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'He wields a singularly pure and classical style, at times a dissecting instrument more reminiscent of the French tradition than the English. It is one of the paradoxes that makes his art successful, this contrast between the severity of his authorial mind and the luxuriance of much of what he depicts.' Independent on Sunday
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'Kureishi creates fiction which is powerful and true, leavened by a sharp wit that rarely deserts him.' The Times 'Kureishi fashions his narrative with wit and immense charm.' Independent
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
HE SAID, Listen: you say you can't hear well and your back hurts. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
HE SAID, Listen: you say you can't hear well and your back hurts. Read the first page
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Mr Kureishi's collection of stories opens with "The Body" in which theprotagonist, Adam, is an ageing professor of literature and writer. Hiswife Margot claims that men tend to get "particularly band-tempered,pompous and demanding" when they reach a certain age. Furthermore, one ofhis students nearly offends Adam when he states that he now looks anythinglike his picture on the back of his books. All this happens as Adam meetsone of his admirers, Ralph, at a party. Ralph explains to Adam that someold - and rich - people are now having their living brains removed andtransplanted into the bodies of young dead people. He assures him that theoperation has already been performed successfully hundreds of times, aswas the case on himself. Finally convinced by the numerous women eyeingRalph at the party, Adam decides to undergo the operation and selects froma broad variety of dead corpses at the clinic the body of an athletic andvery handsome young Italian footballer, settling for a "shot term bodyrental" of six months. The outcome of the operation is successful and sobegins for Adam - now Leo - a very surprising new life indeed.
MrKureishi's short stories are witty, incisive and funny. He is a keenobserver of the human condition and he treats subjects like love,parenthood and the problem of happiness very skilfully.
MrKureishi's short stories are witty, incisive and funny. He is a keenobserver of the human condition and he treats subjects like love,parenthood and the problem of happiness very skilfully.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This volume comprises the title story – a novella – and seven short stories. "The Body" is an intriguing exploration of issues surrounding ageing and identity: what if you could have a younger body for a while, or forever? By contrast, the short stories, exploring the lives of a variety of uniformly miserable characters, feel short either of ideas or entertainment. They have the feel of having been added on to make the book up to a respectable size.
Summary: if you like literary fiction, the main story is worth a look. But the rest is disappointing.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is Kureishi on top form. I really felt, reading this book, that he has developed as a writer. His structure and syntax is faultless, and he has a confidence in his characters and their slightly surreal, absurd, mundane, fantastic and erotic circumstances that jumps off the page and grabs you.
I was pulled into his world and enjoyed reading all these pieces; I got the book for Christmas, had read it by Boxing Day, and reread it by New Year.
One thing I will say, although this is his finest prose, I believe the stories in his earlier two collections were finer constructions of fiction. But Kureishi's spare and honest writing brushes aside anything his peers have done in this last decade that he has been working as a fiction writer.
I prefer Kureishi's shorts to his novels and plays. They are valuable contemporary British literature.
Worth every penny.
I was pulled into his world and enjoyed reading all these pieces; I got the book for Christmas, had read it by Boxing Day, and reread it by New Year.
One thing I will say, although this is his finest prose, I believe the stories in his earlier two collections were finer constructions of fiction. But Kureishi's spare and honest writing brushes aside anything his peers have done in this last decade that he has been working as a fiction writer.
I prefer Kureishi's shorts to his novels and plays. They are valuable contemporary British literature.
Worth every penny.
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