A Curious Earth: A Novel - Softcover

Woodward, Gerard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393330974 ISBN 13: 9780393330977

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008

Synopsis

In this successor to his Man Booker Prize finalist, Gerard Woodward slyly pits defiant Aldous Jones against the hazards of aging.

Left with an empty house after the death of his wife, Aldous Jones is tempted to spend the whole day sitting in his chair in the kitchen. But with admirable determination he resumes old pastimes until, one day, wandering London, he is surprised to find a painting that holds him completely in its spell. Rembrandt's portrait of his housekeeper-turned-mistress, Hendrijcke Stoffels, awakens Jones's desire for a new life, a new woman, sex, and companionship. It leads him to Belgium to stay with his bohemian son, to evening language classes, and through a series of slightly misguided relationships until eventually he meets his Hendrijcke. As The Guardian writes, this work is "brave, funny, and beautifully written, as perceptive about Rembrandt and Shakespeare as it is about evening classes, potato tubers sprouting in neglected cupboards and the accumulated detritus of family life."

About this title

About the Author

Gerard Woodward is the author of the Booker Prize finalist I’ll Go to Bed at Noon and A Curious Earth. He was born in London in 1961, and published several prize-winning collections of poetry before turning to fiction. He is a professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and lives in Bath, England.

From Publishers Weekly

Woodward's I'll Go to Bed at Noon and August were Man Booker and Whitbread finalists, respectively. In his warmly comedic latest, Aldous Jones, following the death of his wife, has retired as an art teacher and begun declining into a fetid self-imposed exile on London's Fernlight Avenue. Daughter Juliette's exasperated comment on Aldous's having failed when he gave up painting long ago rouses him to visit the National Gallery, where he makes a life-changing reacquaintance with a lusty Rembrandt portrait. Son Julian's seeming unraveling and Aldous's short hospital stay following a fall prompt Aldous to visit Julian in Ostend, Belgium; there, a madcap series of encounters ensue with much younger women, one of whom inspires him as the Rembrandt portrait does. Upon returning to London, an inspired Aldous enrolls in a language class, paints madly, travels the city with various odd companions and houses his son James and James's family, leading to further adventures. Persistent themes of aging, illness and art are seamlessly woven in via Woodward's slowly paced and beautifully written prose. Aldous is at once endearing, sad and inspiring, and he's given a vibrant set of foils in the flamboyant supporting cast. His subtle and understated deterioration is funny, haunting and human. (Mar.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0393330974
• ISBN 13: 9780393330977
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 290