Product Description
For centuries, explorers and pioneers told of a place in Georgia where there was a gigantic mountain of solid granite resembling “a great gray egg lying half-buried on a vast plain.” In time, Stone Mountain, 15 miles east of Atlanta, became a local landmark. In 1915, it was decided that the mountain’s sheer north face would be a good spot to carve a lasting memorial to the lost cause of the Confederacy. This proved to be easier said than done. Before the project was completed, one of Georgia’s top tourist attractions was established around Stone Mountain’s base. ... Read more

Product Description
Morris seems unable to get over the loss of his ex-fiancéeMimi, but then, he should have thought of that before he held her forransom and ultimately did away with her. Now, he's newly married andgainfully employed, but can't shake his discontent. Just as he isbeginning to adjust to his new life, he visits Mimi's grave, where hercharming photograph on the gravestone distinctly winks at him. Thisdoes not bode well for his latest scheme (exploiting immigrants forcheap labor), which, of course, leads Morris further into murder andmayhem. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Up to your navel in bodies
Morris Duckworth left England and now lives in Italy where his name does not sound so awful. As the book begins, he has murdered three people. As the book ends, he has killed three more and is aching for a fourth. His steering committee is ghostly Mimi, victim number three, who directs him via a cellular phone or from the picture of the Virgin. Clearly, Morris is off his rocker. The author finds this very funny. I don't.
Will the cops ever catch up with Morris? I won't tell, because it would take the last bit of fun out of it.

Good Sequel
I didn't think this book was as good as the first but I am hoping there will be a third part to the story of Morris Duckworth.

Unsettling.
There is something uncomfortable, squirmy, and even a bit repulsive about Mimi's Ghost, despite the fact that it's a lot of fun to read.Morris Duckworth, the main character, you see, is a serial killer.Though Parkspresents him in broad strokes and with some sense of absurdity, he also comes across, unfortunately, as someone the author finds quite amusing, a "delightful killer" of sorts.

At the outset of the novel, Morris has already killed at least three people--Mimi, the only woman he has ever loved and two characters named Giacomo and Sandra, and there are hints that he has also killed his mother. A good-looking, blonde Englishman living in Italy, Morris has quickly married Mimi's sister Paola and hopes to be in charge of the family winery soon.What he has not expected is that he will begin communicating with Mimi on his cell phone, that he will hear her voice talking to him at unexpected moments, that he will see her wink at him in photographs, and that he'll recognize her face as the Virgin in Renaissance paintings.As Morris tries to ensure his position in the family business, he resorts to homicide again, but he also becomes a born-again Christian, decides to establish a residence for homeless immigrants who have been living in the local cemetery, and tries to embark on an introspective life of good works.

Morris may well be a schizophrenic and/or psychopath.I was never sure, however, exactly what point of view the author wanted to convey about him.Though Morris's actions are repulsive and show absolutely no remorse, many parts of the book are almost slapstick funny, and there is a great deal of satire-of the British character, of Italian police procedures, of business practices, and of bribery and graft. Mimi's Ghost, however, is not clearly a satire, nor is it clearly a horror story.It lacks the control andtongue-in-cheek tone which allows satire to flourish at the same time that the reader shares the author's seeming horror at the action.As a result, there is no conclusion here about which the reader can say with relief, "Whew!That was close!" as the main character gets his comeuppance. Instead, one wonders hereif Parks is planning yet another installment in the murderous saga of Morris Duckworth.Mary Whipple

Fine sequel to "Juggling the Stars"
Tim Parks continues the sordid, yet comic, misadventures of Morris Duckworth.The sequel didn't grab me into it as much as the first, but still was a very enjoyable read.Dig in to this series and enjoy.

TERRIFIC!
DON'T MISS THIS ONE. Also the prequel, Juggling The Stars. I couldn't stop smiling and turning pages. ... Read more

Product Description
An account of the author's ten years of living in Italy. With an Italian wife and an Italian family surrounding him, the author initiates the reader into all the delights and foibles of small town life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Proprio cosi!
Sheer brilliance!Tim Parks has an utterly realistic outlook on the romantic ideal of settling in Italy as a foreigner.He clearly loves the country he has chosen as his home, but remains exasperated by its bureaucracy and its peculiar cultural quirks. This non-fictional tale reads like a novel.It is full of dark humour, cynicism and a touch of the epicure.

I was sent this book as I struggled through a year's study in Italy, wondering what on earth had made me go there.The insights offered by Tim Parks allowed me to accept my Italian experience for what it was, 'a package deal.'

My copy is battered, underlined in places and thoroughly appreciated.My Italian friends hate it, mostly because it is so accurate.

I am very disappointed to see it is now out of print.It should be required reading for anyone who is going to Italy! ... Read more

Product Description
A riveting white-water ride down a raging river in the Italian Alps, pitting people against Nature in "the novel Tim Parks was born to write" (Sunday Telegraph, London). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a thrilling ride
Not only did I learn an enormous amount about kayaking in dangerous waters, but the character development was really interesting. The characters were beautifully drawn,unexpected, and weird. Most of all, I found this novel on par with a book like Krakhauer's 'Into thin air' where they climbed Mt. Everest. It is an A-plus thrill ride for people who prefer to read about dangerousadventure vacations rather than actually do them. Could not put it down!

Boring, trite and predictable. Waste of time.
I kept waiting for a twist. Nope.
Read it if you're a fan of cloying Briticisms.

For kayakers, really
If you're a kayaker, you're bound to love this novel: It has an ultra-authentic ring to itself, from the logistics of arranging a shuttle to the place where you exit to the smell of the wetsuits in the very cars that provide that service. You'll end up looking for the Aurino, the river depicted, thinking, *well, would be worth a try*.

It's one of the few novels where kayaking isn't primarily a metaphor for something else, but where you can almost *feel* the water... then again, in some ways it *is* a metaphor, of course, especially when one thinks of the somewhat contrived political rift between the rugged, stoutly anti-globalization activist guide and between his yuppy banker clients who end up acting more responsibly when it comes to the fate of those close and personal rather than remote and exotic.

The ending was disappointing for me, kind of loose, in a way, like a river taking you away, with a couple of different outcomes. Unfortunately, Parks takes leave of his rather grim realism towards the end, when a miraculous survival of resuscitative efforts raises no further eyebrows as she makes it without brain-damage, and that, somehow, invalidates the whole set-up. It was as if the author had been keen on finishing the book off, no matter how, and if the whole book essentially amounted to little but a sequence of well-described river runs - something that also makes sense when one thinks of the rather bland other characters featuring.

So - if you're a white-water enthusiast, you're going to read this book in a single session, and like it - just as I did. If not, it'll leave you annoyed, as it seems to be a good opportunity wasted, wasted by a fine writer. And that's a shame, really. ... Read more

Product Description
To exorcise the memory of his mother's frantic coupling with his father's business partner, on the floral cretonne sofa in his father's sitting room in Rome - and to satisfy the almost Oedipal urges the memory evokes - Mario decides he must re-enact the performance. By the author of "The Voyeur". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Boy growing up....
Story is set in England in 1968.15 year old Richard Bowen is wrestling with good and evil as he moves thru adolescence.His Father is the minister of a peaceful suburban parish.Donald Ronaldson, a new 30-something curate who hails from South Africa, introduces religious fanaticism to this peaceful parish.

Richard's older brother Adrian, who was born with a club foot, is Richard's Father's favorite - he's the brightest child in the family and Father hoped he would aspire to attend Oxford.Instead, Adrian rebels against religion and his family and adopts long hair, rock music, art, drinking, pre-marital sex and drugs as his beacon forward.

Richard timidly watches his family, his church and his community get consumed with the fanatical religious movement- he rarely takes sides, he's confused about right from wrong (Lust? Premarital sex? Is there a God? Can you go to Hell?).

Ronaldson, Richard's Mother and Richard's sister corner Adrian after they learn (or better stated that they believe) that Adrian is responsible for hedonistic activities.They attempt to perform an exorcism.Richard is watching on...

"Shivering outside, I let all this happen; I let it happen and I prayed on and on to whoever it was I was praying to, I prayed, `Don't let this happen, don't!Don't let them change him.' But it went on.Until at last I began to realize now what I should have realized all along, that if they changed Adrian, if he became one of them, I would have to change too.I would.Because I couldn't resist them on my own.And I realized that it was because of Adrian, because of his example and his courage and how I loved and at the same time hated him, that I was able to take the position I did, my neutral position in the family, in the middle, or rather aside, and just waiting quietly for the day I could leave all thisand be myself.So my own fate really hung on his, hung on what it would mean if Adrian was able to be changed and broken.Because then they would change me.I turned back to the window, shivering and hugging myself, and I watched silent. They were still chanting on, round and round.I should interrupt somehow, I thought.I should, I must do something, something that would sway that ugly battle.I mustn't simply be a spectator, because it was my battle too.Obviously it was.But I couldn't do anything.I was paralyzed again.Because I had never never never taken a decisive part in anything, or shown my real self to anyone."

This short 140-page novel keeps you turning pages as you get fully absorbed in the characters and the expectation that something foreboding is on its way.Parks won the Somerset Maugham Award for writers under 35 for this novel and he was certainly deserving.

Amazing!
This was my first Tim Parks' novel, and led me to read other works by him. His characters are dimensional and intriguing. This novel also challenges the notion of "cult" and religion in an interesting fashion. Definitely a great, quick read.

Excellent period piece
This is Tim Parks' excellent first novel, set in 1968, where charismatic Christianity and the prevailing hippie culture clash in the household of a previously conventional Protestant minister. Parks does a wonderful job evoking the time and place in the funny, spellbinding voice of the family'syoungest 14-year old son. The narrative whips along until its frenziedclimax and sadly insightful conclusion. An excellent read, fast but deep. ... Read more

Product Description
A work of literary criticism, this text provides both an analysis of the literary style of some of the 20th century's leading writers as well as an insight into the art of translation. Tim Parks is a novelist and professional translator and seeks to show through detailed analysis what it really means to translate literary style. Combining literary and linguistic approaches, the book proceeds, through a series of interconnected chapters, to analyze Italian translations of the works of Lawrence, Woolf, Joyce, Beckett, Henry Green and Barbara Pym. The concluding chapter which examines six passages in English and Italian without stating at the outset which is the original language. The aim is to show how a study of the differences between the two texts leads very quickly to an awareness of which was the original and of what was the essential problem it posed for the translator. Authors presented in the text include: Hemingway, Rosetta Loy, Antonio Tabucchi, Jack Kerouac, Alberto Moravia and Roberto Calasso.The aim of the book is to savour the extent to which any text is driven by the language in which it is written, even when it departs from standard usage, when it seeks to achieve the status of literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Act of Translating
This book is an interesting presentation of the problems of literary prose translation, specifically those that occur in translations into Italian of selected texts of English literature (Lawrence, Joyce, Woolf, Beckett, Pym, Green).Sometimes I wanted to throw up my hands at the lack of "political correctness" in the book, since the argument harps upon the various inadequacies of the Italian language in capturing the style of literary English.But scholarly balance is not the author's aim.Rather, he undertakes to write about translation problems and does so in a domain that he unmistakeably has a special affection for, namely English literature of the modern period.The side-by-side comparisons of English originals with their Italian translations are a wonderful example of attentive close reading.Following an introduction to the rhetorical differences between written English and written Italian, the first two single-author chapters are excellent.Building on a wealth of examples, Parks shows Lawrence's Italian translator alternately coping with and fleeing from the verbal disjointings of "Women in Love."In the case of Joyce's "The Dead," the translator is masterly, but the fundamental dissimilarities between English and Italian prevent an effectual translation of Joyce's tone.
In the next couple of chapters Parks sometimes resorts to slogans:"Mrs. Dalloway" is an "infinitely complex book"; Beckett is an "exceptional linguist."The last two writers discussed, Pym and Green, are presented as peripheral and difficult cases.There is a final chapter containing passages of various origin, some of them Italian, some English.The chapter's title, "Seen from Both Sides...," does suggest a concluding redress of scholarly imbalance, but the aim turns out to be a solicitation of the reader's guesses as to which of a pair of passages is the original and which the translation.This sort of discussion might attract readers interested in the coding aspect of language, but I found it unsatisfying because the passages are not illuminated by the rhetorical or literary-historical observations that enliven the introduction or the discussions of individual authors.But certainly at least the first half or so of the book recommends itself strongly to students of literature and translation and to others who take literary art seriously. ... Read more

Product Description
seven disquieting stories, Italy, tr Tim Parks ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Exorcist
This series of stories is the definition of possession.I remember watching the Exorcist as a child, being nightly afraid that my younger sister would suddenly become animated by an evil spirit, and these stories are the literary description of such an event.The narrative shifts and invades each character, almost violates, and all I ended up with was the name of that old band, the Meat Puppets.Some of the most inventive and thrilling contemporary prose I've read.I can't imagine anything more frightening.This must have been what it was like reading Poe when new."She became the totem."?!!!Can't recommend more highly.

dark, controlled, brilliant
These short stories reflect a very dark view of humanity but do so in a quiet, understated manner with such realistic characters that the reader is often taken by surprise."No Destiny" explores the decisions of a reluctant mother, a mother who hates her child.The title story "Last Vanities" explores the aged through a couple nearing their golden annivesary."A Wife" explores disapointment in a traditional farm family and the responsibility of an author in closing the story."The Free House" is explores social services, "The Promise" explores a long-term non-traditional relationship ... in each context Jaeggy writes succinctly, controlling the readers response through carefully chosen words.This author is worthy of your reading time.

Merciless lucidity
Fleur Jaeggy is a major surprise. Not so many writers have the ability to make you shiver as you read--Last Vanities was certainly written with a firm grip, placing the words carefully on the paper, as not to miss a chance to make the reader tremble. Forget about Mr. Amis-who-lives-in-London cynicism--Jaeggy's shortness is explicit and lucid, even arid, beyond any imaginable language juggles. Simply merciless. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the best reads ...
This was my first Tim Parks novel and still might be my favorite. Both clever and deep, dark and funny, Parks does a brilliant job telling a story of seduction and abandoment in the first person female voice of a working class girl who ultimately winds up on top. My only complaint is this storywas told so economically it ended too fast. Bravo. ... Read more