Customer Reviews
Completely engrossing - By: , 01 Jun 2004 
This book is an excellent read & I would totally recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit more challenging & out of the ordinary. The thirteen year old Lewis Little is a great pair of eyes through which to view the world of the story & the ending was completely unexpected & very effective.
On a side note the writing is excellent & a great antidote to the tube! Definitely worth a bit of time & effort.
A detective story written by a poet - By: J. B. Monfort, 14 Jan 2004 
The book is narrated by Lewis Little, a 13-year-old boy stayingin Paris over the summer holidays whilst his mother, a translator, works on a book by Valentina Gavrilovich, a beautiful Russian author who writes popular Medeival romances.
Lewis & his mother stayin Valentina's spacious luxury apartmentin the centre of Paris. Lewis kills time by taking Valentina's dog Sergei for walks, playing computer chess & reading. Lewis also develops a crush on Valentina, which grows as he turn's 14 & events escalate into full blown love.
One day Valentina dissapears mysteriously & Lewis sets his chess mind to unravelling the mystery & beating the police at finding her.The novel ends dramatically but I won't give it awayin case you have not read it yet.
The novel's strong points are its evocation of a Parisian summer, its poetic, sparkling prose which succesfully transports; its luxurious theme, its occasional humour & as always with Rose Tremain a, sort of, deep symbolic poetry that opens, resonates & illuminates the readers understanding of the charcters & their emotions, & through them, the human conditionin general.
It has been argued that Tremain failedin her ambitious attempt to successfully 'get under the skin' of an adolescent boy. Having been one myself I think this is too harsh a judgement. She understands male obsession very well & the narration is beleivable enough to work. Lewis's precocity is a little exagerated, perhaps. I found myself questioning whether a 13-14 year-old boy could be that wise or emotionally developed & thinking he would be rare individual, remebering how I & my peers behaved. Nevertheless, this did not spoil the story for me.
The novel's weekest point is its ending. It is almost as if Tremain lost her nerve. Once again I have to be careful or I will spoil it but all I will say is that it could have been 'better'.
Disappointing - By: Ariel, 09 Apr 2003 
Though very well written & extremely accurate & vividin its descriptions of Paris, the book is disappointing. The reader can not identify with any of the central characters of the story, not even sympathize with them. They are too strongly characterised (the eccentric writer, the precocious teenager...)or simply no characterised at all to be believable. Lewis Little is even disgusting, sometimes, with his superior attitude & pedantic manners. The plot is intriguing, but the author has given to the criminal side of the story less interest than to the wild thoughts of Lewis. This leads to a rather precipitated denoument which leaves the reader unsatisfied.
A page-turner, but flawed - By: , 08 Jan 2003 I enjoyed this book, but at the same time it frustrated & annoyed me. It's a thriller, with ample suspense & a thoroughly satisfying story & ending, a proper 'denouement' where all the loose ends come togetherin a satisfactory if not satisfying way.
But what annoys me is the way this female writer has tried to write about a young male teenager's thoughts, about his masturbation, physical stimulation, & his fantasies. Much of the detail just doesn't feel right. Am I the first person to review this book who is brave enough to say so? Or am I the first male reviewer?
However, it is a good read nevertheless, but not as good as Music & Silence which is my favourite book of recent years.
Spellbinding - By: , 20 Aug 2002 Wow. I am completely bowled over by the beauty, humour & sometimes disturbing narrative of this book. So beautifully written, I was enthralled from page 1, & quickly found myselfin the heat of a Parisian summer, as a silent observer of Lewis Little & his quirky, funny & occasionally worryingly psychotic observations of life around him.
A great read.
