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
Resultats 1 - 3 de 39.
Pàgina 60
... glass on my podium . " I suppose it was felt that the sight of Napoleon in an armchair would have given the wrong message to men who might at any moment be cut down by musket fire . So as the day progressed , he couldn't appear before ...
... glass on my podium . " I suppose it was felt that the sight of Napoleon in an armchair would have given the wrong message to men who might at any moment be cut down by musket fire . So as the day progressed , he couldn't appear before ...
Pàgina 164
... glass . The third time she hit the glass it shattered . " Damn , " she said . I fetched a roll of paper towels , gave her a couple of sheets , and we both went down under the table . There seemed to be blood in the water . When we came ...
... glass . The third time she hit the glass it shattered . " Damn , " she said . I fetched a roll of paper towels , gave her a couple of sheets , and we both went down under the table . There seemed to be blood in the water . When we came ...
Pàgina 245
... glass of Old Smuggler . By the time Elspeth came home that evening , Sister and I were both quite drunk . There were two Jiffy Pops in the cereal cabinet . I'd burned the first one , popped the second . We'd eaten the second one ; then ...
... glass of Old Smuggler . By the time Elspeth came home that evening , Sister and I were both quite drunk . There were two Jiffy Pops in the cereal cabinet . I'd burned the first one , popped the second . We'd eaten the second one ; then ...
Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot
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