Beginner’s Greek

I initially grabbed this novel for two reasons: I’d read some positive reviews of it and it was prominently displayed at the library. I read a disproportionate number of books that are prominently displayed at the library - the kiddos don’t give me a lot of time to peruse the stacks. I was surprised that the library’s copy hadn’t been snatched up already. Thrilled with my library luck, I started reading it a few days later.

Beginner’s Greek reads like somewhat literary chick lit. Except it was written by James Collins - which is not a pseudonym or the curse of a woman whose parents really wanted a boy. But despite being written by a man, the book is chick lit. And I like good chick lit - I love Helen Fielding, Jennifer Wiener and Jane Green. And I’m not sure I would put Collins with that group.

Not that the book wasn’t well - written; it was. I liked the characters but I didn’t believe them. Much as I enjoyed following the plot and grasping the relationships amongst the characters, it just didn’t seem real. Even though the story was long and filled with setting and scene details, even though none of the characters seemed shallow or cariacatured, I just didn’t believe in their behavior. And it’s not as if middle-class, white, thirty-something Jersey-ites are exactly foreign to me. Yet I believed in the characters in John Burdett’s Bangkok Haunts more. With Beginner’s Greek I felt like I was missing huge chunks of the story. And even though there were lots of well-place flashbacks, I still didn’t understand all the character’s motivations and feelings. Especially when in the context of the novel they were so hyper-self-aware.

But I don’t want to be unduly harsh. I did enjoy the book.  And I may be especially sensitive to characters these days since I’ve read a bunch of memoirs recently. But the truth is when I’m in the mood for literary chick lit, I’m going to look for Jennifer Wiener, not James Collins.

Have you read the book? What do you think about Chick Lit?