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| Plot Summary of Daniel Martin |
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"This is Fowles's obvious attempt to write the Great Novel. Daniel Martin, a middle-aged British writer not unlike Fowles, lives in California, writes screenplays, and has a young girlfriend, when word comes from England that an old friend is dying and wants to see him. Martin had been alienated from that circle because he once wrote and staged a play that his friends felt unfairly depicted them. In addition, he had a romantic encounter with his friend's future wife when they were all at Oxford. Martin must journey -- back to England, back into his past -- to make peace and move forward. The novel travels from the pueblo country of the American Southwest to the desert monuments of the ancient Egyptians; it switches back and forth, unaccountably, between first and third person; there are wondrous depictions of the hero's farming childhood right out of Thomas Hardy, and a gorgeous chapter about young first love called "Phillida" ... but it's a slow, stately book which reminds me of Virginia Woolf's remark about _Middlemarch_: it's a novel for grownups."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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"Daniel Martin is a successful scriptwriter in Hollywood with a trophy mistress and lots of material success. He gets a call informing him that his estranged university friend, Anthony, is dying of cancer and wishes to see him to obtain a reconciliation. He returns to England, sees his friend (who then commits suicide), rekindles a romance with the friend's wife, Jane, whom he realizes he should have married years before, finally choosing to give up the success and the mistress in America for real love and meaning with Jane."
Juan Galis-Menendez, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Daniel Martin |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Kind of romance:
- rekindling lost love/marriage
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- midlife crisis
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Coping with loss of loved one(s)
Yes
Loss of...
- good friends
Lover is
- afraid of commitment
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
- society
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a little/some
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 4 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
- California
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Desert?
Yes
City?
Yes
Farm/Ranch?
Yes
Small town?
Yes
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- descript of kissing
- actual description of hetero sex
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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