Skios: A Novel [Hardcover]

Michael Frayn (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 19, 2012

The great master of farce turns to an exclusive island retreat for a comedy of mislaid identities, unruly passions, and demented, delicious disorder

On the private Greek island of Skios, the high-paying guests of a world-renowned foundation prepare for the annual keynote address, to be given this year by Dr. Norman Wilfred, an eminent authority on the scientific organization of science. He turns out to be surprisingly youthful, handsome, and charming—quite unlike his reputation as dry and intimidating. Everyone is soon eating out of his hands. So, even sooner, is Nikki, the foundation's attractive and efficient organizer.

Meanwhile, in a remote villa at the other end of the island, Nikki's old friend Georgie has rashly agreed to spend a furtive horizontal weekend with a notorious schemer, who has characteristically failed to turn up. Trapped there with her instead is a pompous, balding individual called Dr. Norman Wilfred, who has lost his whereabouts, his luggage, his temper, and increasingly all sense of reality—indeed, everything he possesses other than the text of a well-traveled lecture on the scientific organization of science.

In a spiraling farce about upright academics, gilded captains of industry, ambitious climbers, and dotty philanthropists, Michael Frayn, the farceur "by whom all others must be measured" (CurtainUp), tells a story of personal and professional disintegration, probing his eternal theme of how we know what we know even as he delivers us to the outer limits of hilarity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Long-listed for the 2012 Man Booker Prize

 “Expertly written, genuine fun... Frayn builds his puzzle so painstakingly and tells his story so engagingly, you want to jump in his lap and build a nest.”
—Alex Witchel, The New York Times Book Review

“Are you, perhaps even now, searching for the perfect comic novel for the beach, the hammock or some lazy summer weekend? Say ‘yes’ to any of these questions and you should immediately head for your bookstore to buy a copy of Frayn’s new book, Skios, a romantic comedy constructed with the quick cutting and pace of a Marx Brothers movie… This is one of the most amusingly complicated novels since David Lodge’s Small World. By page 2, readers will know without any doubt that they are in for a wonderful time.”
—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

“A paragon of academic satire, this novel is also a shining example of the drama of mistaken identities… Like much of Frayn’s work, Skios is a virtuoso performance, and very funny, but underneath it all is a melancholy truth: many people are unhappy with who they are and wouldn't mind being mistaken for someone else.”
—The New Yorker

“Masterly crafted farce...Under Frayn’s peerless choreography, the comedy gods of mistaken identity are having a mad romp. Frayn is so devilishly good at clicking the pieces into place that watching him build his contraption is its own entertainment.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Fiendishly funny... Frayn creates a convincing world so endearingly vulnerable to this kind of mayhem that farce seems inevitable, yet you wind up rooting for the irredeemably irresponsible protagonist to get away with it.”
—North Coast Journal

“A witty Rube Goldberg construction of a novel... Think Being There set to the staccato pacing of Noises Off, and hold on to your funny bones.”
—Library Journal

“Truly does make you laugh out loud. I sniggered on the train and the bus; I sniggered in the kitchen, the bedroom and, on one occasion, in the shower. I wasn’t reading the book in the shower, obviously. But I was thinking about it, and that was enough—Skios really is hilarious.” 
—The Observer (UK)

“In the hands of someone less accomplished, the events in Skios would be too improbable... As it is, you can sit back and let the book lap over you like the warm waters surrounding this Greek isle.”
—The Spectator (UK)

“The pieces of this intricate farce click into place with all the assurance you’d expect from the author of Noises Off... The denouement is pitch-perfect. Guaranteed to make many an appearance on holiday-reading lists this summer.”
—Daily Mail (UK)

“Awkward sexual encounters, mistaken identities and buffoonish caricatures of powerful men and women litter the plot of this engaging, even bawdy comedy... Skios sparkles with a precise, theatrical timing.”
—The List (UK)

“A cracking read. At the almost-close of proceedings, Frayn lifts the curtain to map out what might have happened—revealing the authorial hand guiding the action. It’s a deft and clever touch... If you’ve always regarded farce as something you don’t have to dally with, Skios could well the book to change your mind.”
—Bookmunch (UK)

About the Author

Michael Frayn is the author of ten novels, including the bestselling Headlong, which was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection and a Booker Prize finalist, and Spies, which received the Whitbread Fiction Award. He has also written a memoir, My Father's Fortune, and fifteen plays, among them Noises Off and Copenhagen, which won three Tony Awards. He lives just south of London.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books; First Edition edition (June 19, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805095497
• ISBN-13: 978-0805095494
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933 and began his career as a journalist on the Guardian and the Observer. His novels include Towards the End of the Morning, The Trick of It and Landing on the Sun. Headlong (1999) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while his most recent novel, Spies (2002), won the Whitbread Novel Award. His fifteen plays range from Noises Off to Copenhagen and most recently Afterlife.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great vacation read May 8, 2012

By K. Polzin

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I enjoyed Michael Frayn's play "Noises Off," so I picked up "Skios" to take on a four-day beach vacation, and it was the perfect read - diverting, amusing, yet intelligent and well-written.

The coincidences come fast and heavy in "Skios," and I marveled that Frayn could hold it all together. Whenever I thought it couldn't go on anymore, the story would take another turn and build some more. I enjoyed how cleverly Frayn kept this juggling act going.

I particularly enjoyed the character of Dr. Norman Wilfred (the real one), the lecturer who has his identity stolen at the beginning of the story. Frayn portrays him vividly, and he undergoes an interesting transformation as a result of having his life upset. I also enjoyed the logic of the book: one character sets off all the mayhem of the book, and in the end...(I won't spoil it).

You will probably not have many deep thoughts while reading "Skios," but you will be thoroughly entertained.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Middling Farce, but First-rate Satire June 19, 2012

By Hank Peace

Format:Hardcover

Skios is only a middling farce. Thankfully, it is also a first-rate satire.

Nikki, a PR professional at foundation that appears to exist mainly as an excuse to give the wealthy a reason to take out their yachts, has invited Dr. Norman Wilfred, leading academic expert on the scientific management of science to speak at the foundation's annual gala event. But when Nikki mistakenly picks up an reluctant grifter at the airport instead of Dr. Wilfred, (mild) hilarity ensues.

As a farce, it's pretty standard stuff. The beginning and the end suffer for having to concentrate on the standard farcical elements. An attempt to put a twist on the usual farcical conclusion falls rather flat.

But the middle, on the other hand, is pure Grecian gold. It soars because it lets the farce amble on while slinging subtle satirical barbs about. Delightfully, it primarily aims at three groups with which I have intimate knowledge--public relations professionals, intellectuals, and pseudo-intellectuals. Each is successfully skewered. Frayn obviously knows his stuff.

Disclosure--I won an ARC of Skios through First Reads.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Of course, it's ridiculous---it's farce! May 16, 2012

By Angie Boyter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Michael Frayn has one of the widest repertoires of any writer I can think of--- from the intense, suspenseful Spies , which won the Whitbread Award ,to the Tony-winning science dialogue of Copenhagen, to the philosophical The Human Touch, to the wise and wicked Booker Prize finalist Headlong. I can easily see how someone might be a huge fan of Frayn in one of his guises but not enjoy his next book at all. I have long admired Frayn's clever, quintessentially British writing style, but I have a very critical eye and a low tolerance for the implausible, and so I approached Skios with some trepidation.
Nikki Hook is the ambitious PA to the head of the Fred Toppler Foundation, and this year's Foundation Great European House Party on the Greek island of Skios could be her stepping stone to the job of Foundation Director. She is excited as she greets Dr. Norman Wilfred, the keynote speaker for the House Party, at the airport, but is both puzzled and pleased that he looks much younger and more attractive than pictures she has seen. Dr. Norman Wilfred is impressed by the luxury of the villa in which he is accommodated on Skios but becomes increasingly confused when he cannot find anyone else or any occupied buildings nearby. Georgie is nervous but tingling with anticipation at the prospect of stepping out on her regular boyfriend to spend a week-end on a Greek isle with a man she has just met, until she arrives to find the villa already occupied by a middle-aged man who has lost his luggage and seems to think SHE is the intruder. Oliver Fox is a likeable ne'er-do-well who quickly realizes that Nikki has mistaken him for someone else, but she is attractive, so why not go with the flow and see what develops?
My first grin came on page 1, and by page 2 I was reading aloud to my husband Frayn's description of the American head of the Toppler Foundation, "Europeans ...embodied for her the civilized values..., and the British were Europeans who had the tact and good sense to speak English." As the story line took front place in importance there were fewer such passages, but there were more than enough to get me over an occasional implausibility that made me think Frayn had perhaps gone a bit too far. As in any good farce, the complications multiplied as the story progressed, but by the conclusion all the loose ends were tied up, even one that I was SURE he was going to leave hanging, and my lasting impression will be the smile Frayn left me with on the final page .
In addition to overall good writing and an enjoyable story, there were two other things about Skios that raised it above the ordinary. First, Skios is an entertainment, but that doesn't mean that it didn't make me stop and think. Of course, there are the obvious opportunities for introspective observations due to the switches in identity, but I was struck most often by seemingly casual remarks such as "What kind of a probability is it that doesn't actually exist?" Ponder THAT one for a bit! Second, with one exception, Skios manages to be funny without descending to the level of sophomoric vulgarity that some writers seem to substitute for actual humor.
If you are in the mood for a read that is light but not brainless and can suspend your critical eye just a bit in the name of a good laugh, Skios could be a good choice for your summer vacation or an evening by the fire.