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Book Review of All He Ever Wanted

All He Ever Wanted
All He Ever Wanted
Author: Anita Shreve
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
reviewed on + 32 more book reviews


Man, did I *hate* this book! It's not that it's not a good book, it is, I knew what Shreve was doing as I was reading it. But I didn't like reading it.

The protagonist, who tells the story in first person, is boorish, arrogant and a monster. Nicholas Van Tassel is an indifferent professor at a small New Hampshire college at the turn of the twentieth century who sees a woman during a hotel fire and cannot conceive of her not wanting him, only she never did, including after agreeing to marry him. He wants to possess her, he never attempts to know her, or understand her.