- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd; First edition (21 April 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224039806
- ISBN-13: 978-0224039802
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,705,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Foreign Parts
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Cassie and Rona are two women on a driving holiday in northern France, colleagues on the cusp of 40. Cassie, the narrator of the story, is testy and cynical in the face of her patient, parochial friend who is driving her not only up the wall and into Normandy but also towards understanding.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
By turns hilarious, touching, ferocious and romantic, this book also has the kind of devious, evil plot Martin Amis constructed in "Success" and "Money". Fortunately, Ms Galloway is not as pyrotechnically self-congratulatory as Mr Amis.
This is a great book that even blokey blokes can enjoy.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
reading it right
11 Jan 2000
Format:Paperback
A fan of Galloway's first book, I loved this even more. I am horrified to read that the only on-line review here is by a man who think this book is somehow a slight to him! It's not about men at all, it's a book about two women, and their thoughts on men occur as part of the narrative they have between themselves. That the two women have an exrtemely funny, leg-pulling as well as tender relationship with each-other doesn't seem to reach the over-sensitive British male reader, though it does reach the male reader with a sense of humour. It's not a "story" (go to the movies for those), it's a meditation about love, aging, what success might be, European identity and, above all, companionship. I have taught this book in high school (Brit Lit) as well as given it to friends and have yet to find a US male who doesn't find it a hoot (or who didn't learn something from it about the weaknesses and strengths of women alone). In short, it's a wonderful, thought-stuffed, gentle yet stimulating book that says it all about modern Scottish fiction. If Galloway isn't appreciated at home, maybe she should to the States!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Delightful armchair vacation
30 Aug 2000
Format:Paperback
Although I can't say this was a totally knockout read, I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed traveling the French countryside with Cassie and Rona, the book's enormously likable female protagonists. Once I adjusted to Galloway's rather inventive literary style (no punctuation to denote dialogue, stream of consciousness narrative, loose spacing within sentences and paragraphs, etc.), I was off and running. Cassie's contrary and cynical nature is the perfect foil for Rona's perpetual Pollyanna personality, the clashes well illustrated in short vignettes and terse conversations that will leave the reader laughing out loud on occasion. Stopping at various French tourist attractions and sites along the way (many highlighted in hilarious travel book lingo within the text), the Scottish duo cope with rude male behavior, snarling dogs, decrepit hotel accomodations and their own dramatic mood swings. With a long history of taking "holidays" together, Cassie and Rona explore not just the unfamiliar terrain of the French countryside, but also the sometimes startling interior landscape of their own psyches. The resulting literary journey is well worth the reader's time, so sit back and enjoy the ride! This book is a wonderful testimony to the power of female friendship.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Friendship overcomes tensions and is superior to sexual love
27 Jun 1999
Format:Paperback
Galloway has been compared to Virginia Woolf and in the first few chapters of this novel is equally opaque. Where is the reader ? Who are these two women, which, if not both of them, is the psychiatric case ? Is there a horrible history hiding there ? In truth, the book rambles from scene to scene with a minimalist plot and is often tedious. It is enlightened by clever use of language, sharp observations and occasional humour. She makes frequentuse of metaphor - the frustrated boxer dog, the frog etc. - to demonstrate that men are shallow creatures and that women have better lives when they stick together. She laments the power of sexual attraction, however residual, that men still possess.
For a male reader it is a bleak read - are we that shallow ? - tarnished by generalisations which if written by a male writer (John Updike ?) would have led to cries of misogyny, but the book becomes stronger the longer it proceeds and in the end proves a worthwhile read.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
