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    The Decent Proposal: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Decent Proposal: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Decent Proposal: A Novel
    Ebook352 pages5 hours

    The Decent Proposal: A Novel

    By Kemper Donovan

    3/5

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    Currently unavailable

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    About this ebook

    “A sharp, wise, and hilarious novel. . . . We loved it!” — Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza, authors of The Knockoff

    An addictively readable romantic comedy, drama, and mystery rolled into one, about two very different strangers whose lives become intertwined when they receive an unusual proposition. The Decent Proposal is a funny, tender, and enchanting story about love, attraction, and friendship: Jane Austen in Los Angeles.

    A struggling Hollywood producer, Richard Baumbach is twenty-nine, hung-over, and broke. Ridiculously handsome with an innate charm and an air of invincibility, he still believes good things will come his way. For now he contents himself with days at the Coffee Bean and nights with his best friend Mike (that’s a woman, by the way).

    At thirty-three, Elizabeth Santiago is on track to make partner at her law firm. Known as “La Máquina” The Machine—to her colleagues, she’s grown used to avoiding anything that might derail her quiet, orderly life. And yet recently she befriended a homeless man in her Venice neighborhood, surprised to find how much she enjoys their early-morning chats.

    Richard and Elizabeth’s paths collide when they receive a proposal from a mysterious, anonymous benefactor. They’ll split a million dollars if they agree to spend at least two hours together—just talking—every week for a year. Astonished and more than a little suspicious, they each nevertheless say yes. Richard needs the money and likes the adventure of it. Elizabeth embraces the challenge of shaking up her life a little more. Both agree the idea is ridiculous, but why not?

    What ensues is a delightful journey full of twists, revelations, hamburgers, classic literature, poppy music, and above all love, in its multitude of forms. The Decent Proposal is a heartfelt and often hilarious look at the ties that bind not just a guy and a girl but an entire, diverse cast of characters situated within a modern-day Los Angeles brought to full and irrepressible life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 5, 2016
    ISBN9780062391605
    Author

    Kemper Donovan

    Kemper Donovan has lived in Los Angeles for the past twelve years. A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, he worked at the literary management company Circle of Confusion for a decade, representing screenwriters and comic books. He is also a member of the New York Bar Association. www.kemperdonovan.com

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    Reviews for The Decent Proposal

    3/5

    35 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Enjoyable while I was listening, but forgettable. The part I liked best were the changes Richard and Elizabeth went through as they socialized with each other. Because they weren't trying to impress each other, they were able to be authentic with each other and discovered hidden parts of themselves.
    • 4/5
      “The Decent Proposal” is an interesting take on a “meet-cute” of two people, Elizabeth and Richard, who are set up by a mysterious benefactor. Each is promised $500,000 to meet with the other over a year - once a week for 2 hours. Nothing else is required, and they both agree to the deal (who wouldn’t?) – and their relationship begins.Their relationship, however, was the least interesting part of the book for me. I much preferred reading about the other people in their lives. Richard has a best friend, Mike (Michaela) who was more fully fleshed out and far more complex than Richard. As she tries to deal with this new aspect of their lives, her emotional struggles deepen what at its core is a completely unrealistic love story. Mike is also the one, not either Elizabeth or Richard, who actually tries to solve the mystery of the “decent proposal”. I suppose there is an element of “Don’t look a gift horse” – but if she was keeping in character, Elizabeth certainly should have spent some time looking into the details of this windfall.On Elizabeth’s side of the aisle is Orpheus, a man who confounds and challenges her tidy and completely compartmentalized life. He is also more fully developed and more interesting than the main characters. It was almost as if Richard and Elizabeth were put into the story to introduce the reader to Mike and Orpheus.But the real love story here is the one with the city of Los Angeles as the love interest. The author’s love (or at least fascination) with the city he resides in comes through loud and clear (even when it is ascribed to a character). The detail, the level of description and intensity about this city, was very evocative and in a way, made me think of “Pretty Woman” (another “meet-cute”) – when the move pulls back from Julia Roberts and Richard Gere and showcases the unbelievable city in which unbelievable stories take place every day.“Even now, at 7 p.m., there were enough children there to constitute aa swarm – limbs flailing, fingers sticky from a day’s worth of churros and cotton candy. Every storefront seemed to be shouting (T-SHIRTS SOLD HERE!! BEST MILKSHAKE IN L.A.!!); every light flashed; every color dazzled; it was as though each square foot of the place had its own set of jazz hands.”The book ends on that note of wonderment as well. “…she could see the entire city at once: indescribable, unquantifiable, contrarian L.A., an improbable pastiche made up of untamed wilderness, cultivated parks, gleaming celebrity mansions, crumbling housing projects, business towers reaching for the sky, strip clubs that barely got off the ground, pristine beaches broken up strategically by acres of shiny metal pipes (what the hell were they? desalination plants, came the answer with unexpected readiness), luxury automobiles, industrial ships, brightly colored buses, a surprisingly elaborate grid of subway lines, and people – so many different kinds of people – thrown together in a mishmash of neighborhoods with no heart because its heart was everywhere: a sum greater than its parts.”This is a love story, yes, nominally of two people, but truly one that is about love of place. Delight, amazement and adoration of the incredible City of Angels.
    • 4/5
      Entertaining and highly readable first novel from Donovan. Hoping more will follow