"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the MAN BOOKER PRIZE- and WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED author of Swing Time, White Teeth and On Beauty
'A pleasure from the first page to the last' Evening Standard
'A glorious concoction by our most beguiling and original prose-wizard' Independent on Sunday
'Full of humour, the search for love and the fear of death... A touching, thoughtful, deeply felt rite-of-passage novel' Sunday Telegraph
The Autograph Man follows one Alex-Li Tandem: a twenty-something Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion. From London to New York, love to death, fathers to sons, Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Exposing our misconceptions about our idols - about ourselves - Zadie Smith delivers a brilliant, unforgettable tale about who we are and what we really want to be.
The Autograph Man has a similar ebullience and an equally dazzling panoply of characters. Its hero Alex Li-Tandem is "one of this generation who watch themselves", a Chinese-Jewish north Londoner who is first introduced as a child accompanying his father to a wrestling match between those two larger-than-life scions of 1970s Saturday afternoon television--Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. When Alex's father dies in the pandemonium surrounding the pursuit of Big Daddy's autograph, the twin themes of the novel are launched--one is the bereaved Alex's search for a replacement to fill the gulf, the other his obsession with tracking down, buying and selling autographs. Alex seeks one autograph in particular and seemingly in vain--that of Kitty Alexander, a fading film star. The route he follows in his search has much to say about the nature of celebrity and the privacy of souls, of fantasy and reality--all narrated in Smith's breathless prose.
The Autograph Man plays on many strands and clever observations--in particular Jewishness, goyishness and Zen Buddhism. Smith is a superbly assured writer whose images stick in the mind; for example, Alex's girlfriend Esther has "hair plaited like a puzzle". The dialogue is vivid and there is much humour but at times the convoluted plot threatens to spill over into anarchy and the humour can be self-conscious. Though this does not diminish the entertainment value of The Autograph Man, it does--frustratingly--make it appear insincere. --Catherine Taylor
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. The Autograph Man is Zadie Smith's whirlwind tour of celebrity and our fame-obsessed times.Following one Alex-Li Tandem - a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion - it takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Exposing our misconceptions about our idols - about ourselves - Zadie Smith delivers a brilliant, unforgettable tale about who we are and what we really want to be.'A glorious concoction written by our most beguiling and original prose-wizard' Independent on Sunday'A brilliant comedy with a tantalising throb of mystic philosophy underneath' Philip Hensher, Books of the Year, Spectator'A pleasure from the first page to the last' Evening Standard'Intellectually agile . ecstatic inventiveness' Time'A classic' Spectator'Genuinely funny and entertaining' Guardian'Vibrant, highly imaginative' Jewish Chronicle'Full of irony, humour, the search for love and the fear of death . . . a touching, thoughtful, deeply felt rite-of-passage novel' Sunday Telegraph%%%The Autograph Man is Zadie Smith's whirlwind tour of celebrity and our fame-obsessed times.Following one Alex-Li Tandem - a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion - it takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Exposing our misconceptions about our idols - about ourselves - Zadie Smith delivers in The Autograph Man a brilliant, unforgettable tale about who we are and what we really want to be.'A glorious concoction written by our most beguiling and original prose-wizard' Independent on Sunday'A brilliant comedy with a tantalising throb of mystic philosophy underneath' Philip Hensher, Books of the Year, Spectator'A pleasure from the first page to the last' Evening Standard'Intellectually agile . ecstatic inventiveness' Time'A classic' Spectator'Genuinely funny and entertaining' Guardian'Vibrant, highly imaginative' Jewish Chronicle'Full of irony, humour, the search for love and the fear of death . . . a touching, thoughtful, deeply felt rite-of-passage novel' Sunday TelegraphZadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. Her debut novel, White Teeth, won the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and the Commonwealth Writers' First Book Prize, and was included in TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. Her second novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has written two further novels, The Autograph Man and NW, a collection of essays, Changing My Mind, and has edited a short-story collection, The Book of Other People.%%%The Autograph Man is Zadie Smith's whirlwind tour of celebrity and our fame-obsessed times.Following one Alex-Li Tandem - a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion - it takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Exposing our misconceptions about our idols - about ourselves - Zadie Smith delivers in The Autog Following one Alex-Li Tandem - a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion, this title takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780140276343
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780140276343
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780140276343
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9780140276343-GDR
Book Description Condition: New. In. Seller Inventory # ria9780140276343_new
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 432 pages. 7.68x5.00x1.22 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0140276343
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Following one Alex-Li Tandem - a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion, this title takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Seller Inventory # B9780140276343
Book Description Condition: New. Following one Alex-Li Tandem - a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion, this title takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Illustrator(s): Mills, Roderick. Num Pages: 432 pages, line illustrations. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 28. Weight in Grams: 300. . 2003. New Ed. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780140276343
Book Description Condition: New. Following one Alex-Li Tandem - a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion, this title takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Illustrator(s): Mills, Roderick. Num Pages: 432 pages, line illustrations. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 28. Weight in Grams: 300. . 2003. New Ed. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780140276343
Book Description Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -From the MAN BOOKER PRIZE- and WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED author of Swing Time, White Teeth and On Beauty'A pleasure from the first page to the last' Evening Standard'A glorious concoction by our most beguiling and original prose-wizard' Independent on Sunday 'Full of humour, the search for love and the fear of death. A touching, thoughtful, deeply felt rite-of-passage novel' Sunday Telegraph The Autograph Man follows one Alex-Li Tandem: a twenty-something Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion. From London to New York, love to death, fathers to sons, Alex tries to discover how a piece of paper can bring him closer to his heart's desire. Exposing our misconceptions about our idols - about ourselves - Zadie Smith delivers a brilliant, unforgettable tale about who we are and what we really want to be. 413 pp. Englisch. Seller Inventory # 9780140276343