- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Picador; 1st ed 1st printg edition (23 Mar 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330481398
- ISBN-13: 978-0330481397
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,578,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In 1983, an ordinary teenager called Daniel Rathbone fell in love, spurned a friend, and stumbled on the ability to see in the dark. On his 25th birthday, he is bequeathed a second no less unusual gift - a Victorian writing box. It is opened, but its contents resist interpretation.
Book Description
In 1983, an ordinary teenager called Daniel Rathbone fell in love, spurned a friend, and stumbled on the ability to see in the dark. On his twenty-fifth birthday, Daniel is bequeathed a second no less unusual gift - a Victorian writing box, the legacy of his father and the repository of his youthful secrets, and of his current feelings of guilt.When a visit from the once-spurned friend, Carey Schumacher, coincides with the death of a contemporary, Daniel's peculiar endowments are enlisted to make lasting sense of lost time and place. From Bath to Brixton, from the 1960s to the 90s, The Oversight follows a trail of thwarted and victorious affections. It is an intently comic tale of vision and delusion; of family, friendship and desertion; and of the divisively cruel need to belong. A multi-layered debut of distinction. 'Deeply impressive... Eaves simply does not put a foot wrong' Evening Standard 'Remarkable... I was so absorbed in the novel, so admiring of its cleverness and poise... a moving , frequently funny and impressive debut' Sunday Times 'Eaves hasn't created a hero who can leap tall buildings, he's created something rarer still: a vivid portrait of a man getting to grips with adulthood' The Face 'Subtle wondrous...intelligence and taste...gems of dry humour...a varied and accomplished first novel' Scotland on Sunday
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An excellent first novel deserving of a wide readership. Although firmly located in time and place, it delicately handles the universal themes of relationships between parents and child, of facing up to the truth of your past and to the death of a loved one. Eaves has succeeded where many writers fail in keeping control over his material, of knowing what to write and what not to write. Characters and atmosphere are vividly drawn and the author also demonstrates an ability to add in the comedy and farce of daily life. I will certainly read his next novel.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A tremendous debut novel, and far from being the story of callow lads coming to the end of their school days, it is about betrayal among lovers and wives and husbands. It is as much about his mother Jane and his father Philip as it is about Daniel and his realisation from a very early time that he is homosexual. Daniel's half-affectionate, half-irritated relationship with his mother is particularly well-portrayed.
Moving easily between school life, friendships, his parents' early relationship, his father's death and the present day, there is deep insight into the strengths and weaknesses of families and intelligent, witty, flowing prose that is wonderful to read. I've read this twice now and enjoyed it a second time just as much, if not more, than the first.
This is a writer who can give shape and form to even quite minor characters, so that the novel seems peopled by real, rounded individuals. Ending on a note of hope, the book made me feel I knew these people - I understood and cared about them. It was good, too, to learn that even genteel Bath has its seedy underside.
Moving easily between school life, friendships, his parents' early relationship, his father's death and the present day, there is deep insight into the strengths and weaknesses of families and intelligent, witty, flowing prose that is wonderful to read. I've read this twice now and enjoyed it a second time just as much, if not more, than the first.
This is a writer who can give shape and form to even quite minor characters, so that the novel seems peopled by real, rounded individuals. Ending on a note of hope, the book made me feel I knew these people - I understood and cared about them. It was good, too, to learn that even genteel Bath has its seedy underside.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Will Eaves' first book avoids the usual pitfalls of the debut novelist of trying too hard. a funny and poignant coming of age story with a very real feel. Very interesting on the subject of father and son.
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