Love of Reading, the Second Collection : More Reviews of Contemporary Fiction

by ADAMS, ROBERT

• ISBN13: 9780771006623
• ISBN10: 0771006624
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Summary

Fourteen brilliant new reviews fromthe author ofA Love of Reading. Passionate, thought provoking, and witty. A Love of Reading, the Second Collectioncontains 14 new reviews of modern classics from a discriminating, highly entertaining, and prodigiously well-read guide. In a stimulating selection, ranging from Margaret Atwood'sAlias Graceto Zadie Smith'sWhite Teeth, and from Charles Frazier'sCold Mountainto Sheri Holman'sThe Dress Lodger, popular literary critic Robert Adams skilfully interweaves a nimble and enlightening discussion of plot, theme, and characterization with fascinating historical, biographical, and literary context. Adams is repeatedly drawn to the spectacle of less-than-perfect humans making their way in a hostile world, and as a result his reviews are a hugely satisfying mix of rich pathos and abundant humour. In the words of theCalgary Herald, they are "a bibliophile's dream."

Author Biography

<b>Robert Adams</b> was born in South Wales. In London, he studied at the London School of Economics before becoming a teacher. In 1964 he came to Canada to continue his teaching career in several Montreal high schools. He was a lecturer at Concordia University and from 1972 to his retirement in 1997 taught at the Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne, where he became Chair of the English department. He is the author of <i>The Life and Work of Alexander Bercovitch, Artist</i> (1988), which was shortlisted for the QSPELL Award.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Alias Grace	1	(18)
Margaret Atwood
The Hiding Place	19	(22)
Trezza Azzopardi
Disgrace	41	(22)
J.M. Coetzee
Cold Mountain	63	(16)
Charles Frazier
The Dress Lodger	79	(22)
Sheri Holman
The Remains of the Day	101	(12)
Kazuo Ishiguro
A Gesture Life	113	(22)
Chang-rae Lee
No Great Mischief	135	(20)
Alistair MacLeod
Fima	155	(16)
Amos Oz
American Pastoral	171	(18)
Philip Roth
White Teeth	189	(22)
Zadie Smith
Felicia's Journey	211	(16)
William Trevor
The Stone Carvers	227	(20)
Jane Urquhart
Aunt Julia and the Script-Writer	247	(12)
Mario Vargas Llosa
Publisher's Acknowledgements	259