Last Orders.
by Graham SWIFT [signed
- New
- Paperback
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- New/No Jacket Issued
- ISBN 10
- 0330347454
- ISBN 13
- 9780330347457
- Seller
-
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. Book. New. Soft cover. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition. Signed, limited advance reader's copy in a publishers slipcase. Last Orders is a captivating tale of English working-class families in the four decades following WW II. When Jack Dodds dies suddenly of cancer after years of running a butcher shop in London, he leaves a strange request-- namely, that his ashes be scattered off Margate pier into the sea. And who could better be suited to fulfill this wish than his three oldest drinking buddies-- insurance man Ray, vegetable seller Lenny, and undertaker Vic, all of whom, like Jack himself, fought also as soldiers or sailors in the long-ago world war. Swift's narrative start with its potential for the melodramatic, is developed instead with an economy, heart, and eye that release (through the characters' own voices, one after another) the story's humanity and depth instead of its schmaltz. The jokes may be weak and self- conscious when the three old friends meet at their local pub in the company of the urn holding Jack's ashes; but once the group gets on the road, in an expensive car driven by Jack's adoptive son, Vince, the story starts gradually to move forward, cohere, and deepen. The reader learns in time why it is that no wife comes along, why three marriages out of three broke apart, and why Vince always hated his stepfather Jack and still does-- or so he thinks. There will be stories of innocent youth, suffering wives, early loves, lost daughters, secret affairs, and old antagonisms-- including a fistfight over the dead on an English hilltop, and a strewing of Jack's ashes into roiling seawaves that will draw up feelings perhaps unexpectedly strong. Without affectation, Swift listens closely to the lives that are his subject and creates a songbook of voices part lyric, part epic, part working-class social realism-- with the ring to it of the honest, human, and true..
Synopsis
Last Orders is a 1996 Booker Prize-winning novel by British author Graham Swift. In 2001 it was adapted for the film Last Orders by Australian writer and director Fred Schepisi. The movie generally reflects the novel accurately without any major deviations.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Peter Austern & Co. Books & Ephemera / Brooklyn Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- va11
- Title
- Last Orders.
- Author
- Graham SWIFT [signed
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- New New
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket Issued
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0330347454
- ISBN 13
- 9780330347457
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of Publication
- NY
- Date Published
- 1996
Terms of Sale
Peter Austern & Co. Books & Ephemera / Brooklyn Books
S/H $6.50 for first book, $1.50 per additional book. Based on USPS media mail only in the US. Please inquire prior to order for precise non-domestic cost. All books are returnable within 30 days of receipt and with prior email notice. Books must be returned in the condition described.
About the Seller
Peter Austern & Co. Books & Ephemera / Brooklyn Books
Biblio member since 2004
Brooklyn, New York
About Peter Austern & Co. Books & Ephemera / Brooklyn Books
We carry a select inventory of signed and unique books across many fields. Theatre, Music, Film & Dance. World Leaders, Politics & Law, Modern Literature. Books into Film. Art & Architecture. Open to the public by appointment only.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- PUB
- Common abbreviation for 'published'