All He Ever Wanted

by Anita Shreve | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0349115583 Global Overview for this book
Registered by beeofgoodcheer of Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on 9/3/2005
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by beeofgoodcheer from Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on Saturday, September 3, 2005
Another foothill on Mount TBR!

Journal Entry 2 by beeofgoodcheer from Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on Friday, March 2, 2007
Amazon.co.uk Review
Anita Shrieve's bitter novel All He Ever Wanted is a fascinating demonstration of the theory that old stories give new stories the bones from which they derive their power. There is a sense in which this is a reverse Bluebeard narrative--the quietly monstrous narrator Van Tassel is obsessed with taking possession of all the secret rooms in the heart of the woman he loves and cannot understand why secrets might be a good thing. Van Tassel is one of the best characters Shrieve has created--a fussy, pedantic man with a real capacity for passion and some genuine grievances with life, but lacking in some crucial ingredients of his moral compass. His love for his wife, Etna, and with the petty politics of the college where he is teaching, turn him steadily rancid, and it is only within the framing narrative that an older Van Tassel seems to be approaching a capacity for redemption. Part of the strength of the book is that Shrieve has understood the beginnings of the 20th century, not merely in terms of the surface details, but in the permissions the ideas of the time give those with small amounts of domestic power to behave badly. In the end, though, Van Tassel loses almost everything--if there is a weakness here, it is that Shrieve is so optimistic that, out of his reach and knowledge, Etna finds a contentment that Van Tassel's narrative cannot show us. --Roz Kaveney

Journal Entry 3 by beeofgoodcheer from Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on Friday, March 2, 2007
Van Tassel does turn out slightly warped and embittered, but his behaviour can be seen to follow from his personality and the events of his life. He's not necessarily unlikeable, but probably the type of chap who wouldn't really register on one's radar - Mr Average, if you will.

Beautifully written and realised, this book leaves one slightly chilled with the realisation that even the insignificant can have power - especially if "the establishment" is on their side...

Released 17 yrs ago (3/14/2007 UTC) at Voice Group, Chesterfield Road in Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom

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Donated to the Comic Relief Bring & Buy

Journal Entry 5 by cazziebee from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Friday, July 31, 2009
I bought this book in a local Sheffield Charity Shop on Chesterfield Road and read it whilst on a damp camping holiday in North Devon. I'd never heard of Book Crossing before but liked the idea. Not sure yet how to pass it on to somebody else, but will figure it out I'm sure !

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