Death In Summer: Amazon.ca: Books

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12 Reviews

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.4 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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2.0 out of 5 stars So so, Sep 27 2002

By	Puteri Azlina "puterina" (Kuala Lumpur) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Death in Summer (Hardcover)

Nothing's really great about the story, although it has some surprising elements. The language is quite cumbersome, with lengthy sentences. It might be appealing to some readers, but not exactly me. Ever feel like you're dragging yourself to endure something? That's how I feel trying to complete reading the book.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonder of Words and Moods, Jan 16 2002

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Death in Summer is one of the more appropriate titles for a novel I've seen in a while. William Trevor is a gifted writer, one of characteristic styles that are fascinating, illuminating..yet with a dark view of the world that begs for light. The stories of three deaths, bizarrely interrelated in a strange English place, is only a superficial tease of what lies within and beneath this fine novel. The real passings are about the deaths of life views that occur when indescribable losses alter our lives. Trevor has an uncanny ability to vary his vocabulary/tone/philosophical views/visceral descriptions adjusted according to which of his myriad characters is relating a view of the story. Whether the description of a garden is eloquent when from the mind and mouth of the gentrified owners of the mansion where the story takes place, or the interior of a cafe is puncutated with the glassy views of a declining, bosomy "loose woman", or the stagnation of a squalid orphanage is regarded with acceptance by the ne're-do-well young folks of the street - with each of these disparate voices Trevor allows authenticity beyond the abilities of most contemporary authors. At times his stream of conscious style of writing causes the need to retrace pages to make sure where we are, but that is a glory in and of itself. THAT is how submerged the reader becomes when reading this fine book. It has its own life!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Interiors and Exteriors Make Interesting Story, Nov 5 2001

By	C. Ebeling "ctlpareader" (PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

William Trevor has been highly recommended by people I respect, and I do plan on reading more of him. DEATH IN SUMMER is the first of his works I've encountered and while it did not quite live up to what I expected, that's not to say it isn't good. As I read it, I kept imagining it as a contemporary British television dramatization, a medium to which it would translate well, if not better than the page. The story is spare yet complicated: A new widower with an infant interviews and decides not to hire a nanny, instead accepting his mother-in-law's offer to come care for the child. Unknown to him, one of the girls interviewed and not hired as a nanny becomes obsessed with him, interjecting into his life unforeseen consequences, forcing him to confront the emotional isolation in which he had long taken refuge. The characters are fully drawn, as are the settings. The sentences are graceful. The movement of the action is a bit off, spending a little too much time away from the protagonist at times. It can be very quiet, too; doesn't eat its own scenery. In the end, though, it successfully conveys its themes, especially the observation of how so much of our knowledge about others' lives is gathered in eavesdropping or guessing, never with the complete information.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Death in Summer is a wonderfully quiet mystery
Early in William Trevor's novel, Death in Summer, the male caretaker of the house in which most of the story's action takes place muses about the correlation between horse-racing... Read more

Published on Sep 6 2001 by Miranda

5.0 out of 5 stars It's what you don't see that matters
Trevor reminds me of Flannery O'Connor. The holy spirit is somehow numinously present in the random, cruel, and grotesque universe that he describes with such precision and wit... Read more

Published on Jul 11 2001 by Larry Dilg

4.0 out of 5 stars A chain of events triggered by an accident
Fully realized characters and a plot that turns on the cause and effect results of a random accident are woven into this remarkable novel. Read more

Published on Jul 3 2001 by R. J. Marsella

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as powerful as Felicia's Journey.
I read this book while on a recent vacation to Great Britain and maybe my favorable impression of it has more to do with being in London as I was reading it. Read more

Published on Jul 21 2000 by L. D Sears