Hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. Very good condition. Signed by author. In unclipped dust jacket, with shelf wear to back. Hardcover slightly bumped to spine foot. Page edges are tanned. Pages sound and text fine. RB
Justin Cartwright (born 1945) is a British novelist.
He was born in South Africa, where his father was the editor of the Rand Daily Mail newspaper, and was educated there, in the United States and at Trinity College, Oxford. Cartwright has worked in advertising and has directed documentaries, films and television commercials. He managed election broadcasts, first for the Liberal Party and then the SDP-Liberal Alliance during the 1979, 1983 and 1987 British general elections. For his work on election broadcasts, Cartwright was appointed an MBE.
Delightful to discover a writer I'm new to and the first novel by whom I've enjoyed so much. Where politics, fame and passion triangulate, love emerges - but can it do so triumphantly? Now reading his 'The Promise of Love' and already enjoying it. Highly recommend 'Half in Love'.
Flouncy. I didn’t take to any of the characters; and I didn’t take to the writer. He came across as a stuffy guy, trying to hard to prove his intelligence - it was a turn off. I thought the same of the lead male character. The interactions between the two main characters didn’t seem well written, or believable to me. All that said, it was an easy read. I had no desire to quit whilst reading; yet I had no cares what happened to any of the characters. It was an insight into political and acting world - though I question what reality the author was gaining from. Oh well, I don’t need to read anymore Justin Cartwright book. This will go straight into our free park library, from where I got it. I’m sure someone else will have more joy with it.
I couldn't get to the end of this book and gave up less than half way through, so I suppose I can hardly claim to have read it. But right from the beginning I felt no connection to any of the characters or events. Clearly lots of people found it engaging and funny, but I could not relate to it at all.
Justin Cartwright is a talented writer but this novel doesn't quite work as well as it might. The plot sets up an ideal framework for the love story with political intrigue but just doesn't quite create the necessary empathy for the characters. I didn't quite connect with the main characters.
Excellent, really funny, even laugh out loud in places, and a brilliant satire of Blairite politics. Cartwright's themes on the subject of men and women being from different planets continue in this book. At times he comes over as very slightly mysoginistic, but only slightly and it's entirely forgivable. Richard, the political think-tanker, is surprisingly endearing, while Joanna, the superstar actress is really quite awful, even when she kind of gets her own hypocrisy. I loved this, highly recommended.
It's ten years since I last read Justin Cartwright, and this a long way from what I have been reading lately so took a bit of adjustment. Also the disjointedness of it, while not off-putting, required some extra effort.
All very much worth it, however, for the intensity of the tale, the skill with which the relationships and their constraints are delivered and handled.
This is one of those modern, self-aware works of "literature" - deeply cynical about the human condition, full of profound truths that are on closer examination more trite than sacred, and packed with unhappy people busily making each other unhappier. And yet, despite my criticisms, I read it through.
An OK read. I found this more engaging than I expected to from the cover summary - but found it a little thin . I found Joanna highly irritating, maddening and at times pathetic ...... Which probably resulted in my distraction from the overall story. Easy read, political dynamic interesting, Predictable ending!
Not my sort of book - too contemporary! modern politics, cult of the personality and effects of the media but well written and so ok just did not care about any of the main characters!