Karlmarx.com: A Love Story

By Susan Coll

Book Overview

Ella Kennedy may not be perfect, but she's smart, she's dedicated, and she's finally managed to find a fascinating thesis subject in the morass of Marxist political theory: Eleanor Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl and a bright light in the Marxist movement, who famously declined after a disastrous love affair. With tenacity, with vigor, Ella Kennedy, Ph.D. student extraordinaire, begins delving into the world of Eleanor just as she takes a job setting up a Marxist mail-order catalogue at the fledgling Institute of Thought in Washington, D.C. -- a veritable three-ring circus.

When Ella's own life begins to parallel Eleanor's -- right down to the domineering father (Ella's is known as the king of discount merchandising) and the distant yet brilliant lover -- the theoretical, the political, and the personal collide in a hilarious romp of a novel. Wacky, heartwarming, and deliciously smart, this novel of heartbreak and hilarity on the doctoral circuit is the intersection of Laura Zigman, Nora Ephron, and Richard Russo.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416552081
• ISBN13: 9781416552086
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Funny first novel about life as a graduate student

Read KARLMARX.COM, a first novel by Susan Coll . . . this funny tale is about a graduate student whose life is turned upside down by both her lover and employer . . . in addition, she is having troubles finishing her dissertation about Eleanor Marx (the youngest daughter of Karl) . . . eventually,the lives of the graduate student and Eleanor Marx run parallel tracks--and that is what makes this book so interesting to read.Also, Cool has a real feel for dialogue . . . and I found myself laughing out loud several times.There were many memorable passages; among them:That my parents did not approve of my flirtation with campus communism went without saying. But then it was tough to recall a time when any of my variously fleeting ideologies had earned their praise. Certainly not when,as an eleven-year-old, I had liberated all of the meat in our sub-zero freezerand fed it to the neighbor's dog in a zealous attack of vegetarianism. Nor did they show much enthusiasim when I became enamored of existentialism as a brooding high school junior and took to chain-smoking cigarettes and quoting Satre at dinner.My parents both stopped chewing and stared, enchanted. No one had ever complimented my mother on her cooking before. Eating my mother's cooking was simply something we tolerated, like having our teeth cleaned. I dared not tell them aobut the marriage proposal. My father would probably drop his fork and run directly to the phone to book the caterer.A picnic! I was thrilled. What child does not love a picnic? What child is not inordinately thrilled by the prospect of schlepping otherwise mundane food outside and then sitting on the ground and eating it while batting away bees and stomping on ants?

KarlMark.Com is a great title for a very good book!

Put this book on your summer reading list! Author Susan Coll's strength lies in her brilliant dialogue.