Canzone d'amore

by Philip José Farmer, Luigi Giamboelli (Translator)

In una villa misteriosa che si erge su un precipizio sul mare, abitano due donne di rara bellezza e di raro fascino. Madre e figlia, che, durante una crociera nei mari del sud, fanno conoscenza con il protagonista del libro: Jack Weston. Jack Weston si innamora di ambedue, sia pure in maniera diversa, e non può resistere alla tentazione di cercare di possederle entrambe. Ma, dietro la facciata di perbenismo e di lusso che le due donne ostentano, si cela un oscuro mistero, un qualcosa di torbido e di melmoso che Jack Weston avverte senza riuscire a definire con chiarezza di cosa si tratti.
Avviluppato in una ragnatela di sensualità e paura, egli trascorre alcuni giorni nella villa delle due donne. La madre gli si concede, ma la figlia gli resiste pur provocandolo continuamente con le sue grazie. Fino al momento della catarsi finale, quando, in una notte di tempesta, Weston scoprirà il segreto indicibile che attanaglia madre e figlia in una orrenda congiura del silenzio. Un libro che fonde perfettamente la tensione di un thrilling con le qualità del migliore erotismo. Una sinfonia d'amore, di passione incontrollabile e di mistero che vi lascerà senza fiato!
In copertina: illustrazione di Terry Pastor.

261 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.

Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tis is number 201 of 500 signed and numbered copies.

originally published as a paperback by Brandon House in 1970

[Stuart Pike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been a Philip José Farmer fan for a long time but this was one of his books that I had failed to track down. I had high(ish) expectations, it being written around the same time as 'The Image Of The Beast' and 'Blown' for the same publisher, and being a PJF story, after all.
If you are in the same position that I was, then don't worry, you really haven't missed anything. The protagonist isn't very likeable, and neither are the two other characters who make up the ensemble. The action is rare and takes a long time to arrive and happens just enough to become repetitive.
I'm glad to gave read a book that had escaped me for so long, it's a shame the book didn't hold up to the barest expectations.

[Lukerik · Rating 1 out of 5]

‘Their teeth were even and white, and I suspected that the older woman had false teeth. At this mere thought, I had an erection, and I knew why. I remembered the mother of my first wife.”

It’s a porno. Gets off to a good start. Amusing, entertaining, and readable. The narrator is spectacularly unlikeable. He presents himself as frank and unapologetic, but is actually unreliable. There’s a nice mystery as to whether this is a ghost story. I enjoyed most of the book.

I have rarely, if ever, seen a novel go so wrong at the end. It’s like going for a summer drive on a Sunday afternoon for a spot of dogging only to be terribly injured in a car crash on the way home. The supernatural aspects aren’t dealt with properly, but that’s neither here nor there. The final scene involves a young lady describing graphically the appalling sexual abuse to which her father subjected her. While she does this the narrator subjects her to a prolonged sexual assault in which he replicates her father’s actions. I found it very disturbing.

At least there’s no anal.

[But Lower · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finale anticlimatico, e date le circostanze, non mi sarebbe dispiaciuto se il protagonista fosse finito lui stesso giù per il burrone.. Comunque, interessante trama.

[David Browne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable genre fiction.