|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HELP | |
|
  $16.95 List price:
HARDCOVER, USED
Ships in 1 to 3 days
More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:The Life Roomby Jill Bialosky
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Eleanor Cahn is a professor of literature, the wife of a preeminent cardiac surgeon, and a devoted mother. But on a trip to Paris to present a paper on Anna Karenina, Eleanor re-connects with Stephena childhood friend with whom she has had a complicated relationshipthat forces her to realize that she has suppressed her passionate self for years. As the novel unfolds, we learn of her hidden erotic past: with alluring, elusive Stephen; with ethereal William, her high school boyfriend; with married, egotistical Adam, the painter who initiated her into the intimacies of the "life room," where the artists model sometimes becomes muse; and with loyal, steady Michael, her husband. On her return to New York, Eleanor and Stephens charged attraction takes on a life of its own and threatens to destroy everything she has. Jill Bialosky has created a fresh, piercingly real heroine who struggles with the spiritual questions and dilemmas of our time and, like Tolstoys immortal Anna Karenina, must choose between desire and responsibility. Review:"Bialosky falters in her maudlin second novel (after House Under Snow). An academic conference in Paris provides literature professor and New Yorker Eleanor Cahn the opportunity to escape from her humdrum husband and to stir up some long dormant passions. Along the way, the men of her past flood her memory: William Woods, Eleanor's confused and abused teenage boyfriend; Adam Weiss, a womanizing, married painter Eleanor posed for; and Stephen Mason, a childhood friend with whom she never quite connected. After the conference and back in New York, Eleanor agonizes over the life choices she's made and tries to find some balance between her longings and her responsibilities to her husband and children. Stephen re-enters her life, and the two conduct a tedious (and surprisingly nonphysical) affair. Through journal excerpts, e-mails and pictures, Bialosky tells a muddled tale burdened with hollow caricatures and overwrought dialogue. While Bialosky can produce intriguing turns of phrase (she has also published two poetry collections and is an editor at Norton), the novel remains largely unsatisfying." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"'Bialosky falters in her maudlin second novel (after House Under Snow). An academic conference in Paris provides literature professor and New Yorker Eleanor Cahn the opportunity to escape from her humdrum husband and to stir up some long dormant passions. Along the way, the men of her past flood her memory: William Woods, Eleanor's confused and abused teenage boyfriend; Adam Weiss, a womanizing, married painter Eleanor posed for; and Stephen Mason, a childhood friend with whom she never quite connected. After the conference and back in New York, Eleanor agonizes over the life choices she's made and tries to find some balance between her longings and her responsibilities to her husband and children. Stephen re-enters her life, and the two conduct a tedious (and surprisingly nonphysical) affair. Through journal excerpts, e-mails and pictures, Bialosky tells a muddled tale burdened with hollow caricatures and overwrought dialogue. While Bialosky can produce intriguing turns of phrase (she has also published two poetry collections and is an editor at Norton), the novel remains largely unsatisfying.' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE LIFE ROOM "Jill Bialosky pierces the heart here until the reader feels just exactly what it means to have it allhusband, children, successand yet to be achingly alone, longing for passion, of the kind Anna Karenina sacrificed everything for. Through Bialoskys elegant prose and tremendous talents as a storyteller, desire reverberates across the pages to meet the readers own." MARTHA McPHEE Review:"In her exquisite, carefully observed exploration of a modern womans inner life, Jill Bialosky has written a novel that poses an essential question: how do we reconcile our passions--love, work, erotic life, children? The Life Room is an elegant, daring book, driven by internal suspense." Review:"Bialoskys brightly burning novel of desire and aberration, and a womans quest for deeper understanding, is remarkable for its insights into erotic compulsion and the unbearable awkwardness and pain of flawed and failed love." Review:ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE LIFE ROOM "Jill Bialosky pierces the heart here until the reader feels just exactly what it means to have it allhusband, children, successand yet to be achingly alone, longing for passion, of the kind Anna Karenina sacrificed everything for. Through Bialoskys elegant prose and tremendous talents as a storyteller, desire reverberates across the pages to meet the readers own." MARTHA McPHEE Review:"The Life Room is patient in its investigations of love and erotically charged. By the end of this story, readers will be convinced that Eleanor Cahn knows more about Anna Karenina, let alone the inventive despair of the human heart, than anyone they are likely to have met in literature in a very, very long time. This is a stunningly honest and generous and finely crafted novel." Synopsis:On a trip to Paris, Eleanor Cahn encounters a former love, which forces her to realize that she has suppressed her passionate self for years. Bialosky creates a fresh, piercingly real heroine who struggles with spiritual questions and dilemmas, and must choose between desire and responsibility. About the AuthorJILL BIALOSKY is the author of the acclaimed novel House Under Snow and two collections of poetry, The End of Desire and Subterranean. Her poems and essays have appeared in the New Yorker and O, The Oprah Magazine. She is an editor at W. W. Norton & Company and lives in New York City. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
Other books you might like
Related Aisles
| ||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Don't Miss
