Customer Reviews

Politics (P.S.)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Adam Thirlwell got named one of the top young novelists of England by Granta, a magazine which is always wrong. And he hadn't even written POLITICS yet at the time he got the nod.

Well here it is now, in a high-profile type of dust jacket that is cut off halfway down the jacket, to make it stand out from the other novels on the table at Barnes and Noble, and I bet it does very well. When you read POLITICS it makes you realize just how accomplished a writer Milan Kundera is, for in Kundera's hands this same storyline turned into THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING whereas when Thirlwall does it, it just sags down with the insecurities of the privileged girl at the center of the tale, the randy boy who wants to spice up their sex life with a menage a trois, and the kind of hapless actress, Anjali, who becomes the "June" in their own version of HENRY AND JUNE. Thirlwell is great when he's describing food, fashion and couture, and when he's telling stories about writers from the past he admires. And he does know quite a bit about the hoydenish behavior of young women desperately trying to please men unworthy of them. But all in all, even though the book is hot pink, and one's hands are drawn to touch it, hold it, caress it, make love to it, do yourself a favor and put it back on the shelf, uncut. Even a copy of GRANTA will prove more rewarding.

i loved this book, i actually read it in a day. i then gave it to my prudish boyfriend to read. it is quite a refreshing read. a lot of the writing might be about sex but i feel that adam is trying to take a humorous slant on the subject. one of the characters has never had an orgasm (which doesn't really bother her - oh yes its the female, suprise suprise!) the other is deeply insecure (the man - no wonder!) and yet they fall head over heels in love.

Adam Thirlwell's book is a novel different from almost anything out there. It gives much more credence to the insecurity and the uncomfortable attributes of any sexual relationship. The readers can laugh at Moshe's foibles (although the humor and comic digressions do begin to wear thin as the book drags on) but share in his insecurities about love.

Moshe, Nana, and Anjali's story is not unlike a story that happens to everyone at one time or another. Many people can identify what it is like to be in love (in at least one of the many connotations of the word) with two people at once. But Thirlwell's development of the consequences is somewhat lacking at tidiness. He serves quite appropriately at an uber-omniscient narrator, but his story's resolution is a little...predictable. As much as I enjoyed identifying with Moshe's crisis in the book, Nana's resolution to the crisis is somewhat unfulfilling. Perhaps, however, therein lies the point of the book. The most real stories sometimes have the least coherent endings. Perhaps a little more character development and plot would make the stories end more satisfying.

This is a dreadful book and I begrudged the time that I spent reading it. The author has adopted a precious prose style. He has also attempted to duplicate casual speech in the most annoying way. For instance, "Le mgo" for "Let me go." The more conventional approach would be "Lemme go." And consider this: the male lead referring to his being Jewish pronounces it "Joosh." I wouldn't object to attempting to mimic casual speech but it should be phonetically accurate.

Those who marketed this book have done a good job. The book is tiresome and wandering. Don't read this for any sexual insights. If it's not about sex, then it doesn't have a lot to fall back on. Even the morality - given in the final line - is nothing provocative or inducive of contemplation. As the French say, Bof!

Politics is an unbelievably funny book about how one gets into, and out of, a menage-a-trois and the inevitable problems that occur along the way. The narration gives the book a witty tone that'll keep you laughing all the way through.

Made a big effort to finish this book. Bought it based on the reviews. A major disappointment. Don't understand the critics who praised this book.

I got 10 pages into the book and felt guilty for not wanting to finish it, so I read another 10, and yet again another 10. I was really excited to read this book based on other reviews I read.

I frequent British authors so I'm no stranger to the writing, humor, etc., but I could not get into the book or the characters and found Thirlwell's writing to be choppy at best.

Definitely glad I got it used from Amazon. It's into the "to be donated to the library" pile with no guilt!

The only redeeming page of this juvenile, shallow, self important nonsense of a book is the mentioning of "Collected Stories" by Saul Bellow. This reader sincerely hopes that the author reads this and other Bellow books and realize that Adam Thirlwell talents are in other areas...and NOT IN LITERATURE.

Stories of Guillaume Apollinaire, Osip Mandelshtam, Milan Kundera does not add any literary value to Adam Thirlwell book.

What propelled Adam Thirlwell to expose his talentless ambition to the reading world? As an Oxford student he should know better.