I found myself getting really fed up with this book even though I know it is probably a work of art. Passage by passage it is a study in literature. But oh my god he does go on and on. As an Ebook its often hard to know exactly just how much you have left to read and I wasn't fully aware of how long this book is!
I got to a point where I just wanted it to end. I know the seven narrators relate somehow to the seven types etc. Basically a decent story, good premise and interesting enough to pursue to the end and even though the characters and situations are compelling I felt this book is a bit self-indulgent and overwrought. Still-well-written enough to merit 4 stars. From here, the story follows a path taken by The Slap, or the movie Rashomon. As the stories separate and then intersect each other the reader is challenged to consider the ambiguities and self-deceptions which crowd a novel which will linger long in the memory.
One person found this helpful. The first time I read Elliot Perlman's Seven Types of Ambiguity I was very impressed by the fact that the same story could be recounted by several different narrators without a dull moment, cover to cover. This novel gives new meaning to the concept of "repetition with a difference. Seven Types of Ambiguity is, above all, a psychological thriller. It tells the story of Simon's obsessive love for his former college girlfriend, Anna, who left him ten years earlier.
But the novel's strength in creating dramatic tension out of a relatively small psychological event also turned out to be a stumbling block the second time I read it. Because, ultimately, Simon was not a compelling character. In fact, none of the main characters were. This novel is an absolute masterpiece in layering its narration in concentric circles around a main event through radically different points of view with distinct personalities and voices.
Yet, in my estimation, Seven Types of Ambiguity wasn't as strong in creating three-dimensional characters. For a novel built upon psychological suspense and the strength of its characterizations, this is a weakness that can't be completely overlooked. One of the best books that I read this year. Unique blend of incredible story line, knowledge of human psyche, philosophy, intrigue and sensitivity. When you read it, you live the life of every portrayed character quite naturally, without any laboured push from the author. Maybe I also feel so close to this book because the story it tells, happens in Melbourne, in particular at St.
When I first came to Melbourne I used to live in this area, it has a special place in my heart. Perlman has become one of my favourite writers. He has performed well with Seven Types of Ambiguity. After that it became gripping and challenging in the best way, I guess this is another ambiguity? He explores , as he does in his other books I have read, contemporary and very relevant issues.
He is not afraid of delving into apsects of life which have, under Victorian morality, been taboo. So most people know of the Rashomon effect but I believe this to be one of the best tellings all intertwined in relationship after relationship. The layers are intense. The story is so believable yet so crazy but isn't that what life is made of? It is a large book but the chapters within the seven parts, for me, made it appear smaller. I look forward to watching the TV series soon. See all reviews.
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There's a problem loading this menu right now. Learn more about Amazon Prime. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Not Enabled Word Wise: Not Enabled Screen Reader: Enabled Amazon Best Sellers Rank: Seven Types of Ambiguity sits there in it's fat-arse smugness daring me to not hold true to my word I've owned the fucker since ! Actually it gets worse, I think I know deep down inside that I am going to abandon Perlman, yet again and just can't face it.
But also 1Q84 is three million pages long and I feel nauseous at the very thought of it. I'll have a cup of tea and give it one last go. My life is really hard at the moment and I just want a book to sweep me away from in-real-life shitfuckery. Not add more stress and guilt to my life. Fuck you Perlman, you verbose, dashing sod. Oct 24, Alex rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: I got this book for Christmas two years ago from my family and was immediately intimidated by the size of the book, and the fact that it was given to me by my family, who know little about what kind of stuff I read.
I was very pleasantly suprised to find that I was immediately hooked after the first chapter. This might be my favorite, uh, modern dramatic novel ever. The story is really great and the characters are very interesting and real as well. Perlman's voice is hypnotic. He sounds like he's I got this book for Christmas two years ago from my family and was immediately intimidated by the size of the book, and the fact that it was given to me by my family, who know little about what kind of stuff I read.
He sounds like he's drunk as he writes it and this makes the book pretty interesting to read. The whole thing reads like a last minute confession and oftentimes Perlman's writing manages to resonate in such a way it seems as if the characters were talking about you rather than some other person in the book. Feb 09, Linda rated it really liked it Shelves: A gripping and hard to put down page-turner! Like someone in my reading group said, this book was like reading juicy gossip, but only more so since you also get a view into what each person is thinking.
Each part is told from a different character's POV, so once you have an impression of someone, that impression can easily change once the same character is viewed from another POV - very interesting way of presenting a story. View all 4 comments. Nov 20, Paul Bryant rated it liked it Shelves: Deduct one star for yet another version of the tart-with-the-heart-of-gold.
That male fantasy has more legs than a centipede. View all 11 comments.
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Jun 04, Matt rated it it was amazing. This is by far and away the longest book I have ever reached the end of. From the first two paragraphs I was hooked. The way Perlman writes about the protagonist's endearing - but ultimately over-romanticised and distorted - memories of his ex- grabbed me immediately. The image of the thoughtful, sexy woman, hair held with chopsticks, donning tortoise-shell glasses, sipping diet coke and reading in the bay window is a fantasy I share in, albeit a fairly pathetic and cliched one.
I found the chang This is by far and away the longest book I have ever reached the end of. I found the changing narrative perspectives at once disorientating and engaging; it gave a freshness to each chapter, providing a subtly different version of events, whilst still propelling the plot forwards and tying up the previous chapters' loose ends. The novel takes in literature, poetry who knew about the Ern Malley hoax, prior to Perlman's novel?
It is an ambitious novel; reading it is a major undertaking, but it was all worth it. If you get the time, please read it. Dec 24, Leigh rated it it was amazing. If you love words and imaginative phrases, this is a book that cannot be missed. Near truths about ourselves and the capacity of those we love. The story itself is a ambitious and boldly intellectual tale told from seven perspectives about kidnapping and lost love. It's a little Jonathan Franzen, a little David Foster Wal If you love words and imaginative phrases, this is a book that cannot be missed.
Perhaps I should let Ambiguity speak for itself: The myth of you. You have, perhaps become shy around empathy. It makes you uncomfortable now. You can live without it in the elaborately designed artifice that surrounds the swimming pool Simon and I have sat by.
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You really do live without it. Perhaps people ought to feel with more imagination. Mar 15, Shelby added it. Seven Types of Ambiguity is divided into seven chapters, each narrated by a different character. At the center of the story is Simon Heywood, and he's obsessed with Anna who left him a decade ago. Anna is unhappily married to Joe, but she stays in the marriage because of her son. Simon kidnaps her son in an attempt to win her back, creating havoc that boomerangs through many lives, including his psychiatrist and his friend, a prostitute who has Joe as one of her clients.
The title is borrowed fr Seven Types of Ambiguity is divided into seven chapters, each narrated by a different character. The title is borrowed from literary critic's William Empson book about poetic ambiguities. Elliot Perlman explores the ambiguities and complexities of modern life and the chaos caused by greed, commerce, and self-indulgence. Seven Types of Ambiguity has received mixed reviews with BookPage saying, "This page tome might be difficult to pick up, but it's almost impossible to put down.
Seven Types of Ambiguity is, without question, one of the best novels I have ever read. With that said, I am having a difficult time coming up with a way to describe what it's about without giving too much away.
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At its center, there's a kidnapping, but to say that this novel is about kidnapping is akin to saying that Don Quixote is about windmills. There is a kidnapping, yes, but the true heart of this novel is in the characters and their varied reactions to it. Told in seven chapters, each narra Seven Types of Ambiguity is, without question, one of the best novels I have ever read. Told in seven chapters, each narrated by a different voice who might not or might not be directly affected by the crime, Perlman's novel is a masterful work of emotion and turmoil that ranks as one of the bets novels to hail from Australia in quite some time.
May 08, Margaret rated it it was amazing. Over pages of intellectual, emotional and intelligent brilliance. It hurts to think how many people would not like, or even understand, this book. On page , there is a discussion about "unremitting acuity". There is a "division between those people who are burdened by the clarity with which they see the world and those who are not. For those who are not, no semblance of emotional statis or equilibrium is threatened only by things particular to them But what about the o Beyond masterful.
But what about the other group, those who, if only fleetingly and from time to time, are encumbered by their perception of the way the world really is? Feb 02, Robin rated it liked it. That being said, this book was an interesting look at one event and its consequences through the eyes and experiences of several intertwined lives. I stand corrected - this IS the book I meant to read. My earlier thinking about this must have been ambiguous. Dec 04, Saya rated it it was amazing. Even bitchy ole me can't find 'owt wrong with this book. It's a triumph, really.
Smart without being pretentious, gripping, well written, set in one of my favourite places and the characterisation is superb, and that's understating it. Difficult to believe it's his first novel, or even his third. Out of the 20 odd books I've consumed in the last month and a half or so, this was the best. The best this year even. Maybe the best since I can remember.
Wish so much there was more where that came from Even bitchy ole me can't find 'owt wrong with this book. Wish so much there was more where that came from. In the wrong hands, this masterful psychological drama could have been a huge disaster. Centered around the kidnapping of a little boy, there's a lot going on here -- complicated contemporary adult relationships, dysfunctional parent-child relationships both past and present, infidelity, career challenges, the state of Australia's national health insurance, the law, psychiatry, sex, religion, gambling, Billie Holiday, Abel Meeropol And if these modern, somewhat commonplace l In the wrong hands, this masterful psychological drama could have been a huge disaster.
And if these modern, somewhat commonplace life situations are not enough, Perlman's novel also explores the complicated theories practiced by obscure early 20th c. According to the novel and Wikipedia, Empson's seven types of ambiguity are: This concept is similar to that of metaphysical conceit. Empson characterizes this as using two different metaphors at once. Empson describes a simile that lies halfway between two statements made by the author. In fact, Perlman's novel is constructed to reflect Empson's seven, divided into seven distinct parts, with details of the kidnapping told from each of the seven main characters' points of view.
Truth be told, I found some of these relationships a bit unbelievable and too coincidental in how almost everyone, despite their varied backgrounds and the novel being set in the major city of Melbourne, Australia, become involved with each other in some intricate way. Besides the captivating criminal plotline, I liked the character portrayals of each of the seven characters.
I also liked the philosophies the author presents, along with the larger and wildly varying themes explored here, like why men go to prostitutes, the individual vs. The razor sharp commentary on the modern trend of literary deconstructivism and its larger implications on society was also particularly fascinating. This is a great big novel that is worth the oftentimes arduous read.
I didn't give Seven Types of Ambiguity five stars, because I found some of the linkages a little too convenient and, as such, a little bit implausible. Finally, I'd like to thank fellow Goodreader Jill for her awesome recommendation of this brilliant novel, which I read for Goodreads' challenge: As of Aug , I can't seem to locate the series in the US, but if anyone knows where to get it, please let me know.
Nov 10, Magdelanye rated it it was amazing Shelves: If you are not with the zeitgeist, if you are a victim of it or if you resist it, you're out in the cold. You are left to sell crafts at weekend markets EP in his fluid prose has unpacked for us seven perspectives, illuminating the complexity that riddles even the simplest facts.
I especially appreciate how, in this If you are not with the zeitgeist, if you are a victim of it or if you resist it, you're out in the cold. I especially appreciate how, in this determined inquiry into the ethics of desire, EP refrains from moralizing, allowing the reader to piece together their own conclusions.
I can imagine that a familiarity with the original literary classic of the same name might enhance but is not essential for sheer enjoyment. Feb 01, Philippe rated it really liked it Shelves: I can't deny I enjoyed this book. Having the story unfold through the prism of different characters is not an original find, but a classic narrative device that is very effectively deployed here by Elliot Perlman.
Each of the sections really breathes the spirit of the narrator. The spiritual and emotional wasteland of Joe's mind, Mitch's staccato intelligence, the suav I can't deny I enjoyed this book. The spiritual and emotional wasteland of Joe's mind, Mitch's staccato intelligence, the suave, Central-European worldview of Alex, and the immature persona of his daughter are all admirably reflected in the prose.
But something in this book leaves me craving for more. As a reader I am always looking for ideas, for some kind of conceptual backbone, also in a novel. I have been wondering what "Seven Types of Ambiguity", despite its alluring title, has to offer on this account. What is this book really about? But then I find myself thinking we should perhaps dig deeper into the book's thin varnish of economic and literary critique. Capitalism and deconstructionism indeed seem to share a mentality of "anything goes", something which the protagonist of this book loathes as poisonous and immoral.
Ambiguities of Love in Six Stories by Frank Pelaschuk (2014, Paperback)
Surely this provides us with a clue to unravel this quixotic plot? However, the final chapter seems to belie this hypothesis. True, there is a victim, but apart from Dr. Klima's improbable demise, this is a truly disappointing happy end. Suddenly, the tensions that have been built up subterraneously over hundreds of pages evaporate. Simon's weltschmerz and rebellious attack on post-industrial civilisation acquiesce in return for the spoils of an academic career. Almost everything falls neatly into place. Even Joe seems happy selling cars.
But then again one wonders: Is this a game of double layers and "fake" endings? That's the trouble with this book: That's the deconstructionist strategy par excellence. If Perlman intended it as such, he might well be a genius of ambiguity. But if he really intended to write a serious book about "all the terrible things that have been happening to our society in the last ten or twenty years" as he seemed to suggest in an interview I am afraid he has been punching above his weight.
Feb 08, Soycd rated it liked it. A relationship between two people, just like a sequence of words, is ambiguous if it is open to different interpretations. Seven Types of Ambiguity brings all the perspectives together to try to get a look at the whole picture. Simon Heywood is an unemployed teacher who decides to seek "There's the ambiguity of human relationships, for instance. Simon Heywood is an unemployed teacher who decides to seek psychological treatment for his unhealthy fixation with Anna, an ex girlfriend Simon has idealized to the point of obsession.
Shortly after, he finds himself at the center of a national scandal when he decides to kidnap Anna's son. That is the event that sets the action in motion. This book is divided into seven parts and each segment is narrated by a different character that adds a layer of intricacy to the story. When I began reading this I thought that the structure and premise were wonderfully thought out by the author.
I couldn't wait for the story to unfold and get into the head of these extremely flawed individuals to put the puzzle together. But by the time I got to the third and fourth point of view, I started getting a little underwhelmed by the story. The first narrator is Alex Clima, Simon's psychiatrist. It's not long before you realize he could use a little therapy himself. He is a deeply troubled person and a very intriguing character. There is the shallow materialistic woman with an unsatisfying marriage; her husband, a man who seeks company in prostitutes; the hooker with the heart of gold, and two other people that add nothing to the story.
The last narrator is Clima's daughter and her point of view functions as an epilogue, but it is a very anticlimactic conclusion to the story. The book is enjoyable but it never reaches full potential. Overall it was an entertaining book but it also feels like a missed opportunity. May 13, Krystal rated it liked it.
This was definitely a page turner of a book. It is split into 7 parts - with 6 different narrators.
Of course, all these 6 narrators are linked to each other, whether they know it or not. What I appreciated about this book: I love a story told from different perspectives. It's so intriguing to see how a different character views the same relationship or same scenario.
It brings the world to life in a more accurate way: It also means you avoid boredom, as a new This was definitely a page turner of a book. It also means you avoid boredom, as a new perspective generally breathes new life into a book. I also liked the concept: How one person in a relationship perceives that relationship can be entirely contrasted with how the other person perceives it.
As you reflect on the book, you can't help reflecting on your own relationships - curious about how the other people involved perceive you and your relationship with them. What I did not appreciate about this book: Three main things irked me - firstly, that the six narrators were too similar. People talk and think in different voices, and I simply did not feel each character was properly brought to life in a believable way. I found the male characters much more believable than the females, which brings me to my second issue.
Elliot writes in a very masculine voice and I just did not relate to his female characters as fellow women! I've never experienced this so strongly in a book before this. I think this wasn't helped by his clear fascination with prostitution. I don't have a problem with a book depicting this but nearly every character had a very detailed connection and story with the prostitute. I suppose this brings me to my third issue. It was just a very negative view on life, which left me after every read feeling quite depressed!
I have read many stories of hardship both true and fictional but they have all had much more light and shade to them. Human experience is so rarely all bad! I know I could be attacked for speaking from my own perspective as I have not experienced a life of hardship but I just think, and have heard from close friends who have had lives of hardship - they have moments of beauty and joy, amongst the struggles. This book didn't give this and I really missed it. Overall a good read, but definitely not a favourite that I would ever read again. Sep 17, Michael Battaglia rated it it was amazing.
There's bad ideas, there's monumentally bad ideas, there's me trying to play basically any sport, and then there's Simon. Unemployed and pining for a woman who left him over a decade ago, he goes and does that any rational person in his situation would do. No, geez, of course he doesn't do that, that's silly.
He goes and kidnaps her young child instead, which I suppose in the scheme of things i There's bad ideas, there's monumentally bad ideas, there's me trying to play basically any sport, and then there's Simon. He goes and kidnaps her young child instead, which I suppose in the scheme of things isn't the absolute worst thing he could have done, but you have to admit its in the top two.
He doesn't even do more than feed him a sandwich and let him take a nap on his couch before the police bust in and take him into custody. Which in real life would be the end of it. But because Simon's a tortured, poetic and sensitive soul, we get to analyze the situation from seven different perspectives. As much you might guess, opinions range.
Reading Perlman's novel right after Ian Pears' "An Instance of the Fingerpost" is one of those weird coincidences in how I stack books. But while the medieval murder mystery reveled in the fact that everyone was describing the same event a little differently and drawing different conclusions from the same information , here that doesn't quite seem to be the case. The reader, fortunately, doesn't have that problem, but looking at these people objectively just makes you want to stay away from them.
Taking place in Australia and yet somehow not featuring a single kangaroo I imagine them riding on buses in suit jackets and fedoras, but maybe I have a wrong impression of Australia Perlman has managed to round up seven people with the poorest judgement in the area and woven their lives together so like bats with faulty sonar, they just can't help disastrously running into each other constantly.
The event has already happened when the book begins, so through the eyes of Simon himself, his psychiatrist, his current girlfriend, the old girlfriend, her husband and some other bit players we explore their feelings about Simon and his possible fate, as well as each other, while his case winds its way through the Australian legal system which seems much like ours and everyone tries to make you like them. Its a tough road, starting with Simon himself. A man apparently completely comprised of what kids today would call "the feels", he's prone to lecturing what few friends he has about art and literature and politics in the most pedantic and pompous fashion possible, making him at times such a colossal boor that you wonder why anyone would spend ten minutes with the guy let alone want to date him or in the case of his psychiatrist, rally to his cause with the same fervor as Wile W Coyote chases after the Road Runner.
I think Perlman wants us to have complicated feelings about the guy. It would be tough going if he was a side act in this little affair, but unfortunately he's the whole show and often the best scenes are the ones that don't include him but he's so self-absorbed you want to smack him. Which again, could be the point. Alas, its not a point shared by almost anyone else in the novel. Pretty much everyone gets their turn in the Bad Decision Spotlight, again often causing problems that could be easily avoided and much of it due to the fact that despite overwhelming evidence that Simon's actions aren't exactly those of a stable person, nobody seems to want to hang him out to dry.
His psychiatrist pretty much engages in reverse transference to an absurd degree and again, its unclear what about Simon warrants that level of devotion that seems to stop just short of breaking into Simon's apartment so he can smell his clothes. His prostitute girlfriend thinks he's the best despite her being the breadwinner and him being the guy who lectures her about poetry because he's too wounded in the soul to work.
His ex-girlfriend sometimes seems to miss those lectures, but then her husband is no prize either. About the most well-adjusted person here is the lawyer and unfortunately she doesn't get a chapter. It makes for a tricky novel to navigate. Perlman's prose definitely reaches for "literary" and often achieves it. But his decision to model the structure after Empson's "Seven Types of Ambiguity" a famous work of literary criticism involving poetry.
I found it interesting reading and Perlman really knows how to delve deeply into the characters and their emotional entanglements. Sometimes you even feel bad for them. But several times throughout the novel I wondered what the point of it all was. To teach us that these people all deserve each other? To demonstrate how people can slowly ensnare themselves in emotional traps of their own making? But with more self-inflicted wounds than a blind swordfight its hard to determine how much we're supposed to care.
If there was a sense of slowly encroaching tragedy, like Ford Maddox Ford's "The Good Soldier" my gold standard for people bringing bombs to bomb fights and it turning out exactly how you'd expect there maybe I'd feel more of an emotional pull. But as fascinating as his dissections of these people are, its like watching a horror film where all the characters walk past signs saying "Doom this way", acknowledge they hear you yell "don't go in there" and do it anyway.
Mar 06, Jerry Balzano rated it it was amazing Shelves: If the overlap in the stories and points of view of the different characters, and the "ambiguity" about "what happened" this creates is going to annoy you, either check yourself severely, or read something else, but don't "project" your problems onto the book. Because of the way the story was told, I believe it was utterly necessary for the narrative, with each change-of-character's point of view, to pick up, not quite write the previous narrator left off, but somewhat prior A magnificent book.
Because of the way the story was told, I believe it was utterly necessary for the narrative, with each change-of-character's point of view, to pick up, not quite write the previous narrator left off, but somewhat prior to that. Doing this also enhanced the contrast — sometimes subtle, sometimes profound — between one narrator's perspective and another's.
If different narrators are not to be permitted to describe "the same" events, how does the reader find out about the differences in their perspectives? It can't or maybe shouldn't be done solely through innuendo and indirection. Remember, the word "ambiguity" is featured in the title of the book; why deny the author a full opportunity to develop said ambiguity? Amazing, too, that a book like this could have a "surprise ending", given the way it was structured Is it an "easy" read? Very few page novels are. Is it a compelling read? I definitely found it to be so.
The "secret" to appreciating this, to my mind, was my habit of persistently dwelling in the nuances of that key word, ambiguity , taking the book at its own pace not insisting that it conform to mine , and reflecting on the potential implications of the different points of view of the different characters. Essentially all books have multiple characters with multiple points of view; very view are genuine artistic meditations on that theme, as this one is. Jun 21, Chris rated it liked it. This is obviously a lengthy and involved story; one that's told through 7 different character's viewpoints.
I have to say that for the most part I liked the differing viewpoints and think they served their purpose to illuminate the characters as you saw the same situation through different eyes. I definitely identified more with Joe and Angel more than anyone else in the story, and maybe that colored my experience of the book? If you side with Simon and really love him as a c Well. If you side with Simon and really love him as a character will you come out of the book feeling better or differently than if you side with Joe? Simon wasn't my cup of tea. He came off as whiney and pretentious and someone who utterly has failed at life for the most part.
I mean he has nothing on Mitch, but I must say that I believe Mitch was in there solely for us to hate him I'm not saying I didn't completely feel at one with the idea of Simon's obsessive love I understand that feeling. It also made me feel like I have my shit together compared to Simon, so I suppose that's a good thing.
Endless fascination: in praise of novels without neat conclusions | Books | The Guardian
Overall I enjoyed this book, but I don't think I necessarily sided or fell in love with the characters the Author intended. In fact I didn't fall in love with any of the characters, but there was plenty in them that I could identify with. Elliot Perlman is an Australian author and barrister. He has written two novels and one short story collection. His work "condemns the economic rationalism that destroys the humanity of ordinary people when they are confronted with unemployment and poverty".