Observatory Mansions (Vintage Contemporaries) - Softcover

Carey, Edward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375709231 ISBN 13: 9780375709234

Publisher: Vintage, 2002

Synopsis

Once the Orme family's magnificent ancestral estate, Observatory Mansions is now a crumbling apartment complex, home to an eccentric group of misfits. One of them is Francis Orme, who earns his livelihood as a living statue. When not practicing "inner and outer stillness," Francis steals the cherished possessions of others to add to his private museum. The other tenants are equally as odd: his mother and father, who haven't interacted in years; a man who continually sweats and cries; a recluse who prefers television to reality; and a woman who behaves like a dog. When Anna Tapp arrives among them she stirs their souls, bringing long forgotten memories to the surface-and arousing fears that this new resident intends to provoke a metamorphosis.
Reminiscent of Beckett, Ionesco, and Millhauser but startlingly original, Observatory Mansions is also unexpectedly beguiling. Upon its publication in England, it was a literary sensation, and John Fowles called it "easily the most brilliant fiction I've seen this year."

About this title

Review:

Edward Carey's debut novel Observatory Mansions has a touch of Gormenghast about it. A "small and peculiar group of people" live together in a decaying four storey cube in neo-classical design. It was once magnificent, set in beautiful grounds, but has now been transformed into flats, an island within a surge of traffic. The people themselves are anchored in disassociation, set apart from the rest of the busy city by their histories, their memories, their relationships with the other seven inhabitants of the flats. 37-year-old Francis Orme is telling the story of Observatory Mansions. He earns his living by becoming "a statue of whiteness" in the park. He wears white gloves to ensure that he never touches anything with his skin; this includes the items he picks for his museum of significant objects (there is an intriguing list of all 996 of them at the end of the novel), a collection that he guards zealously from the other house dwellers. The other occupants include his father, sweaty Peter Bugg, and bedridden mother, Claire Higg, who has "created for herself an alternative time frame called fiction". She lives through her television: "such beautiful lives, such beautiful lives."

The house and its people are self-contained. Order and a vague harmony are maintained by a careful routine. But then along comes Anna Tap, half-blind and vulnerable. She is sympathetic, resourceful and slowly the residents begin to open up their long-closed hearts. The delicate balance of Observatory Mansion begins to shift and Francis finds himself having to protect the secrets of his past and the sanctity of his collection, while growing emotionally closer to Anna.

The novel is a haunting comedy of mental and physical dislocation. Carey's writing is poised and oddly precise: the characters are eccentric but compelling. Observatory Mansions is strangely hopeful, a tale about how love and lists can transform your life. --Eithne Farry

Review:

"A sublime take on the Gothic horror novel, an endearing love story...and a triumphant argument for how brilliant the novel can still be."-Detroit Free Press

"Readers who complain there's no originality left in the world should visit Observatory Mansions."-USA Today

"A funny, sad, and provocative novel."-The Washington Post Book World

"Observatory Mansions is a strange and beautiful book. . . . That this is a first novel is a wonder." --The Memphis Flyer

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0375709231
• ISBN 13: 9780375709234
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368