- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Black Swan; Reprint edition (13 May 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0552770973
- ISBN-13: 978-0552770972
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 869,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Georgia Abrams, the heroine of Claire Calman's third novel I Like it Like That, leads a black-and-white kind of life, her clothes come in shades of monochrome, her flat is tiny, tidy and neat and her boyfriend is 'Stephen with a p-h'. Her family can be rambunctious and unruly, but everything else seems pretty much under control, including her wildly curly hair, which she carefully straightens every morning. From chapter one it's obvious that this "sensible and well-behaved" character is about to experience a bit of dramatic disruption. And, as this is romantic fiction, the agent of chaos is a man. Photographer Leo crashes into her door and her life. He's funny and flirty and has a knack of questioning Georgia's carefully edited world view. The chemistry between them sparks and crackles, verbally and emotionally, but Claire Calman keeps the sexual tension (and there's plenty) unresolved with some well-paced family drama.
Snippets of Georgia's childhood explain why she always feels the need to always behave like "a grown up". Family lunches, brunches and parties illuminate her character, she isn't a boring control freak, she can be "mean-spirited, judgmental, unjust, unkind". But she's also warm, loving 'passionate and deeply silly'. I Like It Like That is a love story, but it's also the tale of how Georgia learns to live an untamed, curly-haired life, complete with a red velvet wedding dress, and groom who's name isn't spelt with 'p-h'.--Eithne Farry
Product Description
Georgia knows exactly who she is - or so she thinks. She's the sensible one, the one who has everything under control, the one everyone turns to for wisdom and advice. Especially the members of her shambolic family - her father, who files his papers in three towering stacks marked 'Urgent', 'Boring' and 'ABP' (Aggravating, But Pays); her brother, who makes his own two children seem positively mature; her stepmother, never without her cures for stress and bowls of chickpeas soaking on the window ledge; and most of all Ellen, Georgia's 'little' sister - twenty-seven, going on fourteen, who leaves a trail of cigarette butts, crumpled clothing and baffled boyfriends in her wake. Thank heavens for Stephen - 'Stephen with a p-h' as he likes to remind people - always calm, always reliable, the perfect antidote to the clutter and chaos of Georgia's family. As long as Stephen's around, she can handle anything - anything except the arrival of a stranger who gatecrashes his way into her life, her family and her heart...and shows her that maybe, just maybe, she's not the person she thought she was.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I finished this book last night and felt compelled to write a review to say how fantastic I thought it was. I enjoyed Love is a Four Letter word but was disappointed with Lessons for a Sunday Father. This was by far the best Claire Calman book yet. I really identified with the relationship between the sisters as well as the family as a whole. The humour was evident throughout and I liked the flashbacks to childhood as well as the relationship between Leo and Georgia.I found myself laughing out loud through a lot of the book!
Overall an excellent read - I couldn't put it down yesterday and am looking forward to her next one!
Overall an excellent read - I couldn't put it down yesterday and am looking forward to her next one!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After finishing "Love is a four-letter-word" in a matter of hours, I immediately ordered Claire Calman's other books. "I like it like that" was the one I got to first, & in many ways it didn't disappoint. But if I were to be honest, I'd have to agree with other reviewers- "Love is a four-letter-word" is a little bit better. And I think, for a very simple reason: Bella & Will are both drawn really clarly in that book, with us knowing them well when we get to the last page. On the other hand, here, in "I like it like that", we get to know Georgia, Ellen & the whole family well...but not Leo or Stephen.
OK, the story: Georgia is a counsellor, lives in a tinier-than-tiny flat in London, has a great big noisy, chaotic but lovely family & a fiance who's the complete opposite: Stephen is uptight, pretentious, bossy, predictable, organized & tidy & worst of all boring. Georgia is also a perfectionist & a tidiness-freak, but apart from that, I couldn't really see (during the whole book) what on earth she found in Stephen, especially after she'd met Leo the Wonderful. That's basically why I felt the 2 men (as another reviewer mentioned) were kind of like plot devices. Not that this makes the book less enjoyable. It's just that "Love is a four-letter-word" was much more special.
What's really good about this book is Georgia's family. Georgia, Ellen & Matt have lost their mother when they were 10, & since then Georgia has kind of taken up the role of being the perfect, mother-like one (that explains her relationship with her younger sister). The book describes, in wonderful detail, the complicated relationship between Georgia & Ellen, & also between Georgia & her long-gone mother. These relationships are the strength of the book, & yes, of course, also the relationship between Georgia & Leo. Which, for my taste, develops in maddeningly slow pace, for no reason whatsoever (& Stephen doesn't count as a reason).
This kind of book is pure, undiluted fun & Claire Calman will go on writing, I hope, for years & years, giving us books such as these for those long, gloomy, rainy days.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Perhaps it's the fact that "Love is a Four-Letter Word" is such an exceptional book that I'm forever spoiled but, while I found "I Like It Like That" to be entertaining, it was not as thoroughly enjoyable a read as either of Calman's other novels.
"I Like It Like That" is a story of personal growth and what one expects out of life, but it seemed somewhat more superficial than both Calman's other novels. Not as superficial as other authors can be, to be sure, but it seemed to me that the characterizations in this novel were not as fully developed as in her others. I felt that Leo and Stephen were more plot devices than people.
All in all, it's better than most books out there, but it's not Calman's best.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Synopsis
Georgia knows exactly who she is - or so she thinks. She's the sensible one, the one who has everything under control, the one everyone turns to for wisdom and advice. Read more
Published on 23 April 2009 by Javaslublu Books
I really loved this book - and I've outgrown chick-lit
I just have to say how much I truly loved this book. I've not read anything that could vaguely be considered "chick-lit" for a while now, and I'd resigned myself to the fact that I... Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2005 by curlytot
A Treat!
What a treat! Claire Calman’s sympathetic and witty book - gulped down with much chuckling and enjoyment - totally transformed what would have been a gloomy December... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2003
A Delightful Read
What a treat! Claire Calman's sympathetic and witty book - gulped down with much chuckling and enjoyment - totally transformed what would have been a gloomy December Sunday. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2003
Try it, you'll like it!!!
Who could resist a book with a title this appealing? I eagerly devoured Claire Calman's novel, which is a delightful mix of romantic comedy and domestic drama. Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2002 by "peestocarter"
Women's Glib?
I had to read this for a book promo day and found the first 100 pages to be totally predictable. As a male, I have never read a chick lit book before, and I found this to be... Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2002
Brilliant and funny!
I like it like that is the perfect example of how life can change suddenly, when you least expect it, and can question you about your beliefs, your false and pretentious... Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2002
It may be chick-lit, but Claire Calman does it superbly!
Georgina Abrams is the protaganist in the latest book from Claire Calman. She is not as instantly likable as Bella in Love is a Four Letter Word, but nonetheless, Calmans wit and... Read more
Published on 22 May 2002
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