Desperate Characters - Softcover

Fox, Paula

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007150385 ISBN 13: 9780007150380

Publisher: Flamingo, 2003

Synopsis

A Great American Novel – from the author of ‘Borrowed Finery’.

Otto and Sophie Bentwood live childless in a renovated Brooklyn brownstone. The complete works of Goethe line their bookshelf, their stainless steel kitchen is newly installed, and their Mercedes is parked outside. After Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a half-starved neighbourhood cat, a series of small and ominous disasters begin to plague their lives, revealing the faultlines and fractures in a marriage – and a society – wrenching itself apart.

Includes an introduction by Jonathan Franzen.

About this title

Review:

‘Inarguably great. “Desperate Characters” soars above every other work of American realist fiction since the Second World War.’ Jonathan Franzen

‘A towering landmark of postwar realism...a sustained work of prose so lucid and fine that it seems less written than carved.’ David Foster Wallace

‘Brilliant.’ New Yorker

‘A master class on the terrors and sophistries of the American bourgeoisie. Wise, unsettling and compassionate. A brilliant book.’ TLS

‘Exhilarating...a novel of elegant sentences and very funny dialogue. Fox writes brilliant parties you’re grateful not to have been invited to.’ New York Review of Books

‘She is one of America’s greatest living writers.’ Scotsman

‘A masterpiece.’ Observer

Synopsis:

A Great American Novel -- from the author of Borrowed Finery. 'A masterpiece.' Observer 'Inarguably great. Desperate Characters soars above every other work of American realist fiction since the Second World War.' JONATHAN FRANZEN Otto and Sophie Bentwood live childless in a renovated Brooklyn brownstone. The complete works of Goethe line their bookshelf, their stainless steel kitchen is newly installed, and their Mercedes is parked outside. After Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a half-starved neighbourhood cat, a series of small and ominous disasters begin to plague their lives, revealing the faultlines and fractures in a marriage - and a society - wrenching itself apart. * A scorching portrait of a 1960s New York marriage which opens out into a brilliant examination of the paradoxes of civilisation. * A classic of American literature from a writer championed and brought back into print by many contemporary greats of American lit - Jonathan Franzen, David Foster Wallace, Andrea Barrett etc. * A Paperback Original * From the author of the memoir, Borrowed Finery, one of the NY Times Best Books of 2001 (only 9 chosen in total!)

* Published alongside The Widow's Children, a novel which closely mirrors the events in Borrowed Finery.

About this edition

• Publisher: Flamingo
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0007150385
• ISBN 13: 9780007150380
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 177