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The Lover of History
Radio engineer Kendall yearns to be free of her lover Julian, a complacent jingle singer, while her roommate Warner, a frustrated history teacher, desires more from Kendall than platonic cohabitation
- GenresFiction
228 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Dee
8 books205 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Jonathan Dee is the author of six novels. He is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, a frequent contributor to Harper's, and a former senior editor of The Paris Review. He teaches in the graduate writing programs at Columbia University and the New School.
Jonathan Dee is the author of six novels. He is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, a frequent contributor to Harper's, and a former senior editor of The Paris Review. He teaches in the graduate writing programs at Columbia University and the New School.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 11, 2009
Oh man, this is a surprise. Not one person on goodreads.com has rated this book yet, it's not on to-read shelves or anything. I was up in the air between giving this a three or four star rating, but the book looked so lonely and unloved with no other interest in it that I had to go with the four star instead of the high-three that I might have been considering.
A very good book. Not great, but definitely an impressive first novel. There are some youthful things going on here, but none of it too embarrassing. There is an oddly prophetic sub-plot going on about an American invasion of a small country that sounds an awful lot like Gulf War number 1, but with a tad bit of Gulf War number 2 thrown in for an opening act. Maybe our countries unbridled patriotism of January 1991 was in the air already in the late 1980's / early months of 1990; I don't know, I was too busy being a fat, stupid friendless teenager at the time to know about such things. I had to check the copyright date a few times just to convince myself that he wasn't writing this post-Scudfest 91, but nope the book came out in 1990, and with publishing the way it is that means sometime at the latest the book was finished up being written in 1989.
Parts of this book work as an counterpart to Dee's newest novel, The Privileges a novel I highly recommend to anyone who appreciates superbly crafted books. I might have to go back and re-read the other Jonathan Dee book I had read first, The Liberty Campaign, and maybe enjoy it more by putting aside a small problem that I had with some of the blurbs on the book (if you ever read that book don't read the blurbs. Really, do yourself a favor and put tape over the blurbs. Don't read them, until after you finish the novel. It's up there with the Janet Frame book Scented Gardens for the Blind for just ruining any tension in the book by giving away surprise plot points. Both of these books I recommend reading, but not what any reviewers or the publisher have chosen to say about the book until one is done with the book.)
A good book, by an author that deserves to have many more readers and more attention than he is currently getting.
A very good book. Not great, but definitely an impressive first novel. There are some youthful things going on here, but none of it too embarrassing. There is an oddly prophetic sub-plot going on about an American invasion of a small country that sounds an awful lot like Gulf War number 1, but with a tad bit of Gulf War number 2 thrown in for an opening act. Maybe our countries unbridled patriotism of January 1991 was in the air already in the late 1980's / early months of 1990; I don't know, I was too busy being a fat, stupid friendless teenager at the time to know about such things. I had to check the copyright date a few times just to convince myself that he wasn't writing this post-Scudfest 91, but nope the book came out in 1990, and with publishing the way it is that means sometime at the latest the book was finished up being written in 1989.
Parts of this book work as an counterpart to Dee's newest novel, The Privileges a novel I highly recommend to anyone who appreciates superbly crafted books. I might have to go back and re-read the other Jonathan Dee book I had read first, The Liberty Campaign, and maybe enjoy it more by putting aside a small problem that I had with some of the blurbs on the book (if you ever read that book don't read the blurbs. Really, do yourself a favor and put tape over the blurbs. Don't read them, until after you finish the novel. It's up there with the Janet Frame book Scented Gardens for the Blind for just ruining any tension in the book by giving away surprise plot points. Both of these books I recommend reading, but not what any reviewers or the publisher have chosen to say about the book until one is done with the book.)
A good book, by an author that deserves to have many more readers and more attention than he is currently getting.
May 7, 2015
I occasionally wonder if Jonathan Dee has had to go into therapy to cope with his own prescience. With every single one of his novels, I've had to check the copyright date, each time convinced that surely (surely!) he'd written the thing following a certain event or trend. Here, for example, I assumed The Lover of History was based loosely on the Gulf War--but, no, it came out in 1990, meaning it was written well before. How does a person describe phenomena before they've happened? Is it possible he's like a seismograph, recording tremors and subtle disturbances the rest of us can't yet feel?
This isn't my favorite novel by Dee, but I've been spoiled by later, superior works like The Privileges and Palladio. This impressed me as a debut, not only for its prophetic quality but because of its merging of political and personal, the way external events change characters in ways that feel subtle, real. And then there is the language, which is beautiful without trying too hard, though I suspect Dee may have edited himself, applied the brakes rather than let himself go. A beautiful first novel.
This isn't my favorite novel by Dee, but I've been spoiled by later, superior works like The Privileges and Palladio. This impressed me as a debut, not only for its prophetic quality but because of its merging of political and personal, the way external events change characters in ways that feel subtle, real. And then there is the language, which is beautiful without trying too hard, though I suspect Dee may have edited himself, applied the brakes rather than let himself go. A beautiful first novel.
September 21, 2012
This is the story of three young New Yorkers, a boyfriend and girlfriend and the girlfriend's male roommate. It has a definite autobiographical feel to it, as most first novels do, and is well-written and entertaining, even if the actual stakes stay low throughout the book.
Julian and Kendall are the boyfriend and girlfriend. Julian is a singer in commercials, Kendall a sound engineer, and her roommate, Warner, is a teacher at an up-scale New York private school. Though they are all adults and have been on their own for some time, they still have a lot of growing up to do. This growing is told against, and at times propelled by, the backdrop of the United States waging war against a small Latin nation called Colozan after the U.S. secretary of state is assassinated there. The book takes place in 1990 in case you're looking for a time frame.
Julian and Kendall's relationship seems to lack any real depth, at least that is the way it is played out. You never get the sense that Julian has much more than a vague interest in Kendall, and while Kendall confesses to be under his spell, I wasn't sure how much I bought that, either. They both seemed more confused about just what kind of significance a relationship should have in their lives.
Warner has been living with Kendall for a couple years at the start of the book and yet the two of them have a painfully awkward relationship, often avoiding contact with each other inside of their cramped apartment. Warner is maddened by the sense of entitlement his students have toward life thanks to their wealthy parents, a feeling that aligns nicely with his perspective of the U.S. bullying its way through Colozan.
All in all this book was entertaining, even if it never felt like anything too important and the ending was predictably non-committal about the futures of the characters other than that they have been altered, though not necessarily matured, in different ways.
Julian and Kendall are the boyfriend and girlfriend. Julian is a singer in commercials, Kendall a sound engineer, and her roommate, Warner, is a teacher at an up-scale New York private school. Though they are all adults and have been on their own for some time, they still have a lot of growing up to do. This growing is told against, and at times propelled by, the backdrop of the United States waging war against a small Latin nation called Colozan after the U.S. secretary of state is assassinated there. The book takes place in 1990 in case you're looking for a time frame.
Julian and Kendall's relationship seems to lack any real depth, at least that is the way it is played out. You never get the sense that Julian has much more than a vague interest in Kendall, and while Kendall confesses to be under his spell, I wasn't sure how much I bought that, either. They both seemed more confused about just what kind of significance a relationship should have in their lives.
Warner has been living with Kendall for a couple years at the start of the book and yet the two of them have a painfully awkward relationship, often avoiding contact with each other inside of their cramped apartment. Warner is maddened by the sense of entitlement his students have toward life thanks to their wealthy parents, a feeling that aligns nicely with his perspective of the U.S. bullying its way through Colozan.
All in all this book was entertaining, even if it never felt like anything too important and the ending was predictably non-committal about the futures of the characters other than that they have been altered, though not necessarily matured, in different ways.
July 10, 2011
Yawn. Good writing. Dull characters. Felt like you were getting beaten over the head with the war theme (although written in 1990, it would be very relevant to today's current political climate).
January 16, 2012
I couldn't finish the whole thing...which is rare for me.
November 6, 2012
This is my first fiction book in six months. I love Jonathan Dee. I could probably read his grocery list & find it super enthralling. So, I'm really excited to read this book.
September 30, 2013
Very wordy. I like his more recent work so much better. Amazing writer, though.
June 13, 2010
In fact, a 3.5.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews