Faking It

by Jennifer Crusie

Book Overview

Meet the Goodnights, a respectable family who have run a respectable art gallery for generations. There's Gwen, the matriarch who sedates herself with double-crostics and double vodkas, Eve the oldest daughter who has a slight identity problem (she has two), and Nadine, the granddaughter who's ready to follow in the family footsteps as soon as she can find a set that isn't leading off a cliff. Holding everyone together is Matilda, the youngest daughter,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312284683
• ISBN13: 9780312284688
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Faking It

Jennifer Crusie is a new author for me to explore. This was the second of her books I read (Bet Me, being first). In this story I was amazed at the world of Art Masterpiece and intrigue which I never really considered before. I enjoyed the dialogue and steamy sex scenes. There are many "laugh-out-loud" moments. The book took a few chapters to get into, but then I was hooked. Those of you just beginning to discover Jennifer Crusie, I suggest you read Welcome to Temptation first. It is not necessary though.

Best Jennifer Crusie book I have read so far.

Although I love all of her books, this is one of the best I have read up to this point. I couldn't put it down.

I'll never think of donuts and muffins the same again

This was the first of Crusie's books I've read and she's definitely got herself a new "regular." I enjoy the way she portrays Tilda's dry wit, and I loved the dialog between Tilda and Davy, especially during their closet encounters. While Tilda and Davy were presumably the main characters, I enjoyed the way Crusie shifts the point of view so that we get to know Gwen, Eve/Louise, Thomas, Simon, Mason, Clea, dear Steve, and especially Nadine (and poor Kyle!). Crusie's own wittiness shows through when Davy's nicknames for Tilda leak over into the dialog syntax, ie, when Davy calls her Vilma, her next piece of dialog is followed by "said Vilma." These little touches combined with a wonderfully convoluted storyline made this my favorite read of the year so far. A real hilarious page turner, especially at the very end.

It's the Real Thing

Faking It is the story of Tilda, who is gradually sinking under the weight of her family's darkest secrets. When she meets con artist Davy in someone else's closet in the middle of the night, neither one of them is in a position to take the moral upper hand. From this is born one of the most entertaining relationships in contemporary fiction.Faking It is the best of Jennifer Crusie's books so far. It has all the stuff Crusie fans love--lots humor, good sex, food, art, snappy dialogue, likable characters & good friendships. But it also has something that we've seen Crusie move toward in her latest two novels--a strong plot. This book would make an excellent movie. There are so many twists and turns in the plot that I was constantly engaged and could never get a step ahead of the story. Loved it!

Oh for goodness sakes, pay attention folks!

Have any of you read Dickens? No, wait, let's not go there. It appears that many folks just have a hard time keeping up with the characters in this book. It's not really the number of characters, it's the number of names for each person. And I think that's one of the main points of the book!!! People are a collection of different "characters", we're not one dimensional. Crusie even hits you over the head with it several times, with the "we've-all-got-a-bit-of-Nadine- in-us". (Funnily enough, I do have to agree with the one person who said she kept thinking Steve was a name of a person, not the dog!) Look, there are lots and lots of nice, simple, boy-meets-girl-gets-into-zany and/or scary situation-and-everyone-ends-up-happy-at-the-end books out there. If a nice simplicity is what you crave, take that route. But if you want clever pacing, excellent storytelling, and rich/complex/funny characters with enough whimsy to balance the touch of reality, then read "Faking It" (and just about anything by Jennifer Crusie since she started writing "real" books). You call follow the progression of names that Davey lays on Tilda - as he discovers something new and unique about her, he draws on old movies to describe that. I found it touching and endearing and very romantic. I felt very real tension between them - there's no secret that they'll end up together, but you wonder how that will happen. (At least I did.) The subtext isn't as ominous or scary as it was in "Temptation" or "Fast Women", but I'm OK with that. And I'm saving this book just so I can read to my daughter the advice about boys that Davey gave his niece ("they're just practice swings"). It's nice knowing how the women of Welcome to Temptation ended up, too (I always wondered if Amy stayed with the sheriff or stayed in LA). Ultimately, you need to remember that Crusie's books are more about the main characters (often women, but in this case, Davey too) figuring out their own lives for themselves. The romantic angle is secondary to that. Please, please - don't be afraid of all this talk about too many characters - Crusie hits another home run with "Faking It" as far as I'm concerned.