Books
by James Lasdun
|
The Fall Guy |
A successful banker, his attractive photographer wife and a friend - a man whose life appears to be on hold - spend a summer in the Catskills. The living, by the pool and among arty types, is easy. But the idyll has undertones. The men have a shared past while the wife has a secret. What are the real dynamics of this triangular summer? Matters become intriguing, suspenseful and then dramatic before ending in surprise. A very good read.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 86 Autumn 2017) |
|
|
Victory |
Two novellas by this extremely intelligent writer. The unifying thread is men trying to get away with it.
In Feathered Glory, 'good' school master Richard succumbs to the temptation of trying to re-activate a past fling, then hoping to return to uxoriousness while lying to his sweetly passive wife. In the meantime, see what happens when she takes in a wounded wild swan..... a thoroughly satisfying glimpse of comeuppance in the making.
In the second, Afternoon of a Faun, Marco is belatedly accused of rape by an ex-colleague and we watch as he wriggles in and out of denial, outrage, vendetta, terror, while his bewildered friend, the narrator, is torn between loyalty and increasing doubt, in a prophetic pre-MeToo scenario.
The 'Victory' of the title has a hollow ring. Lasdun is uncommonly perceptive and writes very well indeed.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 93 Summer 2019) |
|
|
|
