0 items in cart
|
Incidents in the Rue Laugierby Anita Brookner
Bookseller Information
Bibliographic Details
Book DescriptionRandom House, 1996-01-13. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. Book summaryLike many of Brookner's heroines, Maud feels compelled to escape the bourgeois world of her upbringing. Seduced, made pregnant, and abandoned by a visiting English cad, she agrees to marry the noble Edward, who feels he must rescue her from her plight, but their relationship, based on this shaky connection, becomes a mockery.Media Reviews"Brookner's newest heroine is undone by passion instead of the withering passivity that the author usually chronicles in such unfailingly revelatory detail...As bleak and implacable as any dour morality tale, though the insights are stunningly acute. Classic Brookner with a twist." -- Kirkus "Readers of previous novels by Brookner will find themselves on the familiar yet unsettling ground for characters so immersed in good behavior that they negate their lives. Maud Gonthier and Edward Harrison, the central figures of this book, are not so much self-sacrificing as self-erasing...'Incidents in the Rue Laugier' should be dispiriting; it's almost a cautionary tale about the dangers of repression, politeness and submission to conformity. Yet it's Brookner's gift to bring the muffled lives of Maud and Edward back from the twilight. Her prose is invigorating even when her subject is acedia." -- Kate Regan, San Francisco Chronicle "...an intensely imagined reconstruction of a classic love triangle...Ms. Brookner presents this simple story in all of its genuine complexity, deftly dissecting the components...with scrupulous attention, keen irony and a profound appreciation of the endless ambivalences that beset human relationships." -- Merle Rubin, Wall Street Journal "...it might be said that Brookner has spent her career exploring the manifold ways in which unhappiness manifests itself, that she is a chronicler of quiet grief. In none of her books has she carried this exploration deeper or to more rewarding artistic effect than in 'Incidents in the Rue Laugier'...She is a writer of great but subtle wit, with a keen eye for irony and hypocrisy and pretense. She has an understanding heart but an exacting mind, and she lets no one off lightly...To my mind it is the best book she has written, and that, to my mind, is saying something." -- Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World "Ms. Brookner offers us a fastidious and thorough exploration of Maud's inner world in prose that is exquisitely considered. No nuance of feeling escapes her... The scene in which Maud tells her mother of her impending marriage is a classic of high comedy and pathos...For its first two-thirds, this sharp, sad book seems one of Ms. Brookner's best. But when the unsatisfactory marriage is described, there is inevitably a loss of power...the narrative sinks into a chaise lounge and expires." -- Hilary Mantel, New York Times Book Review Publisher NotesDemure Maud Gonthier from Dijon expects the usual uneventful summer vacation at her aunt's country home, but when the charming, sensuous, rich David Tyler arrives, Maud falls madly in love. Crafted with Brookner's unmistakable and elegant prose, this superb novel explores responsibility and the results of sexual passion and betrayal. Other Recommended Books
|
Find more booksBooks by Anita_BrooknerMore copies of Incidents in the Rue Laugier Books from Page Master Used Books Save on shipping! Learn how Biblio.com can save you money on shipping! 
|
(US)
