The Little Book
by Selden Edwards
List Price:
Our Price: $12.97
You Save: $12.98 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $12.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Selden EdwardsEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-14
ISBN: 0525950613
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Book Reviews of The Little Book
Book Review: No More Heroes
Summary: 4 Stars
Over 30 years in the making, the care and detail lavished in Selden Edwards's debut novel is evident the love for which he depicts the splendour of turn-of-the-century Vienna, where the 'Jung Wien', the Secessionists, Mahler, Freud and the numerous important figures are about to modernise music art and philosophy and make an indelible mark on the twentieth century. That it sets about depicting this world through a time-travel adventure is intriguing and relevant to showing the tremendous impact this period would have on the world today, but it's also problematic.
In this Vienna of Freud, Wittgenstein and the Secessionists Edwards finds the essence of modern day thought, enlightenment, emancipation and the greatness that humanity can aspire to, the cultural apex that sets the foundation for the modern world to create all-American heroes, athletes and musicians, men of honour, discipline and learning. That much is entertainingly achieved, even if the heroic qualities of the male line of the legendary Boston-based Burden family becoming all-round war heroes, academic geniuses, sports superstars and rock gods makes them rather tediously too perfect, dryly characterised and irritatingly saddled with preppy names like Dilly and Wheeler.
How much of their superhuman qualities is inherent and how much of it comes with the conveniently unexplained time-slips back to fin-de-si?cle Vienna is debatable, but it's also infuriatingly paradoxical in that typically time-travel way. It certainly seems that the legendary prowess of the men is less significant in the direction of world events than the "easy virtue" of the female members of the family, who have no qualms about upsetting the space/tie continuum through making use of their insider business knowledge of future trends and conducting somewhat borderline incestuous liaisons and overly convenient and scarcely credible extra-marital affairs.
This aspect is likely to make or break the viewer's pleasure of the book, infuriatingly destabilising the integrity of the characterisation with its time travel paradoxes and playing free and loose with important historical figures and where they get their inspiration. On the other hand, the author's intricate interweaving of timelines, historical fact and fiction, his Back To The Future playing with several generations of the Burden family and their associates all converging in the same time period is often thrilling. If in the end it is somewhat over-elaborated, repetitive and rather too neatly wrapped-up, the time-travel aspect does convey some sense of the social and cultural benefits as well as the human cost and moral complexities of US foreign policy and the dangers of political and financial interventionism.
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Contemporary Books To Read With The One You Love!
The Little Bookby Selden Edwards
Dutton Adult; Published: 2008-08-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.54
Price in other shops:
When You Are Engulfed in Flamesby David Sedaris
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2008-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.90
Price in other shops:
Grace: A Novelby Richard Paul Evans
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-10-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.57
Price in other shops:
The Lucky Oneby Nicholas Sparks
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2008-09-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
The Christmas Boxby Richard Paul Evans
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1995-11-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.20
Price in other shops:
The Art of Racing in the Rainby Garth Stein
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.45
Price in other shops:
Always By My Side: A Father's Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Otherby Jim Nantz
Gotham; Published: 2008-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.90
Price in other shops:
Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dogby John Grogan
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2008-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops:
Message in a Bottleby Nicholas Sparks
Vision; Published: 1999-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Suzanne's Diary for Nicholasby James Patterson
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2001-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.04
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Home: A Novelby Marilynne Robinson
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Child 44by Tom Rob Smith
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops:
The 19th Wife: A Novelby David Ebershoff
Random House; Published: 2008-08-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
The Given Day: A Novelby Dennis Lehane
William Morrow; Published: 2008-09-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
City of Thieves: A Novelby David Benioff
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.28
Price in other shops:
The Good Thiefby Hannah Tinti
The Dial Press; Published: 2008-08-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.08
Price in other shops:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattooby Stieg Larsson
Knopf; Published: 2008-09-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.98
Price in other shops:
The Lace Reader: A Novelby Brunonia Barry
William Morrow; Published: 2008-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.95
Price in other shops:
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (Oprah Book Club #62)by David Wroblewski
Ecco; Published: 2008-09-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.09
Price in other shops:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Societyby Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
The Dial Press; Published: 2008-07-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.37
Price in other shops: