Customer Reviews

The Apprentice Lover: A Novel

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Do not be misled by the "moony" cover art, the title, or the fact that this is sometimes described as a coming-of-age novel--it is not romantic, whimsical, or lightweight. Instead, it is a meticulously crafted, mature novel which illuminates the major themes and issues which thoughtful men and women confront throughout their lives. Elegantly written and emotionally involving, it is one of the best--and most unsettling--novels I've read in a long time.

Alex Massolini, aged 22, is a budding poet and student of classics in 1970, when he drops out of Columbia because he no longer "cared a feather about the fate of Rome or its [Gallic wars]...My only brother, Nicky, had been killed in Vietnam." Taking a job as a secretary to Rupert Grant, a well-known Scottish writer living on Capri, Alex faces his own, more subtle wars as he tries to discover who he is and what he believes, while living in Grant's turbulent household and observing his decadent lifestyle. Grant is manipulative, vindictive, and ego-driven, often abusive to his wife and two young female assistants. As his resentment of Grant grows, Alex finds himself in a quandary, since he admires Grant's writing, loves meeting his friends--W.H.Auden, Graham Greene, and Gore Vidal, among others--and hopes Grant will become a mentor for him in his own writing.

Themes of love and loss, good and evil, free will and obligation, and war and its aftermath pervade the novel as Alex tries to understand himself, the creative life, and the sacrifices artists make for it. Issues of sexuality, religion, politics, philosophy, and even economics come into play for Alex, and Parini widens the perspective and gives universality to these themes and issues by juxtaposing, throughout, the letters which Alex's estranged brother Nicky has sent him from Vietnam. This is a beautifully realized, patiently designed, and maturely confident novel, by an author who himself illustrates a quotation by Rilke in the book: "Being an artist means, not reckoning and counting, but ripening like the tree that does not force its sap but stands confident in the storms of spring without fear that after them may come no summer." For this author, summer has arrived. Mary Whipple

This novel is extremely well made and fun to read. The setting
is beautiful and exotic (to me, at least), the characters are
very finely drawn and memorable, the plot keeps you guessing.
The famous literary figures and their foibles and highly
interesting comments on writing are alone worth the price of
admission. The dialogue, as in the party scenes, is
wonderful -- accents are perfect, characters are immediately
recognizable, pacing is exciting, humor is in full flower
yet it comes with real insights into the lives of the
characters and their worlds. In sum, I loved it.

This book is a must read for anyone who ever considered writing the great novel. The characters in this story are multi-dimentional people who will inhabit your thoughts whether the book is in hand or not.

Reminding me slightly of books that tackle the idea of eutopian societies, this takes place on the exotic Isle of Capri. It is, in short, the story of a budding writer who leaves behind his unfinished ivy league education for a Summer working as one of the great Rupert Grant's apprentices. An eccentric and impetuous being, Grant has quite an influence on all who are under his wing. His pompous behavior and eccentric manner make it obvious that his writing is his greatest attribute.

Primarily I interpreted this as a coming of age story. For me, it was the story of Alex Mussolini, a young man utterly at odds with his upbringing, harbouring mixed emotions about the untimely death of his brother during Vietnam, and the insatiable desire to become a writer. Alex faces many challenges while on the Isle of Capri, all of which will captivate the reader as would the greatest mystery. But this book is a mystery of the soul. For who is anyone, aside from how others see them?

For me, at the crux of this novel is the question of identity. But there is so much more. I will undoubtedly read this story again -- I hope, while visiting Capri someday. There is so much to this book, I cannot recommend it highly enough. And I will seek more by Jay Parini as his writing is truly incredible.

Parini's newest novel tackles some familiar themes: The world of ideas, the practical paths of philosophy in life, the writer and his methods and personality. What shines here, though, is Parini's humor. And his care for detail. You can tell that he has written major biographies of two of the century's greatest writers -- Steinbeck and Frost.

This book is just what the reading public needs right now. At turns surprising and beautiful, this book should stand out as one of the best of 2002.

The Apprentice Lover is a very good read. Following the death of his brother, in 1970, in Vietnam, Columbia senior Alex Massolini drops out of school and, attempting "to cut loose from the overfilled barge of [his] youth," decamps Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and the family construction company that awaits him there, for the Isle of Capri. He lands a job as secretary, mentee, and surrogate son to Rupert Grant, a Scottish literary giant forty years his senior.

Besides Alex, Grant is attended to by his wife Vera and, more curiously, two young live-in female "research assistants" with whom Grant regularly naps. In Victorian style, one of the assistants is dark, Italian, and physical, and the other is fair, English, and cerebral. Re-reading his dead brother's letters and the poetry of Rilke, Alex seeks to come to terms with the world he has abandoned, tries to make sense of the social relationships he encounters on Capri, and -- spurred on by literary example -- endeavors to make contact, both physical and emotional, with his true beloved.

Henry James is the most recent American author that the fictional Grant appreciates. Interestingly, The Apprentice Lover has a Jamesian feel (though mercifully none of the Master's phraseology). Like a character in James, Alex struggles to adapt to very different sensibilities in a setting laden with a rich and perhaps parallel history (the first-century emperor Tiberius, who may or may not have been a pederast, made Capri his home away from Rome), to understand the highly obscure motives and indirect words of his hosts, and to make the fitful passage to adulthood. Many of the great themes of literature -- sex, death, art, truth, human connection -- swirl in this mix. To add to the enjoyment and perhaps to leaven the mystery, Graham Greene, Gore Vidal, W.H. Auden, and a Mario Puzo knock-off even come to dinner. Only a plot-driven reader could fail to appreciate this novel written in the form of a memoir.

Parini, whose output as a novelist, poet, biographer, and critic is as broad as his range, is a very good writer. His characterizations, dialogue, descriptions, and inner voice are equally satisfying. By the end of the novel I cared enough about every character in it that, applying Greene's own standard of quality, I would love to be able to invite them all -- Greene included -- to lunch. Robert E. Olsen

Alex Massolini, heir to the Massolini Construction Company, enmeshed in family conflict and shaken by the death of his brother in Viet Nam, drops out of college and flees to the fabled island of Capri, trying to find himself. He will be working, in some nebulous sense, for the famous writer Rupert Grant. In actuality he will become an acolyte to a troubled, self-absorbed, aging man and his entourage. He will struggle to make sense of the complex, unconventional, and ever-shifting relationships in that strange household. And he will make some terrible, regrettable mistakes.

While the other reviewers have praised this book, I found it somewhat disappointing, a pretentious "literary" novel about pretentious literary people. The story is told by Alex in stream-of-consciousness fashion, with interminable commentary on the meaning of everything that is said and done. Underlying the literary pretension of the book is an ever-present layer of amateurish freudianalysis, of the kind that was once popular among educated people. Everything, of course, means something else. The language is lush and colorful, with vivid descriptions of the island and people, but alas, too many names dropped, too many literary allusions, too many unexplained Italian phrases.

In refreshing contrast are the letters of the late brother, Nicky, read and re-read by Alex, written in vulgar, down-to-earth, gritty language. These letters, and in a sense, Nicky himself, become an anchor to reality for the troubled Alex.

Will Alex find himself? Will he come to understand what is real and what is pretentious nonsense? Will he ever form a responsible adult relationship with anyone else? I won't spoil it for you. I will only say that a lot of pain and disappointment lie behind the frothy literary discussions. A good book but not for everyone and not always easy reading. I thought it could have been better done.

The apprentice of the title is Alex Massolini who tells his story in this book. He just left his native Pennsylvania and moved to Capri as secretary to the famous Scottish writer Rupert Grant. He becomes a member of the Grant household that includes the writer's wife Vera and his two research assistants Holly and Marisa - both of them young, beautiful and not too concerned about research.

Alex is approached by Vera, but rebuffs her. His heart is set on Holly who ignores him. Marisa goes after him, but that is not what Alex had in mind. Life at Villa Clio is rather complicated, especially as Grant's preferences are not entirely clear. In time, Marisa will break apart while Holly simply leaves and Vera stays behind to take care of aging Grant.

There must be a reason to this book, but I was unable to pin it down. The one really developed character is Alex's brother Nicky, who writes long (and touching) letters from Vietnam, where he is later killed. A major part of the book is name dropping, starting with emperor Tiberius and continuing to Curcius Malaparte ("La pelle"), Axel Munthe ("The story of San Michele") and every contemporary Brit writer you can think of. There is a wonderful supper dialog between Gore Vidal and Graham Greene. Later on, W. H. Auden is dragged into the story. All of these characters are presented with cutting remarks about the other writers. One gets the feeling that the author simply wanted to show of.

Alex gets his Inspiration from reading and quoting Rainer Maria Rilke. Now there is a poet who must be interpreted by the reader and cannot be understood by reading him off the page. He would fit more with Young Werther than with a hick from Pennsylvania.

Did our lover graduate? I think not.