{"product_id":"father-and-son-9780330418409","title":"Father and Son","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJonathan Raban was the author of over a dozen books, both fiction and non-fiction, including \u003ci\u003ePassage to Juneau\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBad Land\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHunting Mister Heartbreak\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCoasting\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOld Glory\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eArabia\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSoft City\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWaxwings\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSurveillance\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the span of six decades, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award, the Thomas Cook Award, the PEN West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award, and the Governor's Award of the State of Washington. His work appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHarpers\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOutside\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAtlantic Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew Republic\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe London Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, and other magazines.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1990 Raban, a British citizen, moved from London to Seattle, where he lived with his daughter until his death in 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Jonathan Raban] is \u003cb\u003ea master\u003c\/b\u003e, as he has shown in his legendary travel writing, \u003cb\u003eof summoning place and people with vivid economy\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003ci\u003eFather and Son\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ean exquisite, sometimes lunatic tension between powerful emotions and carnage\u003c\/b\u003e on one side, and on the other, \u003cb\u003ethe conventional codes of what must remain unsaid\u003c\/b\u003e. This . . . is a gorgeous achievement.” -- Ian McEwan\u003cbr\u003eBlessed with a lyrical, flowing style . . . Raban was noted for his pitch-perfect ear for dialogue and flights of the imagination, but also for evocative powers and sardonic humour. He is frequently melancholic and meditative, but his distinct writing is characterised by precision and clarity. * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFather and Son\u003c\/i\u003e is a fine achievement, a wide-ranging and compelling account with the author's hallmarks of intelligence, erudition, humour and honesty * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eAny book, [Raban] thought, should roam as freely as it likes and this final volume is an illustration of that . . . and that’s what makes his memoir so lively, even when it stares death in the face. -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eEverything that’s matchless about Raban’s work — his hyperacute eye for detail, his powers of synthesis, his mordant sense of humor, his vast reservoirs of knowledge and his love of travel — is there. * Los Angeles Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFather and Son \u003c\/i\u003eis a deeply moving career capstone . . . Raban's finest and most moving book . . . It is poignant and crushing . . . I wept. * The Washington Post *\u003cbr\u003eReading his father's wartime letters changed how Jonathan Raban understood their relationship. A stroke changed how he understood himself . . . As full of eloquence as it is free of sentimentality, [this] memoir is a parting gift from a figure of insight and fierce independence... the pages turn quickly because the lines are so raw. * The Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003e[Jonathan Raban] was the kind of writer we don't have in quantity . . . It's our luck that he left this lively and bittersweet memoir behind . . . We find ourselves inside the mind of an outraged, indefatigable commentator on life . . . Every writing day, he asked himself two questions: 'What have I lost?' and 'Am I fooling myself?' . . . [The] result of his labors makes the responses clear: a) very little, and b) no.\u003cbr\u003eBlessed with a lyrical flowing style, Jonathan Raban . . . was noted for his pitch-perfect ear for dialogue and flights of the imagination, but also for evocative powers and sardonic humour. . . A quixotic and nomadic seafaring writer, Raban was fascinated by the lives of the people he met . . . [In] his posthumous memoir . . . his thought-provoking approach, with trademark whimsy, illustrates his watchful eye. * The Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eRaban’s posthumously published final work follows an English father and son whose lives take diverging paths . . . The war chapters, which excerpt correspondence between Raban’s parents, are compelling, but it is Raban’s reckoning with his own frailty that carries the emotional weight of the book. * The New Yorker *\u003cbr\u003eJonathan Raban, who died earlier this year, left this memoir almost complete. It tells two stories, artfully braided . . . [and] with Raban’s interpolations, the Anzio pages [about his father] read like a military thriller....He was a master of close observation and wry self-deprecation, and had a cameraman’s ability to switch to a wide-angle lens in a heartbeat. * The Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eThe late travel writer and novelist’s study of his dad . . . offers a beautifully written portrait rather than judgment. * The Observer *\u003cbr\u003e[Raban's] keen observational eye, wry sense of humor, and brilliant ability to prise apart the nonsense and find the tiny seed of truth at the heart of any situation were unique among his peers. -- Paul Constant * Seattle Times *","brand":"Pan Macmillan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47833013420375,"sku":"9780330418409","price":18.7,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780330418409.jpg?v=1710340511","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/father-and-son-9780330418409","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}