The Exile - Softcover

Kotzwinkle, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0525483780 ISBN 13: 9780525483786

Publisher: Plume, 1988

Synopsis

Shifting between Hollywood and the underworld of Nazi Germany, this novel follows the adventures of a celebrated movie star as he becomes a Berlin black marketeer hunted by the Gestapo

About this title

Review

"Spine chilling... a compelling read." Cosmopolitan
 
"A minstrel of the written word, a sorcerer of language... Readers will close The Exile... knowing they have witnessed an astonishing feat. They have just seen Kotzwinkle throw a high wire
across an abyss, and then dance across it with effortless ease." Chicago Tribune
 
"You'll laugh a lot -- until you find yourself terrified with a fear too basic to have been created by a studio's special effects department." Book-of-the-Month Club
 

"Kotzwinkle takes readers on a journey that is alternately comic and better still, deliciously creepy." Publishers Weekly
 
"Whether he's dealing with a fragmented personality or a tear in time, Kotzwinkle sets two wildly different worlds side-by-side... catching the special ambience of each. A tantalizing novel." Houston Chronicle
 
"Filled with intrigue, sex, torture, and Wagnerian brooding... the comedy, despair, horror and technical storytelling delight make this an ambiguous, entertaining, unsettling performance." New York Times

"Kotzwinkle has both a macabre power of invention and a countervailing gift of social comedy. Hugh Walpole wrote this kind of book but he never did better." Buffalo News
 
"To lose one's mind is ghastly enough, but what if there's someone else out there to find it and keep it?... A first-rate storyteller." Los Angeles Times
 
"A marvelous novel, full of adventure and characters you will grow to know and admire." The Desert Sun, Palm Springs
 
"A powerful book." Jewish Chronicle
 
"Kotzwinkle at his best." Rocky Mount News

"Weird and creepy, and enjoyable... a great storyteller." Book Browsing, Radio Station WWFL
 
"Shows a phenomenal knowledge of Germany." Ullcus Molle
 
"Succeeds with an amazing power of imagination and a gift of storytelling, with a brilliant feeling for originality and a stunning shining wit. He draws the reader under his spell like a glittering Pied Piper and proves what a brilliantly inspired writing virtuoso he is." Raiffeissenverband
 
"A joy to read." Neue Westfalische
 
"The most sparkling American writer alive." Bremer Blatt

From Publishers Weekly

Kotzwinkle's delightful new book seamlessly blends two genres: a sardonic, realistic Hollywood novel and an alluring psychologicalor is it occult?mystery. Middle-aged actor David Caspian, living in the Hollywood of properties, deals, unflappably pushy agents and wickedly self-deprecating chit-chat, begins to have hallucinations. He imagines himself a black marketer in Nazi Germany, trading in everything from nylons to stolen masterpieces. Most disturbingly, when his mind dissolves into this "fourth dimension," his Nazi counterpart appears also to imagine himself crossing over. David's psychiatrist patiently works with him; his wife and daughter begrudge what they consider his desertion; and amidst the wise-cracking, cynical milieu of the cinema's company town, David's concern grows: Where will this lead? There's much fun to be had in The Exile, where Kotzwinkle (Queen of Swords, etc.) takes readers on a journey that is alternately comic and, better still, deliciously creepy.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Plume
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0525483780
• ISBN 13: 9780525483786
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 277