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A Fine and Private Place
by
Peter S. Beagle (Goodreads Author)
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—the final chance for his own happiness. When challenged by a faithless wife and aided by a talking raven, the lives of the living and the dead may be renewed by courage and passion, but only if not belatedly. Told with an ele...more
Paperback, 264 pages
Published
May 28th 2007
by Tachyon Publications
(first published 1960)
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I wanted to love this book, I really did. I think I could have loved this book, if I had taken it down to the nearest cemetery on an overcast autumn afternoon, and then, after finding a comfortable spot under a tree, swallowed an entire bottle of barbiturates. If I had read the book then, as I sat there waiting to pass out and die, I think I would have adored it.
It's just that kind of book, I guess.
The problem is, I read this book in high summer and on not any drugs at all, and it was like watch...more
It's just that kind of book, I guess.
The problem is, I read this book in high summer and on not any drugs at all, and it was like watch...more
I love going into graveyards and churches. I like looking at the tombstones and the inscriptions and try to imagine what that individual did in his/her life. I then always light a couple of candles in the church. However, I certainly didn’t think that I would thoroughly enjoy a story about a man called Mr Rebeck who lived in a large, sprawling cemetery for nearly twenty years.
What I find remarkable about the author is that he was only nineteen when he started writing this book, and yet he has th...more
What I find remarkable about the author is that he was only nineteen when he started writing this book, and yet he has th...more
Oh, this book is so wonderful. I kind of hate Peter S. Beagle for having written it when he was NINETEEN YEARS OLD! Is that true?? Is it possible?? I was reading a library copy and it was almost more strength than I possessed not to dog-ear and underline the hell out of it, the writing is just so great. There are so many places I wanted to mark and remember. So. I will be buying my own copy, and maybe some for gifts.
It's a book about a man who has lived for 19 years in a mausoleum of a huge cem...more
It's a book about a man who has lived for 19 years in a mausoleum of a huge cem...more
A lonely man lives in a New York cemetery is accompanied by two ghosts and a talking raven. Along the way he learns about life and love. The story is humorous and touching without being overly sentimental. Peter Beagle's simple and straightforward prose makes the story quick and easy to read, yet unforgettable.
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 read like a first novel. The...more
Surprisingly, it doesn't read like a first novel. The...more
2 1/2 stars
It's impressive that Peter Beagle wrote his first novel at the age of nineteen. I'm sorry to say the story doesn't add up to much. He would have done well to indulge more in whimsy and skip the philosophical ramblings. I've read his sweet novel, The Last Unicorn, as well as his picaresque nonfiction book, I See By My Outfit. He has a special gift for the whimsical, and I'm glad he found his strength and stayed true to it in his later books.
In this book I liked the talking raven best...more
It's impressive that Peter Beagle wrote his first novel at the age of nineteen. I'm sorry to say the story doesn't add up to much. He would have done well to indulge more in whimsy and skip the philosophical ramblings. I've read his sweet novel, The Last Unicorn, as well as his picaresque nonfiction book, I See By My Outfit. He has a special gift for the whimsical, and I'm glad he found his strength and stayed true to it in his later books.
In this book I liked the talking raven best...more
Mar 08, 2008
Terry
rated it
5 of 5 stars
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 The Last Unicorn.
Jonathan Rebeck, the failed pharmacist-cum-witch-doctor, has been living in the Yorkchester cemetery (half the size of Central Park) in NYC for 19 years, hiding there from the real world of living humanity. His only friends are the profane talking raven who brings him bologna and roast beef sandwiches and the like, and the new ghosts who confusedly appear before him after their bodies have been interred and, he believes, need him to act as cemetery guide, guidance counselor, and friend for about...more
I loved "The Last Unicorn," and I liked "The Innkeeper's Song," but several other books of Beagle's seemed to lack that world-building quality that made them so real and engrossing to read. This one, however, does that. It is the story of Jonathan Rebeck, Michael Morgan, Laura Durand, Mrs. Klapper (her first name might be Molly, but I don't remember), and a raven. Oh, and they're all in a graveyard. And Michael and Laura are dead. Well, their bodies are dead; they are ghosts.
Beagle never really...more
Beagle never really...more
Jonathan Rebeck lives in a cemetery, and he can speak to ghosts. But this isn’t a supernatural story – it’s magical realism, and the world is not fantastic, not terrible, just there.
A Fine and Private Place is a story about life and death, about love and indifference, about holding on to memories or letting them fade. Set in a cemetery, the story explores questions of reality and self-deception, of meaning, of youth and knowledge and what makes someone alive. Trying to escape death, two ghosts...more
A Fine and Private Place is a story about life and death, about love and indifference, about holding on to memories or letting them fade. Set in a cemetery, the story explores questions of reality and self-deception, of meaning, of youth and knowledge and what makes someone alive. Trying to escape death, two ghosts...more
A very strange book, and not at all what I was expecting from Mr. Beagle, especially after reading his other books, such as 'The Innkeeper's Song' and 'The Last Unicorn'. This is very very different from either of these books, both of which came later in his career, and I can't really say for certain whether 'A Fine and Private Place' is a lesser work than either of those. Yes, it has it's flaws; It is a bit slow in the beginning, and the story goes on a lot longer than it needs, it could have p...more
This is a contemplative book about life, love, and death that follows the interactions between people, ghosts, and a talking raven in a cemetery. I have rather mixed feelings about this book. There is a whole lot of introspective dialogue going on, particularly in the conversations between two ghosts who contemplate who they were when they were living and what it all means to them now that they are dead. It gets very annoying at times, yet some things hit me on such a personal level that I would...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This is a book that is more about "the experience" than about the story or a plot. This works sometimes, but not too often (for me at least. I see many truly did enjoy this book.). The only book that jumps to mind for me (that I actually enjoyed that is) that accomplished this would be, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I found A Fine and Private Place mostly rather tedious.
The book is an emotional little stroll through the "death" or possibly The "after life" of Michael Morgan and the other d...more
The book is an emotional little stroll through the "death" or possibly The "after life" of Michael Morgan and the other d...more
I sort of agree with some of what they talk about in this book. They talk about how the spirit leaves the body,and the body no longer matters. But I don't agree that these spirits felt constrained by the person they were in life, even in death. If it is possible that we could be reincarnated, then how would our spirit continue existing within these constraints?
I think this review they mentioned - about love beyond the grave - that's not the real point of the book. I think the real point was teac...more
I think this review they mentioned - about love beyond the grave - that's not the real point of the book. I think the real point was teac...more
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.
Original review posted on The Book Smugglers HERE
A few weeks ago, I read and reviewed Sleight of Hand, my first real introduction to Peter S. Beagle’s writing and I loved it so much I proceeded to add some of his other books to my TBR pile: The Last Unicorn because everybody seems to love it and A Fine and Private Place which came highly recommended by The Other Ana (www.thingsmeanalot.com) I decided to start in chronological order: A Fine and Private Place was Mr Beagle’s first book, published...more
A few weeks ago, I read and reviewed Sleight of Hand, my first real introduction to Peter S. Beagle’s writing and I loved it so much I proceeded to add some of his other books to my TBR pile: The Last Unicorn because everybody seems to love it and A Fine and Private Place which came highly recommended by The Other Ana (www.thingsmeanalot.com) I decided to start in chronological order: A Fine and Private Place was Mr Beagle’s first book, published...more
Like most people, I read the author's The Last Unicorn first. When I read this, I'm never expecting a fast read--I knew from The Last Unicorn that Beagle's work is dense, and it's not possible to get all in one gulp. Who would be timeless if not the dead? It's repeatedly pointed out that they've nowhere they CAN go, and they have all the time they choose to spend on anything. If the living can't spare them that time, that's not their problem.
What worries me is what happens to the people who die...more
What worries me is what happens to the people who die...more
It's rare that I find a book that speaks to me on the level this book did. It's a quiet story. The kind that would make a terrible movie. The hush of the grave is over every paragraph of this book except Mrs. Klapper whose very name disturbs the otherwise melancholy tone.
I knew Beagle has a gift with language that is really unparalleled in any other modern writer. I'm still a bit amazed that this book was written over 50 years ago because so little of it is bound to that time period. The charac...more
I knew Beagle has a gift with language that is really unparalleled in any other modern writer. I'm still a bit amazed that this book was written over 50 years ago because so little of it is bound to that time period. The charac...more
How does one describe life after death? How does one who is dead linger on in the land of the living?
Peter Beagle posits his theory that the dead cannot feel, taste, speak, and they forget what living--touching, eating, feeling the grass under one's feet, the mere act of breathing--is like. Yet the ghosts which he writes about in this story are so real you start identifying with them. There are themes of love and loss, of thought and memory, and it's amazing how Beagle builds up his ghost chara...more
Peter Beagle posits his theory that the dead cannot feel, taste, speak, and they forget what living--touching, eating, feeling the grass under one's feet, the mere act of breathing--is like. Yet the ghosts which he writes about in this story are so real you start identifying with them. There are themes of love and loss, of thought and memory, and it's amazing how Beagle builds up his ghost chara...more
Backstory: I grew up loving The Last Unicorn, but I had never read any other Beagle till this year. I read The Innkeeper's Song recently, and enjoyed it, though I thought it felt a lot like The Last Unicorn without being as timeless or moving.
A Fine and Private Place is COMPLETELY different. Beagle wrote this at age 19 (though you'd never guess it to read it), and while every once in awhile a turn of phrase struck me as being written by the same author as The Last Unicorn, the parallels begin an...more
A Fine and Private Place is COMPLETELY different. Beagle wrote this at age 19 (though you'd never guess it to read it), and while every once in awhile a turn of phrase struck me as being written by the same author as The Last Unicorn, the parallels begin an...more
Peter Beagle's debut novel from 1960 is a wonderful concept: an old man, a recluse who shacks out in a cemetery, who in turn has discussions with a talking raven, and can see and talk with ghosts.
Then we have Michael and Laura falling in love in this same cemetery - a doomed love as they're both already dead.
Throw in Mrs Klapper who comes to visit her dearly departed husband, and you have the strangest little collection of lost souls that you could imagine.
Examining the dialogue between these ch...more
Then we have Michael and Laura falling in love in this same cemetery - a doomed love as they're both already dead.
Throw in Mrs Klapper who comes to visit her dearly departed husband, and you have the strangest little collection of lost souls that you could imagine.
Examining the dialogue between these ch...more
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.
Beagle surprises me again with his poetic capability. This book is a lot of things - enchanting, romantic, intensely poetic and whimsical. Why not 5 stars then? It would've gotten a 5-star from me. I loved the talking raven, the two ghosts, the setting; the tone is both realistic and fantastical in a wonderfully dreamy yet relate-able way. Overall it has a romantic, wistful sentimentality that I enjoyed. It's the actual romance that "blossomed" seemingly out of nowhere towards the end that I fou...more
When Peter S. Beagle first came on the scene with this fable about a man living in a cemetary who talks to ghosts and a raven, he was hailed as a new voice and compared with John Updike and Phillip Roth. His follow-up, a non-fiction travelogue about a trip across the U.S. on a motorcyle with a friend helped to build that reputation. The next book was the wonderful "Last Unicorn," and all those critics who hailed him as a wonderful, powerful new voice in literature wrote him off as merely a write...more
An intriguing view of life after death, but one of those books where the concept/mythology is stronger than the story itself, which felt rather aimless at times. There are some quirky supporting characters: the sarcastic raven, who despite his affected indifference must have someone to care for, is a favorite.
The raven made a dive at a hurrying caterpillar and missed. He spoke slowly, without looking at Mr. Rebeck. "There are people," he said, "who give, and there are people who take. There are...more
I put off reviewing this because I wanted to sit down and write out a very thorough review of this excellent book. However, I just haven't done so. Let me just say that the writing is very well done, the dialog is like something from a Neil Simon play, with witty and profound lines strewn liberally throughout the book. Descriptions are succinct, and add a layer to the fantasy that gives it the feel of a child's story, yet the book as a whole is mature and not for children. Beagle takes a look at...more
Took me a while to get into it but once I did, I really liked it a lot. A very beautiful and very human (ironically enough) love story. I love how he plays with love and death and regret. It seems more real and more romantic to me than most love stories.
It read like a play to me at times. I think it would be great to see on stage.
A quote that I really loved, that I may even use in my dissertation on a completely unrelated topic, was on pg. 146:
"Man searches constantly for identity...He has no r...more
It read like a play to me at times. I think it would be great to see on stage.
A quote that I really loved, that I may even use in my dissertation on a completely unrelated topic, was on pg. 146:
"Man searches constantly for identity...He has no r...more
This is an odd little novel that might deserve another star. It's a ghost story and a love story...a story about ghosts who love and people who are ghosts. It centers on a man, Mr. Rebeck, who has spent some 19 years living in a mausoleum in a cemetery in the Bronx. A talking raven brings him food every day and Mr. Rebeck manages quite well. He talks to the newly departed who still cling to their earthly existence, sometimes playing chess with them.
His life is disrupted by two ghosts who form a...more
His life is disrupted by two ghosts who form a...more
This should be a melancholy book with all the talk of death, wasted lives, and lost loves. Yet Peter S. Beagle can inject charm into a pickle and in doing so, lifts this tale into a amazing look at our attempts to find meaning and love. Mr. Rebeck wandered into a cemetery 20 years ago and now lives there avoiding the living and only finding company with the ghosts and a raven. Michael and Laura has recently died but are struggling with both their deaths and their past lives...and their feelings...more
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Peter Soyer Beagle (born April 20, 1939) is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. He is also a talented guitarist and folk singer. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place , when he was only 19 years old. Today he is best known as the author of The Last Unicorn, which routinely polls as one of the top ten fantasy novels of all time, and at least two of...more
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“There are honest people in the world, but only because the devil considers their asking prices ridiculous.”
—
74 people liked it
“I'll tell you something. Once I was very fond of a poem by Emily Dickinson or somebody. I only remember one line of it, but it goes, 'The soul selects her own society.' I used to tell it to everybody. Once I quoted it to a friend of mine, and he said, 'Maybe, but the body gets thrown into bed with the goddamnedest people.”
—
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updated Jun 19, 2011 06:19pm
Jun 19, 2011 06:21pm