Vous voulez voir cette page en fran�ais ? Cliquez ici.

Quantity:

More Buying Choices

16 used & new from CDN$ 0.10

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

See larger image

Share your own customer images

Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

We Are Now Beginning Our Descent (Paperback)

by James Meek (Author)

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Price:	CDN$ 13.50 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Usually ships within 1 to 2 months.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

10 new from CDN$ 3.69 6 used from CDN$ 0.10

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Peoples Act Of Love

by James Meek

CDN$ 16.75

Little Brother

by Cory Doctorow

4.8 out of 5 stars (6) CDN$ 14.40

Dancer And The Thief

by Antonio Skarmeta

CDN$ 19.96

Cockroach

by Rawi Hage

4.0 out of 5 stars (7) CDN$ 13.68

The Little Stranger

by Sarah Waters

4.0 out of 5 stars (6) CDN$ 20.68

› Explore similar items

Product Details

Paperback: 302 pages
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (April 2 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1847671152
ISBN-13: 978-1847671158
Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
Shipping Weight: 200 g

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

The author of The People's Act of Love returns with the midlife deconstruction of a reluctant war correspondent working in post-9/11 Afghanistan. What Scots journalist Adam Kellas truly wants is to be a bestselling novelist, but he watches aghast on 9/11 as the planned climax of his latest thriller-in-the-works becomes reality in lower Manhattan. Disappointed, he puts down his manuscript, takes an assignment in Afghanistan covering the subsequent war and falls for an American journalist, Astrid, who leads him into a dangerous blurring of the lines between observer and participant. On his return to the U.K., these conflicts boil over when Kellas attends a dinner party with his poet school chum Patrick M'Gurgan. The fallout—combined with a large advance offered on his next thriller (an imagined war between America and Europe)—leads Kellas on a wild journey to see Astrid, who's living near Chesapeake Bay. Meek's novel exhibits some irritating tendencies—a muddled narrative line, a romance with a few cloying moments and overindulgent digressions into philosophy—but Kellas's unraveling is deliciously enjoyable, and Meek's crafting of character and setting is often masterful. The result is a book that demands much patience from the reader, but delivers rewards in return. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

'Astonishing. A love story that owes everything to the great collision of Osama bin Laden and Bush Jr's foreign policy. An intensely flavoured excavation of our times ... wholly original.' The Times

See all Product Description

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?

	75% buy the item featured on this page: We Are Now Beginning Our Descent 4.0 out of 5 stars (1) CDN$ 13.50
	25% buy Peoples Act Of Love CDN$ 16.75

Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

1 Review

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A complex character in a complicated world, April 25 2008

By	Friederike Knabe (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: We Are Now Beginning Our Descent (Hardcover)

After the success of The People's Act of Love, expectations for Meek's new novel have been high. In "We Are Beginning Our Descent" Meek demonstrates the best of journalistic and fiction writing as well as some of the weaknesses. Attempting to merge the two styles, his language follows the topic he addresses, thereby losing some of the narrative fluidity and impact. The mostly fast paced story demonstrates his talent for evocative descriptions, whether landscapes, war scenarios or people. Like the author himself, Adam Kellas, the protagonist, is a British correspondent sent to Afghanistan to report the news from there as his audience expects to hear it. It is not necessarily how it is seen on the ground and his frustration with the imposed restrictions is palpable. Meek's experience shines through when he describes, with a mix of irony and empathy, the living conditions of the media contingent hanging out together close to the frontlines. In his downtime Kellas is writing a deliberately provocative political thriller, that he hopes will afford him the means for an easy life in the future. And then he comes across Astrid, a seasoned feature writer from the US who is as aloof as she is beautiful...and an inadvertently provoked action leads to a moral dilemma that will occupy Kellas's mind from then on.

Most of "We are Beginning Our Descent" is written in flashbacks as Kellas ruminates over where he has been and what is in store for him when his plane touches down in New York. The Afghanistan images and the portrayal of the local people he encounters are the most vivid and convey the reality better than many news articles. His character's reflections on his own less than successful life suggest a complex and emotionally charged and restless personality. His relationship to his eclectic circle of friends, in London and in his Scottish home region, is conveyed as essential for his emotional stability. Will it be sufficient to sustain him in the long term? While Meek's well-developed characterization of the diverse personality adds to the breadth of the story, these sections of the book are less powerful than the account from the frontlines. Overall an intriguing and worthwhile read. [Friederike Knabe]

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?