Dartmouth Park - A Novel

Informationen zum Autor Rupert Thomson Klappentext "In this unsettling, timely, and explosive novel, one of the UK's most admired and celebrated writers gives us a portrait of an ordinary man in an extraordinary dilemma, and asks questions that could be transformed, if only we could see through the illusions and disinformation that have us in their grasp. It's February 2019. Philip Notman, a respected academic with a German wife and a troubled nineteen-year-old son, is on his way back from a conference in Norway when he has an unexpected and disturbing experience that completely alters his view of the world. In an instant, the reality that he has always taken for granted becomes unbearable. Believing that Ines, a Spanish woman he met at the conference, can shed light on what he is feeling, he travels to Cadiz to see her. But his journey doesn't end there. In a progress that involves both the exploration of an idea and a quest for a simpler and more meaningful existence, he winds up in a small village on the south coast of Crete. Gradually, and yet inexorably, a drastic course of action occurs to him. He returns to London, knowing exactly what he must do, even if it ruins his life and the lives of those closest to him. How much are we prepared to sacrifice for our beliefs? Can love take second place to an idea? Is it possible to find a more authentic way of living?"-- Leseprobe Nausea I What triggered it was utterly innocuous A young woman standing a few feet away from him took out a travel card and tapped it against the card reader, the gesture instinctive, automatic, like a reflex There was also the noise the card reader made A kind of beep Then there was the tram’s interior, the metal poles upright and painted orange, the seats upholstered in a practical, hard-wearing charcoal gray Though he was sitting still, his head began to float sideways and backwards, the motion frictionless and easy, like an ice cube sliding across a pane of glass But that wasn’t all A hand had wrapped itself around his brain, and it was squeezing He was worried he might throw up or pass out He was worried he might scream He couldn’t think There was nothing left to think with If he suddenly found what surrounded him unbearable, it was because it was artificial Everything had been designed and manufactured, and he was trapped in it He had also become aware of possibilities that might or might not have been explored Behind that beep, a thousand other beeps Behind that upright orange metal pole, a pole made out of something different, or molded into a different shape, or painted a different color Somehow all the conceivable alternatives were still there, stacked up behind the version that had been decided on, and all of them unnoticed, overlooked Except by him He had boarded the tram at Nonneseteren He was on his way back to London, after a four-day conference in Bergen Studying the map above the window opposite, he counted twenty-five stops to the airport The journey would take approximately three-quarters of an hour He ran his eyes through the various stations Paradis, Hop, Lagunen In normal circumstances, he would have reveled in the foreign sounds That afternoon they made him feel nauseous Behind each station’s name lurked all the names that station might have had instead The tram slowed down A series of electronic notes, a sort of jingle, and then a woman’s voice Kronstad He lowered his eyes How many women had auditioned for that role? Like an image from a hall of mirrors, the queue of applicants curved off into a distance that seemed infinite As for the voice itself, decisions would have been taken about character and tone His mind began to spin and swirl with all the options, and once again he had the feeling that his head was leaving his shoulders...

Product details

• Authors: Rupert Thomson
• Publisher: Other press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 17.10.2023
• EAN: 9781635421675
• ISBN: 978-1-63542-167-5
• No. of pages: 432
• Dimensions: 133 mm x 202 mm x 28 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature