Perfect: A Novel [Kindle Edition] Author: Rachel Joyce | Language: English | ISBN:
B00DXKJ3H0 | Format: PDF, EPUB
Download Perfect: A Novel
Direct download links available Download Perfect: A Novel [Kindle Edition] for everyone book with Mediafire Link Download Link A spellbinding novel that will resonate with readers of Mark Haddon, Louise Erdrich, and John Irving, Perfect tells the story of a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world with far-reaching consequences.
Byron Hemmings wakes to a morning that looks like any other: his school uniform draped over his wooden desk chair, his sister arguing over the breakfast cereal, the click of his mother’s heels as she crosses the kitchen. But when the three of them leave home, driving into a dense summer fog, the morning takes an unmistakable turn. In one terrible moment, something happens, something completely unexpected and at odds with life as Byron understands it. While his mother seems not to have noticed, eleven-year-old Byron understands that from now on nothing can be the same.
What happened and who is to blame? Over the days and weeks that follow, Byron’s perfect world is shattered. Unable to trust his parents, he confides in his best friend, James, and together they concoct a plan. . . .
As she did in her debut, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce has imagined bewitching characters who find their ordinary lives unexpectedly thrown into chaos, who learn that there are times when children must become parents to their parents, and who discover that in confronting the hard truths about their pasts, they will forge unexpected relationships that have profound and surprising impacts. Brimming with love, forgiveness, and redemption, Perfect will cement Rachel Joyce’s reputation as one of fiction’s brightest talents.
Praise for Perfect
“Touching, eccentric . . . Joyce does an inviting job of setting up these mysterious circumstances, and of drawing Byron’s magical closeness with Diana.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Tiimes
“Haunting . . . compelling.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“[Joyce] triumphantly returns with Perfect. . . . As Joyce probes the souls of Diana, Byron and Jim, she reveals—slowly and deliberately, as if peeling back a delicate onion skin—the connection between the two stories, creating a poignant, searching tale.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“Perfect touches on class, mental illness, and the ways a psyche is formed or broken. It has the tenor of a horror film, and yet at the end, in some kind of contortionist trick, the narrative unfolds into an unexpected burst of redemption. [Verdict:] Buy It.”—New York
“Joyce’s dark, quiet follow-up to her successful debut, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, could easily become a book club favorite. . . . Perfect is the kind of book that blossoms under thoughtful examination, its slow tendencies redeemed by moments of loveliness and insight. However sad, Joyce’s messages—about the limitations of time and control, the failures of adults and the fears of children, and our responsibility for our own imprisonment and freedom—have a gentle ring of truth to them.”—The Washington Post
“There is a poignancy to Joyce’s narrative that makes for her most memorable writing.”—NPR’s All Things Considered
From the Hardcover edition. Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation Download Perfect: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
- File Size: 707 KB
- Print Length: 401 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0385677723
- Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (January 14, 2014)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00DXKJ3H0
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,338 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #94
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Women's Fiction
- #94
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Women's Fiction
I thoroughly enjoyed Rachel Joyce's first novel, "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" and eagerly awaited a second book by this talented author. "Perfect" is the title of this second offering and I have to say that I enjoyed it as much as the first.
The story is set in two different time zones; the spring and summer of 1972 and the present, with the some of the characters featuring in both zones. As the story unfolds, it eventually becomes obvious that there will be some merging of the two strands. This is a device that has not always satisfied me in the past, but I felt that Rachel Joyce handled this aspect of her storytelling effortlessly. By using the past tense for the 1972 episodes and the present tense for the more up to date part of the novel, there was never a problem with locating oneself within the story.
There are many layers to "Perfect" and also a range of interesting characters. Byron Hemmings and James Lowe are boys in 1972, interested in the world around them and full of ideas and plans. They are particularly interested in the thought that two seconds will be taken away from time during the year and it is Byron's amazement at seeing the second hand of his watch moving backwards that leads to an event which will ultimately change his life and the lives of those around him.
In my opinion, one of the most endearing characters from the 1972 strand is Byron's mother, Diana. She is trapped in what appears to be a loveless marriage, isolated in the country with her two children, Byron and his little sister, Lucy. She does not really fit in with the other mothers, but is not afraid to voice her opinion. Without a doubt, she is a good mother, who loves her children deeply.
The British author of THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY has written her newest novel, PERFECT. In PERFECT, we are taken to an English village in 1972, and an 11-year old boy finds out from a friend that the government is adding two seconds to a day, therefore altering time. Byron and his friend James become so wrapped up in the idea and when it is going to happen, that it ends up encompassing their lives. One morning, on the way to school, Byron notices his watch is adding the two seconds. He leans over and shows his mom, who is driving at the time, and she ends up hitting a little girl on a bicycle and then driving off. Even though it is foggy and Byron is sure that he saw the accident, he can't believe his mom would just drive off. Byron and James are so horrified and worried about the girl that "Operation Perfect" is enacted to protect Byron's mother from facing the consequences.
At the same time, another story is being told in alternating chapters. This story is sent in the present time in the same English village. An adult man, Jim, lives a life confined by his daily rituals and past demons. At first we don't know the connection between the two stories, but as the story goes on, you begin to make assumptions about who this adult man is. Then, when you find out the true connection between the two stories, you want to go back and read everything again.
Byron is so caught up in the idea of the "supposed" adding of the two seconds that it consumes his daily thoughts and activities. He can't understand why no one else is upset about it and why there is nothing in the news about it. His father is gone during the week and only home on weekends and when he is, he has no time for his family, except to tell them what they are doing wrong.
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