Light Years (Penguin Modern Classics) |
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Author:
James Salter
By Penguin Classics
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £2.78
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780141188638
ISBN: 0141188634
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2007-03-01
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics |
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 Profoundly moving, 1999-07-11
I read this book while vacationing in Italy and attempting to cope with my divorce, a sudden and unexpected loss in my life. This book will knock you out. You'll never forget it.
We dash the black river, its flats smooth as stone..., 2007-07-10
Poetry in prose and technically brilliant. Never heard of James Salter before picking up this book. Perhaps because the American tradition is to prefer transparent plain text and books which are all plot and character (rather than beautiful writing - surely at least as important!), Salter just doesn't get that much press.
In any case, the writing is astonishing. Shocking to start with - the briefest of sentences like dabs of paint, rhythmic: "We dash the black river, its flats smooth as stone. Not a ship, not a dinghy, not one cry of white. The water lies broken, cracked from the wind."
And amazingly, the beauty of the prose doesn't get in the way of the meaning, the plot and the characters. In describing the main female character, Nedra, Salter (rarely and interestingly) begins speaking as the author in first person: "Before her were scissors, paper-thin boxes of cheese, French knives. On her shoulders there was perfume. I am going to describe her life from the inside outward, from its core, the house as well, rooms in the morning sunlight...Salter continues with one of the longest sentences of the book in this direct address.
Highly recommended.
Poetry in prose, 1999-08-20
Not a traditionally told story, the plot is almost entirely incidental. What we are left with is the language, lyrical and beautiful, that can veer from a description of a family to spoons in a drawer, and make it seem like a logical extension of a house and its inhabitants.
Beautiful novel, 1999-06-29
A wonderfully-written, poignant portrait of a marriage. The end filled me with sadness and the chapters were consistently memorable. Salter is a miniaturist -- that is, he very effectively evokes isolated scenes with memorable details -- but he manages to convey time's passage as well. Salter has to be one of the top English stylists of the century. I marked the novel down one star only because I thought the fate of one of the central characters was not believable.
The Death of a Marriage Described in Lyrical Prose, 1999-04-08
This novel, set in the period between the mid 1950s and mid 1970s in New York, is the story of the marriage of well-off Viri and Nedra. The chapters are episodic, each one painting a picture of the marriage. Much of the plot (what there is of plot that is)seems to takes place at small intimate dinner parties. The prose is quite beautiful - thick and textured, lyrical and evocative. But it only keeps us distanced from these already remote characters. I felt like I was observing Viri and Nedra under water, or through a thick layer of fog. Why are Viri and Nedra having their respective affairs? Why is the marriage crumbling, while they remain polite and affable with each other? The author never answers these questions other than to suggest it is collapsing under the weight of their own ennui and vacuity.The tumultuous political and historical events of the Sixties never seem to touch the characters in the book. I must admit that the first half of the book left me cold. Viri and Nedra seem self-indulgent people, not worthy of the readers attention. What kept me with the story was the exquisite prose style that Salter has crafted. But more and more I was drawn into and touched by their very sad story even as I still felt distanced from them. Just to immerse oneself in Salter's beautiful writing style made this a worthwhile reading experience.
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