Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.
Sto caricando le informazioni... Anatomia di un giocatore d'azzardodi Jonathan Lethem
Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Rating: 2.96 A staff pick at the local library, when compared to "Motherless Brooklyn", this is a major disappointment due to a lackluster pace, oddball plot and most importantly, a backgammon gambler. Alexander Bruno grew up in Berkeley and became best friends with Stolarsky, who like himself was an oddball. As the years pass, Bruno journeys through parts of Europe making a living with his one and only skill; Backgammon. When we first meet him he mentions 'the blot' repeatedly as if it were a pet. In the midst of a losing backgammon battle with a wealthy mark, he comes to realize he's suffering and seeks medical help. Soon after he discovers his 'pet' is caused by an inoperable form of optical nerve cancer. As luck would have it, Stolarsky surfaces and tells him of a skilled surgeon in Berkeley. Broke, homeless and destitute, he travels back to the states with his friend who promises to fund the costs of the operation as a gesture of 'no strings attached' friendship. But Stolarsky's generosity has an agenda, much as all his business endeavors. After a half day operation that requires his face to be 'removed' to access the tumor, he dons a surgical mask to hide the massive cosmetic surgery stitchings. When released from the hospital, Stolarsky allows him to live in a dingy room in one of the buildings he owns on Shattuck. As he makes his way around the neighborhood, he encounters Zombie Burger, yet another of Stolarksy's businesses and becomes friend with the oddball cook. The story drags on from here as Bruno becomes friends with Stolarsky's distant wife Tira who for unknown reasons wants to help him. Like a poorly written romance, every chapter becomes drudgery. I found the story tedious, the characters unimpressive and the 'mask' used to hide Bruno's surgery a bad attempt at Zorro or Batman. Nothing more need be said. A neat idea, and he drew me in with the backgammon (which I knew nothing about and still know very little about), but I agree with a couple of reviews I read after finishing -- it's not a fully realized book, and it doesn't really wind up going much of anywhere. Definitely on the lower half of the Lethem canon for me. Listened to this on audio. This is my fourth Lethem novel, and I generally love his stuff. This one was OK, but it firmly cemented my opinion that he writes some really weird stuff. Alex Bruno is an international backgammon hustler. He finds that over time he's developed a "blot" that blocks his vision and begins to affect his game. It turns out that the blot is a growing tumor. It's going to take some radical surgery to correct it and he finds that a super rich/shady friend from high school is willing to fund it. After surgery, along with the tumor being gone, he finds that his game is gone as well. He has to work at his friend's dive-y burger joint to pay him back. There's a lot more here, not the least of which is Alex's self belief that he is a psychic and that those powers help him with this backgammon skills. Its a very odd tale 7/10 S: 2/1/19 - 2/16/19 (16 Days) nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
An international backgammon hustler, who has amassed a fortune through psychic tomfoolery, develops a large tumor on his face that compromises his vision and eventually threatens his life, forcing him to pursue an experimental surgery and contemplate existential questions.
Handsome, impeccably tuxedoed Bruno Alexander travels the world winning large sums of money from amateur "whales" who think they can challenge his peerless acumen at backgammon. Fronted by his pasty, vampiric manager, Edgar Falk, Bruno arrives in Berlin after a troubling run of bad luck in Singapore. Perhaps it was the chance encounter with his crass childhood acquaintance Keith Stolarsky and his smoldering girlfriend Tira Harpaz. Or perhaps it was the emergence of a blot that distorts his vision so he has to look at the board sideways. Things don't go much better in Berlin. Bruno's flirtation with Madchen, the striking blonde he meets on the ferry, is inconclusive; the game at the unsettling Herr Kohler's mansion goes awry as his blot grows worse; he passes out and is sent to the local hospital, where he is given an extremely depressing diagnosis. Having run through Falk's money, Bruno turns to Stolarsky, who, for reasons of his own, agrees to fly Bruno to Berkeley, and to pay for the experimental surgery that might save his life. Berkeley, where Bruno discovered his psychic abilities, and to which he vowed never to return. Amidst the patchouli flashbacks and Anarchist gambits of the local scene, between Tira's come-ons and Keith's machinations, Bruno confronts two existential questions: Is the gambler being played by life? And what if you're telepathic but it doesn't do you any good? -- Provided by publisher. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Discussioni correntiNessunoCopertine popolari
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
Sei tu?Diventa un autore di LibraryThing. |
Having said all that, I did still enjoy the story that was told. I just wish it had been more clear and precise throughout the story.
Full Review: wanderinglectiophile.wordpress.com/2017/10/15/review-a-gamblers-anatomy-by-jonathan-lethem/ ( )