- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Arcade Publishing (8 Jan 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1559705566
- ISBN-13: 978-1559705561
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14.7 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,549,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A brilliant sequel to his highly praised Juggling the Stars, Tim Park's Mimi's Ghost is the ultimate comedy of self-justification. Morris can't get over Mimi, but then he should have thought of that before he kidnapped and killed her. Two years ago, the Italian girl eloped with him. Even as Morris turned elopement into kidnapping, writing ransom notes and collecting the cash, he was also falling deeply, genuinely in love. So getting rid of Mimi was more a punishment than a crime. He had not foreseen it; he would have done anything to avoid it. Only now, residing in Verona and married to the girl's sister, does Morris appreciate how blindly he stumbled into fate's trap. Just as our unsavory hero is beginning to adjust to his new life-a lavish house and a cushy, important position in his new family's lucrative winemaking business--he visits Mimi's grave on the ""Day of the Dead"" and the charming photograph of Mimi on the gravestone distinctly winks at him. Perhaps the poor dead Mimi can't get over Morris either. He begins to hear her voice; he sees her reincarnated in Renaissance madonnas. And before long she begins to tell him what he should do next. Mimi's ghost seems to be suggesting a road to redemption for Morris-he will help the poor African immigrants of Verona, giving them work in the family's vineyards. Is this the politically correct path to a newly repentant, even religious Morris? Or merely his latest scheme? Lingering questions about Mimi's death and the mysterious ""accidents"" that seem to befall anyone who gets in his charitable way certainly don't bode well for the former possibility.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Tim Parks's previous novels include Tongues of Flame (winner of the Somerset Maugham and Betty Trask Awards), Loving Roger (winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Cara Massimina (adapted for television by Dennis Potter shortly before his death), Goodness and Shear. He studied at Cambridge and Harvard, and now lives near Verona with his wife and three children. He lectures in Milan and is the highly respected translator of, among others, Italo Calvino, Antonio Tabucchi and Roberto Calasso.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this to be a very enjoyable book. On one level it is a raucous dark comedy, but go deeper and it is also much more: an examination of regret, grief, obsession and of how one's character defines one's destiny. It is the latter that strikes me as being the key theme in the book.
The main character Morris is somehow both likeable and loathsome at the same time. I could empathise with his despair at the predicaments that he found himself in, but I also despised him for the dreadful things he did to get himself into such situations!!
I also liked the ambiguity surrounding Morris hearing Mimi's voice; of his supposedly hearing her telling him to do things. How this is interpreted is left to the reader. On whether you believe such things are possible or whether you think that Morris is simply insane, or pushing the blame of his actions onto someone whose death he was responsible for in the first place! Yet it is also obvious in the book that he loves Mimi so very deeply.
I actually read this book in a couple of days - I found it utterly unputdownable!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Morris Duckworth seems at first merely a shallow Englishman abroad; harmless but obsessed with all things Italian, including the women. He has in fact murdered his wife Mimi, married her sister and developed an obsession with his dead spouse that leads him to converse lovingly with her for hours on the phone and even to see her face in paintings of the Virgin Mary. Despite his homicidal behaviour, he remains a man who prides himself on his appearance and his lack of prejudice, even going so far as to employ homeless immigrants. This, of course, has less to do with the goodness of his heart and more with the depth of his pockets. This charitable frame of mind is not enough to prevent a string of further deaths and disasters. These surreal twists of the plot bring him regularly into contact with the zealous investigator Fendtsteig, whose icy demeanour strikes a terror into the heart of Morris that even Mimi's loving whispers cannot always dissipate. Mimi's ghost is often bizarre, frequently hilarious and could never be accused of being dull. Just when you think that the plot cannot contort itself any further, it does. Parks' vivid imagination has produced a brilliant novel, well deserving of its comparison to Tarantino.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
You really need to read Cara Massimina, to which this novel is a sequel. If you don't, you will pick up what has happened before the events of Mimi's Ghost, but possibly only partially, which would be a shame as you need to get the full story behind the abduction of Mimi and exactly what happened to her. You also need the previous book to understand the full extent of Morris Duckworth's calumny and why you should be trembling for almost everyone with whom he comes into contact. Morris is not a nice man, though he seems innocuous enough from the outside. Blond, passably nice-looking, polite and thoughtful, even given to philanthropy, of a kind, his further adventures in suburban Italy will leave you gasping with disbelief. Mimi is looking after her Morri, or so he believes. Even going so far as to talk to him on the phone. The only trouble is, Mimi is dead, and Morris killed her.
This dark yet highly amusing thriller is a brilliant sequel to Cara Massimina. Parks' writing is again adroit, witty and confident and there is the benefit of the beautiful Italian setting. Not that Morris has much time to appreciate the culture and climate. Parks balances his unforgettable protagonist on the edge of disaster, like a finger resting on a razor-blade. Will he escape retribution, yet again? This thriller is stunningly dark, cool, nerveless and inch-perfect.
This dark yet highly amusing thriller is a brilliant sequel to Cara Massimina. Parks' writing is again adroit, witty and confident and there is the benefit of the beautiful Italian setting. Not that Morris has much time to appreciate the culture and climate. Parks balances his unforgettable protagonist on the edge of disaster, like a finger resting on a razor-blade. Will he escape retribution, yet again? This thriller is stunningly dark, cool, nerveless and inch-perfect.
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