- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber; 1st. edition (18 Sep 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571200818
- ISBN-13: 978-0571200818
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 13 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,641,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
"What I shall want from you are your eyes ..." A writer, blinded in a car accident, employs someone to help write his new book--but not as a mere scribe. "The world was designed to be seen", the writer insists and so he requires:
"Someone whose eyes will take the place of mine. Someone capable not only of observing the world for me but of communicating his observations to me so that I can then transmute them into prose. Into my prose."So begins the strange symbiotic relationship between the two protagonists of A Closed Book, a relationship that becomes increasingly disturbing and unsettling. Recounted entirely in finely realised dialogue and what seems to be interjections of internal monologue, the reader is confined entirely to the realm of sound, to voices, as if we are being asked to privilege the evidence of the ear over that of the eye, to experience the world from the point of view of the blind writer himself. As the book progresses, however, typographical and factual oddities accumulate, clues towards a darker design that is made manifest in the book's final twist, where questions raised earlier-- of trust, of real and figurative blindness, of self- regard (in both senses), of the power of language--are recast from a brutally different perspective.
Gilbert Adair previously won the Scott-Moncrieff prize for his extraordinary translation of the late Georges Perec's A Void--a novel composed without the letter "e"-- and some of that author's wit, allusiveness and self- conscious artistry find their way into Adair's new book, transmuted into something altogether more sinister. This is a powerful psychological thriller, well-paced, energetic (and occasionally very funny) but it also incorporates some subtle philosophical and literary questions into its narrative: How far can we believe what we read (or hear) and how does a reader's trust in a writer's fictional world equate with the trust required in allowing someone to interpret the world for us? See for yourself. --Burhan Tufail
Product Description
After losing his eyes and half of his face in a car accident, a famous author advertises for an assistant to communicate the visual world to him. The amiable John Ryder seems to be the answer to his prayers - but there is an old axiom: be careful of what you wish for, or you might just get it.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the first Gilbert Adair book I have read and I must say that I cannot wait to read more. By writing the book principally in dialogue with only brief descriptive passages (the relevance of which only becomes clear towards the end of the book) it throws you into the world of the blind protagonist. I also disagree with other reviewers who felt that the ending let down the whole book. While it could have been stronger, I feel that it did not detract from my enjoyment of the book and contained its own fair share of twists.
I would recommend reading the book to anyone who is willing to put aside time, as once you start you will not be able to put it down.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Back in the sixties when Alfred Hitchcock had an American television show that featured the type of story Gilbert Adair has written in this book, there was a series of inexpensive paperbacks titled something similar to: Alfred Hitchcock-Ten Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Put On TV. The writing was good; the stories were clever. However, they were all short stories. Mr. Adair has concocted one of those Alfred Hitchcock short stories which unfortunately runs to 258 pages. It takes a little too long to get where we are going, and consequentially a little disappointing when we finally get there. A better mystery is how to actually get a copy of his book. In the space of about one month, I read at least five very favourable reviews of this book in several London newspapers. However, during that same time, I checked at least seven bookstores, in various parts of London, and none of them was carrying the book. I finally had to order it via you know who. If I were Mr. Adair, that is a mystery I would wish to solve.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Adair constructed this novel in a very unique style. It was written with only dialog to describe the characters and setting; befitting for a book whose main character is blind. I could not read it fast enough; I could not put it down; it really grasped me. I was, however, very disappointed with the ending. I was expecting something more intellectual and Hitchcock-ian.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
gripping & suspenseful?
I think not!
All the quotes from people on the back and inside of this book seem to call it gripping and clever. I have to say I completely disagree. Read more
All the quotes from people on the back and inside of this book seem to call it gripping and clever. I have to say I completely disagree. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Larewen Evenstar
Stylish but empty chiller
A Closed Book is clever, it's engaging and very readable. Adair's conceit is to write a book that consists of nothing but dialogue, and whilst this gets the reader's imagination... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2001 by andy.pcregan@localdial.com
Brilliant but weak
Wow! This is a book which had me gripped - I read it in a day, such was the power of the writing and the strength of the themes and issues it discusses. Read more
Published on 18 May 2000
An Interesting Read
I've just completed this book. Gilbert Adair is a fine writer, and with 'A Closed Book', he has continued to affirm this; just as he did with 'Love and Death on Long Island. Read more
Published on 24 Nov 1999 by Mr. B. J. Dutton
My Favorite Novel of 1999
Gilbert Adair is an underrated master novelist of England.He gets better with his each new economi- cally written quality novels. Read more
Published on 24 Nov 1999 by Selçuk Altun
A very clever book with a very unexpected twist
A story is told as a series of conversations. The story leads to a very unexpected twist at the end from a totally surprising direction (I would spoil it by giving more details). Read more
Published on 13 Oct 1999
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