The Blackwater Lightship: A Novel

Average customer rating:

Colm Toibin is a Master

Fine family drama - well told

Heart-thumping novel tunes into silent language of family

Love, Family, AIDS and Dysfunction

Touching

The Blackwater Lightship: A Novel
Colm Toibin
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0743203313

Amazon.com

In the opening pages of The Blackwater Lightship, a stranger drives up to Helen O'Doherty's Dublin house to tell her that her brother Declan is in the hospital and needs to see her. At his request, she joins him at the creepy seaside house of their grandmother--where, as children, they awaited news of their dying father. What's more, they're not the only guests. Paul and Larry, friends of Declan who have known about his HIV diagnosis far longer than his family, are the next to arrive. And then comes Helen's estranged mother Lily, whom she hasn't seen in years. Still angry over the emotional abandonment she suffered during her youth, Helen had refused even to invite Lily to her wedding. Now she must come to terms not only with the imminent death of her beloved brother but also with her mother and grandmother--all at once.

Colm Tóibín (The Story of the Night) delivers this unsentimental account of a troubled family in spare but suggestive language. He does allow his characters a few high-spirited remarks and the occasional outburst. Otherwise, though, he keeps his tone even, allowing for the perfect integration of a light, unforced symbolism. For Lily, broken hopes and dreams are bound up with the Blackwater Lightship, one of two lighthouses that once stood in the Irish Sea near Ballyconnigar. As a child, she believed that these would always be there:

Tuskar was a man and the Blackwater Lightship was a woman and they were both sending signals to each other and to other lighthouses, like mating calls. He was forceful and strong and she was weaker but more constant, and sometimes she began to shine her light before darkness had really fallen.

For Helen, on the other hand, it was the house itself that prompted her deepest, happiest fantasies. But now Lily has sold the property and shattered Helen's dream that "it would be her refuge, and that her mother, despite everything, would be there for her and would take her in and shelter her and protect her. She had never entertained this thought before; now, she knew that it was irrational and groundless, but nonetheless ... she knew that it was real and it explained everything." What Declan has done by drawing them all together at Granny's house is to enact this potent, poignant fantasy. Whether it has the power to reconstruct his family is another matter, but in any case, The Blackwater Lightship remains a gripping narrative, deftly delivered by a master storyteller. --Regina Marler

Book Description

It is Ireland in the early 1990s. Helen, her mother, Lily, and her grandmother, Dora have come together to tend to Helen's brother, Declan, who is dying of AIDS. With Declan's two friends, the six of them are forced to plumb the shoals of their own histories and to come to terms with each other.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, The Blackwater Lightship is a deeply resonant story about three generations of an estranged family reuniting to mourn an untimely death. In spare, luminous prose, Colm Tóibín explores the nature of love and the complex emotions inside a family at war with itself. Hailed as "a genuine work of art" (Chicago Tribune), this is a novel about the capacity of stories to heal the deepest wounds.

Customer Reviews:

Colm Toibin is a Master.......2005-09-25

Colm Toibin, author of "The Master", is an outstanding writer. After reading his novel about Henry James, I went back to read his earlier novels. I was truly moved by this book: character development was outstanding and complex, people were believable, and the intricate plot was mesmerizing. I recommend that anyone who liked "The Master" read this and his other earlier (and maybe even better written) books.

Fine family drama - well told.......2005-05-15

Beautifully written, emotionally effecting novel about an estranged family brought together by a young man dying of AIDS - a brother, son and grandson of three strong willed women. They gather at his grandmother's seaside home with two of his gay friends. What I especially liked about this novel was that it was never predictable. Just when you thought you had it all figured out the author would take you in an alternate direction. I also liked the fact that the obvious was never overstated. None of these characters is without sin. They have been judgmental and unforgiving and each has made mistakes that have been blown out of all proportion. Is there reconciliation? Is everything wrapped up neat and pretty at the end of the book? Yes and no. You feel that progress has been made. Beacuse certain things have gone either unsaid or unresolved, I feel like these characters are still alive out there struggling to understand one another and maybe forgive if not absolve one another. A very strong novel.

Heart-thumping novel tunes into silent language of family.......2005-01-06

THE BLACKWATER LIGHTSHIP explores the nature of relationship between family members and between friends. It is the story of three generations of an estranged family reuniting to tender an untimely death. As the story ominously unfolds, deeper and more unplumbed layers of the wounds, emotions, misunderstanding, and pent-up anger manifest as friends of dying Declan, who had been through all the difficult times in battling AIDS, joined the begrudged family. It was at such sober and difficult time like this that everyone, regardless of their past wounds, unforgiving grudges, and even moral disapproval of homosexual life, should forget their differences and prioritize Declan's comfort and happiness.

Helen dreaded breaking the news of her brother's sickness to her mother, Lily, not only because of the despondent nature of the incurable disease, but also due to the fact that she had deliberately excluded her mother from her life for 10 years. Ever since the row she had with her mother about moving to Dublin for school, Helen shut herself off to her mother, who had never got over the early, unexpected death of Helen's father. Helen could never forgive Lily of her abandoning her and her brother at the Granny's house after her father's funeral. Whereas for Lily, she had never expressed her pent-up fear and shame that descended in her immediately after the funeral. The years of ice and alienation unfortunately turned into a standoffish rife that excluded Lily from her daughter's life and family. Helen's bitterness toward her mother pervaded into her own family life, for her husband must have learned long ago to live with and manage the web of unresolved connections when he puzzled at her periods of withdrawal and caprice.

The ingenuity of the book lies in the intensive de-layering of such family grudges and magnification of feelings in a time of mourning. Even though Lily made a promise to herself upon the burial of her husband to do her best with the children, Helen's inveterate resentment rooted in the fact that her mother had taken her father away. In her morbid consciousness, Helen always fantasized her mother being forceful and pushy chasing after her, determined to stop her having her life. Helen wished her mother to tolerate people and accommodate their needs, but all Lily wanted was that Helen could take interests in her and her life.

Friendship is an indefeasible element of this novel. Declan's friends have always been there fighting the disease and egging him on. When Lily was rude and hostile to his friends, telling them to leave him to her, they fearlessly confronted how they had been looking after him during numerous life-and-death occasions when the family did not even seem to be around. Paul stood his ground being the closest friend to Declan. He read all the relevant books and kept himself cognizant of the latest therapies. He knew what and how to make Declan comfortable and to mitigate his pain. Paul vowed staunchly that he would stay with Declan and he would never leave unless Declan asked him to. Declan even confided in him about his mother with phrases and sentences which were not edifying. Moved to such loyalty and love the friends showed Declan, the stiff family succumbed to what they said and was inspired to reconcile its own strife.

THE BLACKWATER LIGHTSHIP explores how true friendship can supercede relationship with family in a palpitating, brooding time of crisis. The fact that Declan chose not to trouble his mother, though he loved her, showed that the family was not as close to him as his friends were to him. This corroborated to the fact that his mother had no clue to his sexual orientation. Declan's fear of coming out to his mother and grandmother erected the barrier that stifled him to seek help from his family. He might be so afraid that his mother, at the knowledge of his sickness, would refuse to see him, even though he desperately wanted her to know and help him. Friendship not only filled this void but also dawned on the understanding, the de-icing, and finally the reconciliation of an unplumbed grudge that spanned over three generations of a family. Friendship offered to the family, with what openness and honesty, challenged the family's evasiveness. At one point in the book, the three friends were walking along on the beach, with Paul and Larry on either sides of Declan, quietly protecting him. This memorable scene epitomizes true friendship and is symbolic of the two lighthouses that unfailingly lights up Blackwater. Friends are guiding lights.

Last but not the least, a more submerged point. The novel reflects on the palpitating struggle of one's gay identity. The quintessential "I knew that I was gay, but I had done nothing about it", the self-denial, and the resolution toward love and gay marriage are all touched on in this moving tale. It is an intense tale of woe and redemption, full of entrancing stories about the characters that so fatefully overlap. It's a humanizing, heart-thumping novel that tunes into the silent language of family.

Love, Family, AIDS and Dysfunction.......2004-07-07

Helen O'Doherty lives in Dublin with her husband and two sons. She is a school principal and set with her life. She is happy and even though she may be a bit more reserved in her marriage than her husband would like, all seems well. When school is over she and her hubby plan a large party in their new home to celebrate. Her husband and children will go the next day to visit relatives, and Helen will follow when she clears up her end of school issues. Helen worries about her life and her children. Are they too needy? Is it right that the youngest needs his parents so thoroughly? Helen seems to be a thoroughly modern woman of the 90's- ready to live her life. Helen's family is off and she is ready to go to school when a friend of her brother, Declan, arrives to tell her Declan is seriously ill and needs to see her. And so it goes.. Paul, Declan's friend tells her he has AIDS and has been ill for quite a while. He does not have a serious relationship right now, and he does need a place to go to recuperate. It is decided by Declan that he wants to go to Grandmother's house, but first, would Helen tell Grandmother and mom, Lily about his disease?
No small deed is this one...Helen has had an on -again off-again relationship with her mother and grandmother for years. In fact, she has only seen them at Christmas time, but neither was invited to her wedding nor have they met her family or children. How will she tell them, what will they say and how will they react? Oh, no, what to do...

Mom- Lily, Helen, Paul and Larry, Declan's friends all move into grandmother's house in a desolate spot on the ocean near the Blackwater Lightship. This place and house has particular meaning to the family-they were brought up here. Lily, the mom as a child; Helen and Declan when they father got sick and died and mom left them, or abandoned them, as Helen and Declan remember. This dysfunctional family now has a chance to reclaim their lost relationships. Paul and Larry are gay, as is Declan, and as they reveal their lives, the lives of the others come into semblance. The living and the dying , the coming and the going, the new and the old all take on extra meaning.

Colm Toibin has written a marvelous study of a family entwined in the everyday business of living and dying in his book "The Blackwater Lightship: A Novel". The relationships in this family are not unusual, but so well written in such a cleverly calm but studied manner. Colm Toibin's knowledge of the clinical process of AIDS is well revealed and accurate. You feel like you are in the midst of Declan's fevers and
pain and suffering. The judgment of being Gay and having AIDS in the 90's is explored and well written. This is a book of the ages- always timely, relationships explored, the pain and suffering of lost time with family well documented. A novel to learn from. Colm Toibin was on the short list for the Booker prize for
this novel. He is an author to be recommended- a writer of fabulous ability- to be enjoyed and thought about for days after the novel is finished. prisrob

Touching.......2004-03-17

I am part of a newly started book club. The novel "The Blackwater lightship" by Colm Tóibín (shortlisted for the Booker Prize) was chosen as the second book to read (my first - as I have just joined the club). The number of girls attending our dinners vary between 3 and 12, all Australian but me. As I joined late, my friend Rachael had already finished the book. She did not care too much for it, so I started out slightly biased to the book. But that quickly changed, and I hadn't read too many pages before I emailed Rachael and said "I really like this book!!"..

The story is set in Ireland in the early 1990'ies, and it starts as a stranger comes to Helen O'Doherty's house to tell her that her brother, Declan, is dying of AIDS. Helen rushes to visits Declan in the hospital in Dublin. Declan tells her that he would like to leave the hospital and spend some time at his grandmother's house by the sea. Helen and Declan spent a lot of time at their grandparent's house as children, but Helen worries that a dying grandson will be to much for their aging grandmother. Nevertheless, they go there, and they all end up living at Dora's place: Declan, Helen, Lily, and two of Declan's friends; Paul and Larry.

Helen and her mother Lily have a very distant and (on the surface of things) unemotional relationship. It really impressed me that a man has with such amazing authenticity been able to capture this complex mother-daughter relationship.

Although Declan is the one who is dying, the book is first and foremost about Helen and how she accepts and understand the past, forgives what was to forgive, and how she grow to be emotionally attached again to her mother Lily.

My favorite character from the book is by far the grandmother, Dora. She is an amazingly strong and strong willed woman. I love how she takes a taxi to town every Wednesday to go shopping, and do her things. I just fell in love with her. My favorite scenes from the book is when Paul is `having a go' at Lily for not understanding anything - and Dora is on the sideline cheering for Paul. The second scene is when Larry is teaching Dora to drive. Absolutely fantastic!! The ending was lovely too, without being clichéd and predictable or sappy for that matter.

The author has an impressive ability to superbly develop characters. His writing style is in many ways similar to Hemingway, sparse but yet luminous. With "The Blackwater Lightship" Colm Tóibín has written a beautiful book. It's one of the finest explorations of a dysfunctional family I've come across. Highly recommended.

Book Description

"All She Ever Wanted" is the emotion-packed story of three generations of women: Kathleen, her mother, Eleanor, and her grandmother, Fiona. Each woman left home to escape her family's past and to start a new life. Kathleen has been estranged from her family for 35 years, and she is torn between the need to forgive and the urge to forget. Hoping to find answers that will patch the wounds of her tattered heart and salvage her relationship with her daughter, Kathleen embarks on a journey into her family's mysterious past.

Customer Reviews:

Sins of the Fathers and Mothers........2007-08-19

Once an English writing major at a liberal college, this reviewer was informed by one of my professors that Christian writers have no depth of substance for their books and little creative freedom. Boy, was she wrong! Lynn Austin's All She Ever Wanted is one of the most fascinating and addictive reads I have ever had the pleasure of discovering.

As other reviewers here have already delved into the storyline, I will cut to the chase and say that the old Biblical prophecy echoes like a ripple in a pond here. Kathleen's family doesn't just keep repeating its unfortunate history, but the men that her female predecessors get tangled up with are no help either, and the result is a fascinating battle of wills, guilt, and terrible tragedy. Through all of it, however is the amazing story of Kathleen's conversion to Christianity as a small child at the hands of a neighbor who was once her mother's best friend.

For 30 years Kathleen has been so angry with her family that she has refused to see them until her own daughter Joelle's misbehavior leads her to finally open up and let her into a very painful past. But the amazing surprise is yet to come when mother and daughter arrive in her hometown for a family reunion, and Kathleen is about to discover things she never knew before.

This book is beautiful and moving, deep and involving in ways you can only experience to understand how great it is. I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to anyone, no matter what your background might be. After all, there is a little of every one of us in it.

great book for getting into historical fiction.......2007-06-05

I really loved this book. I don't usually read historical fiction, but I believe this book is a great starting off place for anyone who (like me) doesn't really think they'll like it much. The "old" stories are stitched seamlessly onto a modern-day background, blending the best of both worlds into one book. As for me, I will definetely be checking out more historical fiction after reading this. Lynn Austin's writing style was witty, clever and funny. The only problem I had with this book was that the ending seemed a little rushed and thrown together. I don't think it would have seemed thrown together if it had just gone on a little longer. In other words, I liked the ending a lot but all the loose ends were just tied up a little too fast for my taste. Definitely check it out though. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

One of the best books I've ever read..........2007-02-12

I can honestly say Lynn Austin's "All She Ever Wanted" was one of the best stories I've ever read. It stayed in my heart and mind long after I finished reading. Lynn is not only a talented writer, but her story grabs your emotions in an inspiring vice and refuses to let go! In "All She Ever Wanted", Lynn presented a unique plot in a rare way that almost seems "backward" to the traditional storylines of today. But it works! Oh, it works! =)

EXCELLENT BOOK.......2007-01-10

This book covers 4 generations of a family that immigrates to the United States. It reflects how the lives of our ancestors can affect us today. It starts with a family today and goes backwards to each generation and tells the story of their lives. This book was very captivating.

Fascinating!.......2006-08-16

I could hardly tear myself away from this book. The author brought the situations and feelings of the characters to life so well, I felt like I was there. Also emphasizes the significance of planting seeds of faith in a young person's life even when we don't see immediate results.

Average customer rating:

Fast and easy read
All She Ever Wanted
Maintains suspense right until the end
I couldn't put the book down!
What a fast read!

All She Ever Wanted
Barbara Freethy
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451213653

Book Description

Hailed for creating a "fabulous, page-turning combination of romance and intrigue" (Kristin Hannah), bestselling author Barbara Freethy presents a suspenseful, emotional new story of sisterhood, secrets, and lies-a story of women who must unravel the truth about a long-ago tragedy, and in the process discover the truth about themselves.

Customer Reviews:

Fast and easy read.......2006-05-31

This was my first book by the author and I couldn't put it down. I didn't figure out the killer until the author revealed him/her to the reader. I will read more by this author.

All She Ever Wanted.......2005-11-01

All She Ever Wanted is one of the most unraveling book that I have ever read. I like how everything falls into place towards the end but at the same time still keeps your mind going trying to figure out what is true and what is really false.This book is a murder mystery but at the same time a love story.This mystery story is always going back into someone's take on the past so that they can help figure things out for the present time.I think that anyone who loves a good page turner and something that will make them think should most definatly read this. Even if they don't like a mystery there's also more to be found in this book than a murder puzzle.

Maintains suspense right until the end.......2005-06-03

An unknown novelist describes an event from the past that four sorority sisters from Santa Clara University. Each of the three surviving sisters has moved on to another chapter in their lives and would rather forget the events that led to the tragic death of golden girl, Emily.

Her former roommate and best friend, Natalie bears the brunt of accusations, as the story takes both fact and fiction and concludes that she is a murderer. A chance meeting with her former flame, Cole (who also happens to be Emily's brother), has the two reluctantly joining forces to get to the bottom of the mystery and meet the elusive writer, which only opens even deeper wounds, and causes them to examine their still smoldering feelings for each other.

Freethy does a great job of maintaining the suspense and tossing around several red herrings until the actual circumstances of Emily's death are revealed.

I couldn't put the book down!.......2005-03-12

This is the first book I have read from Barbara Freethy and I am hooked! I couldn't put All She Ever Wanted down! In this mystery romance novel, Barbara Freethy keeps you in suspense until the very end. Ten years after the fact, three sorority sisters find themselves involved in figuring out how and why their sorority sister, Emily, fell to her death. Was it an accident or a murder? Did one of the sorority sisters commit murder? It is a story of twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages! The romantic aspects are handled very well and never get syrupy. Romance, suspense, believable characters, and enough plot twists to keep you guessing make for an interesting and entertaining story. I highly recommend this book.

What a fast read!.......2005-03-08

I loved this book. It grabbed me right from the get go and held on. There were so many possible suspects and I couldn't stop reading until I found out "whodunnit". There were twists and turns and it was very fast paced. I don't want to give anything away, but you won't be disappointed with this book. Uncover the college secrets of the past and have a great read!

Average customer rating:

All She Ever Wanted

Manufacturer: Bethany House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Fire By Night

ASIN: 0739461869

Product Description

Editorial ReviewsFrom Publishers WeeklyOne of Christian fiction's favorite authors pens an engaging story about family secrets that begins powerfully, but eventually loses steam. Kathleen Seymour's carefully constructed world starts to collapse when her teenage daughter, Joelle, is caught shoplifting and a row with her boss leaves Kathleen unemployed. After a few sessions with a therapist, Kathleen tries reconnecting with her daughter by taking her to a party hosted by the estranged family members Kathleen left years ago. Through multiple points of view and rich, detailed flashbacks to previous generations, Austin convincingly illustrates how shame and bad choices can affect families for years. The fairy-tale ending is less convincing, as it's replete with former delinquents spouting pat phrases; it's also implausible that painful relationships between family members are easily repaired with a single trip back home. But the three-time Christy Award winner offers the surprising plot twists and fresh language that keep her fans coming back to the bookstores for each new novel. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Marty Medley, Armchair "I found her style to be an easy read--her story is compelling and draws me into her characters."

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All She Ever Wanted
Linda shaw
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OWV4D6

Average customer rating:

I could relate to the character....
All She Ever Wanted
Not All I Wanted !!!!!!!
All She Ever Wanted
A thoughtful, insightful look into the changing human mind

All She Ever Wanted
T. L. Cooper
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1401039863

Book Description

When Victoria, who is white, meets Daryn, who is African American, she has no idea the effect he and his family will have on her life. As she struggles for the success she's certain will make her parents proud, Daryn's family introduces her to a new definition of love, family, acceptance, and success. Victoria and Daryn struggle to keep their friendship intact as they are faced with the prejudices of family, friends, and lovers. The empty place in Victoria's heart forces her to face all she's sacrificed in her quest for success including friendship, love, family, and grief.

Customer Reviews:

I could relate to the character...........2007-04-15

I enjoyed reading All She Ever wanted. I could relate to Victoria, I saw alot of myself in her. I liked the attention to detail, sometimes I felt like I was in the places that she was! Yes, there was a few (and I emphasize that there were only a few...typos) but nothing that truly took away from the story, not like the other review said. Aside, from that I highly recommend you read this book! It's well worth the time! And it's hard for me to sit and read, I'm fidgety! So that's truly a compliment!

All She Ever Wanted.......2006-05-29

When Victoria, an only child meets Daryn who is from a large loving family they become best friends for life. The fact that there is a racial difference is of no importance to them but even in this modern world prejudism is against them, on both sides. Driven by a desire for professional success and parental approval, Victoria pushes hard to meet her goals but in doing so is left trapped in her memories and wondering if it was all worth the effort.

Daryn's family teaches her about love and old fashioned values while helping her heal from her disastrous attempts at personal relationships
In her search for answers to the past and prejudisms she learns about her own families involvement in slavery, the good and the bad.

Victoria has everything she thought she wanted. Financial success with all the benefits and power but without family, love and support.

T.L. Cooper has a talent for description that has you feeling the sun on your face at the farm and hunger for the tastes at a good seafood restaurant. Emotions of love, fear, grief and confusion are unavoidable as you she draws you into current issues in the world she has created in her story.

Not All I Wanted !!!!!!!.......2003-10-25

Sorry to disagree with other reviewers, but this was weak. Victoria was a very cold unlikeable character. I would read 100 pages and still feel that all I knew was that Victoria did not like her own parents, loved the Yorks, was career driven, had no time for dating and thought that Daryn was her best friend. It was soooo repetitive.

I found the book to be the same thing over and over. If Mama York said, "Victoria, child" one more time--- Yikes! I found it funny that she did not speak to her own children that way. I really don't mean to be negative, but I really did force myself to finish the book.

Also the book had probably one hundred typographical and grammatical errors that a good editor should have corrected. This also distracted from the flow of the book.

All She Ever Wanted.......2002-09-12

This writer is not only talented she is in touch with reality. Prejudices have always been apart of our world and TL Cooper is able to deal with it in a REAL way and also away to make you get beyond that and see people and enjoy the wonderful world of reading. Wonderful story that can bring out the best of anyone that reads this book. I can't wait for the next book!!

Teresa

A thoughtful, insightful look into the changing human mind.......2002-09-09

T. L. Cooper's All She Ever Wanted is the story of a blossoming interracial friendship between a white woman and an African-American man and his family. Victoria Caldwell must confront and deal with her own prejudices, as well as those of her family, and those of her ancestors as recorded in their journals. A thoughtful, insightful look into the changing human mind and spirit evoked by an interracial friendship, All She Ever Wanted is a superbly written, highly recommended novel showcasing a theme that is as historic and universal as interracial human experience, and contemporary as today's newspaper headlines.

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All She Ever Wanted
Linda shaw
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0373535430

Average customer rating:

All She Ever Wanted

Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739449133

Average customer rating:

All She Ever Wanted

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743219961

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All She Ever Wanted

Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 1415919410

Product Description

7 cassette tapes

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All She Ever Wanted #43
Linda Shaw
Manufacturer: Silhouette Specdial Edition
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000PJAO16

Amazon.com

Particle physics, false vacuum bubbles, an alternate universe--this is the stuff of Jonathan Lethem's novel As She Climbed Across the Table. The tale echoes Alice in Wonderland in its mad tumble through a rearranged reality. Narrator Phillip Engstrand is a university professor who has made a career out of studying academic environments. Engstrand is in love with Alice Coombs, a particle physicist engaged in a bold attempt to replicate the origins of the universe. The result of the experiment is Lack, a very selective black hole that sucks some things into its void--a cat, a pair of socks, a strawberry--and rejects others, namely, a love-struck Alice. As Alice's unrequited obsession with Lack grows, Phillip becomes so desperate to save his beloved from this empty rival that he risks a journey down the metaphysical rabbit hole.

Here the language of physics becomes the language of love: describing physics' "observer problem," Alice says, "Some people think the observer's consciousness determines the spin or even the existence of the electron." Later, as he stumbles to explain Alice's importance to him, Phillip tells her, "I'm not sure I really exist except under your observation." In this memorable little book, Lethem explores the cosmic possibilities of love.

Book Description

Philip is in love with Alice. As the novel opens, he is beginning to lose her. Not to another man, as he fears, but to, literally, nothing. Alice is a physicist, and a team at the University where both she and Philip work has created a hole, a vacuum, a doorway of nothingness inside the laboratory. They call it "Lack." Alice becomes obsessed with Lack, as Philip is obsessed by Alice.

The novel is at the same time an astute and wise portrait of unrequited love (albeit of a very unusual kind) a hilarious academic parody, a novel of ideas and a social satire. It is utterly original, but in the school of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Katherine Dunn, and David Foster Wallace.

Passion, humor, yearning and knowledge, blended together in a suspenseful love story that could be characterized as "American Magical Realism."

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

A Change of Heart.......2007-10-06

I read As She Climbed Across the Table four or five years ago and thought it was cute but I didn't really connect with it. It felt stuffy in a way, and I couldn't understand some of the character motivations. At first I thought it was a flaw on the author's part, but since then I've come back round to reading Lethem books again, and so I re-read this one. This time I couldn't believe how sad and funny this book is, how accurate a picture of academics it sketches. I think the book was always this good, but I hadn't had the right experiences in life yet to understand it. I'd read it before I was ready. Now, after college and a few heartbreaks of my own, I completely get it. Identity is a fiction, but we try desperately to fill our own lack with things, preferences and dislikes, people, friends, families, lovers. A sad truth to confront, but I see the emptiness there, and why love is so important to fill it. I'm glad I gave this book another go round.

Hilarious and Fun.......2007-08-11

I am an avid reader of Jonathan Lethem and have been happy with many of his novels (ie Motherless Brooklyn, Fortress of Solitude, Girl in Landscape) though less impressed with some of his others. This particular story is really fantastic. The narrator is fabulously flawed, sharp witted, slightly egocentric but very much in love. Discovering he is the other man to a scientific experiment throws him into a great depression and gives him the drive to win back his lover.

Unlike many of Lethems other novels which take themselves very seriously this novel is fun, it's a quick read and it's very clever.

Scholarly wisdom.......2007-02-21

I'm not sure what to think of Jonathan Lethem these days - each work I read by him is, for a time, effortless, close to perfect, and then finds itself veering into a land of bad bad choices. Reading his The Fortress of Solitude, I was left to wonder what the book would have been like if it were simply kept as its electrifying first half, instead of allowed to wander, halfheartedly, into its characters' imagined futures. A similar sensation takes hold in As She Climbed Across The Table - it's not that what becomes of its characters is bad, per se, as much as it is simply ignorant of the novel's wondeful strengths. The book doesn't conclude, per se, doesn't quite complete its central love story - a bizarre love triangle in which Alice, the main character's girlfriend, is drawn away by a hyperactive physics blackhole called Lack - nor does it quite fulfill it, as a first glance at its ambiguous, artsy ending might assume. That's an interesting choice, to be certain, but it also ignores what the book does right. That's because As She Climbed... is effortless not as a love story, but as a breezy satire on academic life. It trots in a revolving door of bizarre academic types, each using Lack - which is, clearly and repeatedly stated, a giant nothing - as a springboard to represent their own attempts at fulfillment, their own need to "get" a situation. Its characters - named in bizarro Pynchon-esque monikers like Georges DeTooth, Dr. Soft, Carmo Braxia, Gavin Flapcloth (!) - are then a wild evocation of pretention in action, a goofy take on collegiate pretentions. There's not much of a sense about Philip Engstrand, a pleasant enough lovestruck protagonist, but its love story itself is a bit of a pleasantry meant to present the lack in its characters' own self-images that make its lunacy possible. All of that leaves this novel breezy, easy to read, fun, and not much of anything. Still, its goofiness is a treasure, especially climaxing in the actions and reactions around DeTooth, the wigged, deluded deconstructionist who explains to a physicist that his response to Lack is to, "compose a document. Perhaps it will not mention Lack. Perhaps it will consist of only the word 'lack.'" The physicist's response is to start vomiting.

Not Recommended.......2007-01-27

I'll keep this brief. This book seems like it's trying to be weird for the sake of weirdness. Skip this one and try Lethem's other books, like "Motherless Brooklyn" and "Fortress of Solitude."

Doesn't stack up.......2006-09-21

Two of Lethem's prior works, "Gun with Occasional Music" and "Amnesia Moon", offer so much more to the reader than "As She Climbed Across the Table". The earlier novels had characters that were likable or despicable--at least they were interesting. The worlds of those other books were the product of an active imagination.

"As She Climbed Across the Table" manages to annoy where his earlier works captivated. The characters aren't interesting or likable and the setting is a modern-day American University. There's nothing to grab the user and make them love anything about the book.

Lethem throws in some random science talk in the last chapter to allow the book to be called science fiction. Otherwise, it's a soap opera--and a boring one at that.

As She Climbed Across the Table: A Novel

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As She Climbed Across the Table: A Novel
Jonathan Lethem
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OXL4T4

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The Songlore of Ireland (Erin's Story in Music and Verse)
Redfern Mason
Manufacturer: Gryphon Books (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000M1NNB0

Product Description

This is a facsimile reprint of the 1911 edition published by Baker & Taylor Company.

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