- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (28 July 1977)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140042083
- ISBN-13: 978-0140042085
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 12 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,952,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Originally published in 1974, a humorous novel set against an American academic background, telling of how a professor's stable relationship and family life comes apart when he embarks upon an ill-advised affair with a female student. By the author of REAL PEOPLE, ONLY CHILDREN and FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the best, fictional examination of the relationship between parents and teenagers. If you are a parent, you will wince in recognition.
3 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Yet another portrait of a seperation, set in 1970's America, in Acedemia. The story centres around the wife, Erica, the husband, Jeffrey and the lover, Wendy, who is one of Jeffreys students. The book charts the affair, break up of the marriage and subsequent reconciliation. Set against a back drop of student femminism and mystical gurus in Karmic bookshops this could have been boring, as the subject matter is not particularaly original, although as it was oublished in 1974 it probably wasn't as passe, however the book does manage to hold the readers interest. Some well worn cliches are used, Erica receiving the attentions of friends husbands following the break up is the most notable, but corny as it sounds it is still true today, and I found the character of Wendy particularaly irritating, a brain dead supposedly free thinking bimbette, sought after by an otherwise intelligent man, but all in all I found this a quite enjoyable book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Still great after all these years
30 Mar 2004
This novel seems to be out of print again and is hard to find even in second hand stores. This is a shame because the breakup of the marriage of the prim professor Brian and his wife Erica is a fine and subtly humorous novel. The novel is set in the Vietnam era as a background to the campus setting, but it is also is part of the atmosphere that leads to a seachange in the lives of all the characters.
Brian passively allows himself to be drawn into an cheesy, self serving affair with a nubile student. One of the novels digs at colleges of the sixties is that the girl is barely literate, which is apparently no impediment to being a graduate student.
Erica, who has been a demure and dutiful wife has an intellect as sharp as her professor husband She is less than happy with the situation, but is determined to put Brain's feet to the fire on this issue. She also finds that with Brian out of the house she is able to deal with the many annoyances imposed on her by her prissy spouse, such as his insistence that she does not work on campus.
Less pleasant are her two teen children who are cleverly likened to the South Vietnamese of the day, dependant for aid on people they resent and her weedy, weird college friend Sandy, the only male available to spend time with her. Lurie's description of events are smart, satirical and just plain funny. Most importantly this is novel about change and the need and the inevitablity of moving forward.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
smart, funny, sad
14 Mar 2004
Format:Paperback
This was the first novel by Alison Lurie that I've read and it made a deep impression. It is very witty and humorous as are all her works but it is among the darkest. It's fine enough to have gotten the Pulitzer except that the direction of the author's sarcasm would, I imagine, be a downer for the prize-determiners. Happily Foreign Affairs, which got the Pulitzer, directs its sarcasm more across the board, for instannce at the interactions between Brits and Americans; this time the fact that the two protagonists are English professors is evidently forgivable.
All her fiction is interesting, but here is what I like best, aside from the two aforementioned novels: The Truth About Lorin Jones, The Nowhere City, Imaginary Friends.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Well-drawn characters; entertaining novel set in academia
13 July 1999
Format:Hardcover
The first half of this book shows a horribly plausible example of a middle aged marriage falling apart at the seams, due to chance happenings. The psychology of the husband, Brian Tate, is thoroughly and sympathetically examined - he looks like a success, but his own self-view is very different. This, and the great feeling of the palce and period (1969) are the strengths of this novel.
Its weaknesses are that it gets less convincing towards the end, and the author's rather simplistic femanism gets the better of her, particularly when pontificating on male relationships.
Overall, not one of her best, but still a good read.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
