A Fine and Private Place

by Peter S. Beagle
A Fine and Private Place  
published 2007 by Tachyon Publications
first published 1992
binding Paperback
isbn 1892391465   (isbn13: 9781892391469)
pages 296
description Conversing in a mausoleum with the dead, an eccentric recluse is tugged back into the world by a pair of ghostly lovers bearing an extraordinary gift&...more
date added
04-05-07



Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of A Fine and Private Place.







discuss this book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

groups with this book

Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library
The Lucid Garden




friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.



lists with this book

This book is not in any lists. Go add it to a list.




other reviews (showing 1-20 of 360)



Mwbworld
bookshelves: fantasy
Read in October, 2007
When I first read this book I began reading it while waiting for the subway train to arrive and I continued once I got on. By the time I had reached my stop I was still reading and decided, with a glance at my watch, just to keep riding and reading for a while longer. Essentially, I continued reading until the train reached the end of the line and then returned from the other direction back to my stop - at that point, I finally surrendered to the painful reality that I would have to pause my rea...more
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Ruth
04/30/08

Read in April, 2008
I picked up this book on the street because it's written by the same guy who wrote The Last Unicorn, a book that I absolutely loved as a kid. This one is about some people who are dead and hanging around the graveyard as ghosts while they slowly forget everything about living and when they finish forgetting they will just go to sleep forever. And there's a living guy who is the only one who can see them, presumably because he is more occupied with death than life (he lives in the cemetary and ...more
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

raheleh
raheleh rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/07/07

bookshelves: classicwonders
Read in May, 2007
I love "The Last Unicorn"--I've probably re-read it at least half a dozen times. When I saw "A Fine & Private Place" in the bookstore yesterday, a special re-released version of a yet unread Peter Beagle book, I had to get it. I flew through it on a stunning day at the beach. There are a couple of lines in here that were particularly gorgeously crafted and followed me throughout the book. Apt, since it's a book about ghosts and hauntings.

Surprisingly, it doesn't r...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

Xeyra
04/09/08

bookshelves: read-2005
Read in November, 2005
This is a very interesting and original story, with a lovely mix of humor with thoughtful ideas, written in Beagle's unmistakably magical style. A story of ghosts who cannot and refuse to give up their lives, memories and feelings. A story of living people that go through life in a strange, fearful existance, with little communication with the outside world. And a story of a raven, which is the most delightfully funny creature in the book.

Granted, reading each chapter of this look took me as...more
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Aerin
Aerin marked it as to-read (review of isbn 0451450965)
12/03/07

bookshelves: never-finished-but-mean-to, to-read
"He knew very well that the great majority of human conversation is meaningless. A man can get through most of his days on stock answers to stock questions, he thought. Once he catches onto the game, he can manage with an assortment of grunts. This would not be so if people listened to each other, but they don't. They know that no one is going to say anything moving and important to them at that very moment. Anything important will be announced in the newspapers and reprinted for those who ...more
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

Terry
Terry rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/08/08

Read in March, 2008
recommends it for: ann coyle, bruce caster, janet pickel, sue tanner,
I read this book decades ago and loved it. That paperback edition is now brittle as crackers, so I ordered the latest edition to read again. I've already got three books on my "currently reading" list, but started to peek at this one over breakfast one Saturday morning, and couldn't peel myself away before I'd gotten well into it. I am very glad I did Sweet, sad, funny, and wise, "Fine and Private Place" left much more of an impression on me than Beagle's much better-known Th
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  1 comments

James
06/26/08

bookshelves: character-studies, culture-and-politics, fantasy, humor, relationships, spirituality-and-or-religion, wellness-and-healing
Read in January, 1975
recommends it for: Anyone
How many authors can set a romantic comedy in a cemetery, with a cast including some of the residents, and make it work? Beagle is a wonderful storyteller, and I loved this book. He makes his characters feel real and makes the reader (me, at least) care deeply about them and their joys and hurts, and he balances it with a light and funny streak of absurdity. As a writer, this is the kind of thing that makes me jealous, at the same time it makes me want to be a writer more than ever.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Ktsai
09/02/07

bookshelves: currently-reading
I read this over the summer and I cannot let go of it. This is probably one of the most important books I've ever read, and so beautiful ... it's a story about ghosts, and the finiteness of the things we hold dear, and the pursuit of happiness, and how powerful fear is, and how doing the right thing is necessary and damn inconvenient and irresistible, like love. My favorite character is the raven, with his raven-logic and perspective and upfront language.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Sarah
01/16/08

bookshelves: fantasy-scifi, novel
recommends it for: everyone
I may actually like this book more than "The Last Unicorn." It's smaller in scope, set more in reality than fantasy (once you get over the premise of the main characters being ghosts and talking ravens), and humble, but it's also beautiful. I'm amazed at how young Beagle was when he wrote this. I can't help but cry my eyes out at the end, every single goddamn time, and I must've read it at least five times over the years.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Kressel
bookshelves: fantasy, fiction
Read in November, 1996
recommends it for: fans of romance and fantasy
Most authors first novels are not their best, but I like this almost as much as The Last Unicorn and much more than Peter S. Beagle's more recent works. Believe it or not, it's a love story set in a cemetery, and if that sounds morbid to you, I promise that it isn't. Some characters are living and some are dead, but they way they communicate makes this a really original and special book.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Eric
08/21/07

Read in January, 2000
I've tried, but haven't really enjoyed anything else I've read by Peter S. Beagle—my inner 12 year old girl just wasn't strong enough for The Last Unicorn—but something about this book is incredibly affecting. Sad in that makes-you-smile sort of way. One of those books that I would actually be a little nervous to read again, in case in doesn't live up to my memory of it.
Like this review?   yes   (1 person liked it)
  add a comment

Lindsay
bookshelves: fantasy
Has a copy to sell/swap
recommends it for: fantasy lovers
I like this book. It's a good one. A man basically decides to live in a cemetary (the title of the book is a line from Andrew Marvell's poem, "To His Coy Mistress"). He has a few companions - a raven that stops by to visit him on occasion, and I think there might be ghosts in this, but I can't remember, it was a while ago.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Sarah
06/16/08

Yes, this is the guy who wrote The Last Unicorn. This book is about a man who dies, comes back as a ghost, finds out that he can only “haunt” the cemetery he’s in, and falls in love with another ghost. It’s a lot less hokey than it sounds, and in fact, it’s downright gorgeous. A modern-day fairy tale.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Chronographia
bookshelves: fiction, straight-up-fantasy
recommends it for: people who like ghostly love stories and smart-ass, cantankerous corvids
It's a pity that Peter Beagle got somewhat pigeon-holed into writing about unicorns, with the success of The Last Unicorn, because he writes ravens so very well. In fact, you could expand that to 'he writes all things on the fringes of reality so very well,' but I happen to be particular to the raven.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Liz
Liz added it
07/24/07

Read in January, 1995
recommends it for: anyone
This is one of my favorite books, from one of my favorite authors. I love Peter S. Beagles' writing. He just has a beautiful way of putting... everything. This is a sweet tale of ghosts, and a man who speaks with ghosts, and a crow. It's.... perfect. Just perfect.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Julie
07/20/08

bookshelves: read-in-2008, read-since-august-2006
Read in July, 2008
Gentle, sad, depressing-as-hell-while-somehow-uplifting.

I don't know that I enjoyed this book. Respected it? Admired it? Hell yeah. And compelled to finish. But I didn't ever take it into my bedroom to read. I didn't trust it enough to befriend it.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Debs
04/19/08

bookshelves: 2007, gifted, own
Read in February, 2007
If Unicorn is a Hyacinth, then this book is a daisy. In that it is lighter and more subtle, but it is beautiful in its simplicity and freshness. I don't know, there's nothing more I can do than compare his books to flowers.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Maeve from World's End
bookshelves: have-read
Because I so loved The Last Unicorn I also bought this book. And while I did enjoy it, it's not as good as TLU. It plods a bit and the ghost characters are somewhat vague. There are some great bits in there though.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Joshua
06/11/08

Read in June, 2008
This book was very sweet, but also rather tedious. I suppose for a first novel, and written at the age of 19, it's very impressive. I really enjoyed its insight into the human condition.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment

Sarah
03/31/08

Read in March, 2008
Eh. It was ok. Definitely very melancholy and stuffed full of supposedly deep philosophical thoughts, but not a book I enjoyed overmuch. Took awhile to get through.
Like this review?   yes  
  add a comment


« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 17 18



book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.99 (270 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.00 (29 ratings)
number of reviews: 40






other editions

A Fine and Private Place (Paperback)
A Fine and Private Place (Mass Market Paperback)
A Fine and Private Place (Mass Market Paperback)