The Elephant (Signed)

Rayner, Richard

ISBN 10: 0224030051 / ISBN 13: 9780224030052

Published by Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1991

About this Item

A First edition, First printing. Signed by the author, without inscription. Near fine book, near fine DW. "The 1991 novel The Elephant by author Richard Rayner, a coming-of-age story about the son of a provincial undertaker in northern England. The book explores themes of truth, lies, family myths, and emotional change through the complex relationship between the narrator, Headingly Hamer, and his enigmatic, extravagant father, Jack.".

Seller Inventory # 01129

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Elephant (Signed)
• Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0224030051
• ISBN 13: 9780224030052
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Weight: 17 ounces
• Signed: Signed

About this title

Synopsis

Jonathan Cape,, (1991). Fine in fine dust jacket.. First printing. Author's highly praised second novel, described as a "wonderfully written, vividly described, hilariously tragic and almost elegiac memorial to a childhood dominated by an unreliable father." SIGNED on the title page by the author, and uncommon thus.

From Kirkus Reviews

A Yorkshire journalist finds himself overdrawn at the Bank of Morality as he competes with the mythic image of his lying, boozing, womanizing father; Rayner (Los Angeles Without a Map, 1989) dishes out loaded material with surprisingly little impact. Narrator Headingley (named for a cricket field) Hamer comes on strong with a voice that teases, crackles, and compels throughout the first chapter: an invented pickup scene; fast, sharp ruminations about morality; an account of childhood with an undertaker-father (who, during a death shortage, fights for his market share by sabotaging his competitors' hearses) and with a sister ``who read the stories of Edgar Allan Poe as if they were newspaper reports.'' Hamer senior has an obsession about ``going to see the elephant''--his code for pursuing risk and emotional extravagance through megalomaniac lies and gestures, criminal connections, and femmes fatales. When his wife leaves him, he lies in a coffin crying and tells the children that she's died. But, alas, once past the opening, Rayner can't maintain his grip, and the story goes flat in spite of orgies, a murderous villain, a faked death, father and son ``corking'' each other's women, and even a scene in which Headingley and his brother corner the old man and try to kill him. Rayner's narrator often addresses the reader, explicitly seeking to seduce. At first he comes close to scoring, but as his account degenerates--becomes long-winded, confused, even tedious- -it's ultimately easy to say no. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.