- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Viking; First Edition edition (26 Feb 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670876712
- ISBN-13: 978-0670876716
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.4 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,597,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||
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
Marina longs for human contact and signs up for an implantation programme. She takes up palmistry, and falls in love with one of the hands - Cecilio - it has a short life line. Searching for the rest of her beloved, Marina becomes involved with her strange extended family.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I find it hard to believe this is a first novel. Its scale is ambitious. The plot is surrealistic. But the characters are entirely believable, despite the eccentric events that surround them. The author builds an intriguing mosaic and the total picture is incredibly memorable. I defy anyone who has read this book to travel on London Underground again without sparing a thought for "the scrapers". Other images are similarly vivid, Colton's hug box - an autistic boy's defence mechanism, and Luca's prison hole are especially haunting.
We learn about each character in turn and as we do the mosaic take shape. The surrealistic plot becomes almost commonplace. The vividness of the characters and their fundamental humanity persuaded me to suspend disbelief early on. This is a world quite like ours, but not quite ours. Strange things happen but are woven in with the mundane...if you find Transport strikes routine! I found the images so strong I hated some of the characters. By the end I had come to understand them. The book shows that none of us is entirely black or white, even the evil characters have reasons for seeing the world as they do.
One other element of the book deserves mention. The author precedes each section with one of her own illustrations and these powerful images give the story an extra dimension. I could go on...but it would be much better for you to read it yourself. You'll have to wait quite a time to find a more accomplished and absorbing first novel.
Format:Paperback
I just finnished reading the book and am now watching a programme on Discovery about a man who's having an ear implanted on his arm. Ms Leroux understands current happenings and carries them into the surreal. Her ability to see how humans might adapt to scientific advances into their everyday life is uncanny.
Format:Paperback
I must say, I nearly had to take notes to keep tabs on all the characters and their relationships.
What can I say? Its brilliant, although surreal beyond belief. Marinas family are the strangest folk you are ever bound to meet- her sister has to wear grounding wires to stop herself from electrocuting everyone she touches, her brother in law lives in a hug box, her aunt has her violent husband imprisioned inside her hand, desparate to get out...
And Doctor Hurtigger, researcher into the delicate science of grafting and implanting body parts, is the weirdest one of all....
Every chapter twists the characters closer together as a new character is introduced, and the book comes together like an intricate puzzle, keeping you guessing right to the very last page.
Genius.
What can I say? Its brilliant, although surreal beyond belief. Marinas family are the strangest folk you are ever bound to meet- her sister has to wear grounding wires to stop herself from electrocuting everyone she touches, her brother in law lives in a hug box, her aunt has her violent husband imprisioned inside her hand, desparate to get out...
And Doctor Hurtigger, researcher into the delicate science of grafting and implanting body parts, is the weirdest one of all....
Every chapter twists the characters closer together as a new character is introduced, and the book comes together like an intricate puzzle, keeping you guessing right to the very last page.
Genius.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
anachronistic plot
I can't understand what's so good about this book. The mouse/ear thing was news in the early nineties, so how can one use it far in the future? Read more
Published 15 months ago by A. Meijer
A fascinating and sometimes weird fantasy about the future
An excellent first novel.
Leroux's imagination takes you into the minds of some strange characters with some very unusual personality traits. Read more
Published on 21 July 1999
Engaging and twisted
Anyone fascinated about the picture of the mouse with an ear grafted on it's back should read on! Chanced upon this little gem and found that I couldn't put it down. Read more
Published on 20 May 1999
An amazingly confident and accomplished first novel.
I find it hard to believe this is a first novel. Its scale is ambitious. The plot is surrealistic. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 1999
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.
