Fergus [Hardcover]

Brian Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1970 | ISBN-10: 0030853192 | ISBN-13: 978-0030853197 | Edition: 1st

This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org. If you would like to preview the book, please visit http://www.bookprep.com.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; 1st edition (1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0030853192
• ISBN-13: 978-0030853197
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,739,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Past and present all a-jumble, May 9, 2006

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fergus (Paperback)

Fergus Fadden is going through a rough stretch: an Irishman residing in the strange world of Hollywood, he is adapting a novel he wrote for the movies, but is afraid he'll have to change more of it than he wishes. He needs to pay alimony to his ex-wife, however, so can't easily abandon the assignment. Then one day he wakes up and encounters his dead father on his couch wanting to talk. This hallucination, if that's what it is, triggers a number of flashbacks into Fergus's past. He hopes to get from his father an answer to the "meaning of life" question (his father offers him no clue) and, even more, if there's an afterlife. All his father can tell him about that is to have faith and believe. Of course, no one, not even his dead father, can give Fergus any definite answers, for they all reside in Fergus himself.

The least realistic of his novels, the reader sometimes has difficulty understanding what Moore is trying to get at. Some scenes, such as the one involving 20 questions and another involving being chased by a mob, are also confusing. But Moore characterizes Fergus well, especially his struggle to fight his demons brought about by the hallucinations. But I have to admit it's not among my favorite of Moore's novels.

5.0 out of 5 stars moving, July 6, 2004

By 

peter (Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fergus (Mass Market Paperback)

Fergus is, in my opinion, one of Brian Moore's best novels. Apart from being a really good read, it is also very well written in the literary sense. It is about ghosts, both living and dead. It is also about coming to terms with one's past. A dialogue between past and present. There are resonances of James Joyce in parts of the book. I found it quite a moving book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Lacks an ending, April 17, 2001

By 

D. A. Hosek (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fergus (Paperback)

I had tired of the "hard" reading I've been tied up with of late, so I took a quick novel break, reading this brief work by Brian Moore nearly straight through. In a way, it's a work similar to John Fowles' <cite>Mantissa</cite>, although in many ways it's a more successful book. It does lack an ending, but the process of discovery in the novel is still quite pleasant.