The Act of Love: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: antiquarian booksellers, wounding doubt, hot wife, High Street, Lady Blessington, Felix Quinn (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In his naughtily erudite 10th novel, British author Jacobson (Kalooki Nights) explores the nature of the erotic with a wicked twist. Narrator Felix Quinn, a fusty antiquarian bookseller in contemporary London, wants to cuckold himself in order to save his marriage and give himself the freedom to be jealous. The unwitting but willing participant in Felix's scheme, Marius, is a libertine without scruples: he first appears in the tale some years previously, letching after two underage girls while attending the funeral of a man whose wife he had seduced. As for Felix's wife, Marisa, she embraces the infidelity foisted on her with gusto, relishing her thrice-weekly assignations and, after much persuasion, titillating her curious husband with details of their intimacies. Though Felix's narration is disconcertingly mannered, he's remarkably honest and blisteringly funny, while Jacobson's prose is sharp as ever, loaded with spiky dialogue and wonderfully arch observations. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

Antiquarian bookseller Felix Quinn is sophisticated, intelligent, and a proper English gentleman in all ways but one: he longs to see his wife, Marisa, in the arms of another man. When his masochistic matchmaking results in Marisa’s affair with a brooding writer, Felix is both tortured and tickled by their tryst—begging Marisa for details of their sexual encounters and obsessing over their interactions. Yet, like Philip Roth’s David Kepesh in The Dying Animal (2001), recently made into the feature film Elegy, Felix can never be satisfied unless he has Marisa to himself and, thus, becomes increasingly jealous and conflicted over his wife’s affair. The book is mostly concerned with Felix’s sexual fetishism and remains disappointingly reticent about the inner life of Marisa, who is meticulously described but barely allowed to speak. Jacobson conjures a twisted yet sophisticated love story here, walking a thin line between humor and erotica and often blending the two. --Heather Paulson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141659423X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416594239
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,314 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars masochism isn't pretty, September 27, 2009

By	Katherine "reader for the joy of reading" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

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there are moments in this book, sentences, and passages, that ring true. This, and the fact that the language of the book is well crafted, makes the book enjoyable. However, masochism is gratingly one-sided (i felt the same reading sacher-masoch decades ago). A better, less standard masochistic novel would have given voice to the other side, the other sides. another flaw is that there is no sex to speak of; the author holds back on sex but i think if it's gonna be about sex it's gotta have sex in the book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Jacobson's Worst, June 13, 2009

By	B. Feldman (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm generally a fan of Jacobson, who is sort of the English Philip Roth. Act of Love is Jacobson's worst. Admittedly, the language is elegant. The characters, the plot, the premise: drek. I had to stop half-way through, because it just wasn't worth finishing.
I turned to the latest Steve Stern novel instead.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautifully wrtitten, June 20, 2009

By	Joseph Wildberger (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The writing was so incredibly beautiful and I loved the intrigue of the story. I wanted to be each of the three main subjects at different times throughout the book. I read the book on a flight from San Francisco to Cartegena and then passed it on to a the husband of the friends we were traveling with. He was very disturbed by the book. He then passed it on to my partner, I am gay so he is male, who found the premise disturbing as well. Both agree that the writing is excellent and were motivated on with the book because of the writing, not the subject. I was motivated on because of both...I wanted the input of my other travel companion, my friends wife but she hasn't read the book yet so I don't have a complete opinion but I am going to back track and read the earlier books. I loved it...

David, San Francisco