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Fliegelman's Desire
"A stately, moving first novel" (Kirkus Reviews), Fliegelman's Desire is a modern San Francisco version of the European urban wanderer. When Fliegelman's desire abandons him, he searches the city for her, only to discover that desire is everywhere, dn as treacherous and lovely as ever. Calvino meets Kafka, translated by Elkin.
184 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1990
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28 people want to read
About the author
Lewis Buzbee
10 books217 followersMy new novel, Diver, will be in bookstores in March of 2025.
Lewis Buzbee is a fourth generation California native who began writing at the age of 15, after reading the first chapter of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Since then he’s been a dishwasher, a bookseller, a publisher, a caterer, a bartender, and a teacher of writing. He and his wife, the poet Julie Bruck, live with their daughter Maddy in San Francisco, just half a block from Golden Gate Park. His books for adults include The Yellow Lighted Bookshop, Blackboard, Fliegelman’s Desire, After the Gold Rush, and First to Leave Before the Sun.
His first novel for middle grade readers, Steinbeck’s Ghost, was published in 2008 by Feiwel and Friends and was selected for these honors: a Smithsonian Notable Book, a Northern California Book Award Nominee, the Northern California Independent Booksellers’ Association Children’s Book of the Year, and the California Library Association’s John and Patricia Beatty Award.
A second middle-grade novel, The Haunting of Charles Dickens, was published in 2011 and won the Northern California Book Award, was nominated for an Edgar, and was selected as a Judy Lopez Memorial Honor Book.
A third middle-grade novel, Bridge of Time, was published in May 2012--time travel, San Francisco, Mark Twain.
Lewis Buzbee is a fourth generation California native who began writing at the age of 15, after reading the first chapter of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Since then he’s been a dishwasher, a bookseller, a publisher, a caterer, a bartender, and a teacher of writing. He and his wife, the poet Julie Bruck, live with their daughter Maddy in San Francisco, just half a block from Golden Gate Park. His books for adults include The Yellow Lighted Bookshop, Blackboard, Fliegelman’s Desire, After the Gold Rush, and First to Leave Before the Sun.
His first novel for middle grade readers, Steinbeck’s Ghost, was published in 2008 by Feiwel and Friends and was selected for these honors: a Smithsonian Notable Book, a Northern California Book Award Nominee, the Northern California Independent Booksellers’ Association Children’s Book of the Year, and the California Library Association’s John and Patricia Beatty Award.
A second middle-grade novel, The Haunting of Charles Dickens, was published in 2011 and won the Northern California Book Award, was nominated for an Edgar, and was selected as a Judy Lopez Memorial Honor Book.
A third middle-grade novel, Bridge of Time, was published in May 2012--time travel, San Francisco, Mark Twain.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 12, 2013
It's a sign that an author has done something right when their work haunts. I read this book...longer ago than I care to think, and yet I still think of it often.
Mainly what I remember is how utterly skewed it got to the end. For the majority of the novel, it is a perfectly presented portrait of obsession. Then...things just get outrageously strange, completely out of nowhere. It felt like a bit of a cop-out at the time, perhaps even a literary betrayal, but after what must be about 20 years I have to think Buzbee knew at least a little what he was about.
Mainly what I remember is how utterly skewed it got to the end. For the majority of the novel, it is a perfectly presented portrait of obsession. Then...things just get outrageously strange, completely out of nowhere. It felt like a bit of a cop-out at the time, perhaps even a literary betrayal, but after what must be about 20 years I have to think Buzbee knew at least a little what he was about.
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December 22, 2019I read this book a long time ago... I have trouble remembering details, but for the longest time, would regularly add it to my list of all-time favorite books. Must read it again, if I can get my hands on a copy.
December 27, 2016
This novel reads a good deal like Christopher Morley’s more literary fiction, Human Being and The Man Who Made Friends with Himself. And there’s a lot of Paul West’s love of word play. And yet this is a singular book from start to finish, stylized, almost no dialogue, very tight third person narration, wonderfully odd descriptions of San Francisco. An amazing work of art from a primarily YA novelist!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews