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The Squire Quartet #2
Forgotten Life
1st edition paperback, vg++
- GenresFictionScience Fiction
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
7 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Brian W. Aldiss
834 books673 followersPseudonyms: Jael Cracken, Peter Pica, John Runciman, C.C. Shackleton, Arch Mendicant, & "Doc" Peristyle.
Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.
Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads
Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.
Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 9, 2021
I was planning to give this book five stars, and write a longer review, until I got to the last chapter, and then I dropped it to four stars.
Clement Winter, a middle-aged psychoanalyst and academic at Oxford University, whose wife Sheila is a successful fantasy novelist, learns of the death of his older brother Joseph, and is faced with the task of dealing with his brother's papers. Because of the age difference they weren't close, and his brother has also spent much of his life travelling in Asia, and was a historian specialising in East Asia.
Joseph Winter had fought in Burma in World War II, and had taken part in the post-war occupation of Sumatra, where he had an affair with a married woman. He left descriptions of these parts of his life. These descriptions seem quite authentic, and in reading the book it is sometimes hard to tell whether one is reading a real or a fictional biography. The characters and situations come to life.
Joseph also wrote the story of his unhappy childhood, and why he had for so long thought that his mother did not love him, and his brother Clement reads and interprets this with a psychoanalytic eye, and in the last chapter Joseph's character seems to get lost in a lot of abstract psychoanalysis.
Clement Winter, a middle-aged psychoanalyst and academic at Oxford University, whose wife Sheila is a successful fantasy novelist, learns of the death of his older brother Joseph, and is faced with the task of dealing with his brother's papers. Because of the age difference they weren't close, and his brother has also spent much of his life travelling in Asia, and was a historian specialising in East Asia.
Joseph Winter had fought in Burma in World War II, and had taken part in the post-war occupation of Sumatra, where he had an affair with a married woman. He left descriptions of these parts of his life. These descriptions seem quite authentic, and in reading the book it is sometimes hard to tell whether one is reading a real or a fictional biography. The characters and situations come to life.
Joseph also wrote the story of his unhappy childhood, and why he had for so long thought that his mother did not love him, and his brother Clement reads and interprets this with a psychoanalytic eye, and in the last chapter Joseph's character seems to get lost in a lot of abstract psychoanalysis.
August 27, 2023
O romance 'Vida Esquecida' de Brian Aldiss é uma narrativa concisa e habilmente escrita, que explora tanto o contexto da guerra quanto os matizes do amor. Embora bem executado, o livro não alcança um nível de transcendência. Em certos momentos, lembra a trama simplista de uma novela de baixo orçamento, o que pode não agradar a todos os leitores. Recomendo considerar alternativas literárias antes de se comprometer com este título.
August 31, 2017
Loved this book. Read more than once.
February 7, 2015
Subsequent to the death of his more adventurous brother, Clement examines his own life, which appears to be disintegrating. The vehicles for this include: his job (Oxford don), his brother's writings, marital arguments and psychoanalysis. Unfortunately, Clement is neither very interesting nor very likeable. It's hard to enjoy occupying so much of his headspace. On the other hand, this is probably what gives the novel some of its authenticity.
October 14, 2019
Aldiss should have stuck to SF.
July 4, 2012
Abandoned after 200 pages. Not bad, but the story was "saying nothing" to me.
November 14, 2015
Book 2 of the Squire Quartet. Another troubled marriage tale.
January 9, 2016
Not the best but far from the worst. Man takes the usual male over long time to grow up (sorry guys).
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews