- Paperback: 360 pages
- Publisher: Halban Publishers; New edition edition (18 Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1870015843
- ISBN-13: 978-1870015844
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.4 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 529,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
A Visit From Voltaire
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
When an American mother-of-three finds herself overwhelmed in her new home in Switzerland, a visitor pops up offering to cure her son's asthma, her husband's growing indifference, and her own resentment of life. Is he the village nutter or - as he claims to be - the greatest mind of the eighteenth century? This talkative character wearing kneebreeches and wig is the last straw. Though she begs him to go home, he unpacks his mouldy trunk instead. Slowly V. becomes her warmest friend as they laugh and quarrel, and he teaches her the best lesson of all: how to live life to its fullest.
From the Publisher
'A Visit From Voltaire' has been longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2004.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really, really loved this book. Voltaire comes back to life, not as a spook, but more an affectionate, avuncular nag in wig askew and ink-stained britches. Visible only to the author, his indomitable ego fills the pages with witticisms, verbal sparring and massive intellect. We learn about his life and times - but Kung has given him an entirely consistent, and insatiable appetite to continue his work after his death. With her help, he taps into the internet to lobby for human rights - and despite her efforts to curb his use of her credit card, he dabbles once again in the financial markets. The story is rich in character, dialogue and insight, fleshed out with her own confiding in the ghost about experiences she can't quite leave behind. He ages from a talented but self-centred salon lounge lizard to a frail humanitarian who has seen it all. He drinks gallons of coffee, takes snuff and wears fresh, clean clothes every day. She finds a way to make the best use of her new life in Switzerland and outgrow the vanities of her life before arriving in a small Swiss village.
This is a stimulating novel, rich and uncynical.
This is a stimulating novel, rich and uncynical.
70 of 71 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In a world where most authors, other than the avowedly academic, appear to strive to fall within the neat categories of marketing departments, how refreshing it is to come across a book which resolutely, though unconsciously, defies such pidgeonholing.
Informed throughout by a wonderful sense of humour, "A Visit From Voltaire" is by turns a description, both serious and hilarious, of family life in a new and unfamiliar environment; an introduction to 18th Century cultural life; and, via a series of vignettes linking similar events in different times (the Author's and Voltaire's), a comment on political and religious corruption and intolerance.
Above all though, "A Visit From Voltaire" has, at its heart, the development from rocky beginnings of a wonderful friendship between the Author and Voltaire - Voltaire emerges not only as the champion of justice and tolerance that we are all aware of, but as a delightfully idiosyncratic and human character, fully capable of moving between his era and ours, where he finds his ideals still under attack and where his unflagging energy and honesty are still as necessary as ever. Whether adapting to the internet or revisiting old haunts in London, his zest for life is contagious. The development of the friendship between the Author and Voltaire is beautifully handled and I was as sad as the Author when they finally parted. How I wish he had stayed. I had so much I wanted to ask him.
As with all good books, I was inspired to do a number of things - learn more about the man and his century (a very helpful bibliography is provided); renew my contact with Amnesty International; Revisit Bernstein and take a look at my wardrobe.
All this in addition to a wonderful read. How could you resist?
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I thought this was just about the most entertaining book I have read during the last year. Voltaire is a hilarious visitor - who annoys and entertains the author constantly during her battles to become adjusted to a totally different way of life with her family in a new country. It is completely orginal in its concept, funny, honest, soul searching and vivid - and erudite in a totally readable way. It's a book I am recommending to all my friends and anyone else who will listen!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fun to read
Having lived in the Canton de Vaud for 20 years, driven up the road to St. Cergue at least 100 times (birthday parties, kiddie skiing and the Clinique Genolier), I loved this book... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Deborah Davis-Larrabee
Very funny and accurate, full of wisdom
I really enjoyed the clever juxtiposition of Voltaire's retelling his formidable ups and down,( especially his downs,) to the author facing the frustrations of "exile" with family... Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2005
Wasn't a comedy at all
I found it hard to continue reading this book with any enthusiasm. Perhaps, it is because I also live in switzerland and know so well what she was describing. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2005
Charming
This is a very good effort indeed. I am left feeling as if I have had a visit from Voltaire myself. Dinah lee Kung is obviously hopelessly in love with him - and why not? Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2004 by Jonathan Miller
charming, witty, laugh-out-loud funny
Author Dinah Lee Kung pulls off in this book a superb feat of imaginative writing. A transplanted New Yorker trying to settle down in a Swiss village with her husband and three... Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2003 by Dori Jones Yang
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