Tämä sivusto käyttää evästeitä palvelujen toimittamiseen, toiminnan parantamiseen, analytiikkaan ja (jos et ole kirjautunut sisään) mainostamiseen. Käyttämällä LibraryThingiä ilmaiset, että olet lukenut ja ymmärtänyt käyttöehdot ja yksityisyydensuojakäytännöt. Sivujen ja palveluiden käytön tulee olla näiden ehtojen ja käytäntöjen mukaista.
In a house in the English countryside a woman in her sixties, Alice, is dying. In the garden, her younger son is working on the translation of a play by a celebrated Hungarian playwright, Lazlo Lazar. In San Francisco, Alice's other son, a one time soap actor and now heavily in debt, is on his way to a meeting with a pornographic film producer. And in Vienna, Lazlo Lazar is having supper with his lover, Kurt, and an American painter, discussing action, courage and the revolutions of 1956 and 68. Each of these characters will soon face a test of courage. Each will be forced to take part in an act of liberation - though not necessarily the one they foresaw. Naturally, there are certain coloured pills, a revolver, and a child who cannot be trusted as the summer of '97, the summer of the comet, reaches its surprising conclusion.… (lisätietoja)
As ever, Miller's writing is a constant treat for the senses, but this is my least favorite Miller book of the 4 I have read so far. The problem lies in the structure of the novel, which attempts to weave together three story lines. All this jumping around for the sake of a thematic unity is very exhausting and ultimately feels gimmicky, even in the end. Also, there is simply too much domestic backstory which never really gets off the ground. Still, 4 stars for the impeccable writing, which in and of itself makes the book worth reading. ( )
If this novel had been set up as four short stories about loosely connected characters it might have made more sense to me. Written as a novel, the four stories intertwined but the main characters still felt disconnected from each other, despite three of them being members of the same family. Perhaps it was the incongruity of the family of three in England - two brothers and their mother with terminal cancer - and the fourth character, a Hungarian living in Paris, who is connected only loosely with one of the brothers. His story didn't intersect with theirs in any meaningful way that I could spot. Reading this was like listening to a pub bore droning on and on. You feel you may go to sleep through sheer boredom, but then he unexpectedly says something interesting, something coherent, and you sit up and listen for a while. I wish that had happened more often because when this book was good it was very good, but ultimately it was more concerned with being clever and profound than with entertainment. ( )
I found this to be an interesting book. Lots of different sorts of people, including what I thought was a reasonable portrayal of gay men. I suppose if anything there were indeed too many of these unconventional characters and situations, in the sense that the books I like most are the ones in which I can identify myself or imagine myself placed in the situation. In this case the dying mother was perhaps the feature which allowed me a measure of identification. Anyway, even those situations which were well outside the range of my normal experience seemed to be presented well and kept my interest all the way through. It's my first Andrew Miller book, and I think I'll put his other works on my wishlist and see what they're like. ( )
This literary novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and it’s easy to see why. Four interrelated characters, each facing a personal transition, struggles to find his or her way. Through separate first-person narratives, we come to know each one and the subtle and interesting ways that they know each other and the people closest to them. Alice is facing death as her grown but rootless sons struggle to understand who is the Loser and who the Winner in the family circle. Far away in Paris, a Hungarian artist struggles to free himself from the guilt of his wartime past. Each character is beautifully and sensitively drawn, and each journey is ultimately hopeful, but best of all, these people are capable of surprising themselves, their loved ones and the reader. ( )
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
The Dream Catcher, an artifact made on the reservations of Native Americans and sold to the souvenir shops there for little money, was a circle the size of a man's palm, formed from some pliant wood and then banded with a leather thong.
Sitaatit
Viimeiset sanat
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
In a house in the English countryside a woman in her sixties, Alice, is dying. In the garden, her younger son is working on the translation of a play by a celebrated Hungarian playwright, Lazlo Lazar. In San Francisco, Alice's other son, a one time soap actor and now heavily in debt, is on his way to a meeting with a pornographic film producer. And in Vienna, Lazlo Lazar is having supper with his lover, Kurt, and an American painter, discussing action, courage and the revolutions of 1956 and 68. Each of these characters will soon face a test of courage. Each will be forced to take part in an act of liberation - though not necessarily the one they foresaw. Naturally, there are certain coloured pills, a revolver, and a child who cannot be trusted as the summer of '97, the summer of the comet, reaches its surprising conclusion.
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