Fascination
- Authors: William Boyd
- Series:
- Type: Collection Of Stories
- Genres: Literary fiction
- Rank:
- Rating: 3.6 based on 243 reviews
- Release Date: January 4, 2005
- Print length: 288 pages (Hardcover)
About the book
This is William Boyd's third volume of short stories following his acclaimed collections On the Yankee Station (1981) and The Destiny of Nathalie X (1995). Described as the finest storyteller of his generation , Boyd shows his mastery of the form as these stories range widely through time and space. In a brilliant array of styles and narratives we move from 1930s Germany to Los Angeles in the Second World War, from contemporary Oxford to 19th century Russia. Whether in London or Amsterdam. Eastbourne or a Normandy village these stories explore and expose the fraught, funny, absurd, poignant and lovelorn lives of their many and varied characters.
Praise for Fascination
A new collection of stories by the internationally acclaimed author of "Any Human Heart ("the finest storyteller of his generation
A virtuoso range of techniques, Boyd shows here just what he is capable of…The resonance and impact of past events on present lives, and a sense of yearning for love or completion, permeate these perfectly formed snapshots of life at its most mystifying.
Sly and consistently entertaining…Boyd uses the artistic methods of the cinematographer…but he twists them to his own ends…This collection demonstrates Boyd’s versatility as well as his virtuosity. He is as much at home writing about nineteenth-century Vienna as he is twentieth century Cape Cod.
The stories are perfect…Suffused with an understanding of love, desire, and emotional incompetence.
Short stories by William Boyd are an occasional treat…For those who enjoy what might loosely be called canapé fiction - delicious little morsels that whet the appetite but never sate it - Fascination is a must-read book. Every one of the 16 stories has the patina of craftsmanship…The writing transcends cleverness…An impressively sophisticated offering from a writer whose charms never wane
Boyd’s remarkable, and almost wholly consistent, gift is to convince us of the roundness, the existence of his characters from the very first sentence.
About the author
