Disobedience
by Hamilton, Jane
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 038550117X
- ISBN 13
- 9780385501170
- Seller
-
Las Vegas , Nevada, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
A young man awaits the consequences of his mother's extramarital affair with a violin-maker, information he discovers when he accidentally stumbles across her e-mailbox. From Jane Hamilton, author of the beloved New York Times bestsellers A Map of the World and The Book of Ruth, comes a warmly humorous, poignant novel about a young man, his mother's e-mail, and the often surprising path of infidelity. Henry Shaw, a high school senior, is about as comfortable with his family as any seventeen-year-old can be. His father, Kevin, teaches history with a decidedly socialist tinge at the Chicago private school Henry and his sister attend. His mother, Beth, who plays the piano in a group specializing in antique music, is a loving, attentive wife and parent. Henry even accepts the offbeat behavior of his thirteen-year-old sister, Elvira, who is obsessed with Civil War reenactments and insists on dressing in handmade Union uniforms at inopportune times. When he stumbles on his mother's e-mail account, however, Henry realizes that all is not as it seems. There, under the name Liza38, a name that Henry innocently established for her, is undeniable evidence that his mother is having an affair with one Richard Polloco, a violin maker and unlikely paramour who nonetheless has a very appealing way with words and a romantic spirit that, in Henry's estimation, his own father woefully lacks. Against his better judgment, Henry charts the progress of his mother's infatuation, her feelings of euphoria, of guilt, and of profound, touching confusion. His knowledge of Beth's secret life colors his own tentative explorations of love and sex with the ephemeral Lily, and casts a new light on the arguments-usually focused on Elvira-in which his parents regularly indulge. Over the course of his final year of high school, Henry observes each member of the family, trying to anticipate when they will find out about the infidelity and what the knowledge will mean to each of them. Henry's observations, set down ten years after that fateful year, are much more than the "old story" of adultery his mother deemed her affair to be. With her inimitable grace and compassion, Jane Hamilton has created a novel full of gentle humor and rich insights into the nature of love and the deep, mysterious bonds that hold families together.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Idler Fine Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 003908
- Title
- Disobedience
- Author
- Hamilton, Jane
- Illustrator
- Marion Ettlinger (Author's Portrait); Debra Lill
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- ISBN 10
- 038550117X
- ISBN 13
- 9780385501170
- Publisher
- Doubleday / Random House
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2000
- Keywords
- Fiction, Literature, Women Writers.
Terms of Sale
Idler Fine Books
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About the Seller
Idler Fine Books
About Idler Fine Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...