Schmidt Delivered

by Louis Begley

Book Overview

Recently widowed, Albert Schmidt has triumphantly rediscovered domestic bliss in the Hamptons with Carrie, the Puerto Rican waitress who is younger than his daughter. Schmidt is content with keeping... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345440838
• ISBN13: 9780345440839
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

those pesky quotation marks

Begley claims quotation marks make his pages unsightly. He can use them or not, it's a free country, but there's a reason most of the civilized world uses the darn things. It's called clarity. Having dug my way through both Schmidt books without the benefit of adequate puncutation I'd highly recommend Begley give it up and bow to convention. However neat the pages appear, it just ain't worth it. And since when did anyone care about neat-looking pages? That said, Schmidt Delivered was a satisfying experience, mostly due to Begley's memorable characters. Hope the little guy has at least one more Schmidt book in his quiver and that he relents and uses those darn quotation marks to help us keep the musings and the speeches separate.

Excellent sequel to About Schmidt

After thoroughly enjoying "About Schmidt" I found the first 200 pages of this 300 page book quite dark. Most of the characters were none too likable, including Schmidtie. But I am soooo glad I finished the book. It was an excellent character study and very well written. My only gripe -- why did the publisher/editor leave out the quotation marks around all of the conversation? Is that just an affectation, or is it supposed to have some significance?

Begley at His Best

Many readers of Begley's stunning first novel, the semi-autobiographical "Wartimes Lies", have been disappointed by his later work. It has been my impression that he has taken a while to find his voice, but each of his later novels has been better than the last. "Schmidt Delivered" is the best to date. It is both comical and poignant. Begley writes from the point of view of his protagonists, and his earlier novels were often solipsistic, with too little sense of interaction and at times limited sensitivity to secondary characters. "Schmidt Delivered" has a satisfying richness of portraiture and of interaction. It is also a sunnier novel than any of his earlier works, with a complex but happy ending. I recommend it.