THE RED HOUSE
by HADDON, Mark
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Sherman Oaks, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
UNCORRECTED PROOF - printed pages in a tape binding with acetate covers; the title and author s name is printed on the first page. AS NEW. Promotional letter to bookseller laid in.
Synopsis
MARK HADDON is the author of the international bestseller The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time , which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction and the Whitbread Book of the Year award, and of the New York Times bestseller A Spot of Bother . In addition to The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea , a collection of poetry, Haddon has written and illustrated numerous award-winning children’s books and television screenplays.
Reviews
On Dec 10 2016, CloggieDownunder said:
The Red House is the third adult novel by British poet and author, Mark Haddon. A week after burying their mother, Angela's brother Richard, with whom she has had minimal contact for fifteen years, offers to take both their families on holiday. Five weeks later, Dominic, Angela and their three children are on the train to Hay-on-Wye; from Edinburgh, Richard, his wife of six months and his step-daughter are in his Mercedes headed for the same destination: a week in April in a rented house in Herefordshire.
Neither couple expects this to be a jolly family get-together, but they intend to make the best of it. Four adults, three teens and an eight-year-old are gathered in close quarters, all having issues, worries or problems that are slowly revealed to a greater or lesser audience. In between (or sometimes during) meals, walks, excursions, activities and leisure, there are confessions, confrontations, accusations, revelations, tantrums and tears.
And what a feast of emotions and attitudes Haddon heaps on his characters: resentment at carrying the burden of elder care; confusion over sexual orientation; insecurity about a partner's true feelings; enduring grief over a stillborn baby; worry over possible professional misconduct charges; teenage lust; and guilt, lots of guilt, over an extra-marital affair, over previous promiscuity, over bullying, over poor parenting.
While the adults and teens all have their very human flaws, and their words and actions are often easy to comprehend, if not always excuse, it is eight-year-old Benjy, earnest, thoughtful and wholly good, who cannot fail to both tug at the heartstrings and to delight in equal measure.
Even though nothing terribly dramatic happens over the week, and the pace of the story is quite sedate, by Friday, everyone's lives have been changed to some extent. There are rejected kisses, a sprained ankle, hypothermia from exposure, a ghost, a stuffed owl, canoeing, bookshops, makeshift swords, desperate texts, and unreliable memories.
Haddon establishes the era with occasional, almost haphazard passages of current events, movies, music, crazes and world affairs; he treats his readers to some gorgeous descriptive prose: "A great see-saw of light balanced on the fulcrum of Black Hill, the sun rising on one end, the other end sweeping down the flank of Offa's Dyke and switching the colours on as it went". This is a novel somewhat reminiscent of those by David Nicholls, enjoyable and thought-provoking.
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Details
- Bookseller
- MONROE STAHR BOOKS (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 20221919435
- Title
- THE RED HOUSE
- Author
- HADDON, Mark
- Format/Binding
- Tape-bound proof copy
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Doubleday
- Date Published
- 2012
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- Modern First Edition; Uncorrected Proof
- Bookseller catalogs
- Modern First Editions; Uncorrected Proof;
Terms of Sale
MONROE STAHR BOOKS
30 day return guarantee, with full refund and for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
MONROE STAHR BOOKS
Biblio member since 2008
Sherman Oaks, California
About MONROE STAHR BOOKS
Specializing in modern first editions, novels about Hollywood, African American literature, and the Countculture.
Glossary
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- 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"...