nameless and exquisitely erudite narrator of On Love, a first novel by Alain de Botton, who seems to have been born to write."
"Review" by , "The book was likely intended as a Barthesian look at that peculiar heart condition called love, but the overblown and pretentious writing obliterates any comparison....The author is clearly intelligent and well-read; perhaps someday he will put those assets to good literary use."
"Review" by , "The smart and funny On Love is just the strong cup of coffee needed to clear your head after a sticky sweat like The Bridges of Madison County. On Love is romantic reality."
"Review" by , "First novelist de Botton writes well...but neither Chloe nor Alain really engage our interest, and their story seems too slight to support all the heavy philosophizing."
"Review" by , "A dazzlingly original, erudite and witty journey through all the vagaries of romantic love. A total delight."
"Synopsis" by , In this dazzlingly original first novel, Alain de Botton tells of a young man smitten by a woman on a Paris-London flight. On Love plots the course of their affair from the initial delirium of infatuation to the depths of suicidal despair, as the beloved, inexplicably, begins to drift away.
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