The PartisanAtheneum, 1993 - 261 pàgines With his first novel, The Plagiarist, Benjamin Cheever was lauded by reviewers everywhere for his "witty dialogues, memorable characters, mini-zingers ending each episode" (Newsweek). Cheever now fulfills the promise of that first novel with The Partisan, a story narrated by Nelson, a young film student at New York University. At the center are his "Aunt and Uncle" and his sister Nar (short for Narcissus). Uncle, Jonas Collingwood, is the revered and crusty author of "eighteen spectacularly gloomy novels. The critics were impressed with his eye for the telling detail. The public hadn't noticed". This cozy if dysfunctional quartet lead a cloistered life in the New York suburbs, with Nelson dreaming of owning a car, Aunt burning dinners, Jonas banging out his novels in the root cellar, and Nar charming men and desiring a horse. Then an article appears in the Herald Tribune hinting that Jonas's last book was a thinly veiled memoir of the years he spent with the resistance in Italy during the war. This gives Jonas just the right sort of image ("the novelist who shot men") to promote him as "The Hemingway of Westchester". With this newly found fame comes a buyout of his publishers by a German conglomerate, Ich Spreche Nicht Viel Deutsch ("best known for the manufacture of common household tranquilizers"), which offers him a huge advance to write his memoirs about being a partisan in Italy and thus solidify his new literary mythic status. In the wake of sudden and comical amounts of attention and money comes a fan bearing gifts with a certain (to Nelson) sinister intent. And so the stage is set for complications, revelations of family secrets, and much, much laughter. Written with the sameaccomplished style and humor that characterized The Plagiarist, Benjamin Cheever's The Partisan also reveals something new and rewarding - an even greater (and rarer) depth of feeling and concern, sure signs of growth in an already celebrated writer. |
Des de l'interior del llibre
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Pàgina 12
... asked . ” " I've asked . " " There's asking , and there's asking . You've never known how , " Nar said , laughing as if it didn't matter . “ And I say unto you , Ask , and it shall be given you ; seek , and ye shall find ; knock , and ...
... asked . ” " I've asked . " " There's asking , and there's asking . You've never known how , " Nar said , laughing as if it didn't matter . “ And I say unto you , Ask , and it shall be given you ; seek , and ye shall find ; knock , and ...
Pàgina 16
... asked . Still no answer . Slowly , deliberately , Jonas cut himself another small piece of cake . " I don't care what his name is , " Nar said . " I'm still certain I could take him in a fair fight . " " And what's a fair fight ? " I asked ...
... asked . Still no answer . Slowly , deliberately , Jonas cut himself another small piece of cake . " I don't care what his name is , " Nar said . " I'm still certain I could take him in a fair fight . " " And what's a fair fight ? " I asked ...
Pàgina 28
... asked Jonas , who seemed to have recovered his hearing . " That's right , " said Crenshaw . " He started out as a bobbin boy , " said Jonas . “ Got to be one of the richest men in the world . And by the time he died in 1919 , he'd given ...
... asked Jonas , who seemed to have recovered his hearing . " That's right , " said Crenshaw . " He started out as a bobbin boy , " said Jonas . “ Got to be one of the richest men in the world . And by the time he died in 1919 , he'd given ...
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Frases i termes més freqüents
7-Eleven actually Amy Rose asked asshole Aunt BENJAMIN CHEEVER better Bill blue Brindle called camisole cigarette Clifford Irving coffee Crenshaw dinner doctor door drive Elspeth eyes father Gilbert girl glass gotten Grafton guess hair hand head hear heard Ingersoll Isuzu John Gilbert Jonas Collingwood kitchen knew L. L. Bean laughed Laura Lee Iacocca Lily living looked Maxwell Perkins mean Melon Miata minutes napkin Nar's Nelson never nodded novels Okay parked picked Pleasantville Pocantico Positano pulled remember Robert McNamara Rockefeller root cellar seat seemed shirt shook shrugged sister smiled sort sound stood stopped stranger Subaru suppose sure talk tell There's thought told took turned Uncle Uncle's voice walked wearing Westchester What's White Plains Whitfield woman write Yeah young