Fiction Book Reviews

Book Review: Beginner's Greek

By Sandy Amazeen Jan 14, 2008, 21:44 GMT

While on a routine New York to LA flight Peter Russell couldn’t believe his luck when his seatmate turned out to be none other then the soul mate he dreamt of finding. They strike up a lively conversation terminating with Holly writing her first name and phone number on a page of The Magic Mountain, a page that inexplicably vanishes before Peter can call her. This slow retelling of the ever popular boy meets perfect girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl marry someone else then find each other again delves deeply into the inner lives of the main characters while giving a nod to just about every known romance cliché. Peter evolved from a classic, self-absorbed nerd to a generally well-rounded, caring person but unfortunately, the overuse of descriptive adjectives and focus on nuances of facial expressions reduce the pace to a crawl. Eventually good prevails but it will take perseverance to see it through and readers may wish for a second lightening strike.