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A Spy in the House of Love (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by Anais Nin (Author) "The lie detector was asleep when he heard the telephone ringing ..." (more)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Price For All Three: £18.94

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Product details

  • Paperback: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (30 Aug 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141183713
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141183718
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 84,513 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Cult Authors > Nin, Anais

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Product Description

Product Description

Beautiful, bored and bourgeoise, Sabina leads a double life inspired by her relentless desire for brief encounters with near-strangers. Fired into faithlessness by a desperate longing for sexual fulfilment, she weaves a sensual web of deceit across New York. But when the secrecy of her affairs becomes too much to bear, Sabina makes a late night phone-call to a stranger from a bar, and begins a confession that captivates the unknown man and soon inspires him to seek her out…


About the Author

Anais Nin (ca. 1903-1977). Her first book – a defence of D. H. Lawrence – was published in the 1930s. Her prose poem, House of Incest (1936) was followed by the collection of three novellas, Winter of Artifice (1939). Her novels, Ladders to Fire, Children of the Albatross, The Four-Chambered Heart, A Spy in the House of Love and Seduction of the Minotaur were first published in the United States between the 1940s and the 1960s. In the 1940s she began to write erotica for an anonymous client, and these pieces are collected in Delta of Venus and Little Birds (both published posthumously).
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
The lie detector was asleep when he heard the telephone ringing. Read the first page
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A Spy in the House of Love (Penguin Modern Classics)
52% buy the item featured on this page:
A Spy in the House of Love (Penguin Modern Classics) 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Captivating, Complex Female Character, 22 May 2002
Anais Nin superbly creates a captivating, complex female character – Sabina – divided between her will to live multiple lives, and escape the routine of an ordinary existence; and her sense of guilt, personified by the Lie Detector, which follows her virtually everywhere. Her promiscuous search of love culminates in an emotional break down which revels her fragile nature and her naiveness in trying to escape reality by constructing her perfect, idyllic love dimension, out of multiple superficial love relationships.

The story line is not meant to be followed in a chronological order. There is an element of repetition that, though has been criticized, in my opinion works in favor of the concept on which evolves the whole story and Sabina’s psychology. There is also a poetic component that enriches the narrative, although it is not as keenly developed as in other works of Anais Nin, such as in Under A Glass Bell.

A Spy In The House Of Love can be a perfect introduction to Anais Nin and her writings, but it can be also appreciated as a distinct fiction story. This book, although relatively short, manages perfectly to develop Sabina’s complicated character and her psychology, absorbing completely the reader in its dimension. Therefore, I vividly recommend this book to all readers in search of a short fiction story but still capable of captivating the reader through the complexity of its main character.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Spy in the House of Love, 1 Jun 2009
By Blue Yates (Staffordshire UK) - See all my reviews
On first reading this book I was immediately struck by its depth of characterisation and originality. Formally in the mode of 'By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept' it is a novella written in beautiful abstract prose. Where as much of Nin's work is concerned with reportage of sexual adventure, this book depicts her emotional response to a number of relationships. Her rich use of imagery and dense language make 'A Spy in the House of Love' a memorable and inspirational book that goes some way to transporting the reader back to the streets and hotels of post-war New York.
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12 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars great, 24 Sep 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: A Spy in the House of Love (Hardcover)
This is my favourite book ever - though it's not an easy read it isn't very thick either so I guess these 2 factors compensate for one another. The story is about a woman who wanders from one love affair to another and although the writer is distictly feminine in her outlook, she doesn't get bogged down with making the action too "womany" which I feel is the failing of many female writers. The language is brilliantly poetic
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