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The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
 
 

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (Paperback)

by Rebecca Miller (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £4.79 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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  • This item: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller

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  • The Outcast by Sadie Jones

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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (12 Jun 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1847672493
  • ISBN-13: 978-1847672490
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,463 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Review
"* 'Like Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections without the bitterness, mixed with Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides without the eccentricity, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing read" - Sunday Telegraph * 'Miller is a luminous writer... gazing into these multiple private Pippas is like opening a series of Russian dolls, each intricately wrought, self-contained and self-revealing.' - Olivia Laing, Observer * 'A beautifully layered and subtle novel of identity, with a wonderfully vivid sense of place and character. And it's hesitatingly wise in all sorts of ways, as well as being a deftly constructed page-turner.' - Joseph O'Connor * 'Miller's astute, beautifully nuanced novel explores the unpredictable consequences of choosing to live a safe, but emotionally compromised, life.' - Eithne Farry, Daily Mail * 'Miller writes with a natural poetic flair that's considered and free from affectation.' - Easy Living * 'With beautiful simplicity, Miller unravels Pippa's past and celebrates the stirrings of something new.' - Kerry Fowler, Good Housekeeping Book of the Month * 'Miller's prose is always sharp and visual without being overly descriptive. All of the descriptions, whether of people, places or emotions manage to be both prosaic and evocative... Although it had come to a natural and perfectly timed conclusion, I could happily have read much more about Pippa Lee and her secret lives.' - Aline O'Conner, Irish Sunday Independent"

FT Magazine
An easy read of quality is exactly how Miller's poignant, funny and wise novel could be described --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
72% buy the item featured on this page:
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee 3.4 out of 5 stars (41)
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Customer Reviews

41 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (10)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (8)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (41 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
55 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars please do not buy this dreadful book, 11 Jul 2008
By Damocles (London, UK) - See all my reviews
Oh dear, I seem to utterly disagree with every other review of this book. Am I missing something? Have others seen more in this unexplained story of a tedious life lived through a fifty-something woman who is on the preiphery of the American indie literary set than I have? I tried, I really did, but everything about this book made me cross, especially the, endless, commas, which, were, unnecessary and very annoying. I couldn't help but wonder what the point of it all was. Everything seemd over-written and, even worse, predictable so when everything fell apart, as such, it was obvious from the start that this was where the book was heading. I really can't find any reason to recommend it and, in fact, by the end I was guffawing with mirth as a litany of (no surprise) affairs were revealed followed by heart attacks and strokes and much more. I would rather have spent my holiday reading Jilly Cooper...and that's saying something.
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79 of 89 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Hugely readable, smart and brilliantly written, 17 Jun 2008
By Leo McMarley (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews
Pippa Lee is one of the most complex and intriguing creations in contemporary fiction and it is a mark of Rebecca Miller's skill as a writer that what begins as an extremely entertaining and compelling account of a middle-aged woman's marriage to an older man turns into a fascinating portrait of a life lived strangely. The leap back into time that takes you to Pippa's childhood is both abrupt and seamless (if that's not too much of a contradiction!) and by the time she's returned you to the present day your sense of Pippa's many lives has been expanded and deepened in the most satisfying of ways.

This book is a reminder of just how much someone can change in the course of a lifetime and, as well as providing a wise insight into the different courses a life can take, the novel also becomes increasingly page-turning as the book speeds to its dramatic conclusion.

I'm glad I read this novel and I've just learnt that it has been picked as one of Richard and Judy's Summer reading titles which is great for the book and great for readers because now even more people are going to enjoy this superb debut novel. Take your shoes off, kick back and immerse yourself in what is sure to become one of the most talked about and loved books of the summer.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The Odd Mystery of Pippa Lee, 6 Aug 2008
By emma who reads a lot (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
I had a major problem with Pippa Lee. I just didn't believe in her.

Having said that, I found her perfect life rather seductive; and her problems relating to her daughter, whilst completely adoring her son, seemed utterly convincing. But it was the middle section of the book -which goes back to her younger years- that I had trouble with. And the ending... Well... Hmm....

The bits of the book that impressed: Pippa's slow realization that she has been sleepwalking, such an uncanny hint of her own suppressed feelings. Pippa's neighbour Dot and Dot's inability to deal at all with her son.

While I risk spoiling the story (so look away now if you haven't read it) I didn't believe a woman who had had that kind of teenage years and early twenties could stuff it all down inside until she was fifty before it came bursting out again. Maybe I am missing some essential point about the human condition.

I think this is an enjoyable beach book but anyone who claims this is great literature... I am baffled.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly brilliant!
I enjoyed this book immensely - I decided to buy a copy after reading an interview with Rebecca Miller in the 'Times'. Read more
Published 1 day ago by A. Walton

1.0 out of 5 stars No to be recommended
I read this book because it was the choice for our bookgroup for April 09. I thought it was poorly written and was the retelling of a story that had been told 1000s of times... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ms. JK Howard

3.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing and somewhat depressing
Not at all what I was expecting when I added this book to my wish list as a Richard and Judy recommendation I was really expecting it to be a humorous novel about a couple moving... Read more
Published 3 months ago by LindyLouMac

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time on this awful book
I chose this book because it was recommended by Richard and Judy's bookclub, and I have enjoyed some of the books thy recommended in the past, but this was just dreadful... Read more
Published 4 months ago by C. Langridge

3.0 out of 5 stars The Private (But Not That Shocking) Life of Pippa Lee
Rebecca Miller came up with a brilliant premise for a story with `The Private Lives of Pippa Lee', that idea was a story of a married woman in her early fifties with a dark past... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Simon Savidge "savidgeread...

4.0 out of 5 stars Gripping read
Loved this book - wasn't sure at first, but by part two, was totally sucked in. Loved her style of writing and found myself totally captured by Pippa's life - sad it ended..... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jenfadee

4.0 out of 5 stars Original and entertaining
I enjoyed reading this book. It is well written, original and funny at times. I would not say it is unforgettable but a good holiday read. Read more
Published 8 months ago by French reader

1.0 out of 5 stars So unconvincing
"Time and again, Sam took his life and the people in it, boiled it all down - skin, bones, all of it - till it was a paste the color, Pippa imagined, of whale bubbler." (p. Read more
Published 8 months ago by L. Goldsmith

3.0 out of 5 stars Pippa Who?
I actually just read this for the second time before posting a review and liked it slightly better than I did the first time. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Love Books

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring and mediocre
I have to wonder what all the fuss was about with this book. If you take the author out of the equation, then it's a pretty unremarkable piece of work. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jennifer Hawkes

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