Regular marked price: $13.95Discount Price: $11.16
Cost Savings: $2.79 (20%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780449911167
ISBN number: 0449911160
Label: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: September 08, 1997
Publishing house: Ballantine Books
Release Date: September 08, 1997
Sale Popularity Level: 316712
Studio: Ballantine Books
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
'A fine new novel... The great pleasure of reading Louis Begley [is] his exceptional literary intelligence.'
The New York Times Book Review
'Begley again demonstrates that he can reveal the complexities of society and personality with a clear eye and graceful style... Morethan meets the requirements of graceful fiction.'
Time
Proud, traditional, and impeccably organized, Albert Schmidt is a button-down lawyer of the old school. But now, after years of carefulmanagement, his life is slowly unraveling. His beloved wife has recently died. He stumbles--or is he being pushed?--into earlyretirement. And his daughter, his only child, is planning to marry a man Schmidt cannot approve of, for reasons he can scarcely admit, even to himself. As Schmidt gropes for resolutions, he finds unexpected hope in an intense passion that comes out of the blue.
Set in the Hamptons and Manhattan, infused with grey humour and startling eroticism, About Schmidt is both a meditation on lonelinessand on the power of romance to unlock the most impenetrable recesses of the heart.
'Comical, tough, unsparing; it is as if Louis Auchincloss had exchanged the kid gloves for brass knuckles... Interesting and nervy.'
The Washington Post Book World
'A powerful story of a man's fall from grace... The Remains of the Day come[s] to mind.'
Publishing houses Weekly (starred review)
'Stunning.'
Los Angeles Times Book Review
Amazon.com Review:
Albert Schmidt is a retired lawyer who misses his recently deceased wife, has an unhealthy diet, is a mild anti-Semite and owns a nice home in the Hamptons he feels compelled to offer to his daughter as a wedding present. Said daughter, Charlotte, is a yuppie in all the worst ways. She handles public relations for tobacco companies, doesn't want the house in the Hamptons, and is about to marry a buttoned-up Jewish lawyer. The conflict takes off from there in this finely told tale of retirement, inheritance, and death.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
As usual, the book beats the movie. I know that a movie can only take a portion of the story or the character, but I don't think they did his one justice. I found Schmidt to be one of those characters with a lot more going on then meets the eye. He want people to believe he's what you see is what you get (and it's not something too many people want). I don't like to give the whole story away I'll just say that if you've seen the movie first, read the book anyway. You'll meet a quite different Schmidt and see a different end.
Rated by buyers 
-
Writing Style - 4/5
Characters - 5
Storyline - 2
Resonance - 2
The Not-Too-Revealing Synopsis:
What does a bored, widowed, sixty-something year retired corporate lawyer do with sexual opportunities, lots of money, an awkward relationship with family and no schedule?
The Review:
Begley deftly relates the difficult-to-sympathize-with woes and responsibilities of the senior paterfamilias with disposable income and he does so with a subtle, candid humor. His writing style, specifically the lack of any quotes with conversation and the confusion between what is said and thought, is initially distracting but gives the read an additional dimension once one gives up attempting to decide if something were truly uttered. Were Begley's writing style, and even better - his perspective and ability to convey it - devoted to something more than a veritable awkward-highschool-guy-trying-to-lose-his-virginity salacity this would have been a great book. As it is, this is only a good book. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a read with an erotic theme or to anyone who can appreciate a well told story despite it.
Rated by buyers 
-
An old man thinks his life sucks (he's poor because he's only going to make 150,000/year now that he's retired, his daughter is marrying someone who is great, but just not perfect, and he doesn't have anyone to have sex with), and then it stops sucking (he figures out how to live on his money, he comes a little bit closer to accepting his daughter and son-in-law, and he finds a 20-year-old waitress to have sex with). It's fairly hard to sympothize.
Rated by buyers -
If you think you know About Schmidt because you've seen the movie with Jack Nicholson you're wrong. I've read dozens -- maybe hundreds -- of novels that have been turned into films and the film version of About Schmidt takes less from the novel than any other. However, if you enjoyed Nicholson's portrayal of a cantakerous misanthrope, you'll probably enjoy the novel as well. If Hollywood had made a faithful film of About Schmidt Jennifer Lopez would have starred, not Jack Nicholson. That's how different the film is from the novel offered here. And after you finish reading About Schmidt, you'll quickly come back to Amazon.com to purchase the sequel, Schmidt Delivered, an hilarious send-up of Masters of the Universe or whatever the filthy rich are calling themselves these days.
Rated by buyers 
-
Put me in the 'cretin' category I guess. This is one of the few times ever for me where the novel (vs the film) was a disappointment.
About Schmidt may be one of the great works of literature in our time (I doubt it) for all I know, but my experience with this book was ruined by my shallow expectations and preconceived notions after seeing the film very first a couple of times (which I enjoyed).
If you are the type of person who is immune to the above-mentioned syndrome, and a fan of Begley, give it a shot.
Personally, I could never settle into this book, and I'm sure the fact that the film screenplay is completely and entirely different (other than the characters name) from the book is probably the main reason why.
I hope your experience with this novel is better than mine.
If you have seen the film, yet not read this novel, I recommend you check it out from the library very first (this is what I did) before purchasing... it might save you some money and major disappointment.
Find other books like this one:
