( 6 reviews )
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Posted: May 22 2006
Mr. Hansen usually gives us books with a bit more texture to the story, but I cannot complain about that since this book is utterly charming. It is a sweet, romantic story about a young French pair who, while working out their relationship, and on a bus tour of the US (the kind that takes you to see the home of the Maytag washer), end up in a lovely little town of nice, tho eccentric Americans. Sound hokey? It doesn't matter. This book will bring a huge smile to your face and make you want to sing.
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Posted: Mar 14 2006
Isn't It Romantic? would make a terrific romantic movie. It's a fun, quick read, full of twists and a bit of slapstick. It's a thrill to find such a wonderful writer, who usually writes more serious stuff, turning his hand to this finely crafted little novella. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a little romance, a lot of laughs, and a satisfying wrapup of all the loose ends.
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( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 5 2005
I was really excited to read this little novella. It's rare, but every once in a while, I really crave a good, entertaining romance story, and I particularly prefer the well-written ones that are almost literary. Anyway, a romance novel written by Ron Hansen seemed like it would his the spot. I've read Hansen's Mariette in Ecstasy, and I knew he could write, and I thought that his effort at writing would be an overwhelming success. I was mostly right. I read the novel for what it was, an entertainment, and I enjoyed it, for the most part. The plot follows two Parisians, Natalie and Pierre, who are engaged but who are considering calling off their marriage. Natalie impulsively takes off on a trip to America, sort of hoping to get away from her fiancé for a while. Of course, Pierre tracks her down in the tiny Redding, Nebraska, and confronts her about their future. And that's the big question of the novel. What's going to happen to this feuding couple? Are they going to marry? Are they going to hook up with someone else? Are they going to go off in their own ways? Of course, the small-town people they're stuck with are weird (as are most small-town people--I live in a small town), and they're going to have some say on the whole matter. It's a good plot. This mixed bag of characters and the awkward situation makes for some really pleasant reading and for some really funny moments. My primary critique of the novel is that, for me, it never went beyond pleasant. The whole novel struck me as being just too "movieish" (and Hansen modeled this after the screwball comedy of the `30s). By that, I mean several things. First of all, there was just a feel at times that you were reading a pretty good screenplay but a fairly blah novel. There were several times where scenes fell flat because Hansen was trying to describe a scene that would have worked visually but not in words (such as one of those scenes where several characters are trying to find the correct room in hall and they keep opening the wrong door). Also, like with a movie, I felt like a passive audience through most of this. It's kind of difficult to describe this, but there was a certain barrier between me and the events of the novel that didn't allow me to really engage with the story. I enjoyed it pretty well, but I didn't just love it. Overall, Isn't It Romantic was a solid summer read and would make a fine movie. It wasn't perfect, but it was pleasant and pretty satisfying. I can see a lot of people really enjoying this.
