 
|
|
 |
|
Fall
by Colin McAdam
| List Price: |
$25.95 |
| Price: |
$17.75 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: |
$8.20 (31%) |
|
|
Hardcover
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
ISBN13: 9781594488689
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
A masterpiece of adolescent perspective, emotion, impulse, and relationships: the riveting story of two male roommates at a co-ed boarding school and what happens when the girlfriend of one of them goes missing during their final year.
From an internationally acclaimed, prizewinning author, whom critics have compared to Dave Eggers and Michael Ondaatje, comes a tour de force: a mesmerizing novel that is at once a spellbinding psychological thriller and a brilliant portrait of adolescence that goes deep into the heads of two very different boys.
Awkward Noel thinks he's been allowed into the inner circle of his elite boarding school when he discovers his senior-year roommate is to be handsome, athletic Julius. Julius, in turn, cares only for the fleeting joys of teenage life: sneaking out to parties, playing pranks with friends, and most of all, spending the night with his girfriend, Fall. As Noel narrates this fateful semester from a perspective of many years, interwoven is Julius's own in-the-moment experiences of first love and male camaraderie.
Always an outsider, Noel develops an unhealthy fascination with Julius, and his crush on Fall begins to border on a dangerous obsession. As Julius experiences all the pleasures of an eighteen-year-old in love, we watch as Noel self-consciously analyzes his interactions with Julius and Fall, convincing himself of a deep connection that might not exist. When Fall disappears close to winter break, Julius and Noel are forced to face their own inner desires, a confrontation that ushers the two boys out of the innocence of adolescence and into adulthood.
A tremendous literary page-turner that perfectly captures the agonies and delights of adolescence, Fall is the exhilaration and angst of teenage love and friendship- and the ultimate transience of those feelings.
| Customer Reviews: |
|
| |
| Interesting book, disappointing ending. |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
 |
|
From the back cover, I knew that Noel had a dangerous obsession with Fall (Fallon) and that both he and Julius would have to face their own demons after Fall went missing. Knowing that, I read the book wondering which character would be the one who helped precipitate the disappearance. The character of Julius was portrayed through stream-of-consciousness, and this inner thought style cast even more suspicion on his character. Noel was an obvious contender, with anger issues and obsessive thoughts. Sadly, the author assumed that these thoughts were a generous enough for the reader, and he left the mystery unclear. I wanted more of a denouement. Told through the voice of three characters, the third presenter was a driver for Julius' father, and his inclusion is a mystery in of itself, because his chapters didn't further the storyline.
The back cover also claims that Colin McAdam, the author of Fall, compares to Dave Eggers and Michael Ondaatje. I have read Eggers, and McAdam does not compare to his genius. I give this book three stars. The writing style was interesting, the story interesting, but the ending was too nebulous.
|
| "Everything will work out for you" |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
|
|
Focusing on St. Ebury a small and exclusive private school in the town of Sutton, Canada examines the lives of two friends, particularly the introverted Noel, whose father is a diplomat stationed in Australia and Julius, a jocular personality, popular with the girls and who has come to the school from the United Sates. As the boys share a room together, Noel becomes obsessed with Julius and his larrikin ways, even their new friends seem Chuck and Ant seem to follow Julius, their putative leader, as Julius begins to cross the line, playing rebellious jokes on the other students, drinking and partying while constantly wrestling with blinding hangovers. Julius is the more extravert but he possesses more of a conventional nature than the far more reserved Noel. Still it doesn't take long for the two to form a strong friendship lifting weights together and sharing intimacies about their lives deep into the night as Julius lies on the top bunk-bed while Noel surrenders to the bottom. All too soon their room becomes a refuge created by Julius, a place where for a while, Noel could be himself more than anywhere else in the world.
This is Noel's "time of evolution" and a Christmas trip to Australia firmly cements his growth as an independent spirit as a man. Ensconced in his parents palatial residence, it is the heat and ash of the Sydney bushfires that create some sort of reaction on him, a catalyst like constant lightening. When he falls into a friendship with Meg, a local girl, whom he never hears from again, he gains strength from that summer, laboring in "the chill of things being deliberately ignored." Back in Canada Noel sees Julius as ever more a confidante and a protector. What is so appealing to him about Julius is his strange oblivious to the world, which somehow draws the world to him. Content to let things happen at calm pace, but being privy to his secrets, Noel is there in that private space with him reveling in the feelings of friendship and roommates who shower together even as they become "secret sharers, a united front against the troubles of the world."
Julius loves the dark-haired beauty named Fallon, "Fall" But Noel also has eyes for Fall, which soon transforms into a hungry curiosity and Noel soon wants to be absorbed and transformed in her mind into something calm. Julius's casual girlfriend, almost jealous of Julius because his easy sexual confidence he's the one who is most likely to get what he wants. After talking to her for the first time, Noel becomes somewhat emboldened and is more at ease with showing her who he is. Noel sees the way she flirts with other guys. Her manner and her openness, her willingness to be with other guys. Julius clearly loved Fall, yet much of the drama comes from Noel's gradual hints of annoyance that Julius could not possibly know love when love is what he felt for her.
In short sentences, in a stream-of-consciousness style McAdam revels in Julius's crass intimacies he could never bear and ever quite believe. Then Fall - who throughout remains an elusive and mysterious figure - goes missing. Has she moved to New York, gone away with her mother, or perhaps eloped with a secret boyfriend? While Noel steadily becomes obsessed with all of the evasion and avenues of escape, a search party is organized by the community and the police where it was assumed that if Fall had been abducted there might be local clues - an earring resting in the snow by the road.
McAdam layers his drama with unanswered questions, the layers of ambiguity cloaking the lives of Noel and Julius, both becoming suspects in her disappearance. Certainly Julius wants to follow her to some uncharted place in the world. Although the novel seethes with an instinctual tension reminiscent of Donna Tart's Secret History, there's not much to like here. Julius and Noel just aren't that compelling, more irritating than likable. While Noel thinks of himself as detached and bookish, a sort of precociously wise fringe-dweller who could be save from the world though cunning and evasion, Julius remains the "he man" getting off on antisocial behavior; he's indiscreet, but basically harmless, if profoundly stupid and completely unaware of the particular malice that seems to be germinating in Noel. Neither character is particularly memorable or likable - even their friends Ant and Chuck are blank slates, coming across merely ciphers for all of Julius's tiresome juvenile antics. Other characters move through the narrative: Fall's wealthy, self-absorbed mother and then William, Julius's chauffeur who lends his car to Julius and who may hold the key to Fall's disappearance. Yet most of what happens in this novel is shrouded in ambiguity and haziness. McAdam's style is sometimes elegant and evocative - the stifling Sydney summer is brilliantly portrayed and beautifully juxtaposed with the hard cold winters of Canada, fully intuiting Noel's inner angst and Julius's insecurities. Throughout, Noel seems intent to be a passive aggressor more concerned with his reputation with the school authorities and the police until his final devastating confrontation with Julius where the friendship faces its ultimately and is physically and emotionally buried for all time. Mike Leonard September 09.
|
| Riding the knife edge of great, sputters at the end. |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
 |
|
I can definitely see why there's such a wide range of opinions where this extremely creative, very dark work is concerned.
When I began reading it, I wasn't quite sure that I was going to fall in line with the writing style. It takes a touch to get used to, especially if you're used to more of a straight forward and direct narrative or dialogue style. But I'm happy to report that about twenty pages in, I was sucked right into it and the characters' world of prep school. I think most readers will become happily immersed in the story.
The book is told through sections narrated by Julius, Noel and William. Julius and Noel couldn't be any more uniquely different from each other. Julius is your stereotypical alpha male -- handsome, well-built and extremely interested in sports and the opposite sex. His sections are written in a very choppy manner but I think it does a great job of capturing how young boys think, act and talk to each other. Mr. McAdam hit a home run with that as far as Julius' sections are concerned. Noel on the other hand, is not very well received by the rest of his schoolmates. He's a loner, a reader and extremely intelligent. His sections boast some of the book's best writing. There's a ton of passages that you'll find yourself reading again or highlighting to remember later because they're just really beautiful. I thought to myself more than a few times "this is how words should light up the page." But as the book goes on and Noel develops what he thinks is a lasting relationship with Julius and his beautiful girlfriend, you come to find that Noel may or may not have some problems between his ears. He's more than a little obsessive and just plain scary at times.
The book was a pleasure to read and I flew through it. My only complaint (and it's not really that big of a complaint when I think about it) is that the last fifteen pages or so really don't wrap things up even just a little bit. But maybe that's part of the fun.
Very good novel. Highly entertaining with writing that borders on legendary at times and a pretty good mystery to boot. If you're on the fence about this one, I would say it's worth your time and money. It's so different and off-beat that it comes as a breath of fresh air to anyone who loves a good yarn.
|
| Dark and fascinating profile of a true sociopath |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
 |
|
This novel tells the story of Noel and Julius, two upper-class young men who share a room at a fictional boarding school in Canada. They are not friends at the beginning of the book; they are roommates only by chance. They slowly begin a friendship that means much more in Noel's mind than to Julius. Chapters are split into three categories: those told from Noel's point of view, which are very detailed; chapters told from Julius's point of view, which are mostly train-of-thought and somewhat annoying; and finally those told by William, the former driver for Julius's father. It's very interesting how Noel can interpret an act or a situation in his mind very differently than Julius. Throughout the novel, more and more of Noel's sociopathic tendencies begin to appear, and there is a foreboding sense of doom. One a side note, I completely disagree with a previous reviewer's comments regarding the homosexuality of Noel, Julius and Antony; Noel was definitely obsessed with Julius, but I don't think it was in a sexual way. He was also obsessed with Julius's girlfriend, Fallon (Fall, hence the name of the book). There is nothing in the novel to suggest Julius or Antony had any homosexual inclinations. The theme was obsession, and a very dark and dangerous obsession at that. Highly recommended.
|
| Waste of time |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
 |
|
After I finished this book I was very frustrated. I wanted the 2 days of my life back that it took to read this dribble. It is poorly written and pointless to put it mildly.
|
|
