Morris Duckworth, an unhappy and poverty-stricken English teacher in Verona, descends deeper and deeper into crime and violence as he moves from petty theft to a plot to kidnap a wealthy heiress who has fallen in love with him.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The virtuosic Parks, whose highly praised novels ( Family Planning et al.) use restrained irony with chilling effect, and whose recent nonfiction work, Italian Neighbors , wittily evokes that country from an outsider's perspective, has combined both skills and added a dimension of macabre imagination in this corker of a psychological thriller. Parks creates a memorable protagonist: a smug, morally empty Englishman living in Italy who lies, steals and murders without compunction, convinced that he is intellectually superior to his victims. Smarmy Morris Duckworth blames everyone but himself for the misfortunes that destroyed his once promising future: sent down from Cambridge, he was forced to bear the jibes ("pansy/weakling") of his brutish, vulgar father, and then he managed to sabotage every job opportunity through vainglorious boasting. Now he is living penuriously in Verona, tutoring spoiled Italian students for their university exams. His devious scheme to marry wealthy teenager Massimina Trevisan segues into a seriocomic, picaresque caper during which Morris casually dispatches people who thwart his desires. The reader turns pages in horrified fascination, waiting for the wheels of justice to turn, but Park's's final surprise is the quintessential irony. In the hands of a less talented author, a self-pitying whiner-turned-criminal might be a bore, but so deft is Parks's dissection of Morris's pathology that this taut narrative gains in suspense and surprise and sweeps to a shocking conclusion.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Morris Duckworth, a disgruntled English teacher in Verona, is a man blessed with taste and intelligence, if not wealth or a well-developed conscience. When a wealthy young student named Massimina falls for him, he quickly opts for marriage. After the girl's family rejects him and she runs away, he turns the supposed elopement into a bizarre kidnapping, using her without her knowledge to extort money from her family. As he attempts to keep his plan from unraveling, Morris's deceptions grow increasingly elaborate, culminating in a series of brutal, shocking crimes. Well-drawn characters, a clever plot, and Parks's usual combination of humor and mayhem make this a thriller with both style and substance. Recommended for most collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/92.
- Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1993 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
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What's a Duckworth,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Juggling the Stars (Paperback)
I came to Tim Park's work after first reading his non fiction books about living in Italy (and I mean really living in Italy). I have now read three of his fiction works. They too are terrific. If you have read the non fiction, let me assure you that the same scathing irreverance is found in the fiction. But, because it is fiction, his wit, cynicism and insights are magnified. If you like Martin Amis, I feel confident that you will also like Tim Parks. Be sure to read Juggling the Stars before Mimi's Ghost.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great blend of gruesome murders and macabre humor,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Juggling the Stars (Paperback)
Tim Parks has it down for those looking for a touch of humor in the scrutinized look into a killer. Far superior to the latest Thomas Harris try, Hannibal, although that may not be a good comparison. Give this author a try if you like alternating between feelings of nausea and laughter. The writing is solid, the psychology compelling, and the story moves along quickly. Great effort.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
can't get much better,
By tonyr@ct1.nai.net (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Juggling the Stars (Hardcover)
This remains one of the alltime scariest books I've ever read, perhaps because there is nothing supernatural or otherwoldly to get in the way. A totally believable and wonderfully orchestrated psychological thriller, grounded in class and sexual consciousness, dark with menace; more than once I put it down to catch my breath. Was it ever made into a movie, as the hardcover jacket suggested?
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