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More copies of this ISBN:Surveillance: A Novelby Jonathan Raban
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)"Raban has already proven himself as a great writer in his previous books. And some of his characters in this latest effort are interesting. But his problem is that they all do the same thing. It's a one-dimensional setting playing host to one-dimensional characters. The result is a poorly developed novel that feels like a political lecture." Anya Yurchyshyn, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:In the not-too-distant future, national identity cards are mandatory, and America has become obsessed with intelligence-gathering. The government's scrutiny is omnipresent, civilians freely indulge their curiosity on the Internet, journalists pursue their investigations with relentless determination, and children both snoop on their parents and manipulate new technologies.
In Seattle, the unfulfilled actor Tad Zachary now performs mostly in the Department of Homeland Security's fictional disaster scenarios, while his friend and neighbor Lucy Bengstrom struggles to support her eleven-year-old daughter, Alida, on a freelance journalist's meager income — with their landlord providing additional threats. Then Lucy is assigned to write a profile of August Vanags, a retired professor turned best-selling author with his memoir of a childhood ravaged by World War II, but the validity of his account grows questionable, even as Lucy and Alida are charmed by both Vanags and his lonesome wife. Everyone here is under surveillance or conducting it, and at risk of confusing what might be true for what actually is — a distinction not easily honored in a time of personal stress and widespread panic, when terrorist attack and literary fraud lurk around every corner. With precision and compassion, Jonathan Raban captures not only a peculiar period in our ongoing history but also a rich variety of lives caught up in fault lines that reach throughout society. Review:"Raban (Waxwings) explores the current political climate in this clever, unsettling novel set in a near-future Seattle. Freelance journalist Lucy Bengstrom has been hired by GQ magazine to write a profile of August Vanags, the bestselling author of Boy 381, an account of his childhood as an orphan making his way through the charred landscape of WWII Europe. As Lucy researches Vanags's life, she begins to suspect he has falsified the entire account. When she receives a picture that purports to show the author as a child safely ensconced on an English chicken farm during the war years, she's almost sure he's a fake. Almost. Meanwhile, Lucy's daughter, Alida, struggles with being raised by a single mom; the gay man next door may or may not be dying of AIDS; Vanags's wife is in the early stages of Alzheimer's; and a grim U.S. government escalates its police-state techniques to defend against the terrorism threat. An air of suspenseful dread hangs over every page of this intelligent, provocative book, and when the end finally rolls in, readers will be stunned and, in some cases, outraged. 7-city author tour. (Jan.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"In the year 2010, the Department of Homeland Security hires actors and homeless people to perform in disaster drills staged on the roadways of Seattle with actual vehicles and explosions. Concrete barriers, barbed wire, spycams and roadblocks are among the measures the government has taken to counter the terrorist menace. Congress has just passed a law instituting a biometric national ID card. In... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Review:"[A] well-realized novel....A coolly delivered portrait of the Wired Age, when paranoia rules and truth is at a premium." Kirkus Reviews Review:"[A] well-imagined tale of terrorist-obsessed America in the very near future....Raban's characters, not the futurist setting, are the real focus of this engrossing novel." Booklist Review:"Post 9/11, everyone watches and is being watched...In Raban's black and brilliant portrait of his adopted city, all kinds of sinister forces filter and manipulate the truth. A wonderfully ironic, disturbing take on the un-privacy of modern life." Kate Saunders, The Times (London) Review:"Raban is deadly serious in his portrayal of a country running scared, but he also has a taste for sly social comedy: His ear for idiom is well-nigh faultless, be it the ironic locutions of Seattle school kids or the braying tones of a haughty Englishwoman, and his character-sketching is precise and assured." Anthony Quinn, The Daily Telegraph (UK) Review:"The novel's air of mystery makes this an intensely involving read. You can sense the increasingly tangled relationships racing headlong toward a crash." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Review:"Surveillance is full of the kinds of long, drawn out dialogues about democracy and civil liberties that have graced many a classroom, even quite a few dinner parties, but sound absolutely ridiculous when written down." San Antonio Express-News Synopsis:In the not-too-distant future, national identity cards are mandatory, and America has become thoroughly obsessed with intelligence-gathering. With precision and compassion, Raban captures a rich variety of lives caught up in the fault lines that reach throughout society. About the AuthorThe author, most recently, of Waxwings and Passage to Juneau, Jonathan Raban was born in England and since 1990 has lived in Seattle. His honors include the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of Literature, the PEN/West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association's Award, and the Governor's Award of the State of Washington. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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