Oxygen (Paperback)

by Andrew Miller (Author) "Inside the house his father's clocks were striking the hour..." (more)
Key Phrases: wash bag, San Francisco, Sun Valley, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In Andrew Miller's third novel, Oxygen, the award-winning author of Ingenious Pain offers an intense, claustrophobic tale of parallel lives, of regret and redemption.

A family reunion of sorts is underway in the summer of 1997 for Alice, a newly retired, long-widowed schoolteacher, dying of cancer at her home in the English countryside. Gathered at her side are her two sons: Alec, a myopic, indecisive translator, and the more gregarious Larry, an unemployed TV soap star whose glittering U.S. career is about to take a nosedive into the shabby territory of porn films, so he can stave off bankruptcy and hold on to his disintegrating marriage. The counterpoint to this scenario is Laszlo Lazar, Hungarian exile and feted playwright, whose latest work, Oxygen, Alec is translating. Lazar, who has a comfortable existence in one of the more fashionable Paris quartiers, seems to possess everything that Alec does not: critical success, a loving partner, a longstanding circle of artistic friends. Yet Lazar is tormented by memories of the 1956 uprising and a comrade he feels he betrayed. When a political splinter group asks him to undertake a mysterious mission, he seizes his chance to atone for the past.

Shifting between a quintessentially English idyll, the carousing bars of Paris, the physical and emotional aridity of California, and a Budapest of the past and present, Miller skillfully evokes his characters' stories and their common theme--the liberation of self--even if the end result is self-destruction. He writes compassionately of the terminally ill Alice, clinging to the last vestiges of life, the last agonizing breath: "Was that the last to go? Certain gestures, reflexes, a way of cocking the head or moving the hands in speech?" He reminds us that human beings have choices, even in despair, and he provides a suitably ambiguous ending to round off a wise and engrossing novel. --Catherine Taylor, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Three characters on the cusp of crisis and one on the brink of death inhabit Miller's moving new novel, in which each grapples with despair and discovers that love can confer purifying strength. Widowed school administrator Alice Valentine is dying at her home in England's West Country. She's dependent on an oxygen tank and on her younger son, Alec, who has left his London apartment to care for her. Depressed and feeling unable to cope, the unstable Alec has coincidentally received an assignment that could make his career: to translate a play called OxygŠne, written in French by Hungarian exile L szl¢ L z r. Alice's older son, Larry, had always been the successful brother, early on as a tennis star and later as a TV actor. But Larry's been out of a job for some time, and drink and drugs have eroded his moral judgment, alienated his wife and possibly affected his six-year-old daughter. When the family convenes at Alice's bedside for what will be her last birthday, each member is submerged in private struggles. Meanwhile, in Paris, L szl¢ is surrounded by friends and grateful for the devotion of his lover, Kurt, but he remains guilt-ridden because of his failure to avert a tragedy during the Hungarian uprising in 1956. Contacted by Albanian exiles conspiring to fight the Serbs in Kosovo, L szl¢ has a chance to redeem himself on a dangerous mission. With brilliant dexterity, Miller intertwines the strands of his plot and leads each character to epiphanies, capped by a breathtaking denouement. Miller's first novel, Ingenious Pain, won several important literary prizes, including the IMPAC. It's no wonder that Oxygen was a Booker Prize finalist. Written in elegant, resonant prose, this book breathes with compassion and honesty, and with the rare quality called hope. (Apr.)Forecast: Apt comparisons to Michael Cunningham's The Hours may add impetus to sales bound to be initiated by good reviews and a seven-city author tour.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156027402
• ISBN-13: 978-0156027403
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #773,052 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subtle and Beautiful, January 7, 2004

By A Customer

Andrew Miller has created a unique and beautiful novel about characters who are caught in regret and the human struggle. The interweaving story lines are subtle and beautiful, and will be meaningful to readers who wish to look beyond the obvious and see the interconnections of our existence. One of the profound themes of Oxygen calls to mind a phrase from American poet jani johe webster, who wrote so eloquently: "hoping not to leave/ this earth/ regretting." And so the main characters of the book, estranged brothers Larry and Alec, their dying mother Alice, and, in a different country, a talented but anguished playwright, experience this very struggle: the struggle to live in a way that will liberate them from their wounds and regrets. Andrew Miller took on a great challenge in creating a novel that exists outside the box, and the outcome is a beautiful and nuanced literary work.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishing Talent, March 15, 2004

By	George M Woods (Anchorage, AK USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are books notable for their story, those notable for their writer's style and the rare book notable for the author's facility with language and grammar. This book is all three. The book tells the story of a group of disparate characters united superfically by their families, in one case, by work in another but much more profoundly by their shared humanity and attempts to survive their own weaknesses. One character tries to atone a much earlier failure when he let a lover die and another family tries to ease their mother's terminal illness while trying to come to terms with all they and their relationships to her are not.The plot hurries ominously onward but the fluidity of the writing finds you reading more slowly so to give its almost poetic quality its due. This is the sort of writing that I hope to be doing a lot more reading of in years to come.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eloquent and emotionally resonant, August 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Oxygen (Hardcover)

The ink from Andrew Miller's pen flows with such natural grace and ease there's a hushed sense of intimacy in the rhythmn of his prose. The experience is not dissimilar to tuning into a confession. But don't read the blurb and jump to the conclusion that you're dealing with some overhyped angst ridden family drama belonging to that genre much beloved by British book critics. "Oxygen" is exceptional because its writer is not only gifted with an uncommon eloquence, he has the rare intuitive ability to connect with the reader in a manner suggesting a dangerous knowledge of the human heart and that is what makes the difference. Alice Valentine is dying of cancer. Her two sons, Larry and Alec, return to Brooklands to spend her last days with her. The family is not estranged but separated, Alice in the loneliness of her terminal illness, her golden boy Larry in the shameful aftermath of his collapsing marriage and career in America, and the listless Alec in his own sense of failure as he struggles on with his translation work for a Hungarian playwright. They harbour truths about themselves they're barely able to recognise let alone confront or articulate, so Alice's death scene becomes the perfect occasion for them to come together, resolve their differences, exorcise their demons and settle the score. This they do, but quietly - strictly no histrionics - and in ways you least expect. Lazslo's story may be linked with Alec's by a thin narrative thread but he shares with Larry and Alec the same need for courage and redemption. Whilst Larry's release comes unexpectedly one evening after Alice suffers a fall, Alec digs deep to find the resolve to perform the ultimate act of heroism. For Lazlo, he sheds the burden of guilt for letting his lover die in enemy hands during the 1956 Hungarian uprising when he agrees to act as courier for a political cause. By using contrasting settings (domestic and bohemian) for his two stories, Miller universalises the issues and achieves an impact far beyond his contemplation. "Oxygen" is hugely deserving of its Booker Prize & Whitbread Prize nominations and the many accolades heaped upon it. A minor masterpiece.

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