Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2000. Please try your request again later. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Quite different from the (extremely good) movie, with much more time spent on Giles' life in England and less on his adventures in the US. After that he travels to Long Island city where Ronnie lives and meets him, pretending that Ronnie is a great actor and that's why Giles admires him." A reclusive British author develops a bizarre obsession with an American teen idol after mistakenly wandering into a theater playing his latest movie. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. With perfect poise and poignance, Adair puts across the impossibility of fulfillment, the heat and humiliation of passion. The main character, Giles De'Ath, reminds me of the prissy, rich uncle played by Clifton Webb in the original film version of W. Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge": hilarious on short acquaintence, but likely to prove tiresome in the long, as De'ath proved to be, at least to my mind. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Giles’s infatuation drives him to the unthinkable: he reads American fan magazines and watches movies with titles like Tex Mex and Skid Marks. The basis for the hit independent film starring Jason Priestly and John Hurt, Love and Death on Long Island is a brilliant, witty, and heartrending update of Death in Venice. Marvellous over-elaborated style, too. Adair proves himself as a wordsmith of the highest order, possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of the english language. John Hurt has rarely been better as Giles De'Ath, a renowned British author of dry, laborious text. Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2001. Love and Death on Long Island By. movie "Love & Death On Long Island" which was just beginning. John Hurt was amazing as the 19th Century-esque English writer (Giles De'Ath), a closeted gay man who was once married to a woman and is now widowed. . Comparable to the prose stylings of a personal favorite, Graham Greene, his prose is eloquent and romantic. --Ron Hogan, "A literary gem, a tour de force . The acknowledgments at the beginning of the book … We work hard to protect your security and privacy. . About to leave, he spies on screen his very idea of beauty: a near-talentless American actor named Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley, in … "-Financial Times (UK). It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Giles De'Ath (Sir John Hurt) is a widower who doesn't like anything modern. Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2000. Love and Death on Long Island is sharp, sophisticated and completely delicious, a purposeful comedy that focuses on the power of screen images to uproot lives and the poignancy of amour fou, totally mad love. A vast improvement on the somewhat lacklustre screen treatment. When he wanders into the wrong theater and finds himself watching the wretched teen-pic Hotpants College II , cerebral British author Giles De’Ath becomes romantically obsessed with dreamboat Ronnie Bostock. Peter Travers ... travels to Ronnie’s home on New York’s Long Island. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! Captivated and, increasingly, obsessed: secretly buying teen movie magazines and reading and re-reading the bland articles, cutting out photographs, kissing them - and more. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. "-Daphne Merkin, The New Yorker (on the film), "A very funny portrait of an extraordinarily unworldly academic's introduction to the dizzyingly incomprehensible realm of popular culture. "-Literary Review (UK), "Utterly original, baroquely comic . Marvellous over-elaborated style, too. Superb novel, parodying everything from Mann to teen B-movies, but with a tender affection for its main character, sardonic and infatuated novelist Giles De'Ath. a story about an obsessive, loving infatuation could easily become overdone and crass, but it shows the character’s relationship (one-sided as it is) as charming and sympathetic, though you don’t want to feel that way. The storyline of obsession somewhat resembles that of Death in Venice. Giles's infatuation drives him to the unthinkable: he reads American fan magazines and watches movies with titles like Tex Mex and Skid Marks. Comparable to the prose stylings of a personal favorite, Graham Greene, his prose is eloquent and romantic. . A brilliantly witty and beautifully written short novel. "-Financial Times (UK). To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Embracing the mandarin style of a Henry James and the self-referential qualities of a Marcel Proust, Love and Death on Long Island is a classical display of fine writing in miniature format. When he wanders into the wrong theater and finds himself watching the wretched teen-pic Hotpants College II, cerebral British author Giles De’Ath becomes romantically obsessed with dreamboat Ronnie Bostock. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, The Kindle title is not currently available for purchase. movie "Love & Death On Long Island" which was just beginning. The title includes a pun: Death/De'Ath. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Overall it's a haunting account of romantic love, the supreme idiocy that flesh is heir to. Love and Death on Long Islan‪d‬. Narrated by De'Ath, it is thus somewhat more internally driven than the excellent 1998 film adaptation starring John Hurt and Jason Priestley. Unable to add item to List. Gilbert Adair, Love and Death on Long Island This fictional memoir of a love affair between a defunct ageing writer and Ronnie Bostock, a handsome young actor is an engaging study of an obsession bordering on madness. The main character, Giles De'Ath, reminds me of the prissy, rich uncle played by Clifton Webb in the original film version of W. Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge": hilarious on short acquaintence, but likely to prove tiresome in the long, as De'ath proved to be, at least to my mind. But instead, like the prowler who showed up on Woodwards' Long Island estate that fateful night, the author seems to have fled the scene. 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