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Title: After by Claire Tristram ISBN: 0-374-10390-9 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pub. Date: 12 May, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.73 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: an adult fable for these times
Comment: This book is a refraction of reality and it is eerily prescient of current events and it packs a political punch. A widow who lost her husband in an act of terror finds herself drawn to a Muslim man. The lovers learn a great deal about one another, much more than they expect from the short time they spend together. I would call it a love story only it is deeper than that, and the characters are far more vulnerable and flawed, so that it's impossible not to identify with them. The sex in the story is not so much erotic as it is purgative, almost redemptive, beautifully written and at times so intense that I had to put the book down for a few minutes before picking it up again. The story is told in an elegant way that draws you in and doesn't let you go.
Rating: 4
Summary: A little book with a big punch
Comment: I was immediately drawn into this story of the unnamed widow and her violent, primal, perversely logical rite of passage through some sort of healing and into the next stage of her life. The writing is evocative and tight, and I was never unable to picture the characters, the hotel, the beach, the lobster joint, etc., even though descriptions are minimal. Not erotic? ...I think readers who missed the eroticism are either too used to Nora Roberts-style sex scenes or are too inhibited to allow themselves to enjoy the taboo mix of sexual desire and physical pain/psychological torment. Just because you can appreciate it in a work of fiction does not mean you do it (or want to do it, or approve of it) in real life, folks...Relax!
I found myself wondering why she did what she did, pitying her, sympathizing with her, disdaining her, wanting to hug her...and her lover's recurring thoughts of how much he loved his wife, even as he cheated (however clumsily) on her, made him oddly likeable. The widow is completely honest with him about her motivation for seeking him out as her lover, and even knowing this he does not leave or stop the affair. Hmmmm...Why? The widow is not the only one with complicated motives. Any guilt the reader feels for not hating him for his unfaithfulness is disintegrated at the very end, when he is left facing a situation that would be the nightmare of any cheating spouse. It's an easy read on the surface, but a difficult, raw, and disturbing read on any deeper level. Well done!
Rating: 4
Summary: She was searching diligently for something she had lost
Comment: Written in alternating points of view, After is a poetic, fluid, and highly original novel. Readers will appreciate its short length and its charged, and gutsy style. The story centers on one man 'the Muslim" and one women "the Widow," both nameless and mysterious in their intensity and passion. For the Widow, everyday events are falling apart, and after telling her therapist that she wants to choose a Muslim lover, she happens to meet one at a work trade show. Their connection is instantaneous. She knows immediately that she will sleep with him, and their rendezvous is set to take place at a run-down, empty seaside hotel. As the narrative progresses, the inexplicable motivations that drive each character's actions become clearer. They erotically and emotionally bond, performing a type of perverse and viscous sexual role-play, each letting out their pent up angst and torment.
The woman's husband was murdered at the hand of Muslim extremists - probably on September 11th - and she writes grief stricken, purge-filled letters to his ghost. She imagines sleeping with "the Muslim" because it is something forbidden, unexpected, a way of repaying her husband, and something so clearly outside the role, which she has been forced into by her circumstances. The man she chooses is a married Iranian who immigrated to America after the Shah's fall. He, in being drawn towards "the Widow" also has "a gap, a hole, a tragedy in need of resolution and healing." The Widow's interest compels and sustains him, though her "fervent melancholy" and obvious grief trouble him. He's a married man with two young girls, but he feels he is wedded "to an empty dress, as shallow as cotton." Understanding his wife's inner thoughts has eluded him, and he has fallen into some restless purgatory where "waves and waves of thwarted desire rise up and threaten to engulf him."
After is a quietly deceptive novel where the clues to understanding both characters' motivations unfold steadily and in the end, prove to be quite revelatory. The story is quite topical in its portrait of racism and cultural dissidence; the characters are living a world where, more and more, we can be killed, not for who we are, but for what nationality or religion we happen to be. The language of regret is also quite powerful - the memories of her dead husband that the widow can't quite catch are "like bits of trash blowing over and over along the sand." And as her grief changes shape, what is left is not quite grief at all, but something she could only describe as desire. Yet she has sadness, where the love acts mean no more to her "than memories of the grave." Both characters are erotically responsive, but both keep so much of their anger, fear and emotion internalized. Their disconnectedness comes from a sense of everything having changed, and where times are dark and unstable. Seething in their own psyches, it's probably an effort for them to get even this far. Mike Leonard June 04
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Title: Body of Jonah Boyd: A Novel by David Leavitt ISBN: 1582341885 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pub. Date: 07 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Faithful : A Novel by DAVITT SIGERSON ISBN: 0385510500 Publisher: Nan A. Talese Pub. Date: 16 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Making Love: A Romance by Lucretia Stewart ISBN: 0299199207 Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: In His Arms : A Novel by CAMILLE LAURENS ISBN: 0375506527 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 06 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Good Grief : A Novel by Lolly Winston ISBN: 0446533041 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 13 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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