|
|
Parks, Tim ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
Parks, Tim Destiny
New York Arcade Publishing 2000 1559705175 / 9781559705172 Hardcover Near Fine in Fine dust jacket
Tight clean bright book with name to front endpaper; in barely rubbed DJ. ; 1.1 x 8.58 x 5.75 Inches; 249 pages; The protagonist of Tim Parks's Destiny is a disillusioned, fiftysomething journalist intent on writing a book about Italy's national character. It's not merely intellectual curiosity that has led Christopher Burton to this project: as an expatriate Englishman, he's also desperate to figure out the inhabitants of his adopted country, and more specifically, his Italian wife. "You cannot marry a woman in one language and think in another," he muses, convinced that what he once found vehement and exciting about her has been revealed as shallow and distasteful. Mistaken for a German in Italy and an American in England, the narrator beautifully articulates the dilemma of living amid a confusion of tongues. "Language is national destiny," he concludes, which would seem to be bad news for his marriage.Meanwhile, Burton and his wife are confronted with another, nonlinguistic catastrophe. During a three-month stay in England, the journalist learns that his only son has committed suicide in Italy. His first emotion is not grief but a kind of relief--after all, it was mainly Marco's schizophrenia that kept the couple together. As they travel back home, however, his flamboyant wife begins to unravel, and punishes him by lapsing into a "miserable and uncooperative mutism."Destiny is an astute study of the inappropriate behavior that accompanies grief, as well as a blistering look at a marriage of equals--at love's endless loss and retrieval. The fractured, claustrophobic narration perfectly suits Burton's mood, as he lurches from ugly confusion to sublime lucidity, even (or especially) in the presence of his son's corpse. "Marco is less remarkable in death than in life," he notes, and then continues:To my immense relief he was dressed. The corpse was dressed. My wife wasn't there. Dark trousers, blue sweater.... There were two or three heavy pieces of dark wooden furniture and a Sacred Heart on the near wall. A public space that apes the private, I thought, or the imagined private of a distant past. That saves you taking your late beloved home to lie under halogen light by the television.It all adds up to an intelligent, enthralling performance. And Parks, who has previously taken on the question of Anglo-Italian manners in Italian Neighbors and Europa, accomplishes his most wicked exploration yet of identity and our truly, madly, deeply conflicted motivations.--Cherry Smyth
Price:
14.00 CAD
|
|
Add to Shopping Cart |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Parks, Tim on Abookstop.com
Parks, Tim on Adelaidebooksellers.com.au
Parks, Tim on Agelesspages.com
Parks, Tim on Alexthefatdawg.co.uk
Parks, Tim on Atticbooksandtreasures.com
Parks, Tim on Aurumbooks.com
Parks, Tim on Bonbonbooks.co.uk
Parks, Tim on Bookalley.com
Parks, Tim on Bookbrowzers.com
Parks, Tim on Booksandinkbookshop.com
Parks, Tim on Booksfoundfast.co.uk
Parks, Tim on Booksonlinebrighton.com
Parks, Tim on Botanicalbay.com
Parks, Tim on C-books.co.uk
Parks, Tim on Carlsonturnerbooks.com
Parks, Tim on Caterwaulbooks.com
| Parks, Tim on Durnickbooks.co.uk
Parks, Tim on Everybookintheworld.com
Parks, Tim on Fatcitybookstore.com
Parks, Tim on Frugalfamilybooks.com
Parks, Tim on Genethebookpeddler.com
Parks, Tim on Ginny6books.com
Parks, Tim on Kjcactus.com
Parks, Tim on Lacroixbookseller.com
Parks, Tim on Leatherstalkingbooks.com
Parks, Tim on Literarycatbooks.com
Parks, Tim on Mimicobooks.com
Parks, Tim on Mohicanbooks.co.uk
Parks, Tim on Moremoes.com
Parks, Tim on Oddvolumebooks.com
Parks, Tim on Onceuponatimebooks.com
Parks, Tim on Rebook.us
| Parks, Tim on Robinsonstreetbooks.com
Parks, Tim on Sandyaco.com
Parks, Tim on Simpsonbooks.com
Parks, Tim on Stealthesebooks.com
Parks, Tim on Stillwaterbooks.co.uk
Parks, Tim on Svirdenbooks.com
Parks, Tim on Sweepadeal.com
Parks, Tim on Telegraphbooks.com
Parks, Tim on Thebookscene.com
Parks, Tim on Throckmortonsbookshop.com
Parks, Tim on Used-and-rare-books.com
Parks, Tim on Vintage-books.com
Parks, Tim on Wiseowlbooks.net
|
|
|
