Reading the 20th Century discussion
This topic is about
Spies
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Spies by Michael Frayn (November 2024)
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I would like to join too once I locate my copy of it.
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Just finished Chapter 2, so spoiler alert for those who haven't. All I'll say is ... interesting reading this after The Heat of the Day.
And a non-spoiler comment: a lot of similarities between this and Frayn's Landing on the Sun in the way the plot and mysteries are set up.
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The Tin Men (1965) (Read)
The Russian Interpreter (1966)
Towards the End of the Morning (1967) (Read)
A Very Private Life (1968)
Sweet Dreams (1973)
The Trick of It (1989)
A Landing On the Sun (1991) (Read)
Headlong (1999)
Spies (2002) (Reading)
Skios (2012)
There are also some plays available as well as non-fiction, including an intriguing memoir:
My Father's Fortune
Would anyone like to join me in a buddy next year of the memoir and perhaps another novel?
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Susan, I think I'll pause my Frayn journey after this one. I've thoroughly enjoyed them all, especially Towards the End of the Morning, but too many other writers and books I'd like to read that I already own
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I'm not sure yet either, Susan.
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I'm enjoying this so much I have put a few more of his novels on my Want to Read list. If you want to read another in December or 2025 Susan, I'm game.
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The Trick of it, The Russian Interpreter. Sweet Dreams or A Very Private Life, but if there's a different one you have your heart set on, let's discuss. I'm not as interested in his memoir, though, and I started Headlong some years ago and it didn't grab me.
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The Russian Interpreter - yes, also looks great
A Very Private Life - hmmm, sci fi? Sounds a bit Blake's 7, quite a popular theme then. I would read but it doesn't grab me as much.
Sweet Dreams - likewise. I would read it but not so thrilled.
Prefer the look of the first two, so you pick which?
Let's go with The Russian Interpreter. A bit of Cold War nostalgia?
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A very intriguing start. It instantly made me want to revisit my childhood home and neighbourhood.
Michael Frayn is so versatile. This is, once again, so different to the other books by him we have read together.
A very promising opening - I love the class distinctions within that small community he inhabited as a child, overlayed with adult insights and perceptions
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Frayn’s done it again
Those six words that change everything
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"I'm enjoying this so much……."
Yes. Me too. It’s really something special.
So cleverly told (reminds me of The Go-Between), particularly how what children see and think is actually a misinterpretation of what's really going on in the incomprehensible world of adults
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Splendid it is too, my enthusiasm increases with each new section
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The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic literature award baffles me. Spies has many fine qualities but, so far at least, I would not describe it as funny or comedic
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I loved Spies but when I started Towards the end of the morning it just did not work for me so didn't read on. May do at a later date
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I am loving Spies but would say that, so far, Towards The End Of The Morning is still my favourite, though they've all had plenty to recommend them
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One of the many things I liked about this was the dual perspectives of the older and young Stephen and of the wartime and present day Close.And I thought Frayn did a marvelous job of showing us the events through the eyes of younger Stephen, allowing us to experience his misinterpretations and limited understandings of the adult world, until the two (in a sense) converge.
Nigeyb wrote: "Keith’s father is terrifying"Agreed! I wonder if he was based on Frayn's father.
Amended: Probably not, based on the summary I just read of his memoir about his family. Susan will have to tell us after she reads it!
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Very good
I’ll hopefully review tomorrow. I’m really glad we decided to read this one together
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Good review of this by John Updike in a 2002 edition of the New Yorker.https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
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Thanks Ben
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4/5
Needless to say I loved it
Another fine example of Michael Frayn's accomplished storytelling.
What strikes me is just how eclectic the books we have read by him are.
It has pulled me right in.
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Please keep us posted
Susan wrote: "I think it would be Jan 25 for me, if we do read one. Which books have you added, Ben?"Will a mod add Frayn's The Russian Interpreter for January? Thanks!
My reserve copy has already arrived, but I will hold off picking it up as long as I can while I finish November's books!
"four blue beads that weighted the lace cloth covering the tall jug"Now that Keith has made his startling pronouncement I never want to hear about beads and lace cover again 😀
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Anybody else got mistyeyed at that For ever?
Okay I finished it. Certain things are not entirely clear to me so can we discuss it, spoilers and all?
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SPOILERS LIKELY FROM NOW
Okay. I had a few questions. What led to the fallout between Aunt Dee and her sister? Second, why did Aunt Dee not go to the person hiding with food etc after Bobs could not go? Did she despise him?
Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
Spies (other topics)Towards the end of the morning (other topics)
My Father's Fortune (other topics)
Spies (other topics)
In the quiet cul-de-sac where Keith and Stephen live there is very little evidence of the Second World War. But the two friends suspect that the inhabitants of the Close are not what they seem. As Keith authoritatively informs the trusting Stephen, the whole district is riddled with secret passages and underground laboratories. Then one day Keith announces an even more disconcerting discovery: the Germans have infiltrated his own family, and the children find themselves engulfed in mysteries far deeper and more painful than they had bargained for.