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The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios

The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios

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The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios

by Martel, Yann

  • Used
  • as new
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
As New
ISBN 10
0151010900
ISBN 13
9780151010905
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About This Item

New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1993. First American Edition. Hardcover. As New. pp. xi, 208. Small 8vo. Appears unread; as new in fine dustjacet.

"Here are four unforgettable stories by the author of Life of Pi. In the exquisite title novella, a very young man dying of AIDS joins his friend in fashioning a story of the Roccamatio family of Helsinki, set against the yearly march of the twentieth century whose horrors and miracles their story echoes. In "The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American composer John Morton," a Canadian university student visits Washington, D.C., and experiences the Vietnam War and its aftermath through an intense musical encounter. In "Manners of Dying," variations of a warden's letter to the mother of a son he has just executed reveal how each life is contained in its end. The final story, "The Mirror Machine", is about a young man who discovers an antique mirror-making machine in his grandmother's attic. The man's fascination with the object is juxtaposed with the longwinded reminiscences it evokes from his grandmother. Written earlier in Martel's career, these tales are as moving as they are thought-provoking, as inventive in form as they are timeless in content. They display that startling mix of dazzle and depth that have made Yann Martel an international phenomenon."

Synopsis

Here are four unforgettable stories by the author of Life of Pi. In the exquisite title novella, a very young man dying of AIDS joins his friend in fashioning a story of the Roccamatio family of Helsinki, set against the yearly march of the twentieth century whose horrors and miracles their story echoes. In "The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American composer John Morton," a Canadian university student visits Washington, D.C., and experiences the Vietnam War and its aftermath through an intense musical encounter. In "Manners of Dying," variations of a warden's letter to the mother of a son he has just executed reveal how each life is contained in its end. The final story, "The Mirror Machine", is about a young man who discovers an antique mirror-making machine in his grandmother's attic. The man's fascination with the object is juxtaposed with the longwinded reminiscences it evokes from his grandmother. Written earlier in Martel's career, these tales are as moving as they are thought-provoking, as inventive in form as they are timeless in content. They display that startling mix of dazzle and depth that have made Yann Martel an international phenomenon.

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Details

Bookseller
Black's Fine Books & Manuscripts CA (CA)
Bookseller's Inventory #
4100
Title
The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios
Author
Martel, Yann
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
New As New
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First American Edition
ISBN 10
0151010900
ISBN 13
9780151010905
Publisher
Harcourt, Inc.
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
1993
Keywords
literary criticism; history; canlit

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