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Martin Sloane: A Novel
 
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Martin Sloane: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Michael Redhill (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 282 pages
  • Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd (6 Jun 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0434010251
  • ISBN-13: 978-0434010257
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,093,013 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
When Martin Sloane, Toronto poet and playwright Michael Redhill's first novel, appeared in Canada, it made headlines for its decade-long gestation through 12 complete drafts. In an age when many blockbuster novels read as though they never saw an editor's pencil, Redhill's stamina and ruthless self-appraisal were enough to make him newsworthy. But all that attention to its composition raises a basic question about the book itself: was Martin Sloane worth all the effort? As it turns out, Redhill's debut is an intense, poetic evocation of the experience of time and place and the personality of a fictional Irish-Canadian collage artist, Martin Sloane, whose work, if not his life, resembles the nostalgic boxes built by the real-life artist Joseph Cornell. Told in the voice of his abandoned lover Jolene Iolas, the story explores the connection between Sloane's life and his art. Iolas, who had a relationship with the older Sloane in her youth, ends up following the cold trail of his life back to Dublin, where he lived as a boy before he was exiled by illness and first began to pack up his life in little boxes. Redhill has created a powerful meditation on life and memory, his work as a poet standing him in good stead. Even if some of the characters are not quite fully realised and the narrative transitions are at times a little rough, Martin Sloane proves that hard work pays off. Long live revision.--Robyn Gillam

National Post
'… accomplished, considered, polished, it is a novel of depths and many aspects... '

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A surprising book, with personal messages for each reader., 10 Nov 2002
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
I can't recall a recent book in which so many professional reviewers find so many different messages at the heart of the story--each seems to identify a different main theme and to talk about a different aspect of the book. It's not that Redhill is vague or obscure; in fact, multiple messages are probably what he was hoping for.

Integrating a variety of themes into a deceptively simple story, Redhill emphasizes that for each of us, our past always shapes our understanding of the present. Martin Sloane, a fifty-ish artist who creates enigmatic boxes, and Jolene Iolas, a college student who falls in love with him and his artwork, speak to the reader unpretentiously about the past and present, and one quickly identifies with them, falling into the rhythm of their alternating voices. Martin's inexplicable disappearance from Jolene's apartment and Jolene's renewed search for him many years later provide a framework for the story, along with unlimited opportunities for the author to explore themes of love and loss, home and family, death and dying, childhood and memory, and, most of all, our personal identities as a result of our separate pasts. As the reader filters the separate and combined stories of Martin and Jolene through his/her own past experiences, s/he also distills from the author's themes whatever personal messages are relevant, pertinent, or even unique for him.

Redhill's background as a poet is obvious here. His ability to compress allows him to pack short scenes with big meanings, to ensure that every detail advances his story and themes, and to create fresh images which allow the reader to see common experiences in new ways. Wonderful, pithy observations keep the reader energized and involved on many levels, while an intriguing mystery maintains the suspense. Though a transition might help to avoid some minor confusion (eventually resolved) in a couple of scenes, and a few questions of character remain unresolved, this is an amazing debut novel, one of the year's most enjoyable for me.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful... and fractured, 25 Feb 2008
This review is from: Martin Sloane (Paperback)
I could see straight through it, and battled against it, but in the end it won me over totally and I read it every year. There is always something new to be found in this book and it deserves a wider readership. Even on the most superficial level it's a good old fashioned mystery. And the feminine voice is bang on. Very sad yet a fine piece of work
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