Reviews for Abandon: A Romance

The average rating for Abandon: A Romance based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-05-20 00:00:00 James Overaa Thank God that's over. This book wasn't without redeeming qualities, but they were few and far between (the speech the visiting Iranians give both on- and off-stage on pgs 218-226 were the only bits that didn't feel insufferably removed from real-world problems.) Mostly, I wanted to shake John and Camilla and make them get real jobs. Apart from them both being aggressively annoying and self-absorbed and emotionally unstable, I took issue with the author's fondness for using pronouns instead of proper names, particular when involving John in a conversation with other men. The dialog was wooden enough without the added aggravation of constantly needing to figure out exactly whom was speaking or acting. I would have enjoyed the truth of both Camilla's parentage and the author of the book she gave John if I cared a whit for either character. But I didn't, and it was a relief to finish this book.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-05-01 00:00:00 DeAnna Jeffords a mystery about a grad student studying sufism in the american academy?? did i hit the jackpot or what? this is my fav mix of genre and situation....i hope it doesnt suck. update: egads! it did suck. first it lulled me into being slightly interested in it and giving it a chance...but then it kicked me in the head, but i cannot leave a book no matter how bad unread, so i finished it using my spidey sense and good skimming skills. (nunchuck skills were not necessary, but i will save them for when i meet pico)...its a horrible blend of exoticizing the oriental as a group and as individual people. the profs, book sellers, random exiles, dude at the gas station are all so complicated, with a background of intrigue and all speak in code and to the main character have this ineffable "grace" to them ...so exoticized it made my head spin. plot is convoluted and lead to nowhere but not in a cool way, i wanted to throw the female love interest girl out the window...only redeeming things were that i think it accurately described the lonliness, awkwardness, and disconnect from reality that is found in the academy. and how difficult it is to write a paper. and the grad student ignored his work a lot and got many extensions on his work, that sounded about right. oh, and iyer does portray some aspects of the human condition is interesting and at times beautiful ways...i liked the part about humans living in "eternal syndication" or something.