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| Plot Summary of All He Ever Wanted |
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"
Little Brown, April 203, 25.95, 304 pp.
ISBN 0316782262
Professor Nicholas Van Tassel knows he is a stuffy and pedantic professor of Literature and Rhetoric, who is more comfortable at Thrupp University instead of at Cambridge thirty-five miles away. He surprises himself when he acts the hero when the restaurant he is dining in bursts into flames. He escapes and helps other people until he sees Etna Bliss, with a small child in her arms, and falls instantly in love.
He pursues her with a ferocity that won't take no for an answer even though he sees that he is the one enamored, not her. When she finally accepts his proposal she makes it clear she doesn't love him but he doesn't care because he needs her. They have two children over the years and Professor Van Tassel is reasonably content until he finds out that his wife used her inheritance to buy a place he knew nothing about. He is so furious that he threatens divorce and is shocked when she quickly agrees to the idea. He does all in his power to convince her that she is making a mistake, using some very underhanded methods to get his point across.
ALL HE EVER WANTED was her love but he had to make do with her tepid affections and at the first sign of trouble, their marriage built on quicksand quickly sinks. The protagonist is telling his tale in the first person narrative on a train over thirty years since he married Etna and he is analyzing the marriage, as if it was a project. One can't help feel sorry for him, a basically good person who had to settle for less than he wanted.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of All He Ever Wanted |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story
- 1900-1920's
Inner struggle subplot
Yes
Struggle with...
- obession with uninterested person
Hidden Identity/Secret Motive
Yes
Is really...
- not in love (pretended so)
Main Male Character
Profession/status:
- scholar
Age/status:
- 40's-50's
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
How romantic is this person?
- very romantic
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Female Character
Age/status:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- homemaker
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
How romantic is this person?
- as romantic as a root canal
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
What % of story is romance related?
- 70%
Focus of story
- Him
How much dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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