- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Viking; 1st edition (27 Mar 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841976660
- ISBN-13: 978-1841976662
- ASIN: 0670912697
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.2 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,380,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Love Secrets of Don Juan
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Love Secrets of Don Juan sees self-pitying ad executive Daniel "Spike" Savage midway through a messy divorce at 45. His soon-to-be ex-wife, Beth, has the house in Hammersmith and custody of their daughter, Poppy. Daniel has been left with a bedsit in perpetually unfashionable Acton and a burning desire to understand why all his relationships with women end in miserable failure.
A few words of wisdom come from old friend Carol, best mate Martin and his therapist Terence but with a blind-ish date looming, Daniel takes more drastic action. He embarks on refining his identity or "brand statement" in the forlorn hope that he'll stand a better chance with the opposite sex--as he quips: "Interesting that 'opposite'. As in diametrically opposed. Not the different sex. The opposite sex." With his trusty flip chart and black marker pens he starts to analyse the lessons he has learned from each love affair--a project he dubs, ironically, The Love Secrets of Don Juan.
To begin with, Tim Lott's third novel seems to mine a furrow of laddishness all but exhausted in the late 90s by Nick Hornby and numerous stand-up comedians, invariably called Jeff. Daniel's "Women, oh they're different, aren't they?" shtick hardly appears original; while Lott's take on the ostracised "Good Dad" is pure Parsons. But Lott is a significantly better novelist than the above would suggest. His plotting can be hackneyed but this is a book full of acute humour and observations--one recurring and insistent theme is the contrast of male literalness and feminine symbolism. Daniel is richly drawn and as he negotiates the modern dating (and parenting) game, his articulate, first person narrative, peppered with brand names and marketing argot, really captures a man struggling to understand his life, love and the infuriating nuances of gender. --Travis Elborough
Review
A mid-life crisis novel from the author of White City Blue and Rumours of a Hurricane. Daniel Savage is 45, divorced and living in a bedsit. Where did it all go wrong? With women, of course. Plus he has attitude problems of his own to sort out. So he seeks answers in his own romantic history, and conducts comparative research by dating as many women as he can. Lott is good on the mysteries of manhood, and better than many men are on fathoming the far deeper mysteries of the opposite sex. With this his third novel, Lott has clearly hit his stride, deploying his own unique version of the art of the novel to make sense of contemporary life as viewed from the wrong side of the emotional tracks, the male side.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
This is how it feels to be me. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
This is how it feels to be me. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed this book and pretty much read it right through. I laughed a lot and cried too. It's very poignant if you have ever been through separation or divorce and the dating rituals before and after a major relationship. I have a similar circumstance in my life (male, separated, kids, dating) so I could really relate.
I also couldn't really predict how it was going to end, so I was kept guessing right up until then. Plenty of twists along the way kept me riveted and the end was quite unexpected but you could see how it could have been written with several outcomes. Dating and mating are so vexing to most people that nothing is particularly predictable about it.
I also like the way he came up with "love secrets" but ultimately didn't apply any of them to the final choice of partners at the end of the book.
[...]
I also couldn't really predict how it was going to end, so I was kept guessing right up until then. Plenty of twists along the way kept me riveted and the end was quite unexpected but you could see how it could have been written with several outcomes. Dating and mating are so vexing to most people that nothing is particularly predictable about it.
I also like the way he came up with "love secrets" but ultimately didn't apply any of them to the final choice of partners at the end of the book.
[...]
15 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Everything that Lott writes is brilliant, I can't get enough of his books. Mostly it's all along the the same lines as male friendship and life, money and female problems. In this book, it's about this relatinships with women. I completlety identify with Lott's life and up brinning, he is very down to earth and his writting just keeps on getting funnier and funnier. I can't wait for his next book to come out. But nothing can even at any time compare to 'the scent of dried roses' Lott's master piece. He writes magically about Hammersmith and the surrounding area's, reading his work you feel as thought you are in London.
Format:Paperback
"Spike" Daniel Savage is continually confused about Man/Woman relationships. His marriage of some ten years with Beth has failed and he is in therapy hoping to uncover the elusive secrets of how to love and be loved. He decides that the result of the contradictions in women is B. M. A. - Bewilderment, Misunderstanding, Anger.
Daniels struggles to find happiness through a series of unfortunate meetings and mishaps. Much of the writing is funny and perceptive - but there is always a tinge of sadness...
The scene with the divorce mediator where his wife screws even more money out of him seems to be written from bitter reality!
I didn't think this was as good as Lott's Rumours of a Hurricane but I enjoyed it very much - and kept me guessing to the end.
Daniels struggles to find happiness through a series of unfortunate meetings and mishaps. Much of the writing is funny and perceptive - but there is always a tinge of sadness...
The scene with the divorce mediator where his wife screws even more money out of him seems to be written from bitter reality!
I didn't think this was as good as Lott's Rumours of a Hurricane but I enjoyed it very much - and kept me guessing to the end.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
disappointing
I was very disappointed by this book. I liked all his other books so far, especially Rumours of a Hurricane and The Seymour Tapes.
This one is just bland and boring. Read more
This one is just bland and boring. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Yeti
Women!
Tim Lott uses effortless humour and relentless wit to dissect the marriage and mating game from first date to last gasp. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
