- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Scribner; New edition edition (5 Jun 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 074326813X
- ISBN-13: 978-0743268134
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
"When the future ended, Nicholas discovered, you left London and went to New York. Even at Christmas..." The opening lines of Glen Duncan's second novel, Love Remains, announce the enigma which lures the reader into this book. What is it in Nicholas's world that has come to an end, and what does it have to do with the worldly perversity of Mickey--the woman who moves him into a Manhattan apartment--and the student love story, told in flashback, which begins a few pages into the novel: "Six years earlier Nicholas had married Chloe". The five sections of the novel--"Love", "Blood", "Continue", "Water" and "Necessities"--present a numbingly truthful, sometimes ruthless, anatomisation of love, hate and sex between the two protagonists. At times, Duncan's probing reads like reportage, an account drawn up from a distance for a reader called upon to witness whatever it is that is about to happen; at others, the writing is full of effort and exhibition: "Breasts like appalled witnesses, blonde hair a smashed aureole on the pillow".
As the two plots begin to converge, however, that effort, its careful attention to the apparently mundane conversation between Nicholas and Chloe--Sunday morning conversation over the newspaper report of the new London Ripper, for example--begins to pay off. Described as a writer who can make the "ordinary remarkable", Duncan has managed to bring the commonplace strangeness of sexuality into contact with the different extremes of sexual violence in an uneasy, but finally compelling, novel. --Vicky Lebeau --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Amazon.co.uk Review
"When the future ended, Nicholas discovered, you left London and went to New York. Even at Christmas"... The opening lines of Glen Duncan's second novel, Love Remains, announce the enigma which lures the reader into this book. What is it in Nicholas's world that has come to an end, and what does it have to do with the worldly perversity of Mickey--the woman who moves him into a Manhattan apartment--and the student love story, told in flashback, which begins a few pages into the novel: "Six years earlier Nicholas had married Chloe". The five sections of the novel--"Love", "Blood", "Continue", "Water" and "Necessities"--present a numbingly truthful, sometimes ruthless, anatomisation of love, hate and sex between the two protagonists. At times, Duncan's probing reads like reportage, an account drawn up from a distance for a reader called upon to witness whatever it is that is about to happen; at others, the writing is full of effort and exhibition: "Breasts like appalled witnesses, blonde hair a smashed aureole on the pillow".
As the two plots begin to converge, however, that effort, its careful attention to the apparently mundane conversation between Nicholas and Chloe--Sunday morning conversation over the newspaper report of the new London Ripper, for example--begins to pay off. Described as a writer who can make the "ordinary remarkable", Duncan has managed to bring the commonplace strangeness of sexuality into contact with the different extremes of sexual violence in an uneasy, but finally compelling, novel. --Vicky Lebeau --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the third novel I have read by Glen Duncan, and quite possibly the darkest. Nicholas is in New York, debasing himself through alcohol and the offering of himself for perverse acts, numb to all feeling as he recounts his lost life of love with Chloe. Chloe is in London, recovering from a most vilifying and traumatic episode. Duncan brings forth their pain and makes us wear it like heavy, rain drenched cloaks. I squirmed when I read this book, many times and most of them on the people-filled rush hour tubes of the London Underground. Observers probably wondered what was bringing me so much discomfort, it was this enthralling, beautifully written, rich novel that simply takes no prisoners and whilst it delights in its celebration of true love, it also revels in its deep look at true pain and horror. Not for the easily disturbed, but for the rest of us...magnificent!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the fourth Glen Duncan novel I've read. He never disappoints. This book is a psychoanalytic masterpiece, looking at the nature of love and hate, sex and love, pain and joy, disappointment and regret. Unusually, for a male writer, Duncan gets inside the heads of women and writes convincingly from their perspective. His description of Chloe's outlook, both before and after the event the book centres around, is something most women readers will identify with. The female characters in the book are undoubtedly the strongest and best drawn. The main male character is interesting, although maybe an as-yet-fully-formed version of the mesmerising male characters in I, Lucifer and Weathercock, but he didn't compel me in the same way as the women. If you're a romantic about love, this book will give you a different slant on things. If you're a realist about love, this book will be like coming home. He's the best contemporary writer I've had the pleasure of finding recently.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of the most haunting,perceptive and well-written books I have read and it's also a real page-turner.Macabre and grissly it may be,but it's also extremely perceptive in its discussion of the theme of love and very moving.I'm really looking forward to reading this writer's next novel.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A bleak but flawed masterpiece
Glen Duncan, along with David Mitchell, is one of the few current writers who create prose that must be savoured slowly. Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2006 by E. W. Collier
Utter Rubbish
This has to be one of the worst books I have every read. It's a complete waste of time. THe characters come across as complete drippy, boring, weak people who you couldn't give a... Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2006 by Mr. G. Mcmurtrie
dirty beautiful
This book is one of the dirty beautiful things that simply needs to exist. It rebuilds faith in love at the same time as it rips at your soul. Read more
Published on 7 May 2006 by desborough
soul mirror
Glen Duncan's "Love remains" reminded me of a mirror, that reflected even the darkest folders of human souls. Read more
Published on 31 July 2001
Stunning
A beautifully observed novel about loss and pain. The writing is fabulous - Duncan's feel for prose is remarkable. Macabre and haunting.
Published on 28 Jun 2001
heartbreaking and audacious
Engrossing and unbelievably depressing meditation on the transcient nature of love, belonging and belief. Read more
Published on 23 April 2000
Thought Provoking all consuming masterpiece
I could not put this book down, when reading this book I felt as though I were part of an elite club reading other peoples thoughts and minds, real people not storybook characters. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2000
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