After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie (Norton Paperback Fiction) [Paperback]

Jean Rhys (Author)

Book Description

Series: Norton Paperback Fiction | Publication Date: March 17, 1997

"It is a book that does not invite comparisons. . . . Its excellence is individual, intrinsic; it measures itself against itself."--Saturday Review of Literature

Julia Martin is at the end of her rope in Paris. Once beautiful, she was taken care of by men. Now after leaving her last lover, she is running out of luck and chances. A visit to London to see her ailing mother and distrustful sister bring her stark life into full focus. A masterful and terrifying tale from one of the truest voices in twentieth-century fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An artistic success. (Chicago Tribune )

About the Author

Jean Rhys is the author of Wide Sargasso Sea and other novels.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (March 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393315479
• ISBN-13: 978-0393315479
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An overlooked classic -- still misunderstood, August 7, 1998

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie (Norton Paperback Fiction) (Paperback)

"After Leaving Mr. MacKenzie" by Jean Rhys easily deserves to be amongst the top 100 English-language novels. In its compact construction, Rhys is able to offer a dense, dark, disturbing, yet beautiful picture of modern life and its limits -- particularly for those who are not "blessed" with wealth.

To read this just as a woman's novel is to do it a great injustice. This is not a story about women, sexual oppression, etc. To read it as such limits Rhys scope and genius. This is a story about the confining, declining nature of contemporary life, as well as a tale about the inability of humans to connect with each other.

Great works of fiction are not 'about' men's or women's issues --they are about humanity and what we've lost and gained. Rhys is amongst the best at holding a mirror.

Rhys out Hemingways Hemingway -- she is brutal, concise and clean, like a knife to the throat. She is truthful -- to the point of pain.

Read "Mr. MacKenzie" then jump to Rhys' "Good Morning, Midnight." The pair say all there is to say about contemporary life.

As someone who has read 50 of the so-called top 100 books, I would place Mackenzie in the top 5. Fitzgerald should have written this well! Gatsby can't hold a candle to Mackenzie.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My first Amazon.com review, November 19, 2004

By 

Peter - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie (Norton Paperback Fiction) (Paperback)

Despite having been a user of Amazon for some years, I've never before felt impelled to write a review. I looked up "After Leaving Mr Mc'Kensie" on a whim, but having seen the reviews given it by "lily d" and "njl" I decided to finally add my five cents to the Amazon site. I'm an habitual reader and am rarely completely won over by a book, but this book won me over from page one. I read "Wide Sargasso Sea" and "Tigers are Better Looking" some year's ago; I realised then that Rhys was a writer of great control and restraint; but I was not yet won over. But having read this book, I can only agree with the reviews I mention above. Why is this book not better recognised as the masterpiece that it is? Djl, I'm pleased that you, like me, are comparing this favourably against Hemingway. I'm a Hemingway fan, and this, Jean Rhys's best work, is better, in my opinion than any of Hemingway's novels. Very occasionally I have the privilege of reading books - the Alice books, the Pickwick Papers, Decline And Fall, If This Is A Man & The Truce, etc (off the top of my head) - which I know I will, for the rest of my life, be able to open at any page and read with pleasure and wonder. Of the great books written in English in the Twentieth Century, this - the story of a woman (!) who drinks more than might be healthy - is one of the best. Quiet and moving.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Depressing...but a Profound Literary Accomplishment, October 17, 2000

By 

Michael J. Armijo (Marina Del Rey, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie (Norton Paperback Fiction) (Paperback)

I completed this book on a flight from LA to NY on 10/11/2000. This was my first reading experience by Jean Rhys. I learned that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis included Jean Rhys on her roster of favorite authors. That's why I bought the book. I was curious to learn what 'tickled her fancy'. At first...the book was 3 stars...but after a day or two had passed I realized that the book had quite an impact on me. I had just finished an A+ book (The Notorious Dr. August)...so, maybe that's why I didn't give this 5 stars. It explores loneliness, living on the edge, dealing with death, depression, the cheeriness of childhood, and the search for love. So, you can imagine why Jacqueline Kennedy loved this author. I felt the main character, Julia, was easily identifiable by Jackie. Mr MacKenzie was her Onassis and Mr. Horsfield was her own Mr. Tempelsman in many ways. Although, I saw Julia as a sort of prostitute "in cognito" style. I did gasp when I read 'She's gone'. 'Gone'. That was the word. It struck me because my own sister-in-law called me with those exact words when my mother passed away. And when she wrote 'Nothing matters. Nothing can be worse than how I feel now, nothing.' I gasped again because in my eulogy to my mother I started it with those two words "Nothing matters"...as that was how I felt initially. Therefore, if you know anyone dealing with grief this book should help during some trying moments. Overall, the book leaves you slightly depressed at the end. It went full circle. There were some extraordinarily good lines in this book. One favorite: Every day is a new day. Every day you are a new person.