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Overview
Overview
"Lowry's masterpiece...has a claim to being regarded as one of the ten most consequential works fo fiction produced in the twentieth] century." -- Los Angeles Times
Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. His debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. On the most fateful day of the consul's life--the Day of the Dead--his wife, Yvonne, arrives in Quauhnahuac, inspired by a vision of life together away from Mexico and the circumstances that have driven their relationship to the brink of collapse. She is determined to rescue Firmin and their failing marriage, but her mission is further complicated by the presence of Hugh, the consul's half brother, and Jacques, a childhood friend. The events of this one significant day unfold against an unforgettable backdrop of a Mexico at once magical and diabolical.
Under the Volcano remains one of literature's most powerful and lyrical statements on the human condition, and a brilliant portrayal of one man's constant struggle against the elemental forces that threaten to destroy him.- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Lowry, Malcolm
- ISBN: 9780061120152
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 7.92 x 1.09
- Number Of Pages: 448
- Publication Year: 2007
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A fine day for haggard intoxication
Jason S. - 5 years 9 months agoThis is a novel written not so much to convey the story of the alcoholic, British Consul to Mexico, Geoffrey Firmin, as to convey a sense of alcoholism in a certain place and time: Quauhnahuac, Mexico, on the Day of the Dead in 1938. One chapter for each of the narrative hours in the story; a plethora of landmarks both mesmerizing and nearly unpronounceable; a constant thread of either exquisitely crafted descriptive details or stream-of-consciousness meanderings; and a narrative told in such depth of detail as to render imagination nearly unnecessary: these are the hallmarks of both this magnificent novel and, as Lowry presents it, alcoholism. This lengthy novel may be a struggle at times, but the words are rather intoxicating, and I appreciate Lowry's superb variety in crafting sentences. This novel is a testament to the experiential impact and creative necessity of the medium of written words, and to the uniquely passionate manifestations to which every expressive medium attains.
HPB Staff Review