- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber (3 April 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571233546
- ISBN-13: 978-0571233540
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.6 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 915,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Guardian
'Taylor's playful plundering of the conventions of the detective novel and some of the points he raises are strikingly acute.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"'The Amnesiac is an original, derivative, exasperating, tender triumph... it announces his arrival as one to watch.' Daily Telegraph"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was unsure when I first started reading this but I soon became engaged and completely involved in James Purdew's life. Having come to this book fresh from not enjoying "The Island at the end of the World" (Taylor's latest offering) I really wasn't convinced it was going to be a good read. I was wrong, it was fantastic. The novel refers continually to Jorge Luis Borges' "The Labyrinth".
Starting off in Amsterdam, the main character is contented with his life but after breaking his ankle in a very hot summer, his boredom turns into an obsession about his past. Unfortunately for James Purdew, he can remember nothing about his time as student in an unidentified university town in England and it is here that the reader goes through James' struggle to remember. The novel is a very clever read and even though I didn't enjoy his newest book, he is certainly capable of crossing genres and showcasing his writing skills. I found the book actually difficult to put down and in some respects this is due to the short chapters where you feel you have time for just one more and suddenly one more has led to finishing a section.
If you've read "The Raw Shark Texts" by Steven Hall then this could well be the book for you. It got under my skin and I was desperately trying to reach confirmation of my thoughts about James forgotten memories. There's a mixture of styles within the novel as James finds an extract from a story and also introduces us to a fictional psychologist, whose work we read examples of as if he were real. The narrative is dazzling, taking the reader from a Dickensian style plot, to a detective story.
When I reached the end I didn't feel completely fulfilled. I felt like I need one more chapter. For some, the novel will conclude with satisfaction, but I still had thoughts racing round in mind. I can't recommend this book enough but with mixed reviews available on the internet it's a one you'll have to try yourself.
Starting off in Amsterdam, the main character is contented with his life but after breaking his ankle in a very hot summer, his boredom turns into an obsession about his past. Unfortunately for James Purdew, he can remember nothing about his time as student in an unidentified university town in England and it is here that the reader goes through James' struggle to remember. The novel is a very clever read and even though I didn't enjoy his newest book, he is certainly capable of crossing genres and showcasing his writing skills. I found the book actually difficult to put down and in some respects this is due to the short chapters where you feel you have time for just one more and suddenly one more has led to finishing a section.
If you've read "The Raw Shark Texts" by Steven Hall then this could well be the book for you. It got under my skin and I was desperately trying to reach confirmation of my thoughts about James forgotten memories. There's a mixture of styles within the novel as James finds an extract from a story and also introduces us to a fictional psychologist, whose work we read examples of as if he were real. The narrative is dazzling, taking the reader from a Dickensian style plot, to a detective story.
When I reached the end I didn't feel completely fulfilled. I felt like I need one more chapter. For some, the novel will conclude with satisfaction, but I still had thoughts racing round in mind. I can't recommend this book enough but with mixed reviews available on the internet it's a one you'll have to try yourself.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Strange: a novel that makes great reading, but in the end falls a little flat. What's going on here? Basically what Taylor is doing is trying too hard to be interesting, resulting in a strained, weaving, unsteady story which lacks any tight focus but in the end is quite enjoyable. Some parts of the book should have been cut - I agree the his editor should have pointed this out - but it never really drags. What does make it trying at6 points is the way he uses surreal encounters again and again and agian.
Not great, but worth a read
Not great, but worth a read
7 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There may be a good novel struggling to get out of The Amnesiac. If so, Sam Taylor has been let down by his agent and/or editor. Because this book is in serious need of pruning, both in terms of style and content. Stylistically, there's a huge amount of redundancy and repetition. Things are eternally happening "suddenly", "for some reason", "for the briefest of moments". Everything is prefaced with "James thought" when it's perfectly clear who's doing the thinking. Taylor also overdoes it with the adverbs. He can never say that someone simply says something. They have to say it menacingly, slowly, softly etc.: '"I'm not sure," he said cautiously.' Yes, we KNOW he's being cautious if he's refusing to say yes or no! Leave some room for the reader's imagination! Taylor would do well to google Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing...
Unfortunately, hitting the reader over the head is Taylor's style. Every few pages we're reminded that the protagonist James Purdew (Purdew = perdu = lost, DO YOU SEE???) is in a labyrinth and that memory is chimerical. Yes, we get the point! The influences on this novel seem equally brute, undigested. You go through the novel thinking, yes, this bit comes from Auster (Daniel Quinn, an Auster protagonist, is actually 'thanked' in the acknowledgements), this bit from Bardin's Deadly Percheron, this piece of nonsense from Fowles's Magus, that plot device from The Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, etc. etc.
At the same time, the novel lacks narrative focus. Thrillers need a tight focus, and yet pages and pages of extraneous stuff - about the protagonist's teenage girlfriends, about his time working on a newspaper, etc., etc. - could have been profitably removed. It also lacks a central conflict of personalities. There is really only one person in this novel.
All that said, there are nonetheless some interesting ideas in the novel, and I hope that Taylor goes back and sees where he got it wrong, and comes up with something a little more considered for his next effort.
Unfortunately, hitting the reader over the head is Taylor's style. Every few pages we're reminded that the protagonist James Purdew (Purdew = perdu = lost, DO YOU SEE???) is in a labyrinth and that memory is chimerical. Yes, we get the point! The influences on this novel seem equally brute, undigested. You go through the novel thinking, yes, this bit comes from Auster (Daniel Quinn, an Auster protagonist, is actually 'thanked' in the acknowledgements), this bit from Bardin's Deadly Percheron, this piece of nonsense from Fowles's Magus, that plot device from The Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, etc. etc.
At the same time, the novel lacks narrative focus. Thrillers need a tight focus, and yet pages and pages of extraneous stuff - about the protagonist's teenage girlfriends, about his time working on a newspaper, etc., etc. - could have been profitably removed. It also lacks a central conflict of personalities. There is really only one person in this novel.
All that said, there are nonetheless some interesting ideas in the novel, and I hope that Taylor goes back and sees where he got it wrong, and comes up with something a little more considered for his next effort.
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