Ebook311 pages5 hours
Oxygen: A Novel
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
About this ebook
An “elegantly written . . . exhilarating” Booker-award finalist is “a knowing glimpse at the ways we hold ourselves responsible for saving the people we love” (People).
It is the summer of 1997. In England, Alec Valentine is returning home to care for his ailing mother, Alice, a task that only reinforces his deep sense of inadequacy. In San Francisco, his older brother Larry prepares to come home as well, knowing it will be hard to conceal that his acting career is sliding toward sleaze and his marriage is faltering. In Paris, on the other hand, the Hungarian exile László Lázár, whose play Alec is translating, seems to have it all—a comfortable home, critical acclaim, a loving boyfriend, and a close circle of friends. Yet he cannot shake off the memories of the 1956 uprising and the cry for help he left unanswered. As these unforgettable characters soon learn, the moment has come to assess the turns taken and the opportunities missed. For each of them will soon take part in acts of liberation, even if they are not necessarily what they might have expected.
“Poignant, probing . . . grounded in a vivid sense of place and character, and enlivened by a sly, stoical wit. . . . A bold, bracing book.” —The Chicago Tribune
“This book breathes with compassion and honesty, and with the rare quality called hope.” —Publishers Weekly
“Lovely, striking, strange, evocative.” —The Washington Post Book World
“Insightful, sometimes painful. . . . Highly recommended.” —Library Journal
“Beautifully written and vividly engaging.” —Booklist
“Exquisitely detailed.” —Entertainment Weekly
“A writer of verve and talent.” —Margot Livesey, New York Times
It is the summer of 1997. In England, Alec Valentine is returning home to care for his ailing mother, Alice, a task that only reinforces his deep sense of inadequacy. In San Francisco, his older brother Larry prepares to come home as well, knowing it will be hard to conceal that his acting career is sliding toward sleaze and his marriage is faltering. In Paris, on the other hand, the Hungarian exile László Lázár, whose play Alec is translating, seems to have it all—a comfortable home, critical acclaim, a loving boyfriend, and a close circle of friends. Yet he cannot shake off the memories of the 1956 uprising and the cry for help he left unanswered. As these unforgettable characters soon learn, the moment has come to assess the turns taken and the opportunities missed. For each of them will soon take part in acts of liberation, even if they are not necessarily what they might have expected.
“Poignant, probing . . . grounded in a vivid sense of place and character, and enlivened by a sly, stoical wit. . . . A bold, bracing book.” —The Chicago Tribune
“This book breathes with compassion and honesty, and with the rare quality called hope.” —Publishers Weekly
“Lovely, striking, strange, evocative.” —The Washington Post Book World
“Insightful, sometimes painful. . . . Highly recommended.” —Library Journal
“Beautifully written and vividly engaging.” —Booklist
“Exquisitely detailed.” —Entertainment Weekly
“A writer of verve and talent.” —Margot Livesey, New York Times
Author
Andrew Miller
ANDREW MILLER is an operations expert whose clients include the Bank of Nova Scotia, McKesson Canada, 3M Canada, Mount Sinai Hospital, and other world-class institutions. Before starting his firm in 2006, he held senior consulting positions with IBM Business Consulting Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting.
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Reviews for Oxygen
Rating: 3.228723361702128 out of 5 stars
3/5
94 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As ever, Miller's writing is a constant treat for the senses, but this is my least favorite Miller book of the 4 I have read so far. The problem lies in the structure of the novel, which attempts to weave together three story lines. All this jumping around for the sake of a thematic unity is very exhausting and ultimately feels gimmicky, even in the end. Also, there is simply too much domestic backstory which never really gets off the ground. Still, 4 stars for the impeccable writing, which in and of itself makes the book worth reading.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If this novel had been set up as four short stories about loosely connected characters it might have made more sense to me. Written as a novel, the four stories intertwined but the main characters still felt disconnected from each other, despite three of them being members of the same family. Perhaps it was the incongruity of the family of three in England - two brothers and their mother with terminal cancer - and the fourth character, a Hungarian living in Paris, who is connected only loosely with one of the brothers. His story didn't intersect with theirs in any meaningful way that I could spot. Reading this was like listening to a pub bore droning on and on. You feel you may go to sleep through sheer boredom, but then he unexpectedly says something interesting, something coherent, and you sit up and listen for a while. I wish that had happened more often because when this book was good it was very good, but ultimately it was more concerned with being clever and profound than with entertainment.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Miller effortlessly writes some of the most aesthetic descriptions I've read in a while without bogging down the narrative.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This literary novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and it’s easy to see why. Four interrelated characters, each facing a personal transition, struggles to find his or her way. Through separate first-person narratives, we come to know each one and the subtle and interesting ways that they know each other and the people closest to them. Alice is facing death as her grown but rootless sons struggle to understand who is the Loser and who the Winner in the family circle. Far away in Paris, a Hungarian artist struggles to free himself from the guilt of his wartime past. Each character is beautifully and sensitively drawn, and each journey is ultimately hopeful, but best of all, these people are capable of surprising themselves, their loved ones and the reader.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A matriarch succumbs slowly to cancer, providing a focal point for a family crisis. Miller's account of disparate lives, and how we're all bound by life and tragedy, is coolly dispassionate and well-written, but I found the Hungarian section not very engaging.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I'm missing something from this book for it seems that there I should have a greater sense of fulfillment after finishing it. There are two simultaneous stories happening and one would assume that they would come together somehow, but no they both end ambiguously. I didn't feel much love for any of the characters, or interest in their problems.
Book preview
Oxygen - Andrew Miller
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