OK, Mr Field ~ Katharine Kilalea. Mesmerising debut novel 2018 sc NEW in MELB

Description: A mesmerizing debut novel about a concert pianist who fears he is losing his mind. Mr. Field wants a new life, a life cleansed of the old one's disappointments. A concert pianist on the London scene, his career is upended when the train he is travelling on crashes into the wall at the end of a tunnel. The accident splinters his left wrist, jeopardizing his musical ambitions. On a whim, he uses his compensation pay-out to buy a house he has seen only once in a newspaper photograph, a replica of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye on a stretch of coast outside Cape Town. Together with his wife, Mim, Mr. Field sets out in the hope that the house will make him happier, or at least less unhappy. But as time passes, the house-which Le Corbusier designed as "a machine for living"--Begins to have a disturbing effect on Mr. Field. Its narrow windows educate him in the pleasures of frustrated desire. Its sequence of spaces, which seem to lead toward and away from their destinations at once, mirror his sense of being increasingly cut off from the world and from other people. When his wife inexplicably leaves him, Mr. Field can barely summon the will to search for her. Alone in the decaying house, he finds himself unglued from reality and possessed by a longing for a perverse kind of intimacy. OK, Mr. Field is a strange and beguiling novel that dwells in the silences between words, in the gaps in conversation, and in the unbridgeable distance between any two people. Through her restless intelligence and precise, musical prose, Katharine Kilalea confidently guides us into new fictional territory.About the AuthorKatharine Kilalea grew up in South Africa and moved to London for an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. She has published a poetry collection, One Eye'd Leigh, which was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award and longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. She lives in London.Very Interesting read!Reviews* Named one of the Best Books of 2018 by Publishers Weekly and Lit Hub"Dazzling. . . . Luminous. . . . As with much of Beckett's writing, OK, Mr. Field is often bleakly comic. But at moments it is also tender (without being sentimental), depicting the strange dream-like inner life of someone who is terribly lonely. . . . OK, Mr. Field introduces a striking new voice in fiction." --The Economist"Strikingly original." --The GuardianA startlingly good first novel. . . . as uncanny as Kafka or Beckett. --The Spectator"Enthralling. . . .Kilalea's impressionistic prose invites comparison to the attentive introspection of Woolf, the existential erosion of Beckett and the reveries of Proust. . . .This is an unforgettable voyage, slip sliding away into the unknown and unknowable." --Seattle TimesEnigmatic, often dream-like and brilliantly funny. --The Irish TimesKilalea's striking, singular debut. . . . is a disorienting and enthralling descent into one man's particular malaise. --Publishers Weekly (starred review)A bewitching debut novel . . . with prose of this quality it is hard to protest, and Mr Field is in any case good company--irascible and weird, but endearing in his attempts to duck the loneliness waiting for him at every turn. --The Sunday TimesA quietly discomfiting novel of crisis. . . . The novel's pristine sentences are clean cuts that reveal the roiling turmoil concealed by outward order. --Lit HubIn a spare and inventive first novel, poet Katharine Kilalea breathes life into a lonely, flummoxed man in search of a metaphysical place to hang his hat. --Shelf Awareness"One of the most original, beautifully written and convincing works of fiction I have read in a long time, with a narrative that is mysterious yet compulsive. Utterly marvelous." --George Szirtes, author of Bad MachineKilalea writes with virtuosic control. . . . She chooses her images carefully and deploys them with precision. --The Times Literary Supplement"OK, Mr. Field is a novel brave in its own intelligence and subtlety. The writing is quietly beautiful and the narrator's voice strange and compelling." --Sarah Moss, author of The Tidal Zone"Katharine Kilalea is to literature what ceramic knives are to cookery. This is a whole new type of writing and it will cut through everything." --Emily Berry, author of Stranger, Baby"OK, Mr. Field is a beautiful novel--deeply felt, inventive, and inspiring in its form, insights, and originality." --Yasmine El Rashidi, author of Chronicle of a Last SummerPublishers weekly review ... I loved this book. .... The beauty of the writing; the nuances of the protagonist's internal experience; the mysteries; the withholding from 'normal life' as the protagonist goes through the depression of the loss of both his career and his wife, while in a new environment far from home where he has no friends, is breath-taking for me.The slow steady redemption: the imagined life with the woman he stalks; the slow settling into allowing a dog to assist his healing; the gentle ending of the final pages; the success of his healing made clear in a couple of words in the last chapter. I loved this book.It may resonate more for someone who has been through and come out of depression than for those who have not. Some reviewers talk about 'not enough action, too much reflection', and fair enough. However high levels of reflection are needed to come through depression, and there is no energy for action. So for me this book is true to the experience. The beauty of its writing and the resonance of the experience will keep me looking for other gifts from this writer.WOW!! Just WOW!! ... I read this book as somebody who it was recommended to. At first I was reluctant as i had so much on my "to read list" but now i am totally pleased. Some of the language is too transcending for words; descriptions and observations which are unique. A worthy brand new author and novel for all to read.PRECISION WITH WORDS ... Katharine Kilalea's writing gets inside your head. Years after reading her One Eye'd Leigh, I can still picture some of the incidents her poems portray. I've been waiting for her next work.I'm delighted that we now have a novel. OK, Mr Field is the same, but on a more ambitious canvas. I'm not sure it's a quick read - each sentence is full of meaning and I find myself going back to reconsider. But it nevertheless has a good flow.Not many books transport the reader into a different world so effectively. My KK fan status is hereby renewed!Marvellous Reading! WHY do ebayers buy from US?Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item & form part of my description!!POSTAGE IS $9.90 WITHIN AUSTRALIAWe pack your books with care - using secure, lightweight, waterproof packaging to ensure that they are well protected in transit.*All items will be shipped within 3 business days of receipt of payment. Payment can be made by Direct Deposit Bank Transfer or Paypal. Check out my other items- * Buyer to make contact within 3 days of auction end and payment within 5 days. * Cash on pick up is fine. * PAYPAL available for your convenience. * Any questions? Just ask! Please look for my other items in our new Ebay Store 'Jingle Bells Books' ~ as there are lots & lots of old, RARE and COLLECTABLE BOOKS to be cleared from our bookshelves. We're new retirees downsizing from 30+ years teaching & clearing an 80 year, 3 generation private family collection of often valuable books ! *HAPPY TO COMBINE POSTAGE up to 3kilos of BOOKS can post WITHIN Australia for $16.90! THANKS FOR DROPPING BY

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