- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (1 Jan 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747542104
- ISBN-13: 978-0747542100
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 373,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'The prose is as dazzling as a firework display ... a remarkable novel' Evening Standard 'A novel of startling imagination, mixing claustrophobia and fantasy with sharp reality and observation' Cosmopolitan 'What makes this book different is the skill with which he modulates its light and dark moods, and the generosity he shows his characters' Observer 'A rites-of-passage novel, a love story, a political satire and a sourly comic thriller ... Gnawing at the edge of Thomson's text is an unsentimental knowledge of pain which lifts him out of the rank of mere fantasists ... An achievement' Literary Review
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Moses Highness, a habitue of the clubs and all-night parties of London in the 1980s, is searching for his past. For many years in the village of New Egypt, run by the sadistic Chief Inspector Peach, his parents had harboured one fervent wish - that their baby son Moses should escape.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love this guy. Everything I read by him leaves you really freaked out. Great idea, cleverly executed. Very tricky to pull off but once again he manages it. I am rapidly becoming a Thomson evangelist.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've now read all over Thomson's novels in reverse order from The Book Of Revelation through to Dreams Of Leaving, his debut.
I can honestly say that his books are a joy to read, he has a way with similes like no other author I've ever read - he can describe situations in the most unusual and beautiful ways and his characters and plots are always fascinating and compelling.
A real shame then that he is so terrible at writing endings - not one of his books has left me feeling wholly satisfied. I just don't get it - how such a talented author can be so weak at concluding his stories. It's a cliche to say "I enjoyed this book so much I never wanted it to end" - but in the case Thomson's work, I really DON'T want the books to end because I know that I'll be disappointed.
Maybe I'm just a lazy reader....
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed the start of this and was intrigued by the idea of a village from which its inhabitants can't escape. I found myself increasingly frustrated though that the story didn't really attempt to explore any of the questions which it provoked - why can't these people leave? why does the rest of the world not know about it? Instead, the story, which started with great mystery and intrigue, started to disappear altogether and there was no real ending. An easy-to-read prose style but disappointing story and character development.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The plot is really too thin
On the book jacket you can read this :" when someone writes as well as Thomson does, it makes you wonder why other people bother..." Well, what a compliment!! Read more
Published 10 months ago by H. Lacroix
They had left the rain behind in Purley (where rain belongs)
What a marvellous and adventurous writer Rupert Thomson is. In this novel he gives us a rollicking literary thriller with room enough to develop a fantastic back-drop of comedy... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Eileen Shaw
One of my favourite fictional characters...
...is Moses.
Thompson writes his characters so well and Moses is one of those characters you instantly like and would love to meet. This book hardly ever left my side! Read more
Thompson writes his characters so well and Moses is one of those characters you instantly like and would love to meet. This book hardly ever left my side! Read more
Published 23 months ago by Dessy daa
Dreams of Leaving
The first and in my opinion the best of this author. Having said that, the rest of his works are certainly worth reading and keep the "edge" that put him apart from his... Read more
Published on 16 April 2009 by Mr. R. Brinkworth
the most utterly beautiful book i've ever read
this is quite honestly the most affecting and gorgeous book.
brilliant...highly recommended.
brilliant...highly recommended.
Published on 23 Oct 2007 by J. Halbert
Fantastic
This is the fifth Thomson book I have read, and the best by a long way (which is in no way to say any of the others have been poor, far from it). Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2007 by PJ Sturdee
Brilliantly original, vaguely surreal, and very funny
This is the book I wish I'd written (along with most of John Irving's and Louis de Berniere's South American series... Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2003
An interesting and enjoyable debut - but ultimately flawed
Rupert Thompson is obviously a great writer and this was very nearly a wonderful debut novel.
Unfortunately, it had two or three major flaws. Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2000
Typical Thompson - a great tale, but no end.
Like 'Soft' the tale is fantastic - fantastic & brilliant. Sadly, like 'Soft' the same thing happens - a great... Read more
Published on 29 April 2000 by richard_charlesworth@lineone.net
An exceptional book by a talented author
Rupert Thomson's works are very strange as he builds a world which is both familiar but different. I read Five Gates of Hell (his second book) before I found this one, and both... Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2000 by Jeffers
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