A Week in December (Vintage International) - Softcover

Faulks, Sebastian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307476626 ISBN 13: 9780307476623

Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group, 2011

Synopsis

In the blustery final days of 2007, seven characters will reach an unexpected turning point: a hedge fund manager pulling off a trade, a professional football player recently arrived from Poland, a young lawyer with too much time on his hands, a student led astray by Islamist theory, a hack book reviewer, a schoolboy hooked on pot and reality TV, and a Tube train driver whose Circle Line train joins these lives in a daily loop. And as the novel moves to its gripping climax, they are forced, one by one, to confront the new world they inhabit.

Panoramic and masterful, A Week in December melds moral heft and piercing wit, holding a mirror up to the complex patterns and crossings of modern urban life.

About this title

Review:

"A remarkable creation. . . . Truly moving. . . . richly human novel [and a] grand portrait of a city." --The Washington Post

"Ambitious, entertaining, and often scathingly angry." --The New York Times Book Review

"A Week in December is a formally ambitious, intelligently entertaining, rather provocative novel of contemporary manners." --Los Angeles Times

"Reflects the tumultuous present with both humor and a scathing sensibility. . . . This, at its heart, is fiction about folks, and it's darned compelling." --The Denver Post

"Vigorous, authentic and often hilarious. . . . Clever and convincing." --Chicago Tribune

"The ultimate urban novel. . . . A blistering social document." --Seattle Times

"Delightful and witty. . . . A state-of-the-nation book, a satirical comedy of metropolitan literary life, a sweeping, Dickensian look at contemporary London, a serious examination of Islam and the reasons for radicalism among young Muslims, a thriller, a satire . . . and a detailed look at the sharp financial practices that led to the collapse." --The Guardian (London)

"Precisely what we need to help us navigate these complex times. Chatrooms, blogs, reality TV: this is the landscape contemporary fiction must inhabit to stay relevant. Faulks' does so with mastery." --GQ

"[Faulks] handles his topics with witty verve." --The New Yorker

"Guessing the real-life characters who might have inspired those in the novel adds an extra scoop of fun to this bewitching, well-observed snapshot of London life." --Elle

"If you're a fan of Charles Dickens, A Week in December reads like a vastly entertaining new version of Our Mutual Friend, with a side order of Bleak House." --NPR, "What We're Reading"

"Eminently readable [and] cleverly plotted." --The Times (London)

"Faulks . . . writes in a style that is always sophisticated and sometimes satirical, but he never fails to draw in readers looking for a good story. . . . Deeply creative." --BookPage

"A riposte to those who say the novel doesn't deal with big issues any more." --The Telegraph (London)

"Well-plotted and gripping throughout." --The Spectator

Book Description:

Powerful contemporary novel set in London from a master of literary fiction

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0307476626
• ISBN 13: 9780307476623
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400