The Tryst [Import] [Paperback]

Michael Dibdin (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; First Thus edition (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571142214
• ISBN-13: 978-0571142217
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From England and France in 1917 to Hippies in LALAland, December 12, 2001

By 

A. Moore "andmooreagain" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Tryst (Paperback)

I cannot understand how this book rates only one star. I am a total Dibdin fan and I think it is by far his best book. From London punks trying to eat frozen pizza, literally, in a wintry squat to the well-to-do and (in truth) well-intentioned London middle class, and much in between, this is a complex and fascinating work. It contains more truth than thrill, yet frightens all the more so. And, in my opinion, it is all too short, hardly 200 pages.
It is hard to imagine anyone not falling into the grip of this realistic yet intensely poetic book. Not quite "horror" (speaking of the genre) yet it is utterly unsettling. It shows WWI with greater strength and insight than Saving Private Ryan (puh...leeze). The scenes from the 60's Brighton "youth culture" would be unfamiliar to any American "ex-hippie", but certainly no less "freaky." And when we are briefly and suddenly transported to college digs near UCLA, even if we are Americans, we can share the culture shock felt by a young English girl. She doesn't stay long. Its hard to pick my favorite moment or moments in this book, but how one young man manages his escape from the closet of a house slated to be torn down bright and early the very next morning....well...that is Dibdin at his very best and shouldn't be missed by any of his fans.
Don't let the deceptively slow first 27 pages fool you. The Tryst hits hard but does it's work with a disarming gentleness throughout. I beleive The Tryst to be a work of genius. One star? Outrageous!!! And WHY is it out of print?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes your hair stand on end, June 13, 2002

By 

"pennymwood2" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tryst (Hardcover)

This psychological thriller matches those of Ruth Rendell. It is the story of a psychiatrist and a patient, though the patient is not really mentally ill, he is just seeking the safety of a psychiatric institution. Aileen Macklin has troubles of her own but she has a soft spot for Gary Dunn and she is gradually unravelling what makes the boy tick. Dibdin in the meantime is letting the reader unravel the stories of his characters themselves.

3.0 out of 5 stars psychological maze, September 8, 2009

By 

Just_Karen (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Tryst (Paperback)

The Tryst is an old-fashioned Gothic story crafted out of modern elements; the drug traffic of the 1970s, modern psychotropic medicine, agorophobia, squatters and de-institutionalization of the mentally ill. The Gothic comes in because all the secrets, coincidences, madness and hauntings take place within skillfully rendered buildings that echo the terror and disintegration they house.

Do I admire the book? Yes, it's very well executed. Was I interested throughout? Very much so, but once it's done, it's done. The old Gothic classics by Hawthorne and Wharton sweep me in completely, but the level of mental illness and lack of humor in modern versions (Castle by Robert Lennon, Sacrament of Lies by Elizabeth Dewberry) tend to keep me at an emotional distance from the characters. A notable exception to this is Iodine, by Haven Kimmel, a modern Gothic thriller that captured me completely.

The Tryst has memorable characters, but of the three main characters (the three who get to tell their stories) every single one of them is mentally ill in one way or another. Of the important peripheral characters, one is a narcissist and three are violent, manipulative drug addicts. Not a lot of laughs here! But the back stories are interesting, the haunting is haunting, and the plotting is tight.