Product Description

Told in "he-said, she-said" alternating chapters, this People magazine "Beach Book of the Week" takes you into the London singles scene, where a woman looking for the love of her life meets up with a man looking for the love of tonight-and sparks fly in more ways than one.

"Entertaining, funny, genuine and sweet."-Newsday

"A hybrid of (Helen) Fielding and (Nick) Hornby."-St. Petersburg Times

"Page-turning fun."-People

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1339398 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-01
• Released on: 2000-08-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 303 pages

Amazon.com Review
He says: "A one-night stand. No complications. Just another chalk mark on the board. A bit of harmless fun." She says: "You have no idea how much I hate being on my own."

They are Jack and Amy, two twentysomething singles living in London, and the central characters in Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees's joint effort, Come Together. Jack is an artist who scrapes out a living by day working part-time in a gallery and prowls the bars by night looking to "pull." Amy is a temp with dreams of becoming a fashion designer. When the two meet at a party, they spend the whole night talking; both enjoy the conversation, but while Amy starts thinking that Jack "could well be my perfect man," his thoughts run along more basic lines--he wants to see her again because "I haven't had sex for over a week and you haven't had sex for over six months. Because, Amy, we therefore have a mutual need. And, yeah, because I fancy you, too."

That last sentiment is important. Though Jack starts out trying to seduce Amy into a casual fling, he ends up falling for her hard. There's only one problem: the little matter of the nude portrait he's doing of Sally McCullen, a drop-dead gorgeous blonde and former obsession. Told in alternating he said-she said chapters, Come Together is fairly predictable plot-wise, but the prose is effortlessly comical, the characters endearing, and the details of dating in the '90s hilariously spot-on. An added frisson of enjoyment comes from the fact that Lloyd and Rees became a couple themselves in the course of writing this novel. --Alix Wilber

From Publishers Weekly
Collaborating as alternating male and female voices, Rees (The Book of Dead Authors) and Lloyd (It Could Be You) draw a slacker-love roadmap that allows readers of each gender to see what the other really thinks. Currently engaged to marry in real life, the writing couple have created West London Bridget Jones-wannabes Jack Rossiter and Amy Crosbie, who rival their precursor in list making and neurotic fretting, if not in charm: each has a sardonic, unapologetic edge that makes them less endearing than Bridget. At 25, chronic office temp Amy hasn't had sex for months. Struggling artist Jack, 27, sees his single life as "a state of siege" (his rule of thumb: don't give up complete no-strings-attached sexual freedom until your "Uberbabe" comes along). The two meet, talk all night, immediately go off to obsess about each other. Amy's judgment of Jack by "vital statistics" makes us wonder about the depth of the mutual attraction, but as one watches them endure every possible relationship pratfall and misunderstanding, the emotional ante rises for a happy-ever-after. Their biggest blowup is the most interesting, if only for its current-events echoes: does Jack's "accidental fellatio" count as infidelity? Gen-Xers will find all of their culture and conflict in these pages?honesty, jealousy, vacations from hell, condoms. Anyone over 35, however, will be as dismayed as they are entertained by the jadedness and naivete of the characters' concerns. Agents, Vivienne Shuster and Jonny Geller. Rights sold in Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Greece; film rights to Working Title Films; author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Written in alternating he-said, she-said chapters, this postmodern love story was written by a London couple who met just a few weeks before beginning their manuscript. Their frantic, always self-absorbed narration charts the course of two falling-in-and-out-of-love characters, Jack and Amy. As the novel opens, Jack is a strugging artist and part-time gallery clerk, and Amy is a bored temp who wants to break into the London fashion business. Their romance involves plenty of passionate bed scenes, love triangles, romantic getaways, misunderstandings, and moments both perfect and cynical. Each one spends many hours trying to figure out the opposite sex. Depending on their age, readers will find Come Together wonderfully authentic and revealing or boring and predictable. Twentysomethings in search of true love who enjoyed Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (LJ 5/15/98) have another good read in store.AKeddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A Keeper!
I recently came across this while cleaning out some old books, read a few pages, and decided to put it back on the shelf for a re-read soon.

Come Together is chick lit of the British variety, and an excellent example of the genre. The twist in this one is that the co-authors, male and female, write the chapters alternating between the male and female characters' first-person voices, giving a multi-dimensional view of the relationship and the events. Like Bridget Jones, there is lots of insecurity and amusing goof-ups before the relationship can really happen, but this time it's not just the female being spazzy.

And it's often laugh-out-loud funny. What made me decide to re-read it was finding this passage again( this is Amy, the female protagonist, calling her best friend Helen the morning after meeting Jack, the soon-to-be boyfriend):

H: (sleepily) Hmmm?

Me: (a pause, just so she'll know it's me) Blachhhhhhhhh! (I inject this greeting with as much postpuking throaty misery as I can muster)

H: Blachh-blachh-blachh? Or just blachh?

Me: Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaachh!

H: I'll be right over.

I love H. She understands me.

What's not to love? If you are a fan of Brit chick lit and are looking for a fun read, check this one out. It's a few years old, but well worth looking for.

Must Read for the Bridget Crowd
If you loved Bridget Jones, you will love this book. Amy is Bridget with attitude! I got this book and fell in love with this couple! You will love seeing both sides of a relationship. Then I found out that the Authors are now married! Also, there is a sequel out in the UK called Come Again!

COME AGAIN - EXCELLENT
JUST SIMPLY BRILLIANT - COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN ! JUST AS GOOD AS THE 1ST ONE..COME TOGETHER...LOVELY ENDING ...REALLY LOVED IT

BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT !