Customer Reviews

Andorra (Niagara Large Print)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a stunning book, and one I don't really recognize in most of the editorial or customer reviews posted here. By purposefully misnaming the book Andorra, the author seems to be telling us that the plot details are secondary...instead the focus is on is the attempts of the main character to maintain strict control over his new life, measuring everything and everyone around him. We slowly come to understand why he has done this, as we see the simplest of encounters cause his life to spin out of control. It's a testament to Cameron's writing that this doesn't quickly get tiring; instead the result is striking, with wonderful insights coming from each encounter. The writing is nimble and spare. A wonderful book...I found myself wanting to reread it as soon as I had finished it.

Andorra is the first book of Peter Cameron's that I have read. It was like Camus and Kafka meet Agatha Christie. In Camus' The Stranger the narrator is sensuous (Noone communicates heat or the feeling of sand on the skin like Camus) yet profoundly insensitive to emotions, "Mother died today, or was it yesterday...". The narrator of Andorra, Alex Fox, is similarly sensuous and emotionally off. The descriptions of this Andorra through the senses are eloquent word paintings. Such images are lasting, but Alex seems to be misreading his characters all along, a little like the narrator, butler in The Remains of the Day.

Once the police take Alex's passport with very little explanation, one feels like the bureaucratic labrynth of The Trial is about to descend. And it does.

At the end, I wanted to reread the book to pick up all those clues I'd missed while I was enjoying the experience.

Alexander Fox, seeking escape from personal tragedy, settles into the sunny, dreamy mountain paradise of Andorra. But in this haunting novel, something strangely mysterious, almost sinister, lurks in what otherwise appears to be heaven on earth. This book crosses from one genre to another, then back again, and it's difficult to pin down. Is it a mystery? Perhaps, but sometimes it feels like a comedy of manners. Is it a meditation on grief? Maybe, but then it seems to segue into a romance.
Keep reading; it's worth it.

I love this book. It is not, by any means, literary perfection, but it has stuck with me for the last 3.5 years since I read it. I suppose it appeals to the computer scientist and simulator in me, since it concerns recursion and worldbuilding... but there is something more affective about it than that. Something about the way the protagonist's world unravels around him and around you, something about how he keeps trying to rewrite his past, and fails. The way picturesque Andorra becomes menacing. The book is minimalist, elegant, yet sucks you in. Andorra. I once read a book about a place called Andorra...

Andorra is a compelling and beautifully written mystery. It is about a murder about to happen and one that already has happened, but it is mostly about forgetting and running away from a past that cannot be faced. La Plata is not a real place, but an ideal land to run to in your mind to live peacefully when the world becomes violent. Still the imagination which Mr Cameron uses to describe this fantasy land is powerful and descriptively beautiful. Amidst the grim background of the story there are surprisingly fun and quirky observations. Who would think to write an operatic version of The Immoralist? In this author's strange and surreal imaginary land people can give way to eccentricities in searching for an understanding of themselves and there are quite a few surprises that follow.

A magnificent book. Read it for the story then reread it for the quality & beauty of the prose. Don't try to look for reality. This is an Andorra on the sea inhabited by only English speakers. Since the whole book is metaphor so is the site. Enjoy.

An intriguing and subtly eerie story. Simple, and descriptive, in a minimalist way, but with touches of humor, poignant passages, and spot on observations about life, and everything. It will have you wondering, what is going on, and why, but at the same time there is a frustrating quality within the story. Cameron's dialogue at times is quite formal (hence people referring to it the book as a comedy of manners) and makes it difficult to pinpoint what era the novel is set in, though there is a reason for this. But the characters are very developed and the banter is fresh, and he really does a great job of creating a vivid sense of the Andorra of the novel. Overall, a quick, enjoyable, and worthwhile read.

About the people who are very much upset over the issue of factual descriptions of Andorra. Warning - mild spoiler alert - First off, this is a novel, which by definition is fiction, thus made up. So writers have artistic license to do anything they want in being creative, in completely making things up, whatever. But some of you might say, well if you set your story in a particular place, well you should at least do some basic background research to avoid glaring mistakes. Fine - and for the most part I would agree - EXCEPT for the fact that the errors about Andorra within the novel is a vital part of the plot and not just some lazy oversight of the writer! So please dislike books for the right reasons, and not simply because you saw the title and were expecting a travel book or an encyclopedia entry.

Minimalist fiction with its perfect sentences and sometimes obscure and unknowable characters usually does not appeal to me. However, in Andorra the style and technique match the author's purpose. The Andorra of the title is not the real country, but a world we would escape to. (The unreal geography is the first clue.) Yet this world of escape is like the one we live in. It reflects ourselves. We cannot always succeed in being good or kind or in finding truth; the police will make us paranoid (especially if we have something to be paranoid about); love and friends are hard to find and keep; escape is a wish or perhaps only escapism. Cameron expertly pulls all this together.

The book is not quibble-less. The restrained depiction of characters often results in a certain coldness. The conversation is sometimes too unreal for even this unreal Andorra. Still, these were minor faults in an otherwise profound book.

I think the unfavorable reviews here have missed the point entirely. But to explain why I'd have to give away the ending and I don't want to do that. All I can say is, Pay attention to the last chapter! Then think about how the narrator's circumstances affect the story and its telling.

I read this book in a day. It is perfect airplane reading. It's suspenseful and stylishly written. The book is written in first person and the narrator is somewhat unreliable, but he has intelligent thoughts. The plot and the setting are unique, but if there is some deep, overall message to the book that would warrant academic-type study I didn't get it. There might be more to it than what I perceived, but I highly recommend it for strictly shallow reasons. It's fun reading.