The Little Book: A Novel [Kindle Edition]

Selden Edwards (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The subtitle of Edwards's Twain-indebted debut, written over the course of 30 years, might be "A California Yankee in Doctor Freud's Court." Following a physical assault, Stan "Wheeler" Burden is precipitated into the past-1897 Vienna, to be exact-from 1988 San Francisco. Wheeler has been a teenage baseball star and famed rock 'n' roller, but he's dreamed of Vienna since his prep school days, where his teacher, Arnauld Esterhazy, instilled a love of the city's gilded paradoxes. Vienna of 1897 is indeed hopping: Freud is discovering the Oedipus complex, Mahler is conducting his symphonies, and the mayor, Karl Lueger, is inventing modern, populist anti-Semitism-which the young Hitler will soon internalize. Making this a true oedipal drama, Wheeler's father and grandparents come to town, too, all at different ages, and with very different agendas. Edwards has great fun with time travel paradoxes and anachronisms, but the real romance in this book is with the period, topped by nostalgia for the old-school American elite, as represented by the we-all-went-to-the-same-prep-school Burdens. This novel ends up a sweet, wistful elegy to the fantastic promise and failed hopes of the 20th century.
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From Booklist

Wheeler Burden one day finds himself mysteriously transported from 1988 San Francisco to the Ringstrasse of 1897 Vienna. This strange occurrence begins a tale that sprawls over 91 years, two continents, two world wars, and a century of intense intellectual, cultural, and political change. Readers also get a great saga about Boston Brahmins, wealthy yet with a morass of tacky little secrets. The author adds to this tasty little ragout cameo appearances by Freud, Mahler, Schoenberg, Wickstein, Mark Twain, Buddy Holly, and Winston Churchill. A leisurely tale, the plot unfolds slowly through a complex structure of multiple viewpoints and narrators. It’s very talky, but the dialogue usually drives the plot forward and is often leavened by touches of ironic humor. Readers may find the overabundance of coincidences maddening, but that won’t keep them from reading on to the shocking climax and the thoroughly satisfying and elegant resolution. Myriad readers will enjoy this book—especially historical-fiction buffs and family-saga devotees—so stock up. --Ellen Loughran

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 722 KB
• Publisher: Plume (August 14, 2008)
• Sold by: Penguin Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0017SWQN8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,847 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wild Ride for Book Clubs, August 17, 2008

By 

Joanna Westley "book angel" (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Book (Hardcover)

I am a self-admitted book-a-holic, and for a book to keep me up and guessing - that's saying a lot. For a book to completely surprise me - that is saying even more. For a book to challenge me intellectually and make me laugh out loud in parts - to be cerebral and totally cool at the same time - sheer delight! How did Selden Edwards pull THAT off? This book makes me want to sit down with the writer and ask a hundred questions about the obvious craft of turning such an outrageous idea (and it is that) into a cohesive story. I didn't want the book to end, and I miss the characters already. My book club is reading it, and I can hardly wait to hear everyone's favorite passage/character/scene/line. It's clearly my favorite book of the summer, and I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a terrific movie in a summer to come; it plays (and stays) in the mind like the best kind of film.

44 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one of the best books I have ever read, August 14, 2008

By 

Karen (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Little Book (Hardcover)

The Little Book is impossible to describe and impossible to forget. The characters that Edwards creates- and the insights about different cultures and eras- are nothing short of remarkable. Just like Pat Conroy says on the cover, it forever changes you. I finished it and immediately began re-reading- and was still sad when it was over. It is a perfect book club choice, vacation read, or book to recommend to a friend. You won't be able to put it down!

46 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Eine kleine mess!, October 30, 2008

By 

Matt Boisen "hounddoc" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Little Book (Hardcover)

I am a historical novel junkie, especially ones that include time travel (see Allen Appel, Jack Finney, etc.). I have visited Vienna, my grandfather was Austrian, and I dig Secessionism and anything having to do with fin de siecle Europe. That said, I was very disappointed with this book, especially when reading how it took 35 years to write. Oh, what a tangled, stilted, unintentionally funny story! The characters are wooden at best, they bob along like the marionettes at Schönbrunn Palace from one chapter to another. Despite all the Freudian discussions (yawn) of the Oedipus complex and sex, which provides the outline of the story, the actual intimate encounters are only coyly suggested by "sudden releases" and much clothing adjustment, as if the author was afraid his grandmother might pick up the book and read it. The narrative is confusing; ostensibly it is done by Wheeler's mother, but it contains many conversations, thoughts and details that no one, not even Proust, would have included in a journal. Edwards' encyclopedic (or shall we say Wikipedic?) references to 1897 Vienna are dropped in like sticky notes, and rarely fit the context of the story. And for Pete's sake, what's with the Frisbee??? Frisbees were the darling of postwar, flying saucer hyped America when baby boomers and play time were in great abundance. What happens when Wheeler discovers the grieving Empress in the Imperial Art Museum? He mumbles apologies about the death of her son and then solemnly gives her his wooden Frisbee! Why? So she can kick back, forget her troubles, grab a bottle of Boone's Farm and throw a few to old Franz Joseph in the Wienerwald? The Wham-O corporation should thank Edwards for the endorsement. Later, she appears while Wheeler and his dad are playing with yet another Frisbee, and solemnly hands him her son's ring wrapped in a handkerchief. Why? Maybe he didn't have enough bling for the fin de siecle. The twists and turns of the murky plot, the encounters with famous people and the hopelessly bland characters just went stale midway through the book, and I had to force myself to finish it. Too bad. Good thing it was a library book!