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 77.
Pàgina 77
... looked at herself in the mirror that hangs over my dresser , plumped her hair , and re- turned to the pillow . " I don't like having somebody snooping around Uncle's life any better than you do . But I bet he can write . ” " Why do you ...
... looked at herself in the mirror that hangs over my dresser , plumped her hair , and re- turned to the pillow . " I don't like having somebody snooping around Uncle's life any better than you do . But I bet he can write . ” " Why do you ...
Pàgina 160
... looked up at Ingersoll . He had a fountain pen in his shirt pocket . " What's this ? " " That's what we'll pay . " I didn't say anything . " We can't do it today , " continued the salesman , taking his comb out again and running it ...
... looked up at Ingersoll . He had a fountain pen in his shirt pocket . " What's this ? " " That's what we'll pay . " I didn't say anything . " We can't do it today , " continued the salesman , taking his comb out again and running it ...
Pàgina 202
... looked familiar . I know the local policemen , not by name , necessarily , but by their hair , the way they carry them- selves . This was the tall man with the red walrus moustache . When he looked at me , there was a flash of ...
... looked familiar . I know the local policemen , not by name , necessarily , but by their hair , the way they carry them- selves . This was the tall man with the red walrus moustache . When he looked at me , there was a flash of ...
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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