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Product Description
Product Description
By the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2001, this is a witty and tender romance that demonstrates that sometimes, unexpectedly, there can be something better than perfection.
Book Description
'Grenville makes awkward atmospheres and fumbling encounters wonderfully vivid. Read it and cringe' The Times The Idea of Perfection is a funny and touching romance between two people who've given up on love. Set in the eccentric little backwater of Karakarook, New South Wales, pop. 1374, it tells the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a gawky engineer with jug-handle ears, and Harley Savage, a woman altogether too big and too abrupt for comfort. Harley is in Karakarook to foster 'Heritage', and Douglas is there to pull down the quaint old Bent Bridge. From day one, they're on a collison course. But out of this unpromising conjunction of opposites, something unexpected happens: sometimes even better than perfection. 'From these two reticent characters, besieged by two lifetimes of regret, doubt and dismay, Grenville manufactures an extraordinary comedy of manners, made all more powerful by her own reticence as a writer' Guardian 'Outrageously entertaining' Daily Mail 'Mined throughout with little pockets of danger and depth' Guardian 'A truly amazing writer' Rosie Boycott, chair of the Orange Prize jury
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thought that The Secret River was a brilliant book, as was Lilian's Story, but, for me, this is the Kate Grenville I shall remember the best.
It is such an Australian story, in that it nails small town Australia -the look, the feel, the smell, the sounds -perfectly. There are laughs a plenty in many of the small town scenes. I defy anyone reading about the buying of the bucket not to chortle out loud. The central story and theme is universal, but it is Kate Grenville's skilful depictionThe characters (and that includes the poor Bank Manager's wife) are so sympathetically drawn, and their inner turmoils are described with memorable humour and pathos. It really did make me laugh, and then the final chapters describing the love between the two central couples as they all came to terms with their own ideas of perfection moved me to tears.
It is such an Australian story, in that it nails small town Australia -the look, the feel, the smell, the sounds -perfectly. There are laughs a plenty in many of the small town scenes. I defy anyone reading about the buying of the bucket not to chortle out loud. The central story and theme is universal, but it is Kate Grenville's skilful depictionThe characters (and that includes the poor Bank Manager's wife) are so sympathetically drawn, and their inner turmoils are described with memorable humour and pathos. It really did make me laugh, and then the final chapters describing the love between the two central couples as they all came to terms with their own ideas of perfection moved me to tears.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book starts as languidly as the weather in NSW, and one can almost feel the heat coming out of the pages. The hurts and shattered dreams of two outsiders to a small town are delicately unfurled, and throughout there is a sense of how fragile human emotions are and how easy it is to pretend that life is safer alone, without intimacy. Yet how those yearnings never let us alone. A beautiful exploration of loss and hope.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a gorgeous book. The searing heat of Australia can be felt in every page and everything just moves slowly to accommodate it. The two main characters are beautifully drawn and the conclusion well-paced and exactly as you would want it to be. Better than perfection? Definitely!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
favourite Grenville
The Idea of Perfection is the fifth novel by Australian author, Kate Grenville. Set in the dying country town of Karakarook, NSW, pop. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Cloggie Downunder
A Disappointment
After reading "The River", which I loved and was saddened to have it end, a brilliant book, I eagerly snatched up this one and was very disappointed. Read more
Published on 16 July 2009 by J. E. Swenson
A cleverly crafted comedy of social behaviour
This novel was for me an introduction to the writing of Australian writer Kate Grenville. It was passed on to me by an Australian Bookcrossing friend, while she was visiting Italy... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by LindyLouMac
funny and sweet and oh so human
The reviewer who was bored with this book made me chuckle because she is, at least in part, right! There is no plot to speak of, and not a lot happens! Read more
Published on 20 April 2007 by H. Ashford
The Idea of Perfection
Well, The Idea of Perfection, which won The Orange Prize in 2001, WAS a surprise. Having read Grenville's Booker 2006 shortlisted The Secret River a few weeks ago, I picked this up... Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2007 by Leyla Sanai
Oh dear....
*yawn* ooops...sorry, just finishing what has got to be the most boring book ever written. Kate Grenville's 'Idea of Perfection' is well written - unless you count the non-existant... Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2006 by Avid Reader
The Idea of Perfection
This is brilliantly written and will make you smile. The characterisation is vivid, and you can't help liking and feeling empathy for the two main protagonists. Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2006 by S. V. Rhodes
Made me laugh!
I loved this book. It's about some sad losers in a sad small town in the middle of nowhere and not much happens, but there was something delicious and so very, very funny... Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2006 by Suzanne Collett
I must be missing something...
Just finished The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville which won the Orange Prize a few years ago (against stiff competition) and have to confess to being slightly puzzled by it. Read more
Published on 5 July 2005 by Booksthatmatter
Superb!
I thought this book was superb. Coming from a small town myself I could actually feel and visualise the atmosphere of the place. Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2003
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