A Season in the West

by Piers Paul Read

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Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

238 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

British novelist and non-fiction writer. Educated at the Benedictines' Ampleforth College, and subsequently entered St John's College, University of Cambridge where he received his BA and MA (history). Artist-in-Residence at the Ford Foundation in Berlin (1963-4), Harkness Fellow, Commonwealth Fund, New York (1967-8), member of the Council of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (1971-5), member of the Literature Panel at the Arts Council, (1975-7), and Adjunct Professor of Writing, Columbia University, New York (1980). From 1992-7 he was Chairman of the Catholic Writers' Guild. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

His most well-known work is the non-fiction Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (1974), an account of the aftermath of a plane crash in the Andes, later adapted as a film.

Reviews

[Huw Rhys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this book is almost a generation old, it is still just as relevant now as it was then.

It talks about class, the British way of life, how we put far too much emphasis on materialism in our value calculations and how money appears to be able to buy exemption from behaving decently. Most of the things at the root of so much malaise in the world, and in the UK in particular, are aired in this book - which is what makes it so relevant, and such a compelling read.

It's taken me a long time to discover Piers Paul read - but this book left me wanting a lot, lot more - marvelous fare!

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josef Birek is a Czech dissident writer who escapes to England only to find that all the things he most loved about the West (free enterprise, religion, Margaret Thatcher) are treated with disdain. He befriends Laura Morton, a young, bored bankers wife, who quickly becomes infatuated with him. This is one of Read's better books, and contains his trademark mix of cynicism and moralism that is rarely found together in modern literature.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schöne Sprache, feine Ironie und interessanter Ansatz. Jedoch wird man nach der Bekanntschaft mit dem Roman nur noch mehr von dem modernen Gesellschaftsmodell enttäuscht, auch gibt es keinen einzigen Charakter dem man ernsthaft mitleiden kann. Der Leser muss also schon eine gewisse Portion Zynismus besitzen, um nach der Bekanntschaft mit dem Roman nicht dem Decadance zum Opfer zu fallen :)