|
Any Human Heart | 
| Author: William Boyd
Creator: Timothy West
Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 216481
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged edition
Number Of Items: 6
Pages: 6
ISBN: 0141804696
EAN: 9780141804699
ASIN: 0141804696
Publication Date: June 3, 2003
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, writer, was born in 1906, and died of a heart attack on October 5, 1991, aged 85. Any Human Heart is his disjointed autobiography, a massive tome chronicling "my personal rollercoaster"--or rather, "not so much a rollercoaster", but a yo-yo, "a jerking spinning toy in the hands of a maladroit child". From his early childhood in Montevideo, son of an English corned beef executive and his Uraguayan secretary, through his years at a Norfolk public school and Oxford, Mountstuart traces his haphazard development as a writer. Early and easy success is succeeded by a long half-century of mediocrity, disappointments and setbacks, both personal and professional, leading him to multiple failed marriages, internment, alcoholism and abject poverty. Mountstuart's sorry tale is also the story of a British way of life in inexorable decline, as his journey takes in the Bloomsbury set, the General Strike, the Spanish Civil War, 1930s Americans in Paris, wartime espionage, New York avant garde art, even the Baader-Meinhof gang--all with a stellar supporting cast. The most sustained and best moment comes mid-book, as Mountstuart gets caught up in one of Britain's murkier wartime secrets, in the company of the here truly despicable Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Elsewhere author William Boyd occasionally misplaces his tongue too obviously in his cheek--the Wall Street Crash is trailed with truly crashing inelegance--but overall Any Human Heart is a witty, inventive and ultimately moving novel. Boyd succeeds in conjuring not only a compelling 20th century but also, in the hapless Logan Mountstuart, an anti-hero who achieves something approaching passive greatness. --Alan Stewart
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 Great read October 23, 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.
 A little in the style of Lees-Milne August 22, 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.
ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY July 21, 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.
This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!
The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu May 26, 2008
1 out of 10 found this review helpful
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.
Truly a modern classic March 31, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.
|
|
|
© Shops.UK.net in association with Amazon.co.uk | |
