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    Following Polly: A Novel
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    Following Polly: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Following Polly: A Novel
    Ebook339 pages5 hours

    Following Polly: A Novel

    By Karen Bergreen

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Would you call Alice Teakle a stalker? Or just someone with an, um, healthy obsession with golden girl Polly Linley Dawson? No one much notices Alice: not her boss, not the neighbors, not even her Mother.

    Besides, everyone follows Polly: her business selling high-end lingerie you can imagine only her elegant self wearing, her all-over-the-social-pages marriage to movie director Humphrey Dawson, her chic looks, her wardrobe. Alice just follows her a little more….closely.

    And when she loses her job and starts to follow Polly Dawson one Manhattan autumn afternoon, Alice stumbles on the object of her attention sprawled dead on the floor of a boutique. Alice is forced to become truly beneath anyone's notice. Invisible, in fact. Because she's accused of murder.

    But can another obsession help save Alice with the fallout? Charlie is Alice's longtime unattainable crush. He might be able to help her out of the mess she's in…in return for a favor or two, that is. And how will Alice find out if Charlie is really the man Alice thinks he is?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJun 22, 2010
    ISBN9781429921251
    Unavailable
    Following Polly: A Novel
    Author

    Karen Bergreen

    KAREN BERGREEN's first career was as an attorney who clerked for a federal judge. Her second career as a stand-up comic has led to appearances not in front of the bench, but on Comedy Central, the Oxygen network, Court TV and Law & Order. She is the author of Following Polly and Perfect Is Overrated. She lives in New York City

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    Reviews for Following Polly

    4/5

    73 ratings29 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I was a little uncomfortable with her following (stalking!) at first. After awhile I found it funny and that I could even relate with her. Alice Teakle is a "Stephanie Plum" character - funny, witty, and a bit bumbling but always comes out ahead. The story was entertaining, not predictable, and believable.
    • 5/5
      Alice loses her casting agency job and with nothing better to do, begins following her much more successful Harvard classmate Polly around Manhattan. When Polly ends up dead, Alice becomes a suspect and ends up hiding out with her school crush, Charlie. This sounds bizarre, but unfolds realistically and with great humor. Liked it a lot.
    • 4/5
      Following Polly has many funny passages, including an especially humorous Manhattan party crashing scene that is up to the level of Woody Allen's New Yorker pieces. I thought Following Polly was merely going to be a breezy chick-lit diversion. However, it is a fine novel with an intriguing murder mystery and hilarious comic turns. It is chick lit with an unexpected emphasis on the "lit." What elevates Following Polly is its treatment of the down side of life in Manhattan, when it feels lonely and loveless and cashless to boot. Manhattan is almost a character here (also like Woody) as Polly tries to clear herself of a murder charge while evading the police and finding herself. She is dogged by the highly inconvenient fact that she was sort of stalking the murder victim, a former college classmate who is prettier and much more successful than Polly, and was never very nice to her, at the time the victim is found dead. This also turns out to be a love story, and of course love solves all. Read this book!
    • 5/5
      This was one of the funniest books that I have read in a long time! Karen Bergreen has put together a cast of characters that really put the “fun” in dysfunctional! I absolutely love Alice!!! She is so quirky and lovable in a weird sort of way. And the things she gets herself into are hysterical.I ended up reading this book in one day and definitely did not want it to end. I had reviewed this on my blog ages ago. I forgot to put the review on here as well.
    • 3/5
      Manhattanite gets fired and starts following the popular girl from high school days. Quite improbable sounding but it does get you inside the mind of a stalker. Good suspense when Poppy is murdered and of course Alice is the prime suspect. Romance ensues as well. Fun.
    • 4/5
      This is a humorous, quirky, fast read. Alice's narrative brings the reader into her life of misadventures--including getting fired from her job, stalking an old classmate, stumbling onto a murder and escaping the police. I definitely felt a Janet Evanovich "Stephanie Plum" vibe when reading this book, and that is not a bad thing. I look forward to other AliceTeakle adventures.This reviewed as part of Library Thing's Early Reviewers program.
    • 5/5
      Very funny book that is hard to put down. It's hard to classify this one - it's funny, murder mystery, drama. Did I mention it's funny? I'll definitely be on the lookout for the next book from Karen Bergreen.
    • 4/5
      Loved it!! Perfect for summer, and keeps you hooked!
    • 4/5
      A light, fun story of a slightly pathological young woman who gets involved in murder because she is compulsively following her college nemesis. Witty Manhattan wiseacre voice and lots of Manhattan flavor.
    • 5/5
      This book was a great summer read. I started it while on vacation and finished reading it in the car on the way home. Normally I can only read for a little while in the car, before I either get restless or a headache - but not with this book - I read it right through to the end of the book!Alice has lost her job and is just sort of floating, not really sure where she wants to land, when she sees Polly Dawson. Polly is sort of her long-time nemesis from college - the one who always had everything, perfect looks, perfect clothes, perfect life, etc, so she decides to follow her. Before she knows it, it has become an everyday obsession. She probably knows more about where Polly goes than even her husband! And Polly never notices her. Unfortunately, it seems someone else has and she becomes framed for Polly's murder. Alice goes into hiding, sort of. She camps outside of her college crush's apartment (he is/was a lawyer). He eventually confronts her, not remembering her from college, and for some reason believes her story and takes her in. He has his own ulterior motives for helping her. There are a couple of mysteries happening - first off is the obvious - who killed Polly and framed Alice - and the second is what's up with Charlie's father and will Alice be able to help Charlie find out the truth? There is alot of humor in this story. It is kind of a dry humor in face of the dire situation that Alice is facing. I especially liked this part - Alice has asked that Charlie get in touch with her best friend, Jean, to let her know that she is okay."Hi, Jean. I don't know if you remember me. My name is Walter Redwin. We went to Harvard Law School together."Jean pauses for a second. I know that she's dying to get in touch with me to tell me that my Charlie called her.This is where Charlie's part gets tricky."You may know me as Charlie."Now, I know you may be wondering how I managed to get Charlie to identify himself by his crush-name."Just introduce yourself to her on the phone," I instructed him casually just minutes ago. "And then tell her that she may know you as Charlie.""Why Charlie?""Oh, it's this thing with me and Jean.""What kind of thing?"A thing where I made up a name for you when I decided to become obsessed with you."I promise I will tell you the second I get out of trouble." Curiosity is a great motivator. (p148-149, Following Polly)Now maybe you need to read more of the story to appreciate it, but Alice's character is definitely quirky. But it is a good quirky. During the story you get to see her grow and to embrace who she really is. There are a couple of twists at the end, but one I definitely did not see coming. The book wrapped up nicely. I will definitely be watching for another book by Karen Bergreen.
    • 4/5
      Karen Bergreen, you made my day. I have to admit, most books that I receive to review don't really have much affect on me. The writing is often a little bland or mediocre in quality, and I don't really find myself itching to find out what happens next, or desiring to curl up with my book at the end of the night.I'm happy to report though that my experience with Following Polly was entirely opposite. I absolutely love this book. What I liked most about Following Polly was Karen's style of writing, and her ability to paint a picture with her words, and to create characters that have depth and dimension. She's got some whit and sass as well, which I love! Her writing resembles Meg Cabot's to me, in the way her tone and personality shines through her work. It drew me in, and I stayed wrapped up in Alice Teakle's adventures and mishaps, and looked forward to settling in at night and cracking open my book. I'll definitely be reading more of Karen Bergreen's work in the future. It'll be my new little guilty pleasure.
    • 5/5
      I found this book entertaining. It was a quick weekend read. The main character AliceTeakle, reminded me of Stephanie Plum. I am looking forward to more books from Karen Bergreen.
    • 3/5
      An light and entertaining read. While the main character's obsession with stalking characters is a bit disturbing, it adds to the humor in the book. Similar in style to Janet Evanovich's books about Stephanie Plum, this title leaves us wanting for more.
    • 4/5
      Alice is kind of at a low point in her life. She got fired from her job for exposing a secret about her boss, so now she’s jobless.Yes, she has a Harvard degree, but without a life plan, there is nothing to do with that piece of prestigious paper. So, she folds it up and takes up a hobby: Following Polly.Polly was the popular girl at Harvard. She spoke to Polly once, because she needed help breaking into her room. And although they lived by each other, Polly never spoke to Alice again. This really pissed Alice off. So, to get by for a few days, and make a life plan, she decides to follow Polly. I mean, that’s a rational choice right? There job market is in a slump thanks to the economy.It’s all going great and Alice is hitting the hottest spots in New York until Polly turns up dead. And yes, Alice was hot on her heels, spotted and the crime scene and is now the prime murder suspect. She has to keep a low profile from police, but stay out in the streets, following like she does best, to find out who the real killer is. And she enlists a little bit of help in the man who she has been in love with for more than a decade. Too bad he doesn’t know she exists until she’s a murder suspect.This was such a cute book! Alice is one of those characters that you want to help, even though she may be in a pickle. You know she isn’t the killer. Yes, she may be a bit crazy, taking up following instead of getting a job, but she isn’t a cold-blooded murderer. You want to close your eyes and open them in one of the book scenes and shake the cops and tell them she isn’t their girl.But there’s also a great love story in this book. Two awkward souls, searching for the truth, are put into a situation where they can both help. Alice can do a little following to clear Charlie’s dad’s name and Charlie is friends with the cop who arrested Alice and maybe Charlie can get a little info that will help Alice found the real killer.Even though I imagine most of us don’t know what it feels like to be a murder suspect, but I can guarantee I wouldn’t have the guts that Alice does, fighting for my own freedom, on the lam. But I think there’s one thing we can agree on, at least I think I can speak for the ladies: That one guy in college that you saw in class, the library, anywhere and everywhere, but never had the guts to talk to and always wanted to. I use college, because that is where Alice met Charlie, but I know this also happened in high school and continues to happen to people in adulthood. And Alice obviously has a bit of stalker tendencies, and unbeknownst to Charlie, Polly may have not been his first victim! I really hope someone will share a stalker story on the comments section. That would make my day.The one thing I didn’t like about this book was a personal preference about Alice. I hate to even talk about character traits, because they aren’t my characters and I don’t want people to talk about my babies (characters), but I know it happens. At first, before I got to know Alice, I was turned off a little by her. I mean seriously, you have a degree from Harvard and take to “following” someone to pass the time? You may have a vendetta because Polly didn’t want to braid your hair and drink strawberry daquiris with you, BUT YOU HAVE A DEGREE FROM HARVARD! You are smart enough to make better friends, or at least smart enough to hire someone else to do you following for you I also will go ahead and answer your question “Why are you using the word follow instead of stalking?” Ok, I admit that Alice is a Grade-A stalker and she’s pretty good at it, but I love her and don’t want her to be a stalker, so I may have down played it a teensy-tinsy bit. There’s a fine line …. ok no there isn’t. You follow, you’re a stalker. But trust me, you read Alice and Polly’s story and you’ll hate to use the word stalker too.I give Following Polly 4 bookmarks.
    • 3/5
      This book had some good points and some bad. I really didn't find the protagonist Alice completely believable but perhaps that's because I didn't completely understand her obsession and pathology.Alice is a compulsive stalker, preferring to follow the object of her intention instead of interacting with them. She doesn't seem to be dangerous, or is she? The main premise of the book has her Following Polly a fabulously successful designer who Alice originally met in college. When a sinister fate befalls Polly, it's Alice that the police want to question. The story is both comical and romantic and is a great light mystery if the reader is willing and able to suspend belief for a little while.
    • 3/5
      Following Polly was a good summer read even though it takes place in winter.The mystery seemed to be more of a secondary story to Alice's (the main character) tendencies to, well, follow Polly...and a bunch of other people. And here's what bothered me about the book. The following/stalking part of the story made me pretty uncomfortable because there were a good number of things that I liked about Alice but this was predominant and creeped me out quite a bit. That normally wouldn't be an issue since not all narrators are likable, but you really had to like Alice in order to be in sync with the rest of the story and, especially, the humor. I never felt like the reason for her tendencies were fully flushed out enough for me to connect with why she did this again and again. Without this connection sometimes I was feeling like Alice's hobby that was supposed to be sinister but endearing was just plain sinister.I did like her Mother's advice at the end as to a change of career!With the following Polly angle, Alice's pursuit of the killer, her new relationship with Charlie, the Charlie's Dad arc and Jean the Best Friend...sometimes the story seemed a bit crowded for 300 pages. But overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it for a good 'beach' or 'airplane' read.
    • 3/5
      This book made me laugh out loud in a few spots. I realized I started getting self consious at times hoping I was not driving behind someone for too long. I feel like once Alice went into hiding it dragged on for longer than it may have needed to. I would reccomend the book for someone who wanted a quick fun read.
    • 5/5
      Karen Bergreen's first novel, Following Polly, is a fun, fun, fun read! The affable main character, Alice Teakle, is like an American Bridgette Jone's - stealthily stumbling from following to stalking to running and beyond - with the best friends a girl could have and her own unique look at life. A quirky chick lit novel with a mystery twist thrown in - highly recommended for passing time in an enjoyable way!
    • 5/5
      I won this from Library Thing and I liked it a lot. The characters in it were very rich and I loved the main character, Alice Teakle. This book was quirky and funny and I liked how the main heroine of the book is not so perfect herself, somewhat of a stalker, and unlike any character I have ever read. I am so grateful to win a copy of the book and I will anxiously await other books from this author.
    • 4/5
      Funny, romantic, and sappy, Following Polly still maintains a believable, adventurous vibe. There is something to Alice Teakle that makes you wonder why she is so goofy, odd, and vicarious. So vicarious, in fact, that she takes to following others a.k.a. stalking. She's not your average, perverted peeping tom though and you can't help but love her.A wonderful who-dun-it with fantastic characters, a progressive mystery, and not to mention the dash of happily ever after.
    • 3/5
      Newly unemployed Alice begins to follow her old college classmate to prove she can stalk with the best of them and to learn what makes others successful. But soon her object is found dead and Alice has to start following other to find the true killer and prove her innocence. Following Polly is a nice, quick summer read. It's cute. It's funny. It's predictable, but in a good way. Not at all bad for a first book.
    • 5/5
      A nice light read, with twists to keep it interesting. A very enjoyable book, I actually read it in one day. I liked the concept of Alice following (stalking) Polly, because who could really be that pretty, that successful and that self centered. From the beginning when she lost what she thought was her dream job to the end with ‘Charlie’ her dream man; the story is filled with humor and playful intrigue.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. Karen Bergreen has a way of drawing you into the characters she has created in such a way that you feel you know them already. This is a light, fun, read. There is something for everybody here. If you like romance, mystery, fun, friendship, family relationships, psych issues, or just a fun read then this is one you should definitely pick up and read. Bergreen has an interesting style that flows smoothly and the whodunit aspect kept me wondering until the very end. I will pass this one on to my daughter who is a psych major because I believe she will enjoy that aspect of the story line. Kudos to Karen Bergreen!!!
    • 4/5
      After a slightly slow start (first few pages felt like they were grasping for footing), "Following Polly" chugged along at a relatively quick pace. With almost constant progression and believable characters, it's a quick, fun read. It's witty without trying too hard to be funny, and the murder mystery line is interesting enough without sounding entirely too contrived.It's not without its flaws, but a good read all the same.
    • 4/5
      I won this book from Goodreads as a First Reads copy.I just finished reading this book and I wanted to write a review immediately. This was a very good book. I liked the story line, as it flowed together very nicely. The mystery and suspense was very good, in my opinion, and kept me guessing back and forth as to who the real "culprit" could be. I knew by the book's description that Alice, the main character, would end up with her secret crush, but it was great seeing the way the romance played out. I will recommend this book to my friends, as it would be a great read for anyone. I don't remember any inappropriate scenes or words that would offend the light-hearted or teenage set, so this is definitely one to recommend to anyone at all. Great work!
    • 4/5
      This was a very enjoyable book. The plot was intriguing, the characters were very likeable, and there was lots of humor thrown in. It was a very entertaining read and I look forward to more by this new author.
    • 5/5
      Following Polly5 StarsWhen I first seen this book on First Reads the cover drew me in and then the description of the book. This sounded just like my type of book and I have to say I am glad that I read it.Alice is quite the character, funny , full of wit and charm oh and yes she is smart. I just love the way she followed Polly, would end up in the same restaurant,store or on the street and Polly does not even recognize her. I felt like Polly was to uppity to recognize anyone This book has it all humor, wit a touch of suspense and some amazing characters. Once you start reading it’s almost impossible to put the book down. I hope to see more adventures of Alice in the future. I for one will keep this author on my list for future books.
    • 4/5
      This was a nice light read and a good mystery that took a few twists I wasn't expecting. Very enjoyable and most likely will be re-reading it some time in the future.
    • 3/5
      This is an ok book. The characters were likeable and the mystery was pretty well done. This is a nice, light mystery, perfect for a long weekend.