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by: Lionel Shriver
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780374114329
ISBN: 0374114323
Label: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)
Manufacturer: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 427
Publication Date: 1990-10
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)
Sales Rank: 1068661
Studio: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)
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Product Description:
In each of the hot spots she favors around the world, Estrin Lancaster manages an apartment, a job, and a lover, leaving at the first sign of boredom. she becomes involved with a man who also flees domesticity, but his efforts to escape have not been quite as successful as hers....
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Rich characters, riveting plot, vivid historical context
Lionel Shriver deserved to be well known long before the Orange-Prize-winning "We Need to Talk About Kevin" put her on the map, and this novel is one of the reasons why. Rich characters, riveting plot, vivid historical context, beautiful writing. The story is set in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, during, of course, the "Troubles" -- a topic that's thorny to say the least. Shriver doesn't shy away from its nasty aspects and doesn't romanticize its participants. Definitely one of the best modern ... Read More
Rating:  - "troublesome" troubles tale
In all fairness, it is my firt introduction to Ms. Shirver's work, and I do plan on reading her other novels.
As an avid researcher of the Northern Irish novel and Irish studies, I read many books on the topic, and this one is one of the most troubling....
The plot itself is obscure, the characters aimless (although I'm sure this is intended to be part of the "mystery" of the novel). Still, rather disappointing, especially in regard to the female protagonist.
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Rating:  - Gothic Ann Tyler
I thought this was going to be a "chick's" book, but was delightfully surprised. I loved the dialogue and the author's wonderful use of metaphor. The analyses of the "Troubles" from both inside and outside was honest and believable. Her characters are tragic, but not pathetic; authentic and flawed. Their fate is very much of their own making. The novel reminded me of French cinema, trenche de vivre, with no formulas, no real ending.
Rating: - 1990 meets 1690.
Late 20th-century narcissism encounters late 17th-century sectarianism in Northern Ireland. The 17th century wins (it generally does in Ireland) but not before we have been taken on a grand tour of the 'Troubles'--as they stood circa 1988--and of some fascinating and meticulously-imagined human psyches.
Ms Shriver is blessedly free of illusions about Ireland and its conflicts--as well she might be, after living ten years in Belfast. She looks with a cold eye on all the various factions ... Read More
Rating: - Painfully wonderful
One of the best books ever written about the little "explosions" in life. The prose flows, the characters are well developed and each description of the inner emotional life of the characters just ring true. One of those books where I read it and said, "THAT is how I felt but could never describe!" Definitely worth reading especially if you are interested in Northern Ireland and the political situation there. Still worth reading even if you aren't interested in Ireland at all
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