Subtle Bodies

Regular price
Unit price
per
Compare to estimated retail price: S$19.64  

Reconfiguring friendships after a friend's death.

Subtle Bodies is a poignant and humorous exploration of the dynamics of long-standing friendships and the changes that occur after the death of a close friend. Rush's keen characterizations and insightful observations on human nature make this a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the complexities of friendship and personal history.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

Subtle Bodies

Regular price
Unit price
per
Compare to estimated retail price: S$19.64  
Condition guide

Special Offer

Buy 3, Get 1 Free On All Items Under S$10

Add 4 items under S$10 to your cart — the cheapest one is on us.

ISBN: 9781847088772
Authors: Norman Rush
Publisher: Faber &Faber
Date of Publication: 2013-01-01
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Literary Fiction, Contemporary
Goodreads rating: 2.78
(rated by 824 readers)

Description

In his long-awaited new novel, Norman Rush, author of three immensely praised and award-winning books set in Africa, including the best-selling classic Mating, returns home, giving us a sophisticated, often comical, romp through the particular joys and tribulations of marriage, and the dilemmas of friendship, as a group of college friends reunites in upstate New York twenty-some years after graduation.When Douglas, the ringleader of a clique of self-styled wits of “superior sensibility” dies suddenly, his four remaining friends are summoned to his luxe estate high in the Catskills to memorialize his life and mourn his passing. Responding to an obscure sense of emergency in the call, Ned, our hero, flies in from San Francisco (where he is the main organizer of a march against the impending Iraq war), pursued instantly by his furious wife, they’re at a critical point in their attempt to get Nina pregnant, and she’s ovulating! It is Nina who gives us a pointed, irreverent commentary as the friends begin to catch up with one another. She is not above poking fun at some of their past exploits and the things they held dear, and she’s particularly hard on the departed Douglas, who she thinks undervalued her Ned. Ned is trying manfully to discern what it was that made this clutch of souls his friends to begin with, before time, sex, work, and the brutal quirks of history shaped them into who they are now––and, simultaneously, to guess at what will come next.Subtle Bodies is filled with unexpected, funny, telling aperçus, alongside a deeper, moving exploration of the meanings of life. A novel of humor, small pleasures, deep emotions. A novel to enjoy and to ponder.From the Hardcover edition.
 

Reconfiguring friendships after a friend's death.

Subtle Bodies is a poignant and humorous exploration of the dynamics of long-standing friendships and the changes that occur after the death of a close friend. Rush's keen characterizations and insightful observations on human nature make this a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the complexities of friendship and personal history.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.