From one of our most exciting and provocative young writers, a poignant, riotously funny story of how far some will go for love–and how far some will go to escape it. Hazel has just moved into a trailer park of senior citizens, with her father and Diane–his extremely lifelike sex doll–as her roommates. Life with Hazel’s father is strained at best, but her only alternative seems even bleaker. … bleaker. She’s just run out on her marriage to Byron Gogol, CEO and founder of Gogol Industries, a monolithic corporation hell-bent on making its products and technologies indispensable in daily life. For over a decade, Hazel put up with being veritably quarantined by Byron in the family compound, her every movement and vital sign tracked. But when he demands to wirelessly connect the two of them via brain chips in a first-ever human “mind-meld,” Hazel decides what was once merely irritating has become unbearable. The world she escapes into is a far cry from the dry and clinical bubble she’s been living in, a world populated with a whole host of deviant oddballs.
As Hazel tries to carve out a new life for herself in this uncharted territory, Byron is using the most sophisticated tools at his disposal to find her and bring her home. His threats become more and more sinister, and Hazel is forced to take drastic measures in order to find a home of her own and free herself from Byron’s virtual clutches once and for all. Perceptive and compulsively readable, Made for Love is at once an absurd, raunchy comedy and a dazzling, profound meditation marriage, monogamy, and family.
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Alissa Nutting has a twisted, brilliant mind. This book features a set of characters who are in different ways incapable of real, human intimacy and are grasping for love in all the wrong places. I generally evaluate books by how much I think they’ll stick with me and keep me chewing on the ideas over time. I wasn’t really sure where this was going as I read it, and I’m still not sure I totally “get it”, but I love that I’m still mulling over the ideas days after finishing the book. Now I just need to decide whether to take the plunge and read Tampa.
This book was surprisingly brilliant. The plot is bizarre and twisted and yet the characters are sympathetic and the writing is witty and observant.
I was initially attracted by the blurb, which appears on the flyleaf of my edition.
The premise involves a lifelike sex doll belonging to Hazel’s septuagenarian father. Hazel, our protagonist, has serious self-esteem problems. In spite of this, she is courted by Byron, a young tech billionaire whose many inventions have revolutionized technology and scare the hell out of Hazel. As flattered as Hazel was when Byron first pursued her, the marriage did not turn out as she would have wished. She escapes from Byron’s clutches, but is surveilled wherever she goes, and with no money or employable skills, she has no choice but to invade the domain of her widowed father and Diane, his sex doll.
This was one of the few books I’ve found that actually made me laugh out loud. My literary hat is off to Alissa Nutting, a truly funny writer. I do have a couple of criticisms: 1) The various characters all seemed to speak with the same voice—everyone was very erudite and articulate, regardless of their background or station in life. 2) There were a lot of question marks where they were not needed. I know this was a conscious choice by the author, but still, I found them an unnecessary distraction.
In spite of these relatively minor complaints, I hail Alissa Nutting as a first-class wordsmith and I highly recommend this charming and funny book to everyone with a sense of humor.
Hazel has left her husband who she is determined to believe is going to kill her. Her husband Byron Gogol is CEO of Gogol Industries and his favorite test subject is Hazel. Showing up at her dad’s trailer she finds his new sex doll wife Diane and her father’s antics at time are too much to take. Will Hazel escape her husband and find her own path to happiness?
At times this was really funny as the story progressed I found it too be a little much at times. I wanted to like this but had a hard time with a few moments in the story.
It was weird, but I enjoyed it.
Well written but a bit convoluted. I had not read her previous book so didn’t know what to expect but the seemingly two divergent stories came together toward the end. An original, creative and humorous piece of work.
Not a fan,
Quirky. That’s what I remember about the reviews I read before I bought this book. I was glad I knew what I was getting into. It is quirky indeed and often a bit crude and base. If those things bother you, do not read this book, but if you find them fun or intriguing then you might find this book as fun to read as I did. This was one of those books that I didn’t want to end.
The only good thing about this book is that it finally ended.
This book is the product of a delightfully diseased mind. The story rambles along a creative path that is as humorous and thought-provoking as it is improbable. I found myself constantly highlighting passages for later reflection and enjoyment. I think the thing I enjoyed the most was the frankness in dealing with sexual matters, a subject that is usually either taboo or titillating, but seldom matter if fact, and incorporated into fiction as a normal part of life. Even though it is. Normal, I mean. The humor and the book’s outlook on life and the human condition was both disturbing and refreshing. I enjoyed it and will certainly be reading it again.