Beginner’s Greek, by James Collins
In the February 24, 2008, edition of the New York Times Book Review, James Kaplan reviews Beginner’s Greek by James Collins.
Part comedy of manners, part chick lit in male drag, James Collins’s “Beginner’s Greek” is a great big sunny lemon chiffon pie of a novel, set, for good measure and our sociological titillation, among the WASP ruling classes, people who work at white-shoe investment firms and own villas in southwestern France and can instantly tell the difference between fine Bordeaux and plonk.
I had missed the review, but tonight I listened to the New York Times Book Review Podcast, in which Sam Tanenhaus interviews James Collins. Mr. Collins turns out to be an experienced journalist who decided finally that he had a story to tell in Beginner’s Greek, his first novel.
One of the amusing parts of the interview comes when Mr. Tanenhaus asks Mr. Collins if he is happy living in Virginia. It sounds to me like Mr. Collins (although he doesn’t say so) would much rather be back in New York, but his wife prefers Virginia. Mr. Collins admits, however, that living in Virginia made it easier to write Beginner’s Greek.
This book is going on my wish list.
February 24 2008 10:30 pm | Books
