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The Third Party
minor wear to edges
- GenresIrish Literature
256 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 5, 2012
As I was going to be travelling through the same country -- nay, exact city of Hiroshima -- as author Glenn Patterson, I thought I'd read The Third Party (978-0856408090) during my actual journey. That was rewarding: Patterson's script and detail as his characters wander through the place of the atomic bomb was truly accurate and a joy to read.
I understood the character development also, between the relatively dull protagonist and a complementary, more mysterious character, an unlikely star writer who's come from a chequered background. For the first half of the novel, I didn't mind the conversations and tension between the two.
The pace quickens in the last third, and the climatic event is left very late. I won't spoil it, but I was rather disappointed. Considering the use of subtlety and exposing the complications that is mature adulthood (demonstrations of accomplished writing), the sudden halt came across like a secondary school essay. It's the reason I don't watch soap operas; they're so predictable, and the ending to The Third Party left me feeling cheated. But perhaps that's Patterson's point?
I understood the character development also, between the relatively dull protagonist and a complementary, more mysterious character, an unlikely star writer who's come from a chequered background. For the first half of the novel, I didn't mind the conversations and tension between the two.
The pace quickens in the last third, and the climatic event is left very late. I won't spoil it, but I was rather disappointed. Considering the use of subtlety and exposing the complications that is mature adulthood (demonstrations of accomplished writing), the sudden halt came across like a secondary school essay. It's the reason I don't watch soap operas; they're so predictable, and the ending to The Third Party left me feeling cheated. But perhaps that's Patterson's point?
November 12, 2013
Patterson's prose has a dream-like quality which absorbed me and made reading this book exceptionally easy. In parts, the story seems to stray and become confusing, even non-sensical. Patterson never seems to tie things together for you, he seems to leave that to the reader.
The Third Party was an easy read and had some interesting points to make.
The Third Party was an easy read and had some interesting points to make.
July 2, 2012
Set in Japan, this novel chronicles a chance meeting of a salesman and a writer both from Northern Ireland. It is of the taut thriller genre- quite short, often very funny. I struggled to understand the ending, but overall I enjoyed it
April 14, 2014
took me far too long to read this. I enjoyed the first part of the book and then felt it lost the plot a little. I couldn't keep up with what was going on and didn't feel any attachment to the main character at all.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews