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The Thing of It Is
A young couple goes on vacation in London, Rome and Venice, in the hope of salvaging their faltering marriage. The quarrels, the agonies, the bickering and the swift changes of moods of Amos and Lila McCracken are fiercely and poignantly familiar, yet Goldman renders his domestic crisis as freshly as he does the character of their precocious little girl. This strong and moving novel attains a climax that is shattering in the outrageously sad and funny reaches of its inimitably fallible humanness.--From publisher description.
- GenresFiction
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
115 people want to read
About the author
William Goldman
91 books2,677 followersGoldman grew up in a Jewish family in Highland Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and obtained a BA degree at Oberlin College in 1952 and an MA degree at Columbia University in 1956.His brother was the late James Goldman, author and playwright.
William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway before he began to write screenplays. Several of his novels he later used as the foundation for his screenplays.
In the 1980s he wrote a series of memoirs looking at his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood (in one of these he famously remarked that "Nobody knows anything"). He then returned to writing novels. He then adapted his novel The Princess Bride to the screen, which marked his re-entry into screenwriting.
Goldman won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. He also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979.
Goldman died in New York City on November 16, 2018, due to complications from colon cancer and pneumonia. He was eighty-seven years old.
William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway before he began to write screenplays. Several of his novels he later used as the foundation for his screenplays.
In the 1980s he wrote a series of memoirs looking at his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood (in one of these he famously remarked that "Nobody knows anything"). He then returned to writing novels. He then adapted his novel The Princess Bride to the screen, which marked his re-entry into screenwriting.
Goldman won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. He also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979.
Goldman died in New York City on November 16, 2018, due to complications from colon cancer and pneumonia. He was eighty-seven years old.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 6, 2019
"Αν θες να ξέρεις την αλήθεια", εκδόσεις Άγκυρα (τσέπης).
Ο Γουίλιαμ Γκόλντμαν ήταν σίγουρα ένας από τους καλύτερους σεναριογράφους του Χόλιγουντ, με κοτζάμ δυο Όσκαρ στο ενεργητικό του. Όμως δεν έγραφε μόνο σενάρια, αλλά και μυθιστορήματα. Και πολύ καλά μάλιστα. Το 2012 διάβασα το πραγματικά εξαιρετικό θρίλερ "Ο μαραθωνοδρόμος" (με την ομότιτλη ταινία να είναι εξίσου φοβερή), ενώ το 2014 το αρκετά καλό θρίλερ με στοιχεία τρόμου, με τον τίτλο "Σατανικός μάγος".
Τώρα έχουμε να κάνουμε με κάτι τελείως διαφορετικό, μιας και το "Αν θες να ξέρεις την αλήθεια" είναι ένα κοινωνικό δράμα, στο οποίο ένα νεαρό ζευγάρι πηγαίνει διακοπές -αρχικά στο Λονδίνο και μετέπειτα στη Ρώμη και τη Βενετία-, με βασικό στόχο να σωθεί ο υπερβολικά εύθραυστος γάμος του. Οι καβγάδες, οι πικρές κουβέντες, οι αγωνίες, οι ξαφνικές αλλαγές στη διάθεση είναι τα κομμάτια που συνθέτουν το παζλ του υπό κατάρρευση γάμου των πρωταγωνιστών. Πρόκειται για ένα πολύ καλογραμμένο μυθιστόρημα, έξυπνο και εύστοχο, που αναδεικνύει κάποιες αλήθειες για το γάμο και τον έρωτα. Οι περιγραφές είναι λιτές, οι διάλογοι ιδιαίτερα φυσικοί, με το χιούμορ -άλλοτε ευχάριστο, άλλοτε πικρό- να κάνει έντονη την παρουσία του, δείχνοντας κατά τη γνώμη μου την οξυδέρκεια του συγγραφέα.
Οπωσδήποτε είναι ένα βιβλίο που διαβάζεται γρήγορα και ευχάριστα, και σας λέω ειλικρινά ότι δεν περίμενα να μου αρέσει τόσο πολύ. Τα πέντε αστεράκια θα ήταν μάλλον υπερβολικά και άδικα για άλλα βιβλία, όμως και μόνο που το σκέφτηκα για μια στιγμή, δείχνει πόσο ευχαριστημένος έμεινα από την ιστορία και κυρίως από τη γραφή.
Ο Γουίλιαμ Γκόλντμαν ήταν σίγουρα ένας από τους καλύτερους σεναριογράφους του Χόλιγουντ, με κοτζάμ δυο Όσκαρ στο ενεργητικό του. Όμως δεν έγραφε μόνο σενάρια, αλλά και μυθιστορήματα. Και πολύ καλά μάλιστα. Το 2012 διάβασα το πραγματικά εξαιρετικό θρίλερ "Ο μαραθωνοδρόμος" (με την ομότιτλη ταινία να είναι εξίσου φοβερή), ενώ το 2014 το αρκετά καλό θρίλερ με στοιχεία τρόμου, με τον τίτλο "Σατανικός μάγος".
Τώρα έχουμε να κάνουμε με κάτι τελείως διαφορετικό, μιας και το "Αν θες να ξέρεις την αλήθεια" είναι ένα κοινωνικό δράμα, στο οποίο ένα νεαρό ζευγάρι πηγαίνει διακοπές -αρχικά στο Λονδίνο και μετέπειτα στη Ρώμη και τη Βενετία-, με βασικό στόχο να σωθεί ο υπερβολικά εύθραυστος γάμος του. Οι καβγάδες, οι πικρές κουβέντες, οι αγωνίες, οι ξαφνικές αλλαγές στη διάθεση είναι τα κομμάτια που συνθέτουν το παζλ του υπό κατάρρευση γάμου των πρωταγωνιστών. Πρόκειται για ένα πολύ καλογραμμένο μυθιστόρημα, έξυπνο και εύστοχο, που αναδεικνύει κάποιες αλήθειες για το γάμο και τον έρωτα. Οι περιγραφές είναι λιτές, οι διάλογοι ιδιαίτερα φυσικοί, με το χιούμορ -άλλοτε ευχάριστο, άλλοτε πικρό- να κάνει έντονη την παρουσία του, δείχνοντας κατά τη γνώμη μου την οξυδέρκεια του συγγραφέα.
Οπωσδήποτε είναι ένα βιβλίο που διαβάζεται γρήγορα και ευχάριστα, και σας λέω ειλικρινά ότι δεν περίμενα να μου αρέσει τόσο πολύ. Τα πέντε αστεράκια θα ήταν μάλλον υπερβολικά και άδικα για άλλα βιβλία, όμως και μόνο που το σκέφτηκα για μια στιγμή, δείχνει πόσο ευχαριστημένος έμεινα από την ιστορία και κυρίως από τη γραφή.
May 27, 2010
William Goldman never gets any respect in literary circles. He is a screenwriter, after all. But Goldman’s early novels might surprise those who only know his film work. Nineteen sixty-seven’s “The Thing of It Is” examines a crumbling marriage. It’s funny and breezy just like his best screenplays, yes, but it’s also by turns incisive, wrenching and melancholic.
Back in the day, Robert Redford passed on a screen version of the novel because the main character was “too weak” and thus wouldn’t fit his movie-star image. So said Goldman, anyway, in his classic Hollywood memoir, “Adventures in the Screen Trade.”
Back in the day, Robert Redford passed on a screen version of the novel because the main character was “too weak” and thus wouldn’t fit his movie-star image. So said Goldman, anyway, in his classic Hollywood memoir, “Adventures in the Screen Trade.”
November 20, 2021
Goldman wrote some good scripts and he had plenty of interesting things to say about both storytelling and the movie business, so when I heard that he thought of himself as an author first and a screenwriter second, it followed that I ought to try one of his novels.
This is really an extended short story. In fact, not even that; it's a movie treatment. Goldman probably even had in mind who he wanted to star in it. The story is of a disintegrating marriage, but even though every unhappy family is different, they're not all interesting, and this one is just a bore. The husband here thinks his problem is that he's half Jewish, when in fact it's that he's 100% a pain in the arse. He and his wife know how to push each other's buttons, spend most of their time bickering, and use their child as a pawn in the battle of egos.
The prose style is that cute chatty idiom that Goldman uses in his scripts. There it's engaging, here it's almost as irritating as the male lead. There are some would-be surprises that you'll spot a mile off. Many of the supporting cast comment that Americans are crazy, and on the basis of this pair (and the stereotypical bitchy mother-in-law, a cameo part in the final reel) you'd have to agree.
This is really an extended short story. In fact, not even that; it's a movie treatment. Goldman probably even had in mind who he wanted to star in it. The story is of a disintegrating marriage, but even though every unhappy family is different, they're not all interesting, and this one is just a bore. The husband here thinks his problem is that he's half Jewish, when in fact it's that he's 100% a pain in the arse. He and his wife know how to push each other's buttons, spend most of their time bickering, and use their child as a pawn in the battle of egos.
The prose style is that cute chatty idiom that Goldman uses in his scripts. There it's engaging, here it's almost as irritating as the male lead. There are some would-be surprises that you'll spot a mile off. Many of the supporting cast comment that Americans are crazy, and on the basis of this pair (and the stereotypical bitchy mother-in-law, a cameo part in the final reel) you'd have to agree.
December 10, 2020
Incredibly simple story of a couple on vacation getting into arguments and deciding to separate then maybe not, then maybe again.
It’s brief and quick moving but the characters are, while three dimensional enough, kind of annoying. A fine afternoon read, but nothing you’ll remember later.
It’s brief and quick moving but the characters are, while three dimensional enough, kind of annoying. A fine afternoon read, but nothing you’ll remember later.
August 29, 2013
This is a wonderful drama, essentially a series of arguments between a couple as they vacation in London, Rome and Venice in a last ditch effort to save their marriage. There is not a wasted word or event - the book is as sharp as a razor as the protagonist, a wealthy Broadway composer, and his equally intelligent wife come at each other with gloves off. There is much humor and sadness, and you feel sorry at times for each character, and especially for their four year old daughter, caught in the middle. You also wonder, as does each of them, what brought them together in the first place. This is a reflective, challenging work, a breeze to read, but something you won't soon forget, especially if you've ever been in love with someone and wondered, foolishly, how you got there.
January 10, 2016
Pretty good. It's basically a front-row seat for a couple's constant fighting, which is a bit exhausting as well as entertaining.
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January 8, 2009It's been so long since I read this, I can't remember much about it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews