Product Description

A comic, dark and dyspeptic novel about an obsessive love gone sour. Jealousy and revenge, passion and dread intertwine in one man's soul as he is trapped in the awful claustrophobia of a three-day coach journey across Europe with a group of people he loathes - and the woman who broke his heart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #385043 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Born in Manchester in 1954, Tim Parks moved permanently to Italy in 1980. Author of novels, non-fiction and essays, he has won the Somerset Maugham, Betty Trask and Llewellyn Rhys awards, and been shortlisted for the Booker. His works include Destiny, Europa, Adultery and other Diversions, Italian Neighbours and A Season with Verona.

Customer Reviews

Well-written musings on the new Europe
Jerry Marlow narrates his thoughts and happenings during a bus journey to Strasbourg by Milan-based foreign lecturers and supporting students to air grievances in the European parliament. Marlow is having a bitter, mid-life crisis after marriage
break-up; difficulties with his teenage daughter, and a further break-up with a female student - who is also on the bus-trip.. The undoubted strength of this work is Tim Parks' prose: extremely long sentences set down the cerebral Marlow's jostling and competing thoughts in a challenging, yet highly readable, 'stream of consciousness' narrative.

Aside from Marlow himself, there are a number of other well-drawn and intriguing characters, most notably the trip-organiser, Indian-Welshman Vikram Griffiths. Along the way, Marlow unleashes his criticisms of various issues regarding the new Europe, including the wastefulness and cost of maintaining parliaments in both Brussels and Strasbourg; rivalries and jealousies in the supposed united Europe; the sterility of modern European architecture; communication problems, and pre-Euro currency dramas. Although this material is well-handled and interesting, much of it has been extensively covered in the media and some of the issues already feel a bit dated. Nevertheless, I would strongly recommend this novel primarily for the quality of the writing and the chance to enter the mind of the bitter, troubled and intelligent narrator.

Excellent book, a must read
Parks does an awesome job of digging deep into his characters and showing the reader their real thoughts. He dispells the idea of a United Europe and deals with complex issues that most wouldn't like to face. All of this is presented in a unique and interesting fashion with the main character's constant self-evaluation.

Not easy reading at first but well worth it
As a fellow Englishman in Italy I absoloutely devoured 'Italian Neighbours' and An Italian Education' which seemed to be written just for me! Europa is my first T Parks novel however and although I found the style a little hard going at the beginning, I was soon taken in by its compulsive narrative style and the intricacy of the characters. The "train of thought" style is at once 'heavy' yet logical. Great stuff .. looking forward to 'Destiny' and who knows whether I shall bump into the man himself one day in our adopted nation!