SUMMIT.

by D.M. Thomas

Book by Thomas, D. M.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

D.M. Thomas was born in Cornwall in 1935. After reading English at New College, Oxford, he became a teacher and was Head of the English Department at Hereford College of Education until he became a full-time writer. His first novel The Flute-Player won the Gollancz Pan/Picador Fantasy Competition. He is also known for his collections of verse and his translation from the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova.

He was awarded the Los Angeles Fiction prize for his novel The White Hotel, an international bestseller, translated into 30 languages; a Cholmondeley award for poetry; and the Orwell Prize for his biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He lives in his native Cornwall, England.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 3 out of 5]

All I am seeking is another obsessive relationship. Another exhilarating and tempestuous relationship that stretches years and years, that provides hours of tears, laughs, and violent brawls. The relationship I have with Yo La Tengo has turned into a passionate, amorous encounter, set to span a long melodious time. The relationship I have with Thomas Bernhard is an ongoing on-off affair, with each visit a devastating reminder of the violence of the love I feel, and why I need to keep my distance from the Austrian stallion. My relationship with Cornwall novelist D.M. Thomas is turning into a ritualistic affair, an increasingly desperate attempt to stir up the passion of past glories: the Sorrentinos, the Queneaus, the Infantes, all those discoveries that thrilled me from title to title. I have to admit, with this sixth exploration, that Thomas is not the man to rekindle my readerly amour, and that although Summit is a pleasing and unusual farce, I am looking for a more dextrous and ambitious lover to light my loins, to make me scream with textual pleasure, to make me feel alive again. D.M., this is complicated. Yes, Paul West is my “special friend”, and there is nothing you can do.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fourth of a novel series looking at aspects of Russia, Summit is a black comedy/ satire / farce set during a summit meeting in Geneva between President O'Reilly of the US (who strangely resembles Reagan) and President Grobichov of the USSR. The negotiations centre on removal of nuclear arms from Europe with the US trying to persuade Russia to accept a US plan (known as the IUD, an acronym that of course leads to misunderstanding) for a Star Wars like defence shield, while the Russians muddy the waters with a weird scheme to resurrect the dead to colonise space.
The novel is now definitely dated as topical satire tends to be. Would not read again.

[Rhys · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love D.M. Thomas and it was nice to finally read the fourth part of his 'Russian Quartet' (although I've heard that he has since added a fifth novel and now it's a quintet)... But Summit isn't very brilliant, to be honest. It's amusing enough, yes, but of the four novels in this sequence Swallow is far and away the best, the most accomplished and the only one I would consider re-reading.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

they would have raised the dead by 2000 and stored them in outer space. yay federov!

[Jenifer Perry]

My copy is just called Summit, but the ISBN matches this one.