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: #68289 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
Britisher Faulks's first US publication: an observant, unpretentious, and moving story of a man's life to age 40. Recovering from wounds in Italy in 1944, Cpl. Raymond Russell meets - and falls in love with - a young girl named Francesca, who after the war becomes his wife and moves with him back to England. In 1950, the two have a son named Pietro, their only child, who 12 years later loses his beloved mother to cancer. From these beginnings, the novel unfolds, becoming the story of Pietro's life in 26 chapters, each named for its setting and arranged in alphabetical (but not chronological) order, starting, for example, with Anzio in 1944 (where Pietro's father was wounded and met Francesca), going on to Backley in 1950, where Pietro was born, from there to Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1980, where Pietro is on a photographic assignment, then back to Dorking in England, where Pietro's mother dies in 1963, and so on. The alphabetic device is offered (partly) in homage to a provincial fellow soldier of Pietro's father's who was awed by travel and "said he wanted to spend a night in a place beginning with every letter of the alphabet before he died." If there's risk of the scheme becoming artificial, Faulks keeps the danger well at bay: his observant eye and intelligent voice easily and entirely captivate the reader, who follows Pietro from school in Fulham (1964) on through first love (Lyndonville, Vermont, 1971); from the pathos of a nervous collapse in Quezaltenango, Guatemala, (1974) on to the meeting of his wife-to-be in Ghent (1981); and from there through another decade of a sensitive and sometimes emotionally precarious life in which, say, descriptions of office politics and of a father's death can be, in their different ways, equally compelling and poignant. Life as it is - plain, human, real - made into the finest kind of art. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
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...

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

26 set pieces
The 26 chapters of this book are named after places, one for each letter of the alphabet. Moving around in time as well as location, it reads rather like a collection of short stories with a common central character rather than a novel. Rather than being driven by exposition of a plot, each episode is enjoyed as a nicely written set piece.

The writing is good - Faulks has a style which is elegant and descriptive without being overblown. Some chapters are very strong, for instance the description of office life and the chapter set in Jerusalem. Others were less interesting, although I suspect every reader would have a different preference depending on their own experiences.

It isn't really a very memorable book. I enjoyed the experience of reading it whilst I was actually reading the words, but it is not a work that has made any particular emotional impact on me. That's not to say it isn't a good read, but a book with so little long standing impact cannot, in my opinion, be great.

The writing will be particularly enjoyed by those who love language and word play - there is plenty of exploration on the origin of words, for example. I would also recommend it to those who like short stories, and its themes of 'finding yourself' and mental illness will be of interest to those with experience of these issues. Overall, I suppose I feel ambivalently positive towards the book - it wasn't a waste of time to read, but I wouldn't say it was unmissable.

Short and sweet.
A Fool's Alphabet is essentially a biography of a half-Italian half-English male, called Pietro. I say 'male' because the biography is in no chronological order and instead, small fragments of Pietro's life are uncovered throughout the book therefore giving Pietro no fixed age. Reading the book, I got the distinct impression that I was experiencing fragments of Pietros memories, and the fact that they are in no order really emphasises this feeling.

The book contains lots of different locations including the Middle-East, Asia and America, and of course the UK and Italy. So, if you like travelling, you will probably enjoy this book as a large proportion of it is based around Pietro's travels.

I have read both Birdsong and Charlotte Gray before this, and they are completely different to this. Buy this if you like Faulks; you might turn out to love it, but it really isn't as bad as some people are making out. At worst, it will turn out to be average.

Is that it ??
I've just finished reading A Fool's Alphabet and feel completely let down. Having read Birdsong, Charlotte Gray and Girl at the Lion d'Or I was expecting a lot more than what I got. There is no plot. There are no interesting characters. Nothing happens. I'm not exaggerating, nothing happens. Reading this book is like being put into the body and mind of a outstandingly average person, and looking back at this person's life. You look hard trying to find something..anything that might either entertain, educate or inform you, something that is missing from your own dull life. But there's nothing, just a dull middle-class guy with the normal fears and hang-ups that everybody has. It's simply not enough for an author to take the reader to different places around the world at different times in the company of an insipid, whining nobody. There has to be some kind of theme, plot, REASON for the reader to continue reading.
I'd recommend this book only to people who had read every book in existence and felt like wasting a few hours.