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A Singular City #3
A Letter Marked Personal
Nathan Johnson, forty-eight and restless, began his career as a door-to-door lingerie salesman, reaching the top of the rag trade with a penthouse overlooking Manhattan.
A ‘confirmed social climber’ in 1990s New York City, he looks back on his early struggles, indulging fantasies of life as a country squire on Blueberry Hill – the Westchester estate he buys his wife Muriel as a birthday present. He meets a model from Iowa, different from the rest, and is captivated. When, out of the blue, a letter marked ‘personal’ arrives, his wife opens it and life unravels.
A Letter Marked Personal is J.P.Donleavy’s final novel, completed in 2007. His portrait of a flawed Anglophile delineates the American Dream, from aspirational greed to the vanity of human wishes. This poignant story of Nathan’s rise and demise speaks for the everyman – an apt farewell from one of literature’s true originals.
A ‘confirmed social climber’ in 1990s New York City, he looks back on his early struggles, indulging fantasies of life as a country squire on Blueberry Hill – the Westchester estate he buys his wife Muriel as a birthday present. He meets a model from Iowa, different from the rest, and is captivated. When, out of the blue, a letter marked ‘personal’ arrives, his wife opens it and life unravels.
A Letter Marked Personal is J.P.Donleavy’s final novel, completed in 2007. His portrait of a flawed Anglophile delineates the American Dream, from aspirational greed to the vanity of human wishes. This poignant story of Nathan’s rise and demise speaks for the everyman – an apt farewell from one of literature’s true originals.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
6 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
J.P. Donleavy
48 books207 followersJames Patrick Donleavy was an Irish American author, born to Irish immigrants. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II after which he moved to Ireland. In 1946 he began studies at Trinity College, Dublin, but left before taking a degree. He was first published in the Dublin literary periodical, Envoy.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.P._Don...
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.P._Don...
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 8, 2020
Really enjoyed this book. I'm no expert, but JP Donleavy has such a noticeably unique writing style its really fun to read.
This is his last published book following his death in 2017.
I think I've read all his novels, will get around to re-reading them someday.
R.I.P.
This is his last published book following his death in 2017.
I think I've read all his novels, will get around to re-reading them someday.
R.I.P.
March 31, 2020
Well, what a sad day this is, finally finishing the last book by the great, much lamented JP Donleavy, my favourite author since 1980, forty years of fun, marvelleous prose, tremendous characters and tales of human tragedy and mainly redemption.
It was like finding a letter from a loved, deceased relative, reading this. I feel like I've just come back from New York City, so vivid were the descriptions. The characters remain the outlandish ones whom you think could never really exist, but then you realise you know people just like them. No spoilers, but remember, life can turn on a sixpence, and always just when everything is going too well. As he writes in 'The Unexpurgated Code', Upon Encountering Happiness - Be wary at such times since most of life's blows fall then.
And to Mr Donleavy, 'Thank you, for taking the time to see me, sign my hardbacks and give me tea. You lived the life you wrote.
"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."
It was like finding a letter from a loved, deceased relative, reading this. I feel like I've just come back from New York City, so vivid were the descriptions. The characters remain the outlandish ones whom you think could never really exist, but then you realise you know people just like them. No spoilers, but remember, life can turn on a sixpence, and always just when everything is going too well. As he writes in 'The Unexpurgated Code', Upon Encountering Happiness - Be wary at such times since most of life's blows fall then.
And to Mr Donleavy, 'Thank you, for taking the time to see me, sign my hardbacks and give me tea. You lived the life you wrote.
"His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."
March 11, 2021
Loved finding this book, a newly published novel by Donleavy who has always been one of my favourite authors. And it’s a classic, back to the days of a central character who despite his immense wealth navigates anxiously through life in a charming and idiosyncratic way while the world takes advantage of him.
It was just lovely to find and I’m so glad it’s now been published. Of course, like almost all books published posthumously, it’s not really as good as the others! But in absolute terms it’s still a really good book. However, if you haven’t read the Darcy Dancer books, Schultz, or the Onion Eaters, most certainly start with those masterpieces not this!
PS I saw this book described as “the third in the New York series” - it isn’t, in any way! It’s set in New York but predates the others, with which is has absolutely nothing in common.
It was just lovely to find and I’m so glad it’s now been published. Of course, like almost all books published posthumously, it’s not really as good as the others! But in absolute terms it’s still a really good book. However, if you haven’t read the Darcy Dancer books, Schultz, or the Onion Eaters, most certainly start with those masterpieces not this!
PS I saw this book described as “the third in the New York series” - it isn’t, in any way! It’s set in New York but predates the others, with which is has absolutely nothing in common.
November 15, 2019
Not a major work by Donleavy, but those who read and admired his previous work will be compelled to read it, because it is his last.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews