Collected Columns - Michael Frayn

Spies - Michael Frayn

Stephen and Keith are two young boys living in a cul de sac in England going about the usual things they do, when they suddenly decide to start a spy mission on Keith's mother. By following her every move they slowly start to discover things they never thought they would and through their childish games they somehow manage to ruin things for other people. Spies is a great book, with the narrator being the older Stephen looking back at his youth. It's a great tale of friendship between two boys, who although are from different social backgrounds, somehow manage to have a friendship, however that may turn out towards the end of the book. It's also an interesting ...

Spies - Michael Frayn

Stephen and Keith are two young boys living in a cul de sac in England going about the usual things they do, when they suddenly decide to start a spy mission on Keith's mother. By following her every move they slowly start to discover things they never thought they would and through their childish games they somehow manage to ruin things for other people. Spies is a great book, with the narrator being the older Stephen looking back at his youth. It's a great tale of friendship between two boys, who although are from different social backgrounds, somehow manage to have a friendship, however that may turn out towards the end of the book. It's also an interesting ...

Spies - Michael Frayn

and is both satisfying and believable (unlike Amsterdam, Jill!) I know you're probably as fed up with books set during the war as I am, but Michael Frayn is such a good writer, and after all, Spies is only a waffer thin book... I'm sure you can find room for it, can't you? Update 19th August: Not surprisingly, "Spies" is on the long-list for the Man Booker Prize 2002, and I'm sure it has a good chance of reaching the short-list. But can such a waffer-thin book win? Probably not. ¶ Hardback: £14.99 ¶ ISBN: 0571212867 ¶ pp 213 ¶ ¶ Paperback: £7.99 ¶ ISBN: 0571212964 ¶ pp ``` ¶ 3 March 2003 ¶ ...

Spies - Michael Frayn

and is both satisfying and believable (unlike Amsterdam, Jill!) I know you're probably as fed up with books set during the war as I am, but Michael Frayn is such a good writer, and after all, Spies is only a waffer thin book... I'm sure you can find room for it, can't you? Update 19th August: Not surprisingly, "Spies" is on the long-list for the Man Booker Prize 2002, and I'm sure it has a good chance of reaching the short-list. But can such a waffer-thin book win? Probably not. ¶ Hardback: £14.99 ¶ ISBN: 0571212867 ¶ pp 213 ¶ ¶ Paperback: £7.99 ¶ ISBN: 0571212964 ¶ pp ``` ¶ 3 March 2003 ¶ ...

A Landing on the Sun - Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn’s achievement in this novel lies in the subtle and economic way he manoeuvres the reader (using the device of the unreliable narrator to great effect, like Ishiguro’s butler Stevens in “The Remains of the Day”). He leads us gently between the ridiculous and the sublime, from sympathy to amusement, through a philosophical discourse on the notion of happiness, along the edge of a detective novel, by way of a spoof of civil servant life, towards a small human drama. And the honey and celery scene alone makes it worth reading. ...

A Landing on the Sun - Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn’s achievement in this novel lies in the subtle and economic way he manoeuvres the reader (using the device of the unreliable narrator to great effect, like Ishiguro’s butler Stevens in “The Remains of the Day”). He leads us gently between the ridiculous and the sublime, from sympathy to amusement, through a philosophical discourse on the notion of happiness, along the edge of a detective novel, by way of a spoof of civil servant life, towards a small human drama. And the honey and celery scene alone makes it worth reading. ...