Itemize Books As The Blue Afternoon
| Original Title: | The Blue Afternoon |
| ISBN: | 0679432957 (ISBN13: 9780679432951) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (1995), Sunday Express Book of the Year (1993) |
William Boyd
Hardcover | Pages: 367 pages Rating: 3.77 | 2353 Users | 163 Reviews
List About Books The Blue Afternoon
| Title | : | The Blue Afternoon |
| Author | : | William Boyd |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 367 pages |
| Published | : | February 28th 1995 by Alfred A. Knopf (first published May 25th 1993) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Novels. Literature |
Chronicle Conducive To Books The Blue Afternoon
I'm so disappointed in this book. The whole premise, that an architect on the verge of a successful career would drop everything to travel to Europe with a stranger who says he's her father, is just ridiculous. Because it's Boyd, I overlooked the convenience of it as a mechanism for telling Cariscant's story but I just couldn't get into it at all. I left not caring what happened. I'm glad this isn't the first of Boyd's books that I've read because, if it had been, it would be the last. There are far too many descriptions of places, objects and people which add nothing to the storyline to the point that I began to think he was being paid for quantity not quality.I realise my views don't mirror the majority of reviewers and I'm sorry if I've offended any Boyd fans. It just goes to show that we should never judge a book by its reviews. The only way to judge it is to read it yourself. In the end, it's all down to personal taste and this just wasn't for me.
Rating About Books The Blue Afternoon
Ratings: 3.77 From 2353 Users | 163 ReviewsWeigh Up About Books The Blue Afternoon
This is an odd book. The beginning does not make sense: why would this woman take this old lunatic on a wild goose chase to Portugal? The description of Manila after the US invasion is interesting with quirky bits like the local medical standards and the adventure with the plane. Overlaid on top of the love story is the mystery novel part that is confused and which the author does not even attempt to solve. It all ends abruptly and leaves the reader frustrated. All together this is not W Boyd atA story told in two time periods - an intense love story in 1904 and a later journey of revelation and discovery in LA and Lisbon. Cleverly structured and well written in Boyd style. Enjoyed this book a lot.
this book was very badly written and it is sad that william boyd can write such a terrilble book.it made no sense what so ever and there was actually no story at all.its about a person who is followed by a man who says he is her father , it is based in 1936 in los angeles.
I read this for a book club - if it had not been chosen I probably would not have read it. I have not read Boyd before. The story is disjointed and awkward in places. We start off in the US with a woman going through relationship problems and we have several pages of rather dull architecture description then her 'father' turns up and she doesnt know who he is.The father's story then unfolds in flashback. It is set in the Phillipines and this part of the book picks up and begins to gather pace
A good read with some odd flaws, and I learnt quite a lot that I didn't know before. Kay Fischer, a Los Angeles architect, is accosted by a man who claims to be her father. When things go wrong in her architecture practice she allows herself to be persuaded to travel with him to Europe in search of a lost love. He was originally from the Philippines, and so much of the story takes place there. I suppose one thing that appealed to me about it is that it was a family history mystery, with elements
She faced him. Square, strong. Small, pale-lashed brown eyes. Odd, that combination. White skin, freckle-spattered, but very white. You'd think blue eyes. But no, brown, like unmilked coffee, a fierce stare. Tiny blisters of perspiration in the well-defined groove of her top lip. 'I shot it,' she said. A soft accent. Shaht. Southern, was it? 'I'm very sorry, it was a complete accident, I'm just learning -' His tongue sat inert in his dry throat. Readable, but not Boyd's best novel. Cariscant's
Super, excellent, clever! Boyd is a great writer, with a deceptively easy style, and flowing but muscular prose. He has an almost unparalleled skill for narrative, for sucking the reader in to any story he chose to tell. He has a striking lucidity of detail that animates his scenes. This novel, mainly set in the Philippines, has several different stories woven together within it. The most important is a passionate love story of obsession, stalking, and a covert and fervent affair. While he is
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