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Appointment in Samarra
Appointment in Samarra
Author: John O'Hara
Fourth Printing, 1953. — Handsome and popular, secure in a good job and in the love of a beautiful wife, young socialite Julian English was a successful man. Yet in three shattering days he saw his career destroyed, his marriage wrecked and his life in ruins! — This is an explosive modern novel of a man whose violation of society's code leads him ...  more »
ISBN: 15750
Pages: 190
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 1

3.5 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Signet
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
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Helpful Score: 1
This novel by an American ingrate and egoist would make a great short story. Set in fictional Gibbsville (Putzville would be a better name), PA, it tells of a mans transition from success to self-destruction over a three day Christmas holiday. Bulking out the work are bios of many of the characters, most of which do little to add to the plot, but do create a compendium of the underlying character of the community, or at least part of it, if one can assume that these are representative of the mores of the whole. The absurd actions that lead to the eventual denouement somehow do not seem to stem from what we learn of the main character, although his fate may be predestined to that of his Grandfather (albeit over a much more serious matter). The best part is the title (although no one except OHara seems to have liked it) that predicts the ending. The author adopted the title from a vignette in W. Somerset Maughams play, Sheppey, who, in his turn, relates an ancient Middle East tale. The vignette is reproduced as an epigraph to the novel.
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