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Description edit
The year is 1970, and it’s a long, hot summer. In a castle on a mountainside in Italy, half a dozen young lives are afloat on a sea of change, trapped inside the history of the sexual revolution. The girls are acting like boys, the boys are going on acting like boys, and Keith Nearing—twenty... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Keith: A tragic hero in many senses, he undergoes his own sexual revolution to coincide with that of the female actors.
- Whittaker: Keith's gay friend in Italy, who always calls a draw at chess and is woefully in love with Amen.
- Adriano: The pathetically short Italian who pulls out all the stops to win Scheherazade's heart (also the name of the rat/dog).
- Lily: Keith's long-time girlfriend and sufferer of both him and the revolution itself.
- Rita: The one they call 'The Dog' - a northern girl who no-one must sleep with, but most men seem to. A tragic end for her.
- Scheherazade: The one of the few triumphs of the revolution, Scheherazade grows quickly into her body and hopes to lose her virginity at any desperate cost.
- Kenrik: Keith's oldest friend who does, in fact, sleep with the dog, and regret it. A lot.
- Gloria Beautyman: A very significant character - her bottom features quite heavily.
- Nicholas: Keith's brother - notoriously left wing, amazingly poetic, and a good friend to his brother. A nice neutral character who acts as a more omniscient factor in Keith's life.
- Conchita: Keith's third wife to whom he in introduced in Italy - she is much younger than he is.
- Violet: Keith's sister and a tragedy of the time. Based on Amis' own sister.
- Timmy: Scheherazade's long-absent other-half who is very religious.
- Silvia: Keith's step-daughter.
- Dilkash: One of Keith's sexual partners.
- Tom Thumb: An endearing pet-name given to Adriano.
- Tina: Keith's adoptive mother, and the biological mother of Nicholas and Violet.
- Prentiss: Conchita's mother and a character not particularly present.
- Montale: A place populated by young men fascinated with the lumps and bumps so characteristic of women.
- Huw: Gloria's fiancee and drug-addict.
- Karl: Nicholas and Violet's father.
- Alexis: One of the girls from Keith's office and a later, brief sexual encounter.
- Digby: An employer of Keith.
- Doris: One of Keith's sexual partners.
- Luchino: Add a description of this character.
- Frieda Lawrence
- Mussolini: The leader of Italy during the Second World War. He is briefly referred to in the novel.
- Pamela
- Dodo: The maid of Conchita and Prentiss.
- Feliciano
- Tom Jones
- Probert: Huw's brother and farmhand at his castle.
- Ashraf: Another of Keith's sexual partners.
- Emma
- Clarissa
- Jane Austen: Famous novelist, also briefly referred to in the novel. Keith is a student of English literature.
- Jean: One of Nicholas' sexual partners. Also very left-wing.
- Gus
- Anthony
- Jorquil: The owner of the castle in Italy and Gloria's sexual partner.
- Mary
- Chloe: One of Keith's daughters.
- Elizabeth Bennet: A guise of Gloria during sex.
- Pervez
- D. H. Lawrence: Famous novelist, also referred to in the book and the subject of Keith's essay for the Literary Supplement.
- Isabel: One of Keith's daughters.
- Molly Sims
- Michael
- Neil Darlington
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Woman and Home's Top 30 Books of 2010. (authoritative list)
This book is in NPR Summer Books 2010. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Martin Amis (Author)
Awards edit
- Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (2010: Fiction)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 823.914
Subjects edit
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