Review Rush is a great writer on love... His sentences are dazzling traps that ensnare the consciousness in mid-sprint and is full of well-observed light comedy. Subtle Bodies flickers with the possibility of a utopian politics rooted in love and friendship. --Times Literary SupplementThis is a rare thing - a book that sets difficult political notions like risk management alongside enduring personal insight, all within a thoroughly enjoyable portrait of marriage and friendship. --Review 31Subtle Bodies is more concentrated and more charming [than his earlier novels]. The source of much of the novel's charm is Nina, at once the most disagreeable and most loveable of Rush's heroines. --London Review of Books'Rush explores how, for Ned, a romantic partner ought to be one's truest, 'total friend'. If that sounds saccharine, it is. But it is touching too. In any case, the effect is frequently offset by the laconic, deadpan tone in which the novel unfolds.' --Daily TelegraphSubtle Bodies is more concentrated and more charming [than his earlier novels]. The source of much of the novel's charm is Nina, at once the most disagreeable and most loveable of Rush's heroines. --London Review of BooksPoignant... Fans will find Subtle Bodies a crisp enjoyable read. --Financial TimesIts frenetic pace, zesty tone and enjoyably madcap premise flirt pleasingly with screwball. Subtle Bodies proves that Rush is a writer of sharp humour, vigorous prose and real ambition. --Literary Review'This is a clever novel about middle age. It's funny, too' **** --Paperback review, Independent on Sunday About the Author NORMAN RUSH is the author of three previous books; Whites, Mating (winner of the National Book Award) and Mortals. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker, the Paris Review and Best American Short Stories. He and his wife Elsa were Co-Directors of the Peace Corps program in Botswana. They now live in upstate New York.
W**N
subtle, convincing exploration of 3 friends reuniting to mourn the death of the leader of their student group 25 years before
This, for me, was quite an unusual novel. Written in two voices, Ned and Nina - a husband and wife, about the funeral arrangements of the husband's friend Douglas who had been the ringleader of a small group of 4, 3 of whom are now reunitied at an event that also hosts a world of others, also coming for the event. Meanwhile life goes on around them: Nina has pursued Ned to the event because they need to keep trying to get pregnant, Ned has left behind the arrangements he is making for a big antiwar rally in 2003, and both think from time to time about their families, Nina phoning her mum a couple of times.The writing is alert, the plot developments and revelations about the friends - in time past, in the more recent past, and in the present - are subtle and convincing; and in so far as the novel is asking the question 'are they still the same people?' it's also persuasive and though-provoking Ned's eulogy for Douglas does seem to hit the right tone in the denouement, and the final chapter returning Ned to his day to day life is also really well judged. For all that I felt slightly dissatisfied at the end of the novel - I just wonder if these talents should not have been put the use of something more serious - and perhaps in the other novels of Norman Rush (which I haven't - yet - read at all) they have been....
L**G
Entertaining
An entertaining read. While the set-up is far-fetched, the characters are warmly drawn and despite the serious subjects of friendship and relationships, there are some snort-out-loud moments too.
E**D
a great read
a great read
A**I
not his best.
OK, not his best.
T**Y
There are 1000 desperately signalled jokes in this book, ...
There are 1000 desperately signalled jokes in this book, and every one a complete dud. Also 1000 narcissistic glimpses of cosy uxuriousness and friendship. Oh what a humour and irony free zone, and we're all going to save the world too.And yet underneath it all there's a decent readable novel trying to get out, but we don't ever learn enough about the interesting characters, only about odious up-themselves Nina and Ned.
A**)
Nebulous Reunion
A gathering of middle-aged university friends to celebrate the sudden death of their colleague and mentor, Douglas, does little to disguise the witticism and humorous dialogue that is lacking in the ensuing meeting at a remote house. Ned is a charity worker whose wife, Nina, has an obsession to become pregnant. The tensions between the previous friendships become frayed as their true feelings and recollections are brought into the present day. Douglas's wife and son begin to bark with their opinions on his friends. This is the spark that fires a breakdown in communication and a more realistic appreciation of past and present relationships that are somewhat predictably erudite and unfulfilling. The narrative carries the characters along but lacks depth in their development. Reasonable read with the caveats.
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