Desperate Characters: A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book Desperate Characters: A Novel by Paula Fox, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Paula Fox ISBN: 9780393342123
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: May 17, 1999
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Paula Fox
ISBN: 9780393342123
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: May 17, 1999
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

"A towering landmark of postwar Realism. . . . A sustained work of prose so lucid and fine it seems less written than carved." — David Foster Wallace

Otto and Sophie Bentwood live childless in a renovated Brooklyn brownstone. The complete works of Goethe line their bookshelf, their stainless-steel kitchen is newly installed, and their Mercedes is parked curbside. But after Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a half-starved neighborhood cat, a series of small and ominous disasters begin to plague their lives. The fault lines of their marriage are revealed — echoing the fractures of society around them, slowly wrenching itself apart. First published in 1970 to wide acclaim, Desperate Characters stands as one of the most dazzling and rigorous examples of the storyteller's craft in postwar American literature — a novel that, according to Irving Howe, ranks with "Billy Budd, The Great Gatsby, Miss Lonelyhearts, and Seize the Day."

"Desperate Characters is, simply, a perfect short novel. A few characters, a small stretch of time; setting and action tightly confined — and yet, as in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, everything crucial within our souls bared." — Andrea Barrett "This perfect novel about pain is as clear, and as wholly believable, and as healing, as a fever dream." — Frederick Busch "Brilliant. . . . [Fox] is one of the most attractive writers to come our way in a long, long time." — The New Yorker Introduced by Jonathan Franzen, one of Granta's Twenty Best Young American Novelists

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

"A towering landmark of postwar Realism. . . . A sustained work of prose so lucid and fine it seems less written than carved." — David Foster Wallace

Otto and Sophie Bentwood live childless in a renovated Brooklyn brownstone. The complete works of Goethe line their bookshelf, their stainless-steel kitchen is newly installed, and their Mercedes is parked curbside. But after Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a half-starved neighborhood cat, a series of small and ominous disasters begin to plague their lives. The fault lines of their marriage are revealed — echoing the fractures of society around them, slowly wrenching itself apart. First published in 1970 to wide acclaim, Desperate Characters stands as one of the most dazzling and rigorous examples of the storyteller's craft in postwar American literature — a novel that, according to Irving Howe, ranks with "Billy Budd, The Great Gatsby, Miss Lonelyhearts, and Seize the Day."

"Desperate Characters is, simply, a perfect short novel. A few characters, a small stretch of time; setting and action tightly confined — and yet, as in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, everything crucial within our souls bared." — Andrea Barrett "This perfect novel about pain is as clear, and as wholly believable, and as healing, as a fever dream." — Frederick Busch "Brilliant. . . . [Fox] is one of the most attractive writers to come our way in a long, long time." — The New Yorker Introduced by Jonathan Franzen, one of Granta's Twenty Best Young American Novelists

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute of Life Coach Training by Paula Fox
Cover of the book Engine Empire: Poems by Paula Fox
Cover of the book For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions by Paula Fox
Cover of the book The Yellow Admiral (Vol. Book 18) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) by Paula Fox
Cover of the book What Makes a Child Lucky: A Novel by Paula Fox
Cover of the book The Lives of Margaret Fuller: A Biography by Paula Fox
Cover of the book The Healing Power of Writing: A Therapist's Guide to Using Journaling With Clients by Paula Fox
Cover of the book An Individual History: Poems by Paula Fox
Cover of the book Brewster: A Novel by Paula Fox
Cover of the book The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War by Paula Fox
Cover of the book American Heroes: Profiles of Men and Women Who Shaped Early America by Paula Fox
Cover of the book The King: Poems by Paula Fox
Cover of the book Riveting Reports by Paula Fox
Cover of the book Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye: A Journey by Paula Fox
Cover of the book Et Tu, Brute?: The Deaths of the Roman Emperors by Paula Fox
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy