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The Blue Afternoon (Penguin Audiobooks) |  | Author: William Boyd
Creator: Kate Harper
Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks
Category: Book
Buy New: £8.00
New (1) Used (5) from £2.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 1695235
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio Cassette
Pages: 1
ISBN: 0140860509
EAN: 9780140860504
ASIN: 0140860509
Publication Date: April 8, 1994
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New copy still in cellophane wrap. Running time approx. 3 hours.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Original and quirky October 21, 2008
Few authors could successfully create a coherent novel by combining such diverse elements as an early attempt at 'heavier-than-air' flight, a series of murders, a doomed love affair, life in the colonial Philippines, and medical advances at the turn of the century. William Boyd is one of those few who can, and the result is an original, quirky novel.
As with all of his books, the writing is excellent, every phrase hitting the mark, encompassing both tragedy and comedy with equal skill. Boyd's originality means you can never quite predict exactly where the story is going. His characters are simultaneously infuriating and likeable, and always very very real.
My main criticism of the book lies with the sections set in Los Angeles, which I didn't think quite worked. It would have been better to launch straight into the story proper and leave out the cloak and dagger beginning, and use a simpler way to relate the ending. The end of the story also seemed a bit rushed and left too much unanswered.
But overall another great read from William Boyd - not his best, but still better than most other recent novelists!
Not his best October 7, 2008
I like most of Boyd's books and looked forward to this one, but while readable and entertaining, it was much ado about nothing. The Kay character had nothing of interest to bring to the tale. As for the main body of the story, while it was interesting, I found it overwrought (yes, a bit bodice-ripperish, in fact) and the flying machine parts were downright dull. When at last it all just petered out, I was left wondering what the point had been. I think the books of his I like best--The New Confessions, Brazzaville Beach--are those rooted more in history and with strong characters. A narrator who remains a cipher (well, she narrates part of the story) is a letdown. The history part of this just doesn't come alive, and it's the crux of the story.
 Boyd's Best Novel April 20, 2008
Though Boyd's New Confessions is a great Twentieth Century set-piece in the tradition of works like Anthony Burgess' Earthly Powers, The Blue Afternoon shows Boyd's inventive story telling at its absolute best.
Read it - and at the end ask yourself this: is Carriscant telling the truth? After all, Kay doesn't witness his conversation with Paton Bobby at the beginning of the novel; her mother doesn't recognise Carriscant in the street; and - without wanting to spoil the plot - the crucial conversation at the end of the book isn't witnessed by Kay either.
So what evidence does she have that anything Carriscant has told her is true...?
Good book but not Boyd's best August 19, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm an avid reader of William Boyd's novels and short stories. I particularly love "Brazzaville Plage", "A good man in Africa" and "Ice cream war" and I consider "Any Human Heart" a masterpiece of modern literature. "The blue afternoon" is a good book but, in my opinion, not one of his strongest. As in most of his novels you have a strong historical context and sense of place. One of the amazing things with Boyd in this respect is that he always makes it look effortless, as if he had been there and witnesses with his own eyes the unfolding of History.
I think what makes it merely a good rather than a great book is that the structure of the novel seems, to me, unbalanced. The first part is too long (I actually tried to read the book a year ago but gave up after 60 pages as I couldn't get to raise my interest), the beginning of the second one as well and the final part seems slightly rushed.
I also find the voice of the narrator a bit artificial (Boyd wouldn't be the first male writer to have had problem to make female characters credible) and she does not do justice to the main character who appears rather bland in the first and final parts. Considering the story, this is completely understandable but I thing it does not favour the novel as a whole. I'm wondering whether the character of Kay was truly necessary.
This is a great shame because the story, when you actually get to it, is both thrilling and beautiful.
I you haven't read any of William Boyd's books you should consider starting with one of the ones mentioned at the beginning instead. If you have read all of them, persevere past the first 80 pages and you'll be rewarded with a rich story.
An absorbing read June 21, 2007
I have just finished reading this. It is the fourth novel by William Boyd I have read and I consider it to be the best so far. Like Ice Cream Wars it is educational - but painlessly so. Until I read the criticisms of the start of the novel I had forgotten that it was faintly irritating, but once you are into the plot that is quickly forgotten. One does suspect that the author had the character of Kay on a shelf somewhere just waiting for somewhere to use her, and she is not totally convincing, but that is a minor criticism. I enjoyed the pioneering flight episodes and the geographical and historical setting . Some of SC's fellow medical characters were comic book bad guys but quite fun to boo and hiss at. Overall I found the story enjoyable, absorbing and, as you would expect, well written.
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