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Synopsis
Lovable rogues Jake and Michel leave their friends at "The Unicorn," their favorite local tavern in Belgium, to embark on a picaresque odyssey of booze and gambling to make their fortunes amid the glitter of Las Vegas casinos. By the author of The Sorrow of Belgium. 10,000 first printing.
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Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Dutch
From Kirkus Reviews
This cross-continental tale of Belgian gamblers seeking their fortunes in Las Vegas is the latest (1994) novel from the internationally acclaimed Flemish author of The Sorrow of Belgium (1990) and The Swordfish (p. 239). It's a fragmented story that begins in a bar called ``The Unicorn,'' whose regulars include Claus's unnamed narrator and a group of cronies burdened with colorful monikers (Felix the Cat, Rev'em-up Red, and so forth) who seem to have been transplanted to Europe from Cannery Row. Two of them, dark, brooding (half- Portuguese) Michel and enormously overweight Jake, impulsively light out for America, first to Los Angeles, then eastward to Vegas and the gaming tables. As the keen, ferretlike Michel and ``the sluggish, sleeping giant'' who accompanies him make their way through the various temptations offered by their newfound land, Claus builds a hilarious picture of southwestern American neon splendor (several abrasive hookers make vivid cameo appearances, and a Christian fundamentalist rancher takes Jake and Michel to a revival meeting that features an aging, foulmouthed Jerry Lee Lewis). These sequences are variously reminiscent of the inspired demolitions of trash-culture Americana accomplished decades ago by Evelyn Waugh and Nabokov, as well as Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust. But there's more to the novel: sporadic returns back to Belgium, where the Unicorn's denizens comment on their missing buddies and Jake's abandoned wife struggles to tend their brain-damaged daughter; and occasional appearances by the ghost of Rickabone, their late wastrel companion, who seems to represent his survivors' darker side. Arresting conceptions and vigorous writing abound, but- -except for an inchoate pattern of ironical allusions to the biblical Jacob (who, unlike his namesake, amassed great wealth and experienced a vision of eternity)--none of this adds up to a coherent novel. The Sorrow of Belgium was almost a masterpiece. Desire is a curiosity that reads like Hugo Claus's American Notes, not yet reshaped into fiction. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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- PublisherViking Adult
- Publication date1997
- ISBN 10 0670867462
- ISBN 13 9780670867462
- BindingHardcover
- LanguageEnglish
- Edition number1
- Number of pages224
- Rating
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Desire
Seller: Powell's Bookstores Chicago, ABAA, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Used - Very Good. 1997. Hardcover. Very Good. Seller Inventory # D72123
Quantity: 1 available
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Desire
Published by
Viking Press, New York, 1997
ISBN 10: 0670867462
ISBN 13: 9780670867462
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: zenosbooks, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Very Good in Dustjacket. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. New York. 1997. December 1997. Viking Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0670867462. Translated from the Dutch by Stacey Knecht. 211 pages. hardcover. Cover: Martin Ogolter/Ellen von Unwerth. keywords: Europe Belgium Netherlannds Dutch Literature Translated World Literature. DESCRIPTION - Jake and Michel are two rogues with respective hearts of gold. Their desire for booze and betting entitles them to front-row stools at the Unicorn, the local tavern in their Belgian village. But one morning they are overcome by more urgent desires, needs that can't be fulfilled in the Unicorn. And so they head for the promised land of silk and money: Las Vegas. It doesn't take long before that animal called desire rears its ugly head on both sides of the Atlantic, resulting in horrible acts - both damning, and sending shock waves across two worlds. Two forms of desire go afoul of each other, revealing the dark menace lurking behind the facade of glitter and glamour in the New World, of friendship and innocence in the Old World. Commenting on the turmoil at the Unicorn and on Jake and Michel's hell-raising in the gambling casinos and nightclubs is the ghost of larger-than-life Rickabone: card shark, layabout, wayfarer, ne'er-do-well, barroom sage. inventory #24689. Seller Inventory # z24689
Quantity: 1 available
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Desire
Published by
Penguin Books Canada, Limited, Toronto, ON, Canada, 1997
ISBN 10: 0670867462
ISBN 13: 9780670867462
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Willis Monie-Books, ABAA, Cooperstown, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Seller Inventory # 54244
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DESIRE (First Edition)
Published by
Viking, New York,, 1997
ISBN 10: 0670867462
ISBN 13: 9780670867462
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Dan Pope Books, West Hartford, CT, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. 1st Edition. First printing. Correct number line, including the 1. A fine book in a fine dust jacket. A tight copy, new and unread, without any marks or defects. Dust jacket is clean and bright with price of $24.95 intact on front flap. Comes with archival-quality dust jacket protector. Shipped in well padded box. Smoke-free. Rear Stacks. Seller Inventory # 3710
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Desire
Seller: Glands of Destiny First Edition Books, Sedro Woolley, WA, U.S.A.
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hardcover. Condition: Like New. Dust Jacket Condition: Like New. First American Edition. Publisher: Viking, New York, 1997. FINE hardcover book in FINE mylar-protected dust-jacket. First Edition, First Printing. Pristine. As new. Unread. Seller Inventory # 2212040004
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DESIRE.
Published by
New York: Viking, (1997) dj, 1997
ISBN 10: 0670867462
ISBN 13: 9780670867462
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Bookfever, IOBA (Volk & Iiams), Ione, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover first edition - First US printing. Novel by the Flemish author of the highly acclaimed "The Sorrow of Belgium." A "cross-continental tale of Belgian gamblers seeking their fortunes in Las Vegas . . [It] begins in a bar called 'The Unicorn,' whose regulars includea group of cronies with colorful monikers. . Two of them, dark, brooding (half-Portuguese) Michel and enormously overweight Jake, impulsively light out for America, first to Los Angeles, then eastward to Vegas and the gaming tables. . . Claus builds a hilarious picture of southwestern American neon splendor . . [with] sequences variously reminiscent of the inspired demolitions of trash-culture Americana accomplished decades ago by Evelyn Waugh and Nabokov, as well as Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust." (Kirkus) Translated by Stacey Knecht. 211 pp. Very near fine in a like dustjacket. Seller Inventory # 78658
Quantity: 1 available
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Desire (Review Copy)
Published by
Viking (New York)., 1997
ISBN 10: 0670867462
ISBN 13: 9780670867462
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Dan Pope Books, West Hartford, CT, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. First printing. Correct number line, including the 1. A fine book in a fine dust jacket. A tight copy, which appears unread, without any marks or defects. Dust jacket is clean and bright with price of $24.95 intact on front flap. Comes with archival-quality dust jacket protector. Shipped in well padded box. Smoke-free. Review Copy, with publisher's publicity letter. Stacks-C. Seller Inventory # jean0391
Quantity: 1 available
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Desire
Seller: Quinto Bookshop, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Translated by Stacey Knecht. Black paper boards with black lettering to black cloth spine. Fine in fine unclipped dust jacket designed by Martin Ogolter. *** A huge name in The Netherlands and his home country Belgium, only very few books by this prolific author have been translated into English. The best-known of these is his magnum opus The Sorrow of Belgium (1984/translated in 1990). Desire was originally published in 1978 as Het verlangen and follows the adventures of two Belgium misfits in Las Vegas. Seller Inventory # 000262
Quantity: 1 available