Items related to One is one: A novel
An autobiographical account of the author's 78 day run along 2470km of the Great Wall of China, from the deserts of Gansu to the Yellow Sea coast north of Beijing, pausing only to fall in love with a Chinese girl whom he has since married. As only about 200 miles of the wall is open territory, William had to rely on his wits to keep one step ahead of the police. He stayed in small inns or with remote farmers and arranged that people he met wrote messages in his diary. He survived various brushes with the authorities and learnt a great deal about daily life in parts of China that the tourist trade never touches. He finished the run in December 1987 and returned to marry Wu Qi in April 1988.
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From Publishers Weekly:
This sometimes affecting first novel by the British author of the autobiographical Castaway and Runaway is a curious blend of the sublime and the pedestrian. Alternating between first- and third-person narrative, it is the story of Julie Barton, a lonely 27-year-old whose life intersects those of three other people. The characters of Ann, a sweet old lady; Daley, a somewhat psychotic former employer; and Hodge, a ex-convict whom Julie meets when he falls through her skylight in a bungled burglary, are sensitively delineated and believable. (Curiously, another British novelist, Dee Wells, wrote Jane , in which a burglar falls through a skylight and becomes the lover of the woman whose apartment is invaded.) But Irvine's characters are all in exile within themselves. The title of the book would seem to be the moral as well: One is one and all alone, now and evermore. Irvine has a singular ability to draw details and dialogue. If Julie were only a little more sympathetic, the novel would have been more compelling. As it stands, there is too little relief from the dreariness of the characters' lives.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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- PublisherHodder & Stoughton
- Publication date1989
- ISBN 10 0340501545
- ISBN 13 9780340501542
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages256
- Rating
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ALONE ON THE GREAT WALL: From the Desert to the Sea
Published by
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, London
(1989)
ISBN 10: 0340501545
ISBN 13: 9780340501542
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Hardcover
First Edition
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. This copy is in new, unmarked condition bound in blue cloth covered boards with bright gilt titling to the spine. This copy is bright, tight, white and square. The price clipped dust wrapper is in new condition. International postal rates are calculated on a book weighing 1 Kilo, in cases where the book weighs more than 1 Kilo increased postal rates will be quoted, where the book weighs less then postage will be reduced accordingly. An autobiographical account of the author's 78 day run along 2470km of the Great Wall of China, from the deserts of Gansu to the Yellow Sea coast north of Beijing, pausing only to fall in love with a Chinese girl whom he has since married. As only about 200 miles of the wall is open territory, William had to rely on his wits to keep one step ahead of the police. He stayed in small inns or with remote farmers and arranged that people he met wrote messages in his diary. He survived various brushes with the authorities and learnt a great deal about daily life in parts of China that the tourist trade never touches. He finished the run in December 1987 and returned to marry Wu Qi in Apri. Ref GGG 3. Seller Inventory # 032514
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