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Get a Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Nadine Gordimer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £0.54
You Save: £7.45 (93%)
New (29) Used (3) from £0.54
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 128263
Media: Paperback
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0747582424
EAN: 9780747582427
ASIN: 0747582424
Publication Date: October 2, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: UK SELLER_IN STOCK_Immediate Dispatch _ Protective packing_ Tel 01908 584 386 Cover may vary
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| Customer Reviews:
 Disappointing November 5, 2006
Dr. Pik Wai Chin (Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom)
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
I expected an insider's story about South African life. Instead, found 3 main themes: adultery; radiation; ecology. The ideas given about radiation are wrong; they contradict the present understanding of radiation physics by the international scientific community. Readers should not be misled.
Lacks focus November 1, 2006
Mister Hobgoblin (Edinburgh, Scotland)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'm afraid I would have to agree with some of the less complimentary comments on this novel. I felt that it had a couple of rather serious shortcomings.
Firstly, the novel lacked focus. It started out as one man's battle against illness whilst isolated from the rest of the world. This had potential to explore the nature of the pariah and the effect on friends and family of not being able to comfort the man they loved.
Then it moved into the relationship between private and personal life with the conflict between eco-warrioring and having family who represented big corporations in the law courts. And although I understood the device of splitting Benni and Berenice, I didn't think the differentiation was clear from behaviour - and also I couldn't tell Berenice/Benni appart from the grandmother (Lyndsay?)
Then it had the break up of the grandparents.
In all this, there was no obvious progression - just a feeling of drift. There was no celebration of recovery, no reason why the grandparents should become important, no exploration of friends and extended family.
Then there was the language. I found the prose hard to read. I kept stumbling over sentences which did not have a clear sense - or even a verb! I have nothing against arty writing, but when it is done well, it should read smoothly and naturally. If the reader keeps tripping up, the writing is failing in what it is trying to be.
And finally, there was the incessant political correctness. Every so often, the plot turned into a rather one sided portrayal of imminent environmental disaster. That might have been balanced better with an exploration of the economic reasons whi communities felt they should exploit the natural resources. Just showing the downside felt like preaching.
I'm afraid I thought this was quite a weak book - as evidenced by the fact that, one day later, I can barely remember the names of more than two characters.
Lacks focus August 30, 2006
Mister Hobgoblin (Edinburgh, Scotland)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
I'm afraid I would have to agree with some of the less complimentary comments on this novel. I felt that it had a couple of rather serious shortcomings.
Firstly, the novel lacked focus. It started out as one man's battle against illness whilst isolated from the rest of the world. This had potential to explore the nature of the pariah and the effect on friends and family of not being able to comfort the man they loved.
Then it moved into the relationship between private and personal life with the conflict between eco-warrioring and having family who represented big corporations in the law courts. And although I understood the device of splitting Benni and Berenice, I didn't think the differentiation was clear from behaviour - and also I couldn't tell Berenice/Benni appart from the grandmother (Lyndsay?)
Then it had the break up of the grandparents.
In all this, there was no obvious progression - just a feeling of drift. There was no celebration of recovery, no reason why the grandparents should become important, no exploration of friends and extended family.
Then there was the language. I found the prose hard to read. I kept stumbling over sentences which did not have a clear sense - or even a verb! I have nothing against arty writing, but when it is done well, it should read smoothly and naturally. If the reader keeps tripping up, the writing is failing in what it is trying to be.
And finally, there was the incessant political correctness. Every so often, the plot turned into a rather one sided portrayal of imminent environmental disaster. That might have been balanced better with an exploration of the economic reasons whi communities felt they should exploit the natural resources. Just showing the downside felt like preaching.
I'm afraid I thought this was quite a weak book - as evidenced by the fact that, one day later, I can barely remember the names of more than two characters.
 Challenging little book March 1, 2006
pseudopanax (London)
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
There’s a very ordinary domestic story at the heart of Get A Life; there’s illness, adultery, birth, adoption and balancing work life with home life. But this being Gordimer, it also brings in the wider issues of conservation and race relations in contemporary South Africa. The opening pages are a marvel; few writers can set the scene so economically yet so precisely as Gordimer. The landscape of the characters is drawn without sentimentality or judgement, and through it all Gordimer is in complete control of the narrative, showing the reader these characters with all their ambiguities intact. This is a short novel, a mediation almost on the ongoing destruction and reconstruction of aspects of the characters’ lives that they had thought were set in stone and impervious to change. Get A Life is not an easy book for the casual reader, but for those who have enjoyed Gordimer’s previous work or for those new to her and up for a bit of a challenge it is a provocative piece of fiction.
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