A Hindi film star . . . an American missionary . . . twins separated at birth . . . a dwarf chauffeur . . . a serial killer . . . all are on a collision course. In the tradition of A Prayer for Owen Meany, Irving's characters transcend nationality. They are misfits--coming from everywhere, belonging nowhere. Set almost entirely in India, this is John Irving's most ambitious novel and a major publishing event.
Ce volume explore cinquante ans d'histoire américaine au sein de la communauté juive de Newark, de l'avant-guerre aux années 1980, à travers une approche non chronologique. L'auteur aborde le mouvement de la contre-culture des années 1960, la guerre froide et la croisade anticommuniste des années 1950, ainsi que le politiquement correct des années 1970-1980. Il imagine également des années 1940 hypothétiques, marquées par la montée du fascisme et de l'antisémitisme aux États-Unis. À travers une critique acerbe de la société américaine, l'auteur analyse les mécanismes d'un individu confronté à l'imprévisible. Les personnages, face à des bouleversements majeurs, voient leurs destins se briser sous l'effondrement des illusions et des certitudes qui soutenaient leurs vies idéales, symboles du rêve américain. Quatre œuvres illustrent l'identité de l'individu pris dans la tyrannie des mythes américains, évoquant un avenir prometteur qui semblait découler d'un passé solide. Chaque génération, en dépassant les limitations des aînés, aspire à jouir pleinement des droits conférés par l'Amérique, à s'émanciper des anciennes obsessions et à vivre sans complexes parmi ses pairs.
From post-industrial Birmingham to the London riots and the current political gridlock, [Middle England] takes in family, literature and love in a comedy for our times Guardian
Radio actor Iron Rinn (born Ira Ringold), an idealistic Communist and uneducated ditchdigger turned popular performer, emerges from serving in World War II passionately committed to making the world a better place and winds up instead blacklisted and unemployable. On his way to his political catastrophe, he marries the nation's reigning radio actress the exquisitely refined Eva Frame. Their marriage evolves from a glamorous, romantic idyll to tears and treachery. And, with Eve's dramatic revelation to a gossip columnist of her husband's 'espionage' for the Soviet Union, the relationship becomes a national scandal. Set in the heart of the McCarthy era, the story of Iron Rinn's disgrace is a story of cruelty, humiliation, betrayal and revenge; an American tragedy as only Philip Roth can conceive one - fierce and funny, eloquently rendered and deadly accurate.
Set in 1998, with the backdrop of the impeachment of a president, this book shows us an America where conflicting moralities and ideological divisions result in public denunciations and houndings, and where innocence is not always a good enough excuse.
Billy, a solitary bisexual man, is dedicated to making himself worthwhile.
Every major character in Until I Find You has been marked for life – not only William Burns, a church organist who is addicted to being tattooed, but also William's song, Jack, an actor who is shaped as a child by his relationships with older women. And Jack's mother, Alice – a Toronto tattoo artist – has been permanently damaged by William's rejection of her. This is a novel about the loss of innocence, on many levels.
How bad is it when your SatNav is your last best friend? - In his sparkling and hugely enjoyable new book Jonathan Coe reinvents the picaresque novel for our time.
