Collins, James 1958- (Jim Collins)

PERSONAL:

Born May 8, 1958; married Ginger Donelson. Education: Attended Harvard University and Columbia University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Somerset, VA.

CAREER:

Writer. Also served as an editorial assistant for Little, Brown.

MEMBER:

Hermitage Foundation (national advisory board member).

WRITINGS:

Beginner's Greek: A Novel, Little, Brown and Company (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to periodicals, including Time, Spy, and the New Yorker.

SIDELIGHTS:

James Collins, also known as Jim Collins, was born May 8, 1958. A resident of Somerset, Virginia, he attended both Harvard University and Columbia University. Collins has served as an editorial assistant for Little, Brown, a fiction and nonfiction book publisher established in 1837, and he has contributed his writing to periodicals such as Time, Spy, and the New Yorker. In 2008, Collins published Beginner's Greek: A Novel.

Called "a pleasure to read and resonating with the literary weight of writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, … and Jane Austen" by Ryan Underwood in an article for the Tennessean, Beginner's Greek blends comedic and romantic literary elements. A contributor to Everyday Goddess defined the narrative as "a book about romantic choices" that includes "some truly funny and surprising sequences" and as "a brilliantly understated comedy of manners in which love lost is found again." The story details the romance between the protagonist, Peter Russell, and his love interest, Holly Edwards, and a myriad of incidents and characters that impede and provide serendipitous organization to the stream of events. The story begins with Peter's encounter with a witty copassenger, Holly, during their shared flight to Los Angeles, California. After the realization of his love for her, Peter discovers in his hotel room that he has lost her contact information. Peter then marries a different girl named Charlotte, although it appears that he really does not love her. After many unfortunate circumstances and plot twists, Peter later reunites with the girl from his past, Holly, but she has already married his best friend Jonathon, a philanderer. Peter never stopped loving Holly, and although he went through with his marriage to Charlotte, several of Peter's comparisons between the two women make strikingly clear his emotional state. These comparisons reveal a great deal about what Peter values and his expectations regarding his true love interest. While Charlotte is nice, she, according to Peter, lacks culture and refinement, and she sometimes appears "foolish and undignified," a Book Book contributor noted; conversely, Holly, as described in the story, is credited with being witty and intelligent as well as beautiful. Although the Book Book contributor found the narrative "a little bit dawdling" with "much patriarchy about it," the reviewer also described Beginner's Greek as a "satisfying" and "quick read that will provoke little moral ambivalence." Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson, in an essay for MBR Bookwatch, reported that the narrative "is a delightful read in many ways," and that, specifically for the reason that a man wrote the text, it offers "a fascinatingly different point of view" with "compelling and complex" characters.

Collins sketches side plots that offer alternative views of Peter's character and the other more ancillary characters, some without the love element. For example, his occupation as a financial operative places him within realm of Wall Street corporate politics and, perhaps more important for the plot, in the way of his boss's plans involving Holly. Accordingly, the novel quickly incorporates class and social relations into its comedic narrative. James Kaplan's review for the New York Times Book Review explained: "Collins, who grew up well-off in New York and himself worked briefly in finance, has an insider's eye." Kaplan continued: "This is a writer who knows the territory. It is also one who knows how to write. One of the great pleasures of this novel, and what sets it quite apart from chick lit, is the sheer felicity of its prose…. He brings burnished style, wisdom, and compassion to the enterprise." With Collins's literary references to James Merrill's poetry, Kaplan felt the story "is working on a number of levels" and provides a challenge: "one's willingness to suspend disbelief, tested frequently throughout the novel, depends on the daring of one's own romantic nature, the courage to accept the possibility of happiness." Indeed, Bob Minzesheimer, in a contribution to USA Today, claimed that the book is "a literary love story for grown-ups." Moreover, Charity Vogel, in an article for Buffalo News, felt that the tale is "conceived as a love story for people who like romances that are not dumb, and who want to know, at great length, apparently, what is going on in the minds of four very average people (except a bit less likable than your average people) at every moment." Library Journal contributor Ron Terpening addressed what appeals to Collin's target audience and stated: "Despite the contemporary setting, Collins's fiction debut has all the traits of a 19th-century romance," which holds a loyal readership with its distinctive narrators, sophisticated writing style, creative uses of space and time, and comfortable resolutions. As Yvonne Zipp stated in a review for the Christian Science Monitor, Collins "has a rare ability to satirize without becoming nasty, and periodically gives romantic clichés a good tweak (including striking one character by lightning)."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Buffalo News, January 6, 2008, "Skip the Book, Look for the Movie: Fiction."

Christian Science Monitor, February 5, 2008, Yvonne Zipp, "‘Beginner's Greek’: Guy Gets Girl, then Loses Phone Number," p. 16.

Entertainment Weekly, January 11, 2008, Jennifer Armstrong, review of Beginner's Greek: A Novel, p. 73.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2007, review of Beginner's Greek.

Library Journal, October 1, 2007, Ron Terpening, review of Beginner's Greek, p. 56.

MBR Bookwatch, January 1, 2008, Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson, review of Beginner's Greek.

New Yorker, January 21, 2008, review of Beginner's Greek, p. 81.

New York Times Book Review, February 24, 2008, James Kaplan, "Reader, He Married Her," p. 8.

Publishers Weekly, September 25, 2006, Jason Anthony, "Always on the Lookout for a Good Romantic Comedy, Film Scouts Got to Work the Moment They Heard the Story Line for Beginner's Greek, a First Novel by James Collins," p. 20; October 1, 2007, review of Beginner's Greek, p. 37.

Tennessean, April 20, 2008, Ryan Underwood, "‘Greek’ Author James Collins' Success Is No Legend."

USA Today, January 31, 2008, Bob Minzesheimer, Jocelyn McClurg, Carol Memmott, and Deirdre Donahue, review of Beginner's Greek, p. 5.

Vanity Fair, January 1, 2008, Elissa Schappell, "Beginner's Pluck," p. 42.