The Terrible Privacy Of Maxwell Sim

by JonathanCoe (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2011

  $3.75

  The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim is Jonathan Coe's latest heart-breaking and hilarious novel. Maxwell Sim could be any of us. He could be you. He's about to have a mid-life crisis (though eh doesn't know it yet). He'll be found in his car in the north of Scotland, half-naked and alone, suffering hypothermia, with a couple of empty whisky bottles and a boot full of toothbrushes. It's a far cry from a restaurant in Sydney, where his story starts. But then Maxwell Sim has, unknowingly, got a long way to go. If he knew now about his lonely journey to the Shetland Isles, or the truth about his father and the folded photograph, or the mystery of Poppy and her peculiar job, or even about Emma's lovely, fading voice, then perhaps he's stay where he was - hiding from destiny. But Max knows none of it. And nor do you - at least not yet...Equal parts funny and moving, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim will be cherished by readers everywhere, from fans of David Nicholls to Will Self. Witty, unexpected and curiously unsettling. Coe carries it off with empathy, comedy and a ventriloquist's ear for idiom . ( Literary Review ). Clever, engaging, spring-loaded with mysteries and surprises . ( Time Out ). Masterly, highly engaging. Coe's eye for the details of contemporary life remains as sharp as ever . ( Daily Mail ). Jonathan Coe's novels are filled with biting social commentary, moving and astute observations of life and hilarious set pieces that have made him one of the most popular writers of his generation. His other titles, The Accidental Woman , The Rotters' Club (winner of the Everyman Wodehouse prize), The House of Sleep (winner of the 1998 Prix Medicis Etranger), A Touch of Love , What a Carve Up! (winner of the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) and The Rain Before it Falls , are all available in Penguin paperback.

• Used

  Paperback
  2010

  $3.25

  Maxwell Sim seems to have hit rock bottom. Estranged from his father, newly divorced, unable to communicate with his only daughter, he realizes that while he may have seventy-four friends on Facebook, there is nobody in the world with whom he can actually share his problems. Then a business proposition comes his way - a strange exercise in corporate PR that will require him to spend a week driving from London to a remote retail outlet on the Shetland Isles. Setting out with an open mind, good intentions and a friendly voice on his SatNav for company, Maxwell finds that this journey soon takes a more serious turn, and carries him not only to the furthest point of the United Kingdom, but into some of the deepest and darkest corners of his own past. In his sparkling and hugely enjoyable new book Jonathan Coe reinvents the picaresque novel for our time.