Tony and Susan
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Review
'Absorbing, terrifying, beautiful and appalling. I loved Tony and Susan and became intensely involved in it. Parts of it shocked me and I am not easily shocked. It is easy to say that something one has read is unforgettable, but this novel I know I never shall forget.'
-- Ruth Rendell
`A f***king masterpiece. I wish that Wright was still alive so that I could tell him so... It's going to become a living, breathing, knock-out classic. Astonishing.' --M J Hyland
'Absorbing, terrifying, beautiful and appalling. I loved Tony and Susan and became intensely involved in it. Parts of it shocked me and I am not easily shocked. It is easy to say that something one has read is unforgettable, but this novel I know I never shall forget.' --Ruth Rendell
`In an era when writers scarcely get a first chance to make their mark, much less a second, the reissue of Austin Wright's superb novel is a real treat... A masterful example of narrative intensity and artistic control.'
--Sunday Times
-- Ruth Rendell
`A f***king masterpiece. I wish that Wright was still alive so that I could tell him so... It's going to become a living, breathing, knock-out classic. Astonishing.' --M J Hyland
'Absorbing, terrifying, beautiful and appalling. I loved Tony and Susan and became intensely involved in it. Parts of it shocked me and I am not easily shocked. It is easy to say that something one has read is unforgettable, but this novel I know I never shall forget.' --Ruth Rendell
`In an era when writers scarcely get a first chance to make their mark, much less a second, the reissue of Austin Wright's superb novel is a real treat... A masterful example of narrative intensity and artistic control.'
--Sunday Times
Review
'With its trapdoor narrative and its psychological sleight-of-hand, this is a novel of immense guile and unsettling velocity. Why Wright isn't better known is a mystery to me. He's brilliant.' Rupert Thomson 'I read the book when I was 14, which is perhaps a little too young, but it had a profound effect on me and I've always been sad that it was rather lost to obscurity. I am thrilled to now be given the opportunity to sell it to a new audience and see it get the recognition it deserves.' Julia Kingsford, Head of Marketing, Foyles 'Marvellously written - the last thing you would expect in a story of blood and revenge. Beautiful.' Saul Bellow 'Creepy, illuminating, quite wonderful.' Donna Leon 'Compelling - Mesmerizing - Absolutely irresistible.' New York Times 'Brilliantly original - Two thrillers in one...and each infinitely superior to most thrillers, because they play for keeps - Read it at your peril - in daylight, preferably.' Chicago Tribune
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Susan is reading a novel (Nocturnal Animals) about a man named Tony, written by her ex, Edward. The vast majority of the book comprises Nocturnal Animals .... and for me, here's the problem - it's not in fact a very good book. It has an explosive opening, where a 'good' family make a chance night-time encounter on a deserted highway with a bunch of bad guys who try to run them off the road. Immediately we are thrown into a violent thriller where the readers attention is maintained by the danger in which the characters are placed. What Tony and Susan adds to this is that in parallel with the traditional thriller featuring Tony, we have a more subtle thriller involving Susan as she reads the book. Edward is coming to visit and Susan works herself into a lather wondering if the violence in the book is a message to her, whose marriage to Edward ended after she was unfaithful to him.
My hopes were raised by the cover quotation from no lesser writer than Saul Bellow who describes Tony and Susan as being "marvellously written". In parts it is but equally, in parts we get "When that young Susan on Edward's bed saw Arnold Morrow's alarming penis suddenly come into view with swollen purpose, she heard a gong in her head. She heard another soon after, when she decided to let it in" which to my mind puts it in the running for that bad sex writing award that gets dished out every year.
Ultimately, it's not a bad book. Certainly interesting in parts, particularly in its deeper considerations of how we read books and, in part what books mean to their writers. But does it warrant the praise heaped on it by the publishers who have republished it after the initial failure of the book to make any headway describing it as "the most astounding lost masterpiece of American fiction since Revolutionary Road"? That's a big claim, and one that it doesn't, for me, deliver on.
My hopes were raised by the cover quotation from no lesser writer than Saul Bellow who describes Tony and Susan as being "marvellously written". In parts it is but equally, in parts we get "When that young Susan on Edward's bed saw Arnold Morrow's alarming penis suddenly come into view with swollen purpose, she heard a gong in her head. She heard another soon after, when she decided to let it in" which to my mind puts it in the running for that bad sex writing award that gets dished out every year.
Ultimately, it's not a bad book. Certainly interesting in parts, particularly in its deeper considerations of how we read books and, in part what books mean to their writers. But does it warrant the praise heaped on it by the publishers who have republished it after the initial failure of the book to make any headway describing it as "the most astounding lost masterpiece of American fiction since Revolutionary Road"? That's a big claim, and one that it doesn't, for me, deliver on.
42 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Susan recieves a manuscript for a book called Nocturnal Animals from her first husband who she divorced 25 years before (mostly because of his failed attempts at becoming a writer). She is now not very happily married to Arnold, a doctor and has 3 children. Susan reads the book whilst Arnold is at a medical conference. The book is about a man called Tony and the shocking consequences of him deciding to drive through the night with his wife and teenage daughter to their holiday home in Maine. We get to read the utterly gripping book interspersed with Susan's musings and daydreams about her current life and past and gradually her story is revealed to us.
This is not the sort of book that would usually appeal to me - modern, a book within a book format and the manuscript a taut psychological drama with cops involved. However, I really, really liked this book. Enjoy is not quite the right word as it isn't a happy or funny book. It is just so well observed, it raises questions about how we all live our lives and how split second choices , the things we hide and our deeds change things forever. I found I really (like Susan with the manuscript) looked forward to finding time to read this book and tried to read it "at the right time", so that I could give it my attention and a good wadge of time.
This edition of the book is very nicely presented - slightly wider paperback on very nice thick papaer and good large font. Great for me as I have started to have trouble reading very small print up close.
Excellent book - so sad it went unrecognised.
This is not the sort of book that would usually appeal to me - modern, a book within a book format and the manuscript a taut psychological drama with cops involved. However, I really, really liked this book. Enjoy is not quite the right word as it isn't a happy or funny book. It is just so well observed, it raises questions about how we all live our lives and how split second choices , the things we hide and our deeds change things forever. I found I really (like Susan with the manuscript) looked forward to finding time to read this book and tried to read it "at the right time", so that I could give it my attention and a good wadge of time.
This edition of the book is very nicely presented - slightly wider paperback on very nice thick papaer and good large font. Great for me as I have started to have trouble reading very small print up close.
Excellent book - so sad it went unrecognised.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A married woman gets the manuscript of a book entitled Nocturnal Animals through the post from an ex-husband she's barely heard from in the past 20 years. So starts a novel that is one of the most interesting I've read in years. As Susan reads through the manuscript (a dark, dense and harrowing tale in its own right) she starts to reflect on the shortfalls of her current marriage and on her would be writer ex-husband, and the role she played in thwarting this aim. She also considers the meaning of the tale and the purpose of it having been sent to her.
This book within a book format works well here and I found Nocturnal Animals itself to be a spooky but compelling tale; the style reminds me of Paul Auster's The Music of Chance - it has the same retro, tale around the campfire feel to it.
The whole piece is brilliantly constructed with prose that is clever and subtle throughout.
Tony and Susan was first published in 1993 (the author died in 2003). It didn't sell that well initially but has recently been re-published. It's considered now - by some - to be an American literary masterpiece. I enjoyed it immensely.
This book within a book format works well here and I found Nocturnal Animals itself to be a spooky but compelling tale; the style reminds me of Paul Auster's The Music of Chance - it has the same retro, tale around the campfire feel to it.
The whole piece is brilliantly constructed with prose that is clever and subtle throughout.
Tony and Susan was first published in 1993 (the author died in 2003). It didn't sell that well initially but has recently been re-published. It's considered now - by some - to be an American literary masterpiece. I enjoyed it immensely.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tony and Susan
Read this as part of a book club. Awful book. Poor grammar and a spelling mistake on the first page! The book had so much promise, the concept of two books written in parallel. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Stargazer
Enjoyed but was left wanting more.
I read this book as it was recommended by a number of people however I did feel disappointed with the ending. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alison
Disappointing
This is an odd book.
The themes it explores are really deep and dark,but the prose is so clumsy that it detracts hugely from the storylines. Read more
The themes it explores are really deep and dark,but the prose is so clumsy that it detracts hugely from the storylines. Read more
Published 2 months ago by P. Cranfield
Tony & Susan
not a bad book, train fodder as I would call it. Worth a read thought an may read more by this author.
Published 2 months ago by Flowertots
Intriguing
It took a while for me to enjoy the writing style of this book, or even the book within the book but the plot kept me going. Read more
Published 2 months ago by L. A. Earnshaw
Promised much but gave nothing
Luckily purchased when deal of the day.Started out promising enough but soon got bogged down in confusion and the dullness of Susan's thoughts. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Peteyboy
Disappointing
I bought this book on the 12 days of kindle sale over Christmas. I am so glad that I did not pay the full price for the book and only paid 99p for it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Blue Butterfly
Punishing to read
Read the first few chapters and skim read the rest. Hate giving in and not finishing a book but somewhere along the line this became masochistic. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Brawburd
NOT A CLASSIC FOR ME I'M AFRAID
First I have to say that although I have an eclectic taste in reading, this probably isn't my favorite genre. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Carol 'avid little bookworm'
Dire read
If I could give this book a minus rating I would. I didn't even finish as I do not feel that I have enough life left to waste!!! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lady Aitch
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