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Tim Parks
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Tongues of Flame Hardcover – January 1, 1986

3.8 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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  1. Publisher
    Grove Press
  2. Publication date
    January 1, 1986
  3. ISBN-10
    039462162X
  4. ISBN-13
    978-0394621623
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 1986
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 039462162X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0394621623
  • Best Sellers Rank: #44,093 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

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Tim Parks

Tim Parks

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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
17 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Stacey L. Camp
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!
    Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2001
    This was my first Tim Parks' novel, and led me to read other works by him. His characters are dimensional and intriguing. This novel also challenges the notion of "cult" and religion in an interesting fashion. Definitely a great, quick read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Dan Thompson
    2.0 out of 5 stars Tongues of Flame
    Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2015
    I feel sort of cheated by this book, which supposedly looked at a 'believable portrayal of male puberty' as quoted on the back of the book. I mean, in essence, it does follow a family of man and wife with three children, but the two teenage boys seem a little caricature. The first, Adrian, the rebellious, sex-craved boy who continually questions his father knowing it gets the Vicar riled up. The main protagonist, Ricky, the other boy, is the quiet, shy, reserved type who never really has an impact.

    And that is the problem really. Apart from the very end, and I mean the very end of the book, Ricky isn't really there apart from the device that over hears everything that goes on. You could quite easily take him out the story and it would still be the same.

    The religious nature of this book, quite easily comparable to Philip Pullman, leaves me even more sceptical about religion, and that Parks uses subtle sarcasm and loose humour to bring this wild family alive. For they really are a wild family that don't realise that their religious doctrine is actually a form of child abuse - clearly seen in the final few pages of the book.

    The Server (a much later Tim Parks novel that follows religion) is better told and better structured. But with the author's upbringing, I have no doubt that some of these events are actually true, despite the disclaimer at the front of the book stating otherwise.
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  • keetmom
    3.0 out of 5 stars Things fall apart
    Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2015
    Tim Parks produced some memorable characters in "Tongues Of Flame" and his descriptions of the unwinding of relationships in a family under pressure with three teenagers torn between sex, religion and rock 'n roll, were well crafted. Overall, however, I felt the ploting was rather strained. Perhaps it would have been better either as a short story or a full length novel - at a mere 180 pages, Parks didn't have the space to really build a powerful and compelling denouement.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars with people being pressured into making quite unnecessary confessions. A warning indeed
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I thought that this book is first class and should be required reading for all priests, ordinands, church members, political leaders or any follower of any system of belief. To me the `devil` which breaks up the family in the novel is the belief that `my way is always right`, irrespective of other equally valid opinions. The climax at the church houseparty where the preacher confronts the young congregation about their actually quite innocent behaviour is eerily reminiscent of a Moscow Show Trial during the Soviet `Great Terror`, with people being pressured into making quite unnecessary confessions.
    A warning indeed.
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  • E. Braben
    4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I like Tim Park's writing very much. I started with his books on Italy and moved on to his novels. He does seem to capture the human condition in all it's guises. This book is loosley based on his own experience of an evangelical father - although, his disclaimer says it's fiction. The characters are complex and there is a lightness of humour which keeps the awfulness of their lives from being too depressing to want to read about them. It's not the best of Tim Parks but this is just my personal preference. It's a slim book and I enjoyed the read which left me with a sense of 'well, so that's how it ends' when I'd finished. But then real life often doesn't have neat conclusions.
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  • W. DeFelice
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not one of my favorites, but well-written
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    This is, I think, Parks' first published novel, and it is clearly written, though the plot is plodding and it is a bit hard to identify with such a dysfunctional group of people. He doesn't quite get across the appeal of religious fanaticism perhaps because he takes the part of a neutral observer, a 15-year-old, whose voice, truth be told, is not authentic, and not even particularly insightful. Parks has written a lot of other novels (over a dozen, I believe) and they are well-plotted. This one uses a almost literal)deus ex machina to end the rambling, pretty meaningless story.
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