Product Description

The events of Pietro Russell's life are told in 26 chapters. From A-Z, each chapter is set in a different place and reveals a fragment of his story. As his memories flicker back and forth through time in his search for a resolution to the conflicts of his life, his story gradually unfolds...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15620 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
Sebastian Faulks worked as a journalist for 14 years before taking up writing books full time in 1991. He is the author of A Trick of Light, The Girl at the Lion D'Or, A Fool's Alphabet, The Fatal Englishman, Birdsong, Charlotte Gray, On Green Dolphin Street and, most recently, Human Traces.

Customer Reviews

Life as it is - plain, human, real - the finest kind of art
This is quite simply one of the most poignant and reflective books I've read, precisely because it lacks the "melodrama" or "plot" that are the pre-requisites of most novels and...which are totally absent in most peoples' lives. Shorn of these constraints it becomes a quite brilliant exploration of a "normal" person: so skilfully written that you are subtly and compelling drawn into it and, by the end, feel you know the central character (Pietro) inside out. Sequenced as a series of "random" snapshots (with each chapter moving backwards & forwards through time, with no obvious structure) its end effect is like looking at a good friend's photo album with the pages mixed-up in some sort of random order. Young to old/old to young; parents to children; hopes to reality, ecstatic infatuation to family life... it's all there: "life as it is - plain, human, real".

Clever, beautifully written and wholly effective this is "art" rather than popular fiction because, having read it, you'll feel that you'll know Pietro for the rest of your life. But... of course, he's not "real", you only want him to be. A rare feat of writing indeed!

A thoughtful, well crafted piece of work
This was my second Sebastian Faulks novel (my first was Birdsong), however, I was not disappointed, quite the opposite. This is a book rich in depth - of prose, description and character. Each chapter peels back another layer to unfold the inner Pietro, and forces us to look back at the choices we have made during life and how they have shaped our future.. quite simply a good book.

an engrossing and enthralling piece of work.....
I simply adore this book....infact,I have read it again and again and everytime a new dimension, a new thought filters through,just like the sunlight from behind the clouds...yes,it demands concentration and as you ponder over the scattered life that Pietro spent and as you read about what, where and how he felt and thought,not only you discover Pietro but also your ownself!! As John Lennon put it,"Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans"...the desciption of all what happened around Pietro is even more interesting!