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Desperate Characters

Paula Fox

1970156 pagesabout 2–4 hours
1970
first published
  • 1970Macmillan · 156 pages · ENGISBN 9780333120729
  • 1970Harcourt, Brace & World · 156 pages · ENG
  • 1980Nonpareil Books · 166 pages · ENGISBN 9780879233099
  • 1999W.W. Norton · 156 pages · ENGISBN 9780393318944
  • 1999Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W. · 192 pages · ENGISBN 9780393342123
  • 2013HarperCollins Publishers Limited · ENGISBN 9780007397457
  • 2015Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W. · 192 pages · ENGISBN 9780393351101
  • 2003Flamingo · 176 pagesISBN 9780007150380

First published in 1970 to great acclaim, this novel stands as one of the most dazzling and rigorous examples of the storyteller's craft in postwar American literature--a novel that, according to Irving Howe, ranks with "Billy Budd" and "The Great Gatsby".

How it feels

Emotional toneUnflinching

How it reads

Plot intensityCharacter driven
Character focusSmall ensemble
ComplexityLayered

When and where

ThemesFamily
How do you feel?