Enjoy Murdering Mr. Monti Scripted By Judith Viorst Contained In Copy
ENTERTAINING SIT BACK IN THE BUBBLES AND ENJOY, "
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Brenda Kovner, a Washington columnist, advice dispenser, and amateur psychologist, doesn't consider herself intrusive, just extremely interested in helping, If she knows the answer, she can't shut upeven if no one's listening,
Since Brenda knows what's bestfor everyoneshe secretly decides she must murder her son Wally's prospective fatherinlaw, before he can get to Wally, She has a foolproof plan, In fact, she has a million of them, But first she's got a few kinky desires of her own to satisfy,
"Viorst keeps us laughing, A serious look at family and cultural issues while still a farce, narrated by a needling Machiavellian who keeps winning us over, "
San Francisco Chronicle
"A wry look at the follies of superficial urbanites, . . Enjoy. "
The Washington Post Book World
"Acerbic and extremely funny, . . Done with the arch, sardonic flavor familiar to readers of Ms, Viorst. "
The Baltimore Sun This book is hilarious! I recommended it for our book club and everyone enjoyed it, Judith Viorst must have an especially vivid imagination to come up with this kind of hilarious "situation" comedy, I've read it twiceyears apart and got something different out of it each time, It was written long ago, but this kind of comedy never goes out of date,
Read and enjoy! Funny adult novel about a woman who tries to control everything around her as it spins out of control, who decides that the best course of action is to murder the father of her son's fiancee.
For some reason this book took just forever for me to finish, which makes no sense, because it had my sense of humor and was a good read.
If the author's name sounds familiar, you've probably read "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Day," which I enjoy a lot, Entertaining, slightly dark comedy. Brenda Kovner, Jewish mother, newspaper advice columnist, and selfappointed "general manager of the universe", decides that real estate mogul and overbearing control freak Joseph Monti, who resembles an ItalianAmerican Donald Trump, is a threat to her family.
The only recourse is murder, Misadventures ensue. An entertaining romp. The subtitle "a merry little tale of sex and violence" sums up this book, This is light, comical reading about a woman so busy controlling the lives of her family that she ends up messing everything up, There is a strong sexual theme throughout, but not hot and steamy, They just "do the deed" without a lot of description, Its difficult to write a coherent review of this book because, on the one hand, some lines made me laugh out loud, and on the other hand, I began to dread picking it up to continue reading because the main characters shenanigans ergo, the plot became more and more dangerous, desperate, and ridiculous.
At the start I liked the main character but gradually found that impossible, I had to remind myself that this popular, wellknown author was writing this book as comedy, with snippets of practical wisdom,
Brenda, an overachieving Jewish mother who is cute and sexy, hassons and a successful husband, a doctor of course, However, one sons intended fatherinlaw threatens to vindictively ruin all their lives, His name is Mr. Monti and she needs to take him out before he succeeds, It is mostly funny but also appalling!
I do recommend the book for casual, escapist reading because this is a clever author and the story is full of twists, crazy turns, and unexpected philosophical inclusions.
Here are some quotes:
his typical date, a girl with hair twice as long as her skirt
as advice to sons: Marry for character rather than for breasts.
He then plunged his eyeballs so deeply into mine that I felt I had been ocularly raped, ”
regarding the double standard, being urged to forgive her husband There is no such thing as equal opportunity adultery,
If you read it youll find laughs, sex, secrets, family dynamics, and most amazing of all, a happy ending,
This book is laugh out loud funny! I remember barely anything about this book except that I liked it, Apparently, asked for my favorite book set in the DC area, this is all I can think of, Weird! I've had this book for a while, I didn't find the story particularly gripping a middle aged woman makes a bunch of bad decisions while her son's almost fatherinlaw tries to destroy her family.
There are some affair scenes that just seem like they are there for the titilation factor,
That said the voice in incredible, Voirst uses the thoughts of this meddling columnist to masterfully create humor, I picked this up in a library because I loved the Alexander books, This book is really, really, belly laugh funny, Was this book funny when it was written inI do not find it amusing or even interesting, I'm giving up afterpages, This is a naughty, neurotic, and devilishly humorous story by sitelinkJudith Viorst, The plot is wildly dramatic and the narrator is likable, but very manic in her thoughts and actions, The story is funny, but in a dark way, I liked the story but took it as a cautionary tale not to get too involved or attempt to control the lives of my children when they become adults.
And to beware of turning, . .
interesting quote:
"In the daily grind of marriage, I note, we tend to forget that once upon a time we had some excellent reasons for deciding to marry the man we are currently married to.
Try to remember those reasons, I urge, and try to find in the person he is today some of those once beloved and admirable qualities, " p.
new word: iatrogenic
Within the story, Ms, Viorst recommends three books that I put on my toread list, If she thought they were good enough to incorporate into her story, then I might as well check them out,
sitelinkThe House of Mirth
sitelinkThe Cabinet of Dr, Caligari
sitelinkBefore and After: A Novel Murdering Mr, Monti turned out to be a better book than I thought it would be, For an eavesdropping, murderplotting, adulteress like Brenda Kovner to be someone the reader actually LIKES is quite an accomplishment for an author, It all starts when Brenda's son announces his engagement to Josephine Monti, the painfully shy youngest daughter of overbearing Joseph Monti, It's bad enough that he is going to lose his daughter, but when she decides to convert to
Judaism, Mr, Monti declares war on the Kovner clan, He bankrolls a shady land development deal with Brenda's other son then demands a balloon payment that he cannot possibly repay, he is behind two couples who are suing Brenda's pediatric surgeon husband Jake, and now threats keep coming to the house via crazy singing clowns, maniac van drivers and faxes.
What can a mother do but protect her child And the only way Brenda sees to protect not only her son, but save her whole family, is to murder Mr.
Monti before he can destroy their lives,
As you can imagine, chaos ensues,
This was a fast read, a kind of outofthefryingpanintothefire type of book and more than once I found myself chuckling, And I was pulling for Brenda all the way,
out ofI finally finished this book, Good riddance. I'm not sure why I wanted to finish it, but I did, As I wrote earlier, I had a like/hate relationship with this book, The narrator varies between being witty the like part and so selfindulgent I wanted to scream, I did, however, surprisingly, find a few bits to take to heart and even quote, so it getsstars, An odd book in many ways, with a narrator who was alternately infuriating and amusing, but I must admit I couldn't stop turning the pages, reading again. i read this book every couple of years, one of those that fill the gap when nothing really perfect has come to hand or when i need something that's a 'sure thing' for a plane trip or a bus ride.
it's funny, and after so many years, an old friend, Great book Kindle needs to fix typos
Wonderfully funny story, a hilarious unreliable narrator, Buy the large number of errors in the text was annoying, I can't believe I'm the only one that's noticed, Really seems unprofessional of Kindle, While the title brings thoughts of a murder mystery to mind, the phrase A Merry Little Tale in the subtitle reveals this novel as a Comedy of Manners where the humorous situations, and some suspense, drive the plot.
Set in the suburbs of Washington DC, the book is about Brenda Kovner, a successfulyear old syndicated advice columnist who is married to Jake a pediatric surgeon.
They have two grown sons Jeff and Wally, Wally has fallen in love with Jo Monti the youngest daughter of Joseph Monti, a narcissistic bully of a man, Mr. Monti has dominated his wife and three daughters, and Jo has shown budding signs of rebellion by falling in love with a Jewish man, Mr. Monti stands in the way of Wally and Jo's plans, Not only does he intend to drive off Wally, but he has taken steps to ruin Jake and Jeff's lives,
Brenda has reached middle age having slept with only Jake her husband, and her attempts to micromanage their life has created tensions in their marriage.
She had decided before the story begins to sleep with other men before herth birthday in order to have a variety of sexual experience and ended up sleeping with three men inhours.
One of them was Mr, Monti.
Once she decides that the only way out of her problems is to murder Mr, Monti, the readers' fun begins,
Judith Viorst is an established author of poetry and children's books, This delightful novel shows her skills at character development and humor, Filled with her own advice from her syndicated column, welldeveloped characters, outlandish situations, and a complex plot full of surprises, this is a delightful fun read,
I read this book years ago and thought this was such a funny book, Judith Viorst writes funny columns, And delightful books for young children, And I once heard her speak, and she is a terrific speaker, But I wasn't sure how she'd do with a fulllength adult novel,
Well, she certainly didn't disappoint me, This was a very funny book, if you like Black Humor, Probably funnier to those overthan to the younger set, I thoroughly enjoyed it. entertaining 'beach' read. Good concept. The kind of book I like to read, be entertained and not have to think much about it after wards, . . I adore Judith Viorst.
If you want a silly, frenetic diversion, . . by all means, enjoy.
It is neither lifeenhancing literature nor as hilarious as others have overstated,
Her Lulu series is wittier! Judith Viorst is the author of several works of fiction and non fiction for children as well as adults, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, her most famous childrens book, was first published inand has since sold over two million copies.
Ms. Viorst received a B. A. in History from Rutgers University, and she is also a graduate of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute where she is a research affiliate, She began her career as a poet and has since completed six collections of poems for adults, Her first novel for adults, Murdering Mr, Monti, was published inand her most recent work of non fiction, Imperfect Control, was published in Januaryby Simon and Schuster, Her book Necessary Losses, published Judith Viorst is the author of several works of fiction and non fiction for children as well as adults, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, her most famous children's book, was first published inand has since sold over two million copies.
Ms. Viorst received a B. A. in History from Rutgers University, and she is also a graduate of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute where she is a research affiliate, She began her career as a poet and has since completed six collections of poems for adults, Her first novel for adults, Murdering Mr, Monti, was published inand her most recent work of non fiction, Imperfect Control, was published in Januaryby Simon and Schuster, Her book Necessary Losses, published in, appeared for almost two years on The New York Times best seller list in hardcover and paperback, Ms. Viorst's children's books include The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, The Alphabet From Z to A, and the "Alexander" stories: Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday, Alexander, Who's Not Do You Hear Me I Mean It! Going to Move and, of course, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Ms. Viorst lectures widely on a variety of topics, ranging from the subjects of loss and control to children's literature, She resides in Washington, DC with her husband Milton, a political writer, They have three sons, Anthony, Nicholas and Alexander, and two perfect grandchildren, Miranda and Brandeis, sitelink.