A Guide to Berlin
Published on 14. January 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-84655-997-6 (ISBN)
Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2016 STELLA PRIZE
We travel to find ourselves; to run away from ourselves.
'A Guide to Berlin' is the name of a short story written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1925, when he was a young man of 26, living in Berlin.
A group of six international travellers, two Italians, two Japanese, an American and an Australian, meet in empty apartments in Berlin to share stories and memories. Each is enthralled in some way by the work of Vladimir Nabokov, and each is finding their way in deep winter in a haunted city. A moment of devastating violence shatters the group, and changes the direction of everyone's story.
Brave and brilliant, A Guide to Berlin traces the strength and fragility of our connections through biographies and secrets.
We travel to find ourselves; to run away from ourselves.
'A Guide to Berlin' is the name of a short story written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1925, when he was a young man of 26, living in Berlin.
A group of six international travellers, two Italians, two Japanese, an American and an Australian, meet in empty apartments in Berlin to share stories and memories. Each is enthralled in some way by the work of Vladimir Nabokov, and each is finding their way in deep winter in a haunted city. A moment of devastating violence shatters the group, and changes the direction of everyone's story.
Brave and brilliant, A Guide to Berlin traces the strength and fragility of our connections through biographies and secrets.
Reviews / Votes
Brimming with rich descriptions... The dark, haunted cityscape of Berlin's winter is beautifully captured... Jones explores her power as a writer, finding fresh and illuminating ways to describe things... A powerful exploration of biography, memory and meaning. * Daily Telegraph * Jones' sensitivity to the vibrancy of things demonstrates a Nabokovian vividness. -- Sam Kitchener * Independent * A thoughtful study of the machinations of memory. -- Lucy Scholes * Observer * An ode to detail... A meditation on memory, travel and grief, on self-fashioning and onliterary friendship. * The Times Literary Supplement * I've always felt that Gail Jones is yet to receive the recognition she deserves. This is her sixthnovel and it is, I believe, a masterpiece. It is a beautifully constructed novel that builds slowly
to its horrific and violent conclusion -- Mark Rubbo * Readings * Brave and brilliant, A Guide to Berlin traces the strength and fragility of our connections through biographies and secrets. * Reading Matters * A whimsical, writerly premise that in lesser hands might have been strained, but is brought to life with wit and without self-indulgence. A Guide to Berlin is a tense, elegant and compassionate exploration of memory, humanity and salvation sought in literature. Threads unspool slowly with every precisely weighted word, and the relationships between these relative strangers are compelling and fraught -- Elke Power Gail Jones' latest novel is a brave and brilliant testament to Vladimir Nabokov and his short story 'A Guide to Berlin' * Better Read than Dead * A cool, cerebral and intriguing exploration of the impact of past events and of the slenderthreads that bind us * Booktopia Buzz * Powerful novel. -- Cassie Davies * Sunday Telegraph *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
459 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84655-997-6 (9781846559976)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Gail Jones teaches literature, cinema and cultural studies at the University of Western Australia. She is the author of Sixty Lights which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Dreams of Speaking and Sorry, both of which were longlisted for the Orange Prize.