This was an all-around terrific book and I found it difficult to put down. Nicci wasn't your typical self-centered, poor me, cynical type chick lit gal and I was very much able to empathize with her various dilemma's (work, friendship, guys and life in general). Loved the way she was a true introvert and was comforted by Jackie Chan flicks and popcorn (for me it's B-horror flicks & ice cream). Was witty at times. Wearing a thong is the same thing as deliberately giving yourself a wedgie. It was also beautifully poetic over such a simple thing as a smile and a laugh. He laughs. I swear to God, a rainbow slides down that laugh and lands in my cubicle. I can feel the last drops of the tropical rain and hear the Maya birds fluttering in the dwarf palms. The wind sighs through the trees, and I can smell the earth sucking up the water . . . and a great, fat rainbow spreads itself all over my desk. This passage turned a typical mundane worker-bee day into a moment of heart-stopping beauty. Paperback This was an OK read, I liked the Kung Fu and Chinese tea references. Paperback Picked up by the end. Some likeable characters, namely Ethan and gramps. Paperback I'm always delighted to discover a new author. Coffee ... is a delightful read. The main character, Nicci, is wonderfully human (flaws and all). Her challenges to act according to her true self amid life's usual challenges (relationships, work, friends, family, social expectations) resonate with reality. Written with humor and insight to how most of our lives never move smoothly from Point A to Point B, you'll miss Nicci when you've reached the last page. I am happy to learn that Brichoux has written 3 other books! Paperback Do not judge a book by its cover or title. I had actually read this book almost 20 years ago and forgotten I had done so. About two years ago I must have picked it up at the used bookstore again - it could have been my same book for all I know. The cover, title and concept are winning. The execution is not.
The author is essentially doing a retelling of her own life growing up overseas and moving back to America, working in a crap job and hating it. But I think this author was never employed in a actual workplace because the things that go on and the people that inhabit this place of business make cookie cutters look like Picasso's tools.
The heroine is judgmental, unkind and a total misanthrope. And I feel I can say that because I am, too? But at least I can fake it a little better. She becomes entangled in a relationship with Flat Stanley or some other piece of paper blowing in the wind while pining for a manic pixie dreamboy barista who barely utters three sentences or appears in three scenes.
The chapter beginnings that talk about Jackie Chan movies could have been fun if they had been more than Wikipedia plot rehashes. They are not.
I hated and loathed this book but I made myself finish it and I don't know why I did it but there you go. I did it twice. Does that mean I get to walk the Elysian Fields?
Paperback
Brichoux’s debut novel is a pithy literary waif silently waiting to claim its place among the cookie-cutter quirky romantic comedies at Blockbuster. It is the same offbeat tale of romance in the big city done a thousand times before, yet that for some reason when on the big screen rarely goes un-noticed (unfortunately for the historical sales of the book). Brichoux shuffles around the irrelevant details just a bit, but not enough to make an endearing or lasting impression. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but if you’re the sensitive type, looking for a quick, light-hearted read with too many unnecessarily graphic sex scenes, then this is the book for you.
Based on my own personal rating system, I give Coffee & Kung Fu:****
*-“Holy Piece of Crap, Batman!”
**-“ppphhhttt…”
***-“Ugh.”
****- “Egh.”
*****- “I don’t necessarily regret paying $.99 for this book at the local second hand store.”
Paperback This is quite possibly the best chick lit book I've ever read. I don't know what made me pick up this book at B&N other than it was on the bargin rack and the main character was in love with kung fu movies... It was an impulse buy and a pretty good one at that. It's chick lit with a heart and a brain, believe it or not. Very good read. Starts off like typical chick-lit but about half way through, gains momentum and the ending is sad and happy all at the same time. Highly recommended. Paperback Coffee and Kung Fu is the chick lit book to which I compare all other chick lit. Funny, engaging, light reading - but featuring a protagonist I didn't cringe about identifying with. As Nicci navigates work and romance, she turns for guidance, not to martinis with the girls, but to the wisdom of the kung fu masters in the movies she loves. That's right: she's quietly a geek. The supporting characters are also delightfully quirky; her grandfather in particular stands out, with his ability to tell everything he needs to know by the shoes a man wears.
But what I most appreciate is that the protagonist ultimately must decide between accepting those things young women are expected to want or taking a risk on something better suited for her own happiness. It's a refreshing dilemma compared the cookie cutter desires of many chick lit heroines. Paperback This was a thinker, a reflection pool into our why some of us do the things we do. I was not expecting that. Honestly, I don't know what I expected I bought this for the cover and back cover, it mentioned Jackie Chan and Kung Fu movies. I guess I expected a slap stick movie kind of feel to it. I really enjoyed it, I was glued to the pages, I wanted to see her wake up and live. It was very therapeutic There were many moments where I wanted to teak her ear and tell her to smell the coffee more. Dang it was better than Dr Phil or Oprah.
When she is sitting in an abortion clinic with someone she looks around at all the women i the room and wonders.
How many of them are paying for being lonely?
Sad moment of clarity, how much we alter our own needs just to not be alone.
Even if it's illogical, I go through life as if the people I love were Planning on living forever. As if they had a choice. I skip along my merry way, confident that when I need them, they'll be there. Most people do this. Unless forced to by illness or necessity, the human being shies away from living with the constant reminder of death,.....
Nicci, is a young woman out in the world trying to find her place. She is following the rules set by society all the shoulds, but it's not quiet fitting. She is the piece that doesn't have the right bend to fit in just so. So she stumbles, but never falls. Go Nicci. Paperback I work for a publishing company/book distributer type place in Boston. And I love Jackie Chan. Coffee too. That’s why I put this book on my TBR several years ago. What took me so long to read it? Well, I’ve read good chick lit and bad chick lit. Either way, I find it almost impossible to relate to the women in these books. They are nothing like me so my reviews are often full of ranting about bubble-headed women who shop too much. I only read chick lit or women’s fiction when I’ve overdosed on other genres and need a break. Blah, blah, blah. I’ll shut up now and say this is the best chick lit I’ve ever read. And not just because the chick likes Jackie Chan.
Nicci Bradford is lost and lonely and unfulfilled. She is at a job she doesn’t love and is surrounded by people she has nothing in common with. I can relate.
She becomes involved with a man who she has nothing in common with other than great sex. Then there’s the man the reader knows she’s supposed to be with and you want to reach into the book and slap a big WTF sign on her forehead. Sure, the storyline is predictable enough. But the romance(s) are refreshingly lacking in sugar sweetness. That’s left for the coffee (and tea).
Paperback
Twenty-six-year-old Nicci Bradford doesn't exactly love her job fixing the grammar in company brochures, or living in Boston, or going on awkward fix-ups with men she barely knows. What she does love is Kung Fu movies...especially the ones starring Jackie Chan. Their timeless and inspired wisdom offers her a philosophy of life. The problem is she doesn't have much of a life to philosophize about. But Jackie Chan is also a pretty good action hero. And when opportunity-and risk-present themselves in unexpected ways, it's up to Nicci to follow her hero's example, focus on her goal, and strike... Coffee And Kung Fu