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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9781594481437
ISBN number: 1594481431
Label: Riverhead Trade
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 640
Printing Date: December 06, 2005
Publishing house: Riverhead Trade
Sale Popularity Level: 140589
Studio: Riverhead Trade
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Product Description:
After years of unrequited love, a lonely man commits a desperate act that affects the lives of everyone it touches, triggering a chain of events no one could have anticipated.
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Rated by buyers 
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This book literally took my breath away! You can't seem to read it quickly enough, it's so fast paced...you will never be bored. After reading, the text, complex characters and situations stay with you long after...both chilling and exhilarating. Such a novel spoils you in it's ability to grip you from the beginning and carry you completely through, not realizing you've been holding your breath for so long you exhale in frustration once the novel has ended....Utterly superb!
Rated by buyers 
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The central incident in "Seven Types of Ambiguity" is a kidnapping by an unemployed and somewhat dissolute man named Simon of a boy named Sam. Sam is the son of a stock dealer named Joe and his wife Anna; the latter was formerly Simon's girlfriend. At the time of the kidnapping, a prostitute named Angela is Simon's current girlfriend and also has Joe as a once a week client.
The events leading up the kidnapping, and the criminal trial and other consequence that follow, are brought out in the narratives of seven characters: (1) Alex, Simon's shrink; (2) Joe; (3) Angela; (4) Mitch, a business colleague of Joe's; (5) Simon; (6) Anna; and (7) a daughter of Alex.
The seven episodes gradually move the story from start to finish, but with many flashbacks, digressions, and side stories (notably a disastrous business deal that gets Joe and Mitch fired). Some incidents come up three or four times in the course of the book, extending its length considerably.
There are numerous literary allusions, including discusion of a book of the same title, by William Empson, that is apparently an esoteric treatise on the subtlety and ambiguity of written language. The assumption that readers will be familiar with Empson's book seems a bit presumptuous, but worse than that Perlman does not do much with the ambiguity theme after introducing it.
The individual narratives are generally quite clear, in some cases graphically so. Such differences as emerge between the various narratives are more a matter of emphasis than interpretation. The failure to use a common set of names for the main characters is merely annoying.
Perlman's writing is polished and expressive. I loved his description of an executive retreat at Joe and Mitch's company, for instance, at which an overpaid charlatan provides ludicrous team building and self-actualization drills. The descriptions of courtroom action were also well above average.
On the other hand, it is not easy to identify with the values that are promoted.
* How can it be that Simon emerges as the most admirable character in the book, after sitting around for 10 years drinking and feeling sorry for himself and then committing a serious criminal act without any good reason for doing so?
* Why is it that every person who enters into a "normal" marriage, holds down a real job, etc. is depicted as shallow, selfish and miserably unhappy?
* What purpose is served by all the generalized assertions about the evils of managed care (structural rationalization of healthcare to hold down costs), the merits of socialism, etc.?
So enjoy the ride, if you are into books that probe human motivations deeply, but do not expect an inspiring conclusion.
Rated by buyers -
It's a book about love, the lack of love, the excess of attention that passes as love and sacrifices that people make in less than ideal situations. As the title says, it's about ambiguity and it is, indeed, a wondrous inquiry into the ambiguity of human relations in the modern climate.
The author is a profound romantic, not only in the conclusions he draws via plot, but in the way he shows that not all things end well.
The ones who give most selflessly suffer the most, struck down by disease or, simply, death.
It is this strange inversion of normative justice that gives this novel a dark curranty flavour of bitter-bitter sweet.
I also was amazed that someone could tuck in so much poetry into a novel and it could be so good.
Thank you, Elliot.
I haven't read a book so good in a very, very long time. For someone like myself, that's like sleeping well after months of insomnia.
Sometimes writing can be so painful and seemingly without progress or trajectory or gratification.
But, readers, this one was worth whatever pain it caused the author. It's good-better than good-it's great. It's a bit heartbreaking too but he meant that, I'm sure.
I noticed there were complaints about the voices sounding alike. I attribute it to interior monologue. It's not so much the literal things people say aloud, it's the stream of thought and rationalization that flows through each of us during any moment that we are not interrupted by things requiring our immediate attention.
Rated by buyers -
This is a brilliant book and a great read. I carried it everywhere, ultimately necessitating a repair to the cover.
The story is the same, told by seven different people, hence seven perspectives, each with common elements but each having subtle differences. The protagonist is passionate about language and all of its inherent ambiguities. There are so many descriptions and phrases that warrant rereading to understand yet another level of what has transpired. As the reader continues on Perlman's journey, he cannot help but develop a keen awareness of all the ambiguities surrounding us.
JCS from Cortlandt Manor
Rated by buyers -
This novel speaks to all of us who have loved and lost and wondered whether it is was better to have never loved at all. the story at times uncomfortable, heartbreaking and tragic reaffirms in the end the basic goodness of the human spirit. this is a book that makes us question our personal relationships and strive to love lest it be lost.
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