About this title: Claudia Hampton is dying. As memories crowd in, she re-creates the mosiac of her life, her own story enmeshed with those of her brother, her lover and father of her daughter, and the centre of her life, Tom, her one great love both found and lost in the "mad fairyland" of war-torn Egypt.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Perennial
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780060972004ISBN:0060972009
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Covers lightly 'rubbed', lightly 'tanned', otherwise all VG. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780060972004ISBN:0060972009
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Spine NOT creased. NO tears, stains, writing, etc. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1989-02
ISBN-13:9780060972004ISBN:0060972009
Description: Good in None as issued jacket. Unmarked pages, light spine crease, nice covers with only shelf wear and small corner crease on back cover. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Grove Press
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780802135339ISBN:0802135331
Description: Very Good. NICE BOOK! NO MARKINGS, SPINE CREASES & MILD SHELF WEAR ON COVER. "Description: The last thoughts of a dying writer are captured in this intelligent novel by Booker Prize-winner Penelope Lively. The moving and poignant story of life as a writer, historian, and mother ends as a saga of unfufilled love. " read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780060972004ISBN:0060972009
Description: Good. Good Condition. Reasonable wear-still very useable. Text has writing, but appears free of highlighting. May have bookstore-related stamps/stickers/marks. Multiple copies may be available. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780060972004ISBN:0060972009
Description: Good. Good Condition. Reasonable wear-still very useable. Text appears free of marks, writing, and highlighting. May have bookstore-related stamps/stickers/marks. Multiple copies may be available. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
"I don't even know where to start in explaining how I feel about this book.
The literary devices (narration, language, symbolism, characterizations, etc.) were incredible. Many parts were highly quotable with amazing insights but....
And it's a big BUT, I cannot stand the protagonist. She is beyond selfish, self-absorbed, and narcissistic. I detested the incest, foul language, homosexual references, and complete lack of values of many of the characters. (If this garbage weren't included, it probably would have jumped up to 4 stars.)"
"Lively won a Booker prize with this book. It sounds trivial to say the voice, the character, the life and the relationships of an old woman dying in a hospital captivate you, not with her death, but with her life. She grabs you right away in her first person narrative, though, and doesn't let go. Except that she's interrupted by third person narratives on a regular basis, in which some of the same events and relationships are seen from the point of view of others. I admired Lively's ability to carry the narrative in a gripping way in a completely retrospective telling--it's all over for her, but you are engrossed in the relations and events she recounts as if they were happening. Not only does she manage to stay right in each scene with her distinctive voice, but she moves from childhood up to death without leaving you any sense of disjunction, almost with a unity a Greek playwright would have achieved by more mechanical means. I wonder if I should have rated this five stars!"
"Claudia an historian is dying. As she falls in and out of consciousness the story of her life is told against the background of the time she lived. As her daughter, sister in law and a young friend visit the many strands of her life story are recalled."
"Claudia Hampton, dying in a hospital in London, is thinking back over her life. Penelope Lively weaves Claudia's memories with the memories of a daughter and a brother and friends, and spills the story of Claudia's life onto the page in little snippets and bits to create a story that is both clever in its structure and beautifully written. Recommended. Favorite Quote: p. 28 "The cast is assembling; the plot thickens. Mother, Gordon, Sylvia. Jasper. Lisa. Mother will drop out before long, retiring gracefully and with minimum fuss after an illness in 1962. Others, as yet unnamed, will come and go. Some more than others; one above all. In life as in history the unexpected lies waiting, grinning from around corners.""
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