I feel the need to split my review a little with this one (an unlikely choice of birthday gift from my parents actually o.O). When the author is focused on descriptions of plush interiors of objet d'art, he's in top form, when it comes to characterization he's solid though uneven, and when it com...
Figuren: Hauptfigur Piet Barol besticht durch sein gutes Aussehen und seinen Charme. Mit diesen beiden Eigenschaften wickelt er sowohl Frauen als auch Männer um den Finger; und das nicht nur in erotischer Hinsicht. Aus ärmlichen Verhältnissen stammend versucht er sein Glück als Hauslehrer in eine...
Read this in 3 days! Loved everything about this book: the time period - early 1900s; the characters - the very wealthy and their servants and the main character, Piet; the setting - Amsterdam and later on board an ocean liner in 1st class; the story - Piet Barol trying to make it in life by what...
This book had me from the very first page. The narrator is James Farrell, who when we begin the book, has just admitted to shooting his wife of over forty years in the head. He doesn't feel a stitch of remorse over it, in fact, he feels as though he has served a just punishment. Wow, ok. Way to d...
He kept this fact secret, especially from his wife, and to the outside world presented a façade of implacable calm that was exhausting to maintain. He dismissed the most important men Mr. Dermont had hired, engaged new builders, watched over them closely, and summoned from Lucerne the maître d’hô...