Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear - Hardcover

Weber, Katharine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517598906 ISBN 13: 9780517598900

Publisher: Crown, 1995

Synopsis

Already excerpted in The New Yorker, Katherine Weber's witty first novel of attraction and deception, a tale with the sensibility of a Margaret Atwood, pulses with cultural references and word games that echo Nabokov.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

rpted in <b>The New Yorker,</b> Katherine Weber's witty first novel of attraction and deception, a tale with the sensibility of a Margaret Atwood, pulses with cultural references and word games that echo Nabokov.

Reviews

Tender and funny and sometimes jolting, this is a first novel of remarkable accomplishment. It tells of a young, thoughtful photographer, Harriet Rose, her newfound love for a young artist and a few surreal weeks in her life when she goes to Geneva to stay with an old friend, Anne Gordon, who is embroiled in a deeply unsuitable affair with a married man. Both of them had childhoods scarred by tragic loss: Harriet is kept afloat by humor, her art (she is obsessed with reflected images) and her love for levelheaded Benedict Thorne; but Anne drowns in desperate aloneness, snatching at selfish lust as love. In outline it sounds like a grim tale, but in fact Weber's sly and prickly wit, her delight in the farcical aspects of the most tragic situations and her sure sense of the rewards?and limits?of feminine friendship cast a life-enhancing glow over the proceedings. Her elegant narrative voice, rife with little puns and pop-culture throwaways, can cope equally well with a darkly hilarious account of growing up in Queens and the shenanigans of a deeply selfish Auschwitz survivor. There may, as in many first novels, be personal material here, but if so it has been alchemized into something decidedly rich and strange. It will be fascinating to see what Weber does next.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Weber's novel is compelling from the outset, due in large part to an enchantingly vulnerable, articulate, clever, yet candid protagonist, Harriet Rose, a photographer enjoying both the accolades of the New York art world and a delirious new love (who appears to be "the one" ). With breathtaking intensity, Harriet's journal entries reveal the quandary of her visit to Geneva, where closest friend Anne is having an affair with a married man, a survivor of Auschwitz. Having left Benedict behind in the U.S., Harriet can only ruminate in writing as to the meaning of Anne's confusing new life. Then, Weber digresses; pondering Harriet's own disturbing family secrets, glimpsing Anne's darkest thoughts, and finally, bringing Harriet and Benedict back together for the dramatic conclusion. This well-crafted debut heralds a masterly fiction writer. Alice Joyce

Harriet is a photographer who has won a travel grant to Geneva. There, she stays with her former Eighth Street roommate, Anne, who is working for an international business whose function is unclear. Harriet writes to her lover, Benedict, about her concern for her friend: Anne has changed. She is having an affair with a married man who survived Auschwitz with her father and seems confused and sad. Harriet's picture-taking allows her to see through the lens what is not visible to the eye as she looks at her life and that of her friend. She reminds us that what is seen in mirrors may offer a distorted view of reality. This well-written first novel combines both tragedy and a happily-ever-after conclusion. Recommended.?Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0517598906
• ISBN 13: 9780517598900
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 262