Items related to Learning to Drive
Synopsis
Thirty-seven-year-old Julian Orr successfully turns his back on a painful childhood by consuming himself in his work for a New York tabloid and a fashion magazine, until visits, for the first time, his parents grave and faces his past, as a nightmarish series of events spins out of control. Tour.
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Review
If there is one subject with which William Norwich, gossip columnist for the New York Observer and editor at large for Vogue, is familiar, it is the wacky life of a New York gossip columnist. So it makes sense that Norwich choose that life as the launching point for his first novel. From there the book takes a sharp turn: columnist/protagonist Julian Orr decides at age 37 to learn to drive, enrolls in a driving school, clashes with his driving instructor, and then takes a wild ride in the netherworld of famous people outside of Manhattan.
From Kirkus Reviews
In Vogue columnist Norwich's lead-footed debut, a tabloid- ready tale of fatal mayhem on the way to the Department of Motor Vehicles is punctuated with slightly more affecting flashbacks to the not-yet-licensed driver's sad childhood. Julian Orr chronicles society parties for a New York daily and also works for a Vogue-like magazine called View. His therapist urges him to learn to drive so that he can go to Connecticut and visit his parents' graves. Julian enrolls in a driving school, but on the big morning of his road test, Hector, his instructor, calls to cancel. After a furious Julian threatens the manager of the school with a critical newspaper piece, Hector is ordered to show up. Bad idea. Hector arrives with his seven-year-old daughter in tow, and it's soon clear that he's on the verge of a breakdown. He insults Julian, punches him, and ultimately hits and kills an elderly woman. When the police stop the car, Hector starts shooting and is also killed. Julian saves Hector's daughter, whom he decides he wants to keep. In short order, Julian gets his license, doesn't get custody of the girl, and drives himself to the cemetery for his poignant graveside moment. This ghastly tale--told in a light satiric tone jarringly at odds with the tragic events described--is punctuated with vignettes from Julian's young life. We learn that toddler Julian slept in his kind father's bed while his mother slept in another room, that he was molested by a male counselor at the Enchanted Woods camp, and that he was orphaned during his adolescence. How does any of this relate to poor Hector? The connection between the two stories is as obscure as the relevance of the learning-to-drive metaphor. An uneasy blend of satire and mourning, unleavened by either society dish or genuine insight. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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- PublisherTRAFALGAR SQUARE +
- Publication date1996
- ISBN 10 0747219001
- ISBN 13 9780747219002
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages214
- Rating
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Learning to Drive
Published by
Headline, London, 1996
ISBN 10: 0747219001
ISBN 13: 9780747219002
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: PsychoBabel & Skoob Books, Didcot, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition, First Printing. First edition, first printing hard cover, with unclipped dust jacket, both in very good condition. Light shelf and handling wear, including minor creasing to DJ edges, corners and folds, light rubbing, and tanning to pageblock head, leading into page edges. Boards are in fine condition, pages are tightly bound, and content is unmarked. CN. Used. Seller Inventory # 541997
Quantity: 1 available