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The Calligrapher: A Novel
 
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The Calligrapher: A Novel (Paperback)

by Edward Docx (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 17.50
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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

It takes sangfroid and skill to write a contemporary love story featuring the metaphysical poetry of John Donne and the art of calligraphy, but British writer Docx, in his debut novel, carries it off with wit and sophistication. His protagonist, Jasper Jackson, is a Londoner whose current job is to transcribe the Songs and Sonnets of John Donne for a wealthy client. Like Donne, Jasper is also a relentless womanizer, a charming cad who lives for love affairs. When the woman of his dreams appears in his own garden, Jasper succumbs to real love for the first time and slowly begins to realize what it feels like to be the pursuer rather than the pursued. In a clever reversal of chick-lit roles, the lovely Madeleine, a travel journalist, plays the part of the rakes of yore, while Jasper pours his woes into the willing ear of his best friend. There are many contrasts here, between ancient art and contemporary manners, between ribald conversation and metaphysical elegance of expression, between the intellectual and the erotic. Docx prefaces each chapter with the sonnet Jasper is working on, and close reading reveals that the subject of each poem corresponds to Jasper's emotional state. Using sites in London, Rome and New York, he allows Jasper to fulminate about the meretricious standards of 21st-century culture (scenes in the Tate Modern are deliciously on target). Readers of conventional romantic comedy may find more to chew on here than they're expecting, but the double surprises that end the narrative are diabolically satisfying.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Two passions animate Jasper Jackson's life. The twentysomething Brit is a dedicated womanizer, unable and unwilling to ever commit, and always on the hunt. Jasper is also a talented calligrapher, hard at work these days transcribing Songs and Sonnets, by John Donne (another serial seducer), for a wealthy client. After a particularly ugly breakup with his current girlfriend, Jasper falls truly, madly, and deeply in love for the first time, with beautiful, sexy, and intelligent Madeleine, who seems to reciprocate his feelings yet is at the same time somehow elusive and evasive. The novel ends with two delicious plot twists, and Jasper, to his sorrow, learns what it's like to be the one in a relationship who loves the most. Docx's intelligent and humorous first novel succeeds beautifully on a number of levels--the writing is confident without calling attention to itself; even the most minor characters, like Jasper's grandmother (who only appears in one scene) and his best friend, William, are fully developed and probably worthy of novels of their own. Nancy Pearl
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars This guy can write!, July 9 2004
By "independentwoman" (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
Sometimes when I finish a book that has been particularly engrossing and rewarding, I feel a deep void. I don't want it to end, ever. I could roll along, lost in the wit and harmony of the writing, the plot, the thinking going on. The Calligrapher was just such a book: witty, elegant in its description of the thoughtful outsider who poses as a trendy insider, archaic yet modern, the man/woman obsessed with sex who falls in love, the ambiguity of love, sex, the possibility of a developing relationship. I keep thinking about the characters. I laughed, sometimes out loud, I empathized, I felt a kindred soul in the mix even though I'm a female. Jasper, a man, was the narrator but I connected--I like to cook, choose fine wines, look at great art, travel, enjoy my friends, and learn about life, too--and it's all much more fun when infused with good company and great sex. John Donne knew all about these things and wrote about them, eloquently. But life is a puzzle. So is Donne's poetry. And The Calligrapher falls right in line. Things haven't changed much in the intervening centuries. The basics are still the same and able to turn, upside-down, inside-out, on a dime, depending on the perspective. A page turner, The Calligrapher is extremely well written with very funny observations about the way we live today and think about love, art and relationships. I was reminded of Nick Hornsby--the writing was quick, irreverent, sociological in its focus on one quirky individual. So much of the time, the world does seem totally run by our perceptions of who and what are sexy. And such superficiality (or are these reallly deep, necessary feelings?)can often get turned inside out in a hurry. Great reflection, indeed illustration, of the multiple levels of Donne's insights, poetry and the complexity of life itself. I loved this book. Docx can write! I can't wait for more.
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1.0 out of 5 stars Overly Verbose, July 2 2004
By A Customer
This author basically spends the entire novel writing to "hear" himself write. There would be PAGES of babbling that had nothing to do with the plot in the middle of a chapter, which I would simply skip because they bored me so much. After I got about 200 pages into it, I had found that my mind wandered throughout the entire book and I decided to just put it away and not finish it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant construction, May 6 2004
By John Luiz (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
London Lothario thinks he can construct his love life as carefully and meticulously as he does his calligraphy. Needless to, he's in for a big surprise. The real fun of this novel is the writing and the lovable arrogance of the character who believes he can charm a local beauty by carefully orchestrating all of his interactions with her. As other reviewers have noted, the analysis of Donne's poems and the weaving of the content of each poem at the outset of a chapter into that chapters' plot developments is remarkably clever. Reading this book is a joy ride. If you like it, I strongly recommend David Nicholls' A Quiet Attraction -- it's a marvelous read as well.
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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars No charm.
The characters in this novel lack both charm and warmth, and it is after all a comedy. Obviously, most readers (14 of 14 reviewers) felt this was a small price to pay for the wit... Read more
Published on May 1 2004 by algo41

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good First Novel
There's no doubt that Edward Docx is a skilled and creative author, and The Calligrapher is an excellent debut novel by any measure. Read more
Published on Mar 6 2004 by maryalyce66

5.0 out of 5 stars So good, and so much fun...
I relish the experience of reading. There is nothing about it that I dislike -- from the discovery of a book that might interest me, to finding and buying it, appreciating... Read more
Published on Feb 26 2004 by David M. Gordon

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Writing With Much Insight
I love comic novels...but only very good comic novels. When something falls flat, nothing does it louder or harder than does comedy. Read more
Published on Feb 4 2004 by Totally Anonymous

5.0 out of 5 stars Jasper Is Quite a Character
There is no secret here: fundamentally, this book is a Master's thesis on John Donne disguised as a novel. Read more
Published on Jan 31 2004 by Timothy Haugh

5.0 out of 5 stars Technical thriller
Jasper Jackson is a player, and he always seems to come out on top, until, surprise, surprise--he meets his match, and could she also be a. . .? Naah! Read more
Published on Jan 14 2004 by bgarfink

4.0 out of 5 stars To be a calligrapher, one must "make a deal with the Devil."
Jasper Jackson is a young calligrapher in London, commissioned to transcribe and illuminate the love poetry of John Donne (1572 - 1631) for an American media baron, and he soon... Read more
Published on Dec 14 2003 by Mary Whipple

5.0 out of 5 stars My book of the year
I have read a handful of books that have made me literally laugh out loud on a packed train. This ranks amongst them but, unlike the others, this novel plucks the strings of so... Read more
Published on Dec 12 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars The inconstancies of love between men and women
The Calligrapher is a story that is so true, so moving, so elegant, so witty, and insightful, so fine, so direct, and so oblique that you cannot help but surrender to its mastery... Read more
Published on Nov 26 2003 by M. J Leonard

5.0 out of 5 stars a passionate, delightful exploration of writing and art
The conflict between the classic and the contemporary has long raged among literati; rarely is it resolved so eloquently as in "The Calligrapher", which combines the... Read more
Published on Nov 20 2003 by erica

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