Olivia (Rossner novel) Olivia (Rossner novel) Olivia (or, The Weight of the Past) is the penultimate novel by Judith Rossner, author of the critically acclaimed best sellers "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and "August". Published in 1994 by Crown, "Olivia" examines "a mother-daughter conflict set in the world of gastronomy." Caroline Sindler is a chef and popular cooking teacher. In flashback, she recounts her past life: after showing an early interest, she learns to cook. After dropping out of college, she travels to Italy, where she finds work in a restaurant, and meets Angelo, a Sicilian in his thirties. After becoming pregnant by him,
Mr. Wrong unfunny" from the point when after Martha dumps Whitman after seeing his true persona and he then begins stalking her and literally destroys her personal and professional life while continuing to fool everyone around her with his good-guy charade. Rita Kempley, writing for "The Washington Post", assessed the film a "sour, listless debunking of romantic comedies, ... [with] fewer laughs than "Looking for Mr. Goodbar"" and laments that "Ellen DeGeneres, a comedian and sitcom star in her film debut, [who] is ostensibly the protagonist here" does not control the action, but her character "merely reacts to [Whitman's] twists and turn-ons".