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Title: Schmidt Delivered by Louis Begley ISBN: 0-345-44083-8 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 30 October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.43 (7 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Boring sequel
Comment: I really enjoyed reading "About Schmidt". Of course I had to read the sequel... and was utterly disappointed. Begley had nothing left to write about. Many times he keeps repeating dialogues. I wonder who made the decision to write another book about Schmidt. Maybe the reason was the success of the first book. Well, it was a mistake. It leaves a sour taste. Many times I was thinking: "Ok, now that is the fantasy of an old man, who would like it to be that way." There just was not much story to tell anymore, because everything was said in the first book.
Rating: 5
Summary: "Her face, when she returned, was a beautiful blank."
Comment: "Schmidt Delivered" was not the next book on my reading list, but after finishing "About Schmidt," I had to read the sequel. "Schmidt Delivered" picks up the story two years after the conclusion of "About Schmidt." The protagonist, Albert Schmidt, a retired lawyer, is still living in the Hamptons with a young, Puerto Rican waitress, Carrie. Carrie's annoying and clingy ex-boyfriend is conveniently packed off to Florida. Schmidt's sour daughter, Charlotte, the source of a great deal of grief in "About Schmidt" has more or less dropped her relationship with her father. It would seem that Schmidt's life has settled into a fairly regular domestic routine--Carrie goes off to college every day, and Schmidt waits for her to come home. He fills his spare time by dithering with the post and deciding which Trollope novel to read. Schmidt realizes that he has isolated himself with Carrie, and while this is partly due to the fact that Schmidt's relationship with Carrie is socially unacceptable, Schmidt's isolation is also due to a desire to keep his relationship with Carrie intact. But Schmidt is losing Carrie, and he knows it. He has aged (he's in his 60s), and meanwhile Carrie is off running marathons with a local bodyguard.
An eccentric millionaire, Mr Mansour, moves into the area, and immediately zooms in on Schmidt. In spite of Schmidt's attempts to avoid Mansour, a relationship begins to develop between the two men, and Schmidt finds that his life is changing once again. Schmidt, who views any change in routine as "a mountain he was at first unwilling to climb," resists the drastic alterations in his life, but it's inevitable that Schmidt's life will change again.
I enjoyed "Schmidt Delivered" every bit as much as "About Schmidt." Sequels can be very disappointing, but "Schmidt Delivered" met all my expectations. Characters from "About Schmidt" appear in the sequel and include: obnoxious in-law Renata Riker, spoiled rotten daughter Charlotte, and even Schmidt's loyal friend Gil. As Schmidt heads into another crisis, he also comes to terms with his role as a father and as a friend. This book is full of interesting characters who captured my attention. I found the strains in Schmidt's relationship with the amoral Carrie highly poignant, but the relationship was simultaneously portrayed without a shred of sentimentality. Schmidt remains a sympathetic and complex character, and I am going to read everything written by this excellent author--displacedhuman.
Rating: 4
Summary: those pesky quotation marks
Comment: Begley claims quotation marks make his pages unsightly. He can use them or not, it's a free country, but there's a reason most of the civilized world uses the darn things. It's called clarity. Having dug my way through both Schmidt books without the benefit of adequate puncutation I'd highly recommend Begley give it up and bow to convention. However neat the pages appear, it just ain't worth it. And since when did anyone care about neat-looking pages? That said, Schmidt Delivered was a satisfying experience, mostly due to Begley's memorable characters. Hope the little guy has at least one more Schmidt book in his quiver and that he relents and uses those darn quotation marks to help us keep the musings and the speeches separate.
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Title: About Schmidt by Louis Begley ISBN: 0449911160 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 08 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Man Who Was Late by Louis Begley ISBN: 0449909115 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: As Max Saw It by LOUIS BEGLEY ISBN: 0449909476 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 11 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Shipwreck by LOUIS BEGLEY ISBN: 1400040981 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Mistler's Exit by Louis Begley ISBN: 0449004228 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 02 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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