The Bottom Line
Pros
- Readers will fall in love with Collins’ characters immediately.
- 'Beginner's Greek' is a complicated but essentially sweet story.
Cons
- The conclusion of 'Beginner's Greek' wraps loose ends up a bit too perfectly.
Description
- Peter and Holly meet on a cross-country flight, and are immediately drawn to each other.
- Peter loses Holly’s phone number, and the two don’t see each other for years.
- Marriages to other people and complicated family relationships keep Holly and Peter apart.
Guide Review - 'Beginner's Greek' by James Collins - Book Review
The ease and humor of Collins’ writing are perhaps the most appealing aspects of Beginner’s Greek. His narration transitions easily from Peter’s stream-of-consciousness to a third-person description of events he knows nothing about to Holly’s stream-of-consciousness -- all delivered in Collins’ crisp and funny prose.
For all its romantic sweetness, Collins’ novel has a deliberate and convincing view of the world, and it’s expressed through his astute social observations and intuitions. It is this combination of this old-fashioned romance with a hard look at business, infidelity, and wealth that makes Beginner’s Greek so unusual and un-miss-able.



