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The Idea of Perfection
 
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The Idea of Perfection (Hardcover)

by Kate Grenville (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Paperback £7.99 £4.99 190 used & new from £0.01

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 401 pages
  • Publisher: Viking Books (Mar 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0670030805
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670030804
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.9 x 3.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,803,127 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Idea of Perfection
71% buy the item featured on this page:
The Idea of Perfection 3.7 out of 5 stars (19)
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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A subtle and beautiful account of ordinary frail people, 11 Oct 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Idea of Perfection (Paperback)
This book starts as languidly as the weather in NSW, and one can almost feel the heat coming out of the pages. The hurts and shattered dreams of two outsiders to a small town are delicately unfurled, and throughout there is a sense of how fragile human emotions are and how easy it is to pretend that life is safer alone, without intimacy. Yet how those yearnings never let us alone. A beautiful exploration of loss and hope.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars hot!, 8 Dec 2002
This review is from: The Idea of Perfection (Paperback)
This is a gorgeous book. The searing heat of Australia can be felt in every page and everything just moves slowly to accommodate it. The two main characters are beautifully drawn and the conclusion well-paced and exactly as you would want it to be. Better than perfection? Definitely!
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a rich and textured read, 31 Jul 2001
This review is from: The Idea of Perfection (Paperback)
This book is a deftly constructed piece and a pleasure to read. Grenville takes the time to illuminate her characters her characters and their environment so that as you read the book you are in a small country town in rural NSW Australia, you feel the heat and flies. You can smell the dust on the road and feel the relief of the shade. By the end of the book you know some of those small town 'characters' that so often lie flat on the page as cliches. The novel also works at a symbolic level with the juxtaposition of the Bank manager's wife to the main characters. And there is a scene where the protagonist swims in the river that is just wonderful and reminds me of the scene in the 'Piano' where the piano sinks in the ocean. I can see why this book won the Orange prize. This book is every bit as good as anything by Dawn Powell or Patrick Hamilton who also create wonderful character studies.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment
After reading "The River", which I loved and was saddened to have it end, a brilliant book, I eagerly snatched up this one and was very disappointed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. E. Swenson

4.0 out of 5 stars A cleverly crafted comedy of social behaviour

This novel was for me an introduction to the writing of Australian writer Kate Grenville. It was passed on to me by an Australian Bookcrossing friend, while she was... Read more
Published 9 months ago by LindyLouMac

5.0 out of 5 stars My Idea of Perfection
I thought that The Secret River was a brilliant book, as was Lilian's Story, but, for me, this is the Kate Grenville I shall remember the best. Read more
Published on 3 Jul 2007 by MollfromOz

4.0 out of 5 stars funny and sweet and oh so human
The reviewer who was bored with this book made me chuckle because she is, at least in part, right! There is no plot to speak of, and not a lot happens! Read more
Published on 20 April 2007 by H. Ashford

4.0 out of 5 stars The Idea of Perfection
Well, The Idea of Perfection, which won The Orange Prize in 2001, WAS a surprise. Having read Grenville's Booker 2006 shortlisted The Secret River a few weeks ago, I picked this... Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2007 by Leyla Sanai

1.0 out of 5 stars Oh dear....
*yawn* ooops...sorry, just finishing what has got to be the most boring book ever written. Kate Grenville's 'Idea of Perfection' is well written - unless you count the... Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2006 by Ice Queen

5.0 out of 5 stars The Idea of Perfection
This is brilliantly written and will make you smile. The characterisation is vivid, and you can't help liking and feeling empathy for the two main protagonists. Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2006 by S. V. Rhodes

4.0 out of 5 stars Made me laugh!
I loved this book. It's about some sad losers in a sad small town in the middle of nowhere and not much happens, but there was something delicious and so very, very funny... Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2006 by Suzanne Collett

3.0 out of 5 stars I must be missing something...
Just finished The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville which won the Orange Prize a few years ago (against stiff competition) and have to confess to being slightly puzzled by it... Read more
Published on 5 Jul 2005 by A. Weston

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!
I thought this book was superb. Coming from a small town myself I could actually feel and visualise the atmosphere of the place. Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2003

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