The Gift - Couverture rigide

Flusfeder, David

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0007140800 ISBN 13 : 9780007140800

Editeur : Fourth Estate Ltd, 2003

Synopsis

320pages. in8. Relié.

A propos du livre

Revue de presse

“Flusfeder’s farcical morality tale is darkly comedic but also surprisingly sweet in all the right places.” (Booklist)

“A witty, razor sharp novel, with just the right amount of tenderness.” (Publishers Weekly)

“The best book you’ll give yourself all year. Don’t waste it on anyone else—they don’t deserve it.’ (Will Self)

“Unexpectedly wise and generous: a complete story and a very good one.” (Jonathan Franzen)

“A compelling, provokingly ambivalent and often surprisingly tender story.” (London Times)

“Piercingly well-written..a psychological thriller, a meditation on the barrenness of modern, material life [and] a gloomily funny novel.” (Sunday Express (London))

“Flusfeder is certainly doing something different from and more interesting than most contemporary British novelists.” (Independent (UK))

“A deep and surreal exposition on the cruelty of generosity...the perfect present for your successful friends.” (London Times (Sunday))

“The perfect gift to answer all gifts...remarkably perceptive...a triumph.” (Observer (UK))

“Flusfeder spins reality into a dream and back again...[giving] us a gift he may find hard to match.” (Guardian)

“A moving, desperate farce in which the gifts and their consequences keep on coming...a dashingly written comic novel.” (Saturday Telegraph (London))

“A black comedy of rare originality...[that] has the makings of a cult classic. Read it and read it again.” (Mail on Sunday (London))

“An extremely funny book. Seldom has the desperation of modern man been so devastatingly portrayed. (Marie Claire (UK))

Présentation de l'éditeur

Phillip has a lot on his mind. At home, in his unnecessarily large, excessively expensive house, he is attempting to become a Taoist

master of love with his wife, Alice, but his quest is forever being interrupted by the requests of his twin daughters -- "Can we have a pony, please?"; "We want to go to boarding school." At work, in his shed/office at the bottom of the garden, between countless games of Minesweeper and FreeCell, Phillip is trying to pay the mortgage by writing the instruction manuals to Korean bread-making machines. And at parties where he is concerned that he is not taken seriously -- he is variously mistaken as a waiter and a rhinoplastic surgeon -- Phillip tells the world he is, in fact, a screenwriter.

Above all, Phillip is obsessing about his best friends, Barry and Sean. They are rich, more successful, and, most worryingly, they give great presents. Their gifts are always exquisite -- a full set of Italian crockery, a handmade corkscrew from Venice; they give them on birthdays, at parties, and quite often for no reason whatsoever; and, increasingly, these presents break all bounds of generosity.

They are gifts that hurt a man's pride. And they can never be matched. Which doesn't mean Phillip won't try. . . .

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Fourth Estate Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0007140800
• ISBN 13: 9780007140800
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 320