- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate (3 Jan 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007200811
- ISBN-13: 978-0007200818
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,487,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
About Grace
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Review
‘I loved this wonderful book – its strangeness, its obsessiveness, its beautiful sentences.’ Monica Ali
‘Doerr’s sublime renditions of Winkler’s attunement to the world around him turn his story into a prolonged epiphany, a blissful parable about grace. This is a formidable literary achievement that, like Winkler's snow crystals, integrates facets and dimensions into near-perfect whole.’ Independent
‘Doerr’s gifts as a stylist are powerfully in evidence: his writing is crystalline, his attention to detail intense and evocative. That Doerr is a writer of exceptional gifts is not in question, and there is much to admire in this novel.’ Daily Telegraph
‘Doerr writes wonderfully, lyrically, of the natural world, and his observations of water, snowflakes and clouds illuminate this impressive debut.’ Guardian
‘Exceptional first novel. I hesitate to say this book will take your breath away because it's such a cliché; but, really, I promise you, it will…I can’t remember when a novel so entranced me. The only criticism I can really muster – and it is rather a limp one – is that “About Grace” is almost inhumanely faultless; almost, but, even then, not quite.’ Evening Standard
‘In careful, measured prose conjures a sense of awe both humbling and salutary. It has the bleak, lucid beauty of a day of midwinter light. At its best when describing the minute, disregarded miracles of the natural world, it lingers in the mind like one of the protagonist’s eerie dreams.’ Daily Mail
Guardian
'Buy About Grace, call in sick, switch off the phone and see for yourself how good contemporary fiction can be'
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First Sentence
He made his way through the concourse and stopped by a window to watch a man with two orange wands wave a jet into its gate. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
He made his way through the concourse and stopped by a window to watch a man with two orange wands wave a jet into its gate. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Well, this book put paid to my suspicions that only lesser works of fiction make it onto the Vine programme. 'About Grace' is a beautifully written exploration of love, loss and culpability, and deserves much wider acclaim than it has previously received.
The plot can be a little frustrating at times - or rather the hero's character tends to frustrate. You just want to grab Winkler and shake him and shout 'Just go find out, for god's sake', but his prevarication was, I think, wholly believable, and helped to build up the rising tension as we approach the end of the novel.
Moreover, each sentence is so exquisitely crafted and expressive, that it is always a joy to read. Doerr is a consummate craftsman, and these days that is always something to be highly valued.
The plot can be a little frustrating at times - or rather the hero's character tends to frustrate. You just want to grab Winkler and shake him and shout 'Just go find out, for god's sake', but his prevarication was, I think, wholly believable, and helped to build up the rising tension as we approach the end of the novel.
Moreover, each sentence is so exquisitely crafted and expressive, that it is always a joy to read. Doerr is a consummate craftsman, and these days that is always something to be highly valued.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I really wanted this to be a good book, but I was let down.
Winkler dreams the future. He dreams that he is instrumental in his baby daughter's death, so he puts as much distance between them as he possibly can. Many years later, he returns to his home town to try to find out about his daughter's fate.
The main problem with the novel is that it moves at a snail's pace, and, predicting the future in dreams aside, the ending isn't really believable - it just doesn't feel right, it is too neat.
Apparently, the Daily Telegraph said that 'His writing is crystalline, his attention to detail intense and evocative...'. In my opinion, Doerr's attention to detail is so intense that you can never get caught up in the flow of the story because describing everything takes forever.
And then there is Winkler's obsession with water. If you aren't interested in endless descriptions of cloud formations and snowflakes, this is not the novel for you.
If only Doerr could have resisted the urge to be overly descriptive, this would have been a really good novel - even with the unlikely ending.
Winkler dreams the future. He dreams that he is instrumental in his baby daughter's death, so he puts as much distance between them as he possibly can. Many years later, he returns to his home town to try to find out about his daughter's fate.
The main problem with the novel is that it moves at a snail's pace, and, predicting the future in dreams aside, the ending isn't really believable - it just doesn't feel right, it is too neat.
Apparently, the Daily Telegraph said that 'His writing is crystalline, his attention to detail intense and evocative...'. In my opinion, Doerr's attention to detail is so intense that you can never get caught up in the flow of the story because describing everything takes forever.
And then there is Winkler's obsession with water. If you aren't interested in endless descriptions of cloud formations and snowflakes, this is not the novel for you.
If only Doerr could have resisted the urge to be overly descriptive, this would have been a really good novel - even with the unlikely ending.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
From the plaudits on the front and the glowing newspaper reviews you'd think that this was one of the best works of fiction ever written, but I think that's very much a matter of whether you like Doerr's overtly wordy style. It's the story of David Winkler, a thirty-something Alaskan hydrologist who's afflicted by regular dreams in which he foretells future events, the most evocative of which is the death of his infant daughter in the Ohio floods. To try and stop these events from coming true Winkler leaves the US and heads for a remote Caribbean Island and returns twenty-five years later to find out the fate of his estranged daughter.
I must admit that I found this book a struggle to read, it's over long (399 pages of small font) and has far too much description and not enough dialogue for my liking. The narrative also meanders and unless you've a burning interest in insects or the composition of snowflakes you're hardly likely to be enthralled by a great deal of the prose. I also found it difficult to warm to the main character, finding him as cold and detached as the Alaskan landscape he hailed from. I think that Doerr (a lecturer in creative writing no less) is either an author you'll really love or really hate, I think he's that divisive.
I must admit that I found this book a struggle to read, it's over long (399 pages of small font) and has far too much description and not enough dialogue for my liking. The narrative also meanders and unless you've a burning interest in insects or the composition of snowflakes you're hardly likely to be enthralled by a great deal of the prose. I also found it difficult to warm to the main character, finding him as cold and detached as the Alaskan landscape he hailed from. I think that Doerr (a lecturer in creative writing no less) is either an author you'll really love or really hate, I think he's that divisive.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Enjoyed it Immensely
(Reviewed by my Mother)
This is a gem of a book. David Winkler has dreams and what he sees comes true. Read more
This is a gem of a book. David Winkler has dreams and what he sees comes true. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2009 by Mr. C. J. Thorpe
Oddly beautiful
I have never taken so much time to read a novel before, because this one is so rich in metaphor that every single page deserves to be savoured at length. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2009 by OEJ
Love and destiny
It took me some time to read this book. The prose is so rich I had to take the time to savour it and digest it. There are gorgeous descriptions of people and nature. Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2009 by R. Lawson
Fascinating novel, beautifully crafted. A haunting read.
This is a very fine novel indeed and I was gripped by the power of the descriptive narrative and the elegance - even "grace" - of the writing. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2009 by Colin Fortune
The Life and Loves of a Geek
This is a book about absent fathers, emotional constipation, abandonment, atonement and redemption. All the men in this book seem to be missing something - in Winkler's case, his... Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2009 by Mrs. PJ Taylor
Sad and compelling
David Winkler has a gift - or is it a curse? He dreams the future and spends his life either trying to convince others when they face danger, trying to avert danger to his family... Read more
Published on 13 Jan 2009 by Mrs. J. Jones
Long Winded but Beautiful
This story told predominantly through the medium of flashbacks tells the story of David Winkler, a man plagued by prophetic dreams. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2009 by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
a dream of a book
After a collection of short stories this is Anthony Doerr's first full length work. It has a leisurely dreamlike quality and follows the life of David Winkler, a 59 year old man... Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2009 by David Spanswick
Too much symbolism, not enough story
This novel seems like such a missed opportunity. An amazing idea which is basically ruined by self-indulgent symbolism and a failure to get on with the plot. Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2007 by Hayles
Beautiful and sad
A man spends most of his life on a journey back to his loved ones.
This novel deals with personal fears, love, loss, longing, and social status in a beautiful way. Read more
This novel deals with personal fears, love, loss, longing, and social status in a beautiful way. Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2006 by R.Ulven
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