Kiss & Tell

Okay, I may have not read the *entire* book, but I did read a spectacular passage from "Kiss and Tell" during my AP Literature and Composition exam. It's not often I grin after reading AP test passages. However, that brief excertp from De Bottom's novel had me grinning and absolutely praising whatever AP God had seen fit to bless me w/ such a delightful passage to write about.I was so intrigued by the passage, I actually decided to buy the book after I was done. (How often does that happen?)

Alain de Botton writes in a most entertaining and witty style and makes for a fantastic reading experience. My perception may have been influenced by having just been dumped... Then again, I guess it's probably better to be reading his books it a situation of lonliness or unhappiness that after you've just fallen madly in love. Or maybe the latter just never happened to me in the right moment, i.e. when reading one of his books...

This is de Botton's strangest book - half biography, half novel, but it really works. The idea sounds strange, but he pulls it off, managing to write a book that is not only emotionally effecting, but also highly thought-provoking. Their are pencil marks all over my copy.

Outstanding fictional examination of how we perceive each other as humans as well as the art and form of biography. The narrator, derided as being self-absorbed, decides to write a biography of the next person he meets. Thus, we are treated to his attempt to do this with "Isabel", a young London woman he meets at a party. De Botton spins it all with a very light, often comic, touch, and yet manages to raise some fairly deep issues relating to how our perceptions of others are formed and shape our actions. Very good stuff which makes me want to find his other work and read it immediately. Fans of "High Fidelity" will likely find this a slightly higher-brow, but very enjoyable book. See also "On Love" and "The Romantic Movement."

Most biographies feature people who are famous or notorious, no acquaintance of their biographer, and dead. Kiss and Tell is a bold and irreverent challenge to these biographical norms, which sets out to chart the life of someone unknown, intimate with their biographer, and still alive. The result is a witty and perceptive portrait of a young woman. Brilliant