An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful by J David Simons

An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful by J David Simons

The personal collides with the political in this literary tour-de-force. In the 1950s, an eminent British writer pens a novel questioning the ethics of the nuclear destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki—but soon he’s trying to outrun his own past. Hakone, Japan, 2003. An eminent British writer in his seventies, Sir Edward Strathairn, returns to a resort in the Japanese mountains where, in his youth, he spent a beautiful, snowed-in winter. It was there he wrote his best-selling novel, The Waterwheel, accusing America of being in denial about the horrific aftermath of the Tokyo firebombings and the nuclear destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. London, England, 1952. A young Edward falls in love with an avant-garde American artist, Macy. After their tumultuous relationship and breakup, he heads for Japan, where he meets someone else and becomes smitten again as he writes the novel that makes him famous. This is as much a thrilling romance as it is a sensitive exploration of blame, power and guilt in post-war America, Japan and Britain. With a narrator whose behaviour strikes the national conscience as much as his own, An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful will stay with readers long after the final page is turned.

[A] highly accomplished and moving novel - The HeraldArtistic, literary and thoroughly involving... a novelist who understands the craft of writing and who, in this case, has applied it exquisitely. - Scots Whay Hae!. [T]hat rare thing, a genuine tour-de-force, a beautifully written love story that combines political impetus, questions about art and truth, and an exotic setting once almost blown to extinction in an act of war. It is the kind of sophisticated, grown-up writing that properly intrigues, and calls to mind the best of William Boyd and Sebastian Faulks. - Lesley McDowell. An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful is actually several love stories, seamlessly flitting between times, countries and historical events. (I'm sure I won't be the only one to say this, but) the prose is exquisite and beautiful. And while the main character is neither, you find yourself knowing him, understanding him, caring for him. A great read. A piece of art. - Helen Fitzgerald, author. In the tradition of Graham Greene or William Boyd, taking in great sweeps of history without ever losing sight of the personal, the telling detail. Accomplished and compelling. - Chris Dolan. A beautifully sensitive book portraying the inevitably damning inequalities that can arise within all human relationships, be they political, cultural, sexual or emotional. Insightful and thought-provoking. - Sara Allerton.

J. David Simons is a Scottish author, media journalist and literary editor. His first novel, The Credit Draper, was shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize, and his subsequent novels include The Liberation of Celia Kahn (2011), The Land Agent (2014), A Woman of Integrity (2017), The Responsibility of Love (2021), as well as An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful. He has been awarded several bursaries from Creative Scotland and the Society of Authors and in 2012 was the recipient of a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Simons is also a former lawyer, charity administrator, cotton farmer and university lecturer. His nomadic lifestyle has allowed him to spend considerable time in Israel, Australia, Japan and the United States, and he currently lives in Javea, Spain.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9781908643278
ISBN 10	1908643277
Titel	An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful
Autor	J David Simons
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Paperback
Verlag	Saraband
Erscheinungsjahr	2013-03-28
Seitenanzahl	304
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.