- Hardcover: 144 pages
- Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd; First Thus edition (28 Nov 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0241141915
- ISBN-13: 978-0241141915
- Product Dimensions: 20 x 13.2 x 2 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,112,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
In a novel at once eccentric, dark and achingly funny - an old man reflects upon his life, his marriage, friendships, love affairs, and the enragingly separate existence of his spoiled, and lost, only son. He has had a full life, and now, in his later years, retired, his second wife getting on his nerves, love affairs a distant memory, he has a few things to get off his chest...Yasmina Reza has written a novel in defence of a life lived passionately, not passively. It is a genuine tour de force.
About the Author
Yasmina Reza is the playwright of the award-winning play Art, as well as Conversations After A Burial and The Unexpected Man. Desolation is her first novel. She lives in Paris.
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4 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Excellent final third but ...
14 Aug 2005
Format:Hardcover
Monologues can be an effective approach to novels (Tabucchi, Hrabel,Tuck and Kolitz come to mind). However, to be effective the reader needs to be sympathetic/empathetic to the speaker or the problem. Unfortunately, for the first two-thirds of this novel Samuel Perlman was a bitter, uninteresting character. However, the last third places Perlman's isolation/desolation into a broader existential, Jewish, Kabbalistic context. Finally, his issues become issues of humanity - how to create a life, a persona to stave off desolation.
The author provides a very consistent voice and a dry humor that makes the novel an enjoyable read.
The author provides a very consistent voice and a dry humor that makes the novel an enjoyable read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Reflections of a Life!
7 April 2003
Format:Hardcover
Yasmina Reza is the author of the Tony Award winning play "Art" and it is evident from the beginning paragraph of this debut novel that this author is very familiar with the stage. Written in monologue form, the story gives voice to the ravings and complaints of an old man named Samuel Perlman. Samuel is complaining most of the time about his adult son, from whom he feels estranged. This is a son he feels is lazy, "rotting in leisure", and who has no ambition or passion in his life. In analyzing his son's misguided life, he starts to reflect upon his own life, his marriages, love affairs, and close friendships. Could it be he is terrified of his own daily monotony? Loneliness, solitude and Samuel's inability to escape his own unhappiness or daily routine are perhaps his greatest enemy?
This is a brilliantly written first novel that is humorous funny, sad, heartbreaking, uplifting and disturbing all at the same time. You get a sense of just how fragile life is and how hard it is to escape one's final destination. One has to look beyond the complaints of Samuel to really know him. Excellent. Highly Recommended!
Joe Hanssen
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Interesting monologue
4 Nov 2002
Format:Hardcover
Written in the form of a monologue, this short novel is about the life, disappointments and losses of an old man. Disappointed at his son for lacking ambition and embracing mediocrity, the narrator shares his thoughts of his life, his friends and the events that shaped his life.
The novel and the language are interesting. However, I did not feel any compassion or sympathy towards the character. He is an old man bitter with disappointment at everyone around him. Yet, he himself, despite his talks of thriving in conflict and turmoil, has avoided conflict all his life and continues to do so with his wife, dauther and her family. While he does not claim he is perfect he also does not take any responsibility for anything or anyone.
While the monologue technique was interesting, I found the book mediocre.
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