[.ca] Kiss & Tell: A Novel (ISBN 0312155611)

From Amazon.com:
Alain de Botton has crafted a delightfully ingenious novel in the form of a biography of an unknown woman. Told by a former flame that he lacks empathy, the engaging narrator of Kiss & Tell decides to write a book about the next person he meets. This turns out to be Isabel Rogers, a production assistant at a London stationery company. The sincere effort of this would-be Boswell to make this ordinary woman fascinating cause him to fall in love with her, causing a shift in his writing from an examination of Isabel's life to a minutely-detailed account of his relationship with her. Alain de Botton's earlier work, The Romantic Movement, garnered praise from John Updike and Pico Iyer, who called him "a Stendhal of the 90's dating scene."

The dangers of dating a writer/philosopher:
After finishing Alain de Botton's biography/novel KISS AND TELL, I found myself hoping on behalf of its putative subject Isabel Jane Rogers that this work is more fiction than fact. Or at least that "Isabel" is a composite of every young woman the author ever dated and not a real individual person. Although de Botton catalogs many of "Isabel's" quirky habits (her poor sense of geography, the way she picks her nose and chews on the callouses on her fingers, etc.), he exhibits enough of his own dubious traits (for instance, he admits letting her plants die unwatered while devouring half a box of her chocolates while house-sitting for her one time) to give us a sense that in some unprovable way, he is at least playing fair. But under this delicious patina of pettiness, there are a number of more serious subjects. Such as the nature of biography itself. And whether our versions of ourselves are any more reliable than those of an outside observer. The nature of memory. And a comparison of the virtues and liabilities of the fat, detail-obsessed Boswelian biographies versus the "toast-sized", summary-style biographical sketches of an Aubrey. (Anyone who has read--or tried to write--an obituary for a family member will find the chapter "In Search of an Ending" fascinating.) And anyone who is familiar with de Botton's other works will not be surprised how he manages to draw the likes of Marcel Proust, Adam Smith, Frederick Nietzsche, Tolstoy, and Hippocrates into the conversation, as well as zany bits of pop psychology like graphology, palmistry, and magazine personality questionnaires. To support the trope that KISS AND TELL is a real biography, de Botton even provides a 12-page, fully functioning index (complete with entries on "toenails" and "sex.") As a work of fiction, KISS AND TELL isn't nearly as interesting as his earlier novel, ON LOVE, but it is an amusing book...and it will make you think about your own quirks and self-delusions.

New Take on Biographies:
This is a humorous and witty book written from the viewpoint of a biography on someone that is not famous. It makes the point that we may know everything there is to about Lincoln, but do we know how he liked his eggs. The characters are alive, and you truly feel sorry for the simplicity of the subjects life. Botton, a Swiss native, is a master of British humor... and many funny moments come through on the page as he writes the definitive biography of Isabel Rogers. It is a book that really does a great job of poking fun at biographers and what they must do in order to capture the essence of a person. Worthy read, and the author is worth reading again.

Kiss and Tell? No thrill here...:
Some of this book is brillant. De Botton thoughts on memory and how we view relationships can be amazing. He also can be funny. I was impressed with many of his ideas. On the other hand, by page 150 or so, I found the constant analysis of biographic form to be grating. I can see why Isabel felt as she did at time (although she is no great woman by any means). Again (as in On Love, a far superior book), we have a nameless narrator and no details on his life. Oh well. It is amusing at times, but not worth the time invested. Alas, I shall fall silent now.

Disappointing!:
After reading "On Love" by Alain De Botton, I was set to enjoy more of his amusing and interesting prose, yet instead I found myself struggling to finish, easily distracted, and wishing I had never bought the book. Lacking the wit and charm I found in "On Love", "Kiss and Tell" is stale and dry, like a piece of bread that has sat out on the kitchen counter all night. If you're an Alain De Botton fan, you can skip this one.

Amusing breath of air...:
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?)