The Coconut Book / First Edition, 1st Printing

Maynard, Richard

ISBN 10: 0394553004 / ISBN 13: 9780394553009

Published by Grove Pr, 1988

About this Item

Hardcover, Condition: Very Good, some rubbing/wear to board edges and corners, slight slant to the book binding, no marks or stamps, Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good, due to wear to edges at corners and spine edges with tiny tears, wrapped in protective mylar wrap, small format, 8.5" x 5.75", 174 pages, First Grove Press Edition 1986, 1st Printing with full # print line 5 4 3 2 1 as printed on copyright page, Original $15.95 price Not clipped,

Seller Inventory # ABE-1719779512231

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Coconut Book / First Edition, 1st Printing
• Publisher: Grove Pr
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394553004
• ISBN 13: 9780394553009
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

Passengers on a yacht find a coconut that contains a paperback book in which a castaway has recorded his experiences on a desert island

Reviews

Maynard's first novel, already acclaimed in England, is an impressive debut. It is a haunting psychological version of Robinson Crusoe that captures the trials of a man in isolation, fighting to survive physically and mentally on a sandy, barrensave for seven coconut treesisland in the South Pacific. We are never told his name, his age or even what he looks like beyond the sketchiest clues. The narrative is, in fact, a story within a story, for the enigma of the castaway is brought to light when a coconut containing a written account of his ordeal is discovered by vacationers who search for him unsuccessfully. The diary represents this modern-day Crusoe's attempt to keep his sanity. Visited by people he once knew, he realizes they are hallucinations but nonetheless discusses philosophy with them. He stretches himself, having to improvise implements to stay alive. When he runs out of paper, we understand he has also reached the end of his mental tether. In terse, understated prose, Maynard grippingly evokes the loneliness, fear and mounting despair of a man isolated from the human community.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Islands are the foundations for dreams," writes the narrator of Maynard's first novel. He has found floating in the South Pacific a hollow coconut that contains the diary of a nameless man whose small plane crashed near a tiny, nameless island. The details of this man's story sound ridiculous in summary, but they accumulate to produce a compelling drama of a mind struggling to maintain both life and sanity: "What I feel is reality, yet I must recognize that as distinct from truth." To overcome loneliness, he hazards the creation of an imaginary companion. Their dialogues on the instinct for self-preservation begin urgently but dwindle to the metaphysical speculation of a mind intellectually unprepared for such a task. Happily, his shortcomings as a philosopher do not interfere with our growing sympathy with for this captivating figure. Hugh M. Crane, Brockton P.L . , Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.