Anna becomes interested in fossils and their preservation of shape and form across the immensity of geological time. Through her work she meets blind Seth, whose different sensory world leads her to new departures in her work. Set in the 21st century this is a story of time, blindness and chaos.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Taking his title from an astronomical term for a "pinhole" in the sky through which deep space and time may be glimpsed, Australian writer Bradley (the multiple-prize-winning Wrack) presents an imaginative vision of the future in this ambitious, occasionally overwrought second novel. Narrated by a 300-year-old Australian woman who reimagines events just before her birth in 2012, the narrative focuses on photographer Anna Frasier, the narrator's mother, in a world shaken by cataclysmic political upheavals and plagued by disease. While visiting her mathematician twin brother, Daniel, in Hong Kong, Anna falls in love with Jared, a charming market trader. She renounces her life and career in Sydney to be with him, and the liaison endures for four years, but their time together is volatile, undermined by Anna's complicated relationship with Daniel. It is a period of ugly political confrontations between the Chinese government and democratic students, and when mainland Chinese tanks roll into Hong Kong, Daniel disappears and Anna leaves Jared. Anna's story resumes in Sydney a year later, where she undertakes a new project photographing fossil ammonites at the state museum. There, she meets blind, blunt-mannered paleontologist Seth LaMarque, who is able to soothe her troubled psyche. Their happiness is disrupted, however, by both societal unrest--Seth's sister, Rachel, a solicitor for the disenfranchised, is in the midst of it (and is the source of a major surprise at the novel's end)--and Anna's need to know her twin's fate. Bradley's supple prose is sonorously paced but, at times, his Proustian meditations on memory and love verge on the platitudinous, and metaphors and literary epigraphs pile up. Still, Bradley creates a convincing futuristic vocabulary and makes deft use of the language of fossil research and photography, proving himself a talented novelist with staying power.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Reviewers have compared Australian author Bradley, whose debut novel, Wrack (LJ 6/1/99), won two literary awards and was shortlisted for two others, to Salman Rushdie and Michael Ondaatje. His new novel, set ten years into the future, concerns a renowned photographer, Anna Frazier, whose latest project on shell fossils brings her into the life of Seth LaMarque, a blind paleontologist. Gradually, Anna reveals the scars of a previous love affair as well as her painful quest to solve the disappearance of her twin brother during civil strife in the Far East. Meditations on love, philosophy, and science interweave in this beautifully written tale, and surprises await the reader. The multilayered story is related by the couple's now-elderly daughter, whose origins are revealed to be more complicated than one first suspects. Packed with unique secondary characters, this is a truly evocative, highly atmospheric creation. Highly recommended for all collections.
-Margaret A. Smith, Grace A. Dow Memorial Lib., Midland, MI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
-Margaret A. Smith, Grace A. Dow Memorial Lib., Midland, MI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A new way of seeing,
By
This review is from: The Deep Field: A Novel (Hardcover)
Bradley's The Deep Field is a multi-faceted and multi-layered novel. Although set in the future, starting somewhere aound 2010 and going well beyond the next couple of centuries, the speculative fiction aspect of the book is an intriguing but not the most important aspect. It is part thriller, based around the disappearance of a soul-mate brother in the polical unrest in Hongkong, part social critique of the situation of street people and other outcasts in the near future. Finally, it is part romance and exploration of time, relationships and art. The most fascinating layer of this fully engrossing book is the evolving main character, a woman photograher, who step by step learns to see in completely new ways thanks to the growing influence over her by a blind paleontologist who sees with his hands and feels the history of life in ammonite fossils.
5.0 out of 5 stars
James Bradley insightful,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Deep Field (Hardcover)
This is a book which I found provided much insight not only in historial terms but seems to connect well to current events. This not only encourages an understanding of historical perspective but also a deeper understanding of the Americans as seen by others.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some Potential in James Bradley,
By Goner (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Deep Field: A Novel (Hardcover)
I agree with both of my fellow reviewers to some degree in that Mr. Bradley's potential would benefit greatly from a bit guidance on the the part of an editor and that the speculative fiction aspect of the book was provocative. (I'm sure if I had an editor I wouln't have written such a ridiculously long sentence) Anyway I enjoyed Bradley's use of language and bright vivd images to explain where the main charcter was in her life. I however didn't see any evidence of this being a thriller just because the brother is missing. All in all I would say it is more a story of a young woman's life and her struggle to reclaim it as such.
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