Intimacy and Midnight All Day [Kindle Edition]

Hanif Kureishi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Gabriel's Gift is lighter entertainment, for though it concentrates on a fractured family, the reader knows throughout that it is only a matter of time before all will be reconciled. This is very much a comfy chair of a book, with colorful, witty characters enduring only minor shakeups in their lives before resuming their previous paths. There's Rex, an ex-glam rock star, now underemployed and recently evicted from the house by Christine, who's had enough of Rex's inactivity and worries about his impact on their son, Gabriel. Gabriel has a bear of a nanny to watch him as well as a gift that allows him to create real things just by drawing them, though this twist curiously remains largely unexplored. Gabriel's love for his dad and mum, a little bit of serendipity, and some responsibility on Rex's part (i.e., a job) helps to bring the family back together. The tale seems patchy but pleasant enough, especially for fans of the author. Marc Kloszewski, Indiana Free Lib., PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Jane Mendelsohn The New York Times Book Review Kureishi is a fluent, socially observant writer whose sentences move with intelligence and wit.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 468 KB
• Print Length: 336 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1st Scribner Paperback Fiction Ed edition (March 2, 2002)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FC0Q98
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #175,627 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing and thought provoking, September 29, 2004

By 

Maggie S. (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intimacy and Midnight All Day: A Novel and Stories (Paperback)

I read 'Intimacy' a number of years ago. I'm a slow reader, but I found myself on its last pages a mere two days after picking it up for the first time. I have since read it several more times, and sometimes still pick it up at random to read a page or two in passing. This book (its hardcover edition) inspired me to read more, and I searched for other novels that might touch me as 'Intimacy' did, but it wasn't until recently that I found another.

I like Kureishi's tone, I like this story: depressing and hopeful at the same time. It does feel, as others have said, very autobiographical, but I believe that's what allows the reader to relate so easily.

I admire the protagonist, and I believe that a great many readers will as well. Why? He does something which many of us think about at one point or another, but do not have the courage to do. He refuses to settle, to be trapped by a life devoid of true happiness and fulfillment. He believes that betrayal can be a hopeful act, that life goes on and has a greater than ever potential of being what we've always hoped it could be. He defies convention.

But whether you admire or hate him, your reaction to the main character and his choices in life will surely unveil to you something about yourself, and that is the true beauty of any good book... at least for me.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A serious writer, September 30, 2004

By 

Ayesha Riaz "ashriaz" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intimacy and Midnight All Day: A Novel and Stories (Paperback)

This is the only book I have read by Hanif Kureishi and I can say that he writes about serious issues in life, the kind that most people like to avoid because they are considered a taboo in our society. The book is composed of one long story and a couple of other short ones. The main story is about a married couple in which the wife is engaged in an extra marital affair and Kureishi has tried to analyze this problem that what makes married couples look elsewhere for happiness. I won't call it a sizzling story but it was a good timepass.

5.0 out of 5 stars Intimacy, May 31, 2007

By 

Liliana N. Lucisano (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Intimacy and Midnight All Day: A Novel and Stories (Paperback)

Excellent!!!!.-It's one of the best book I've read lately.-Kureishi let us enter into a phase of crisis in a man of his generation.-Love, pasion,friendship, sex,are some of the items that permit us to share the turning point in the life of a man that is seeking for more....Fully recomended.