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Spies (Thorndike Press Large Print Buckinghams) [Large Print] (Paperback)

by Michael Frayn (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 294 pages
  • Publisher: Thorndike Press; Lrg edition (Nov 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0786244801
  • ISBN-13: 978-0786244805
  • Product Dimensions: 22.1 x 16.6 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,663,308 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A tour de force---the reader as voyeur?, 20 Sep 2005
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Spies (New Windmills) (Hardcover)
The atmosphere of the early 1940's in a small town outside London becomes the setting for this novel as Stephen Wheatley, now in his mid-60's and living abroad, is drawn back to his childhood home by the "sweet and luring reek" of privet, a scent which evokes memories of his twelfth year, when he naively "spied" on his neighborhood from inside privet bushes with his friend Keith Hayward. Announcing one day that his mother is a German spy, Keith "crosses the frontier into another country altogether," and the boys begin dangerous meddling in real lives, manipulating events which they do not fully understand.

Huge, personal costs to others result from their meddling and still puzzle Stephen fifty years later. As he tries to retrieve memories, make necessary connections between events, and put his personal demons to rest, he is a sympathetic figure, and the reader both understands his curiosity as a child-spy and observes with ironic detachment and adult judgment the unfolding disasters he provokes.

Frayn is in full control of his material here, recreating the rather matter-of-fact atmosphere of a suburban London neighborhood during the war--the errant bombing of a neighborhood house and killing of an old woman, the blackouts and alarms, the separated families, the rigid social distinctions, and the indifference toward those of lower class. His depiction of the child's motivation is flawless, the adult Stephen's confusion is plausible, and the dramatic ironies for the reader continue to the end.

Many readers have complained about the ending, and I confess that I, too, was startled, at first, by the last twenty pages. As I started thinking about why Frayn would choose this ending, however, I began to think that perhaps, with all the secrets and spying that take place in the novel, he wanted one final irony--to show that the reader, too, is a kind of spy, a voyeur observing what takes place in the novel and jumping to false conclusions based on partial knowledge, no better than the characters. If that's the case, he certainly gets the last laugh. Mary Whipple

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Spies by Michael Frayn, 15 July 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: Spies (New Windmills) (Hardcover)
This book is exciting and thrilling. It makes you want to read the next page and the next and the next. The suspense is held all through the book and delights many sorts of readers that like many different genre's. However, it is annoying the way that Frayn has kept switching from 1st person to 3rd, however appropriate it is. The descriptions are deep, thoughtful and wonderful but they are too long and inappropriate for the small things that Frayn describes. Maybe he was trying to impress a bit too much! Overall this book is a success and I would recommend the reading of it but its not the sort of book you read twice but give it a go, as most of the book is throughly exhilerating
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Too much of a good thing, 20 Feb 2006
This review is from: Spies (New Windmills) (Hardcover)
“Spies” is an incredibly mysterious and thought-provoking piece, written in the increasingly popular ‘unreliable narrator’ style. Using war-time Britain as a subtle backdrop and plot catalyst, Frayn explores the patchy, incoherent childhood memories of an old man stopping to discover the truth behind a major turning point in his life. Touching on many aspects of childhood life, we are shown only the memories that are given to us, whist occasionally being teased by tiny clues as to the story’s eventual conclusion. By the means of foreshadowing, tension and a complicated narrating technique, the reader always feels one step ahead of the author, and yet – at the same time – acutely aware that you are totally at Frayn’s mercy.
For me there was only one major problem, and this was the story’s length, which leaves the reader tired and frustrated, let alone desperate for an increase in tempo. This is mercifully supplied, and one is suddenly conscious of the spiraling plot twists and thrilling peaks that eventually lead to a rich and emotive resolution.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Page Turner Delight!
What a thriller! Well, I must confess when my Teacher told me to read this novel I was fairly reluctent but in fact, this has to be the most spiffing book I have ever had the joy... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2005 by jadeyluvskev4eva

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