""A Private View", a 1994 novel of Anita Brookner, plunges the reader into familiar Brookner territory: the streets of London, including suburbs and restaurants, and the French Riviera, with its dazzling sunsets and indifferent waiters. his time, the protaganist is a 65-year old retired businessman faced with retirement without his longtime friend, Putnam, who died suddenly, just as the two were about to embark on a trip to the Far East.
George Bland, the name is significant), thinks his love for a fortune-seeker who camps out in his neighbors' apartment without their knowledge, will save him from a lonely end of life, despite her indifference to his passion. Although he knows she will never return his feeling, he thinks living with her will set him free from an otherwise lackluster existence. How Brooker builds the novel to a climax with a series of very sublte changes, is fascinating, and exhibits her mastery of her minimalist style."
Betty-Jeanne Korson, Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of A Private View
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- depressed
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Love problems?
- Obession with uninterested person
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- business executive
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- thief/con artist
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an above average amount
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 9 (quite a lot)
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- touching of anatomy
- descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
