The Apprentice Lover: A Novel - Softcover

Parini, Jay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060935561 ISBN 13: 9780060935566

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2003

Synopsis

When Alex Massolini's brother is killed in Vietnam, he drops out of Columbia University and leaves his conservative family behind for Capri to become secretary to Rupert Grant, a famous British novelist and poet who dominates the island like a latter -- day Prospero. Alex soon finds himself ensnared in a web of love affairs, friendships, and rivalries within the eccentric community that inhabits the idyllic beauty of the isolated Italian island.

The Apprentice Lover traces a young American's enchantment and disenchantment -- with his American past, his new European mentor, and the various inhabitants on an island famous for its characters.

About this title

Review:

Jay Parini's The Apprentice Lover is a smart and sexy coming-of-age novel marked with the sense and sensibility of the '70s and the Vietnam War. After Alex Massolini's brother dies in Vietnam in 1970, Alex drops out of Columbia University and travels to Italy to work as a secretary for Rupert Grant, a famous Scottish writer living on the isle of Capri. Villa Clio, where the irascible Grant lives with his wife, is the center of singular and sybaritic scenes involving Grant's two young research assistants, the unstable Marisa and the aloof Holly. Dinner brings cruel psychological parlor games and such literary luminaries as W.H. Auden, Graham Greene, and Gore Vidal. Brilliantly brittle dinner dialogue is contrasted with the raw, emotional letters to Alex from his brother Nicky in Vietnam. During his months on Capri, Alex learns much about the craft of writing from the riveting yet monstrous Rupert Grant, who comes to resemble the lustful and dictatorial Roman emperor Tiberius, exiled to Capri. In the wake of a tragic death, a romantic off-island interlude, and a thrown dagger, Alex decides to flee Capri, only to come back 30 years later for a final reckoning. In The Apprentice Lover, Parini has created an unforgettable portrait of a literary titan and his youthful apprentice. --Susan Biskeborn

About the Author:

Michael Hoffman is a filmmaker known for creating complex and layered stories with great attention to detail and character. A skilled writer and director, he has worked on both feature films and documentaries, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Emperor's Club, Game of Six, and the ESPN documentary Out of the Blue. The Last Station is his most recent film.

Jay Parini is a professor of English & Creative Writing at Middlebury College in Vermont. A writer and academic, he is best known for his novels and poetry. He is the author of the novel The Last Station, which is now a major motion picture from Sony Classics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0060935561
• ISBN 13: 9780060935566
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320