Review
From the book jacket: A grand romantic novel of desire, fame,
fanaticism, and unimaginable reversals of fortune set in the outskirts
of the Bronx in the 1930s, as New York fills with Europe's ousted
dreamers, turned overnight into refugees.
Comment: I'm not quite sure what to make of
'Heir To The Glimmering
World' - I felt that I was only skimming the surface of the book and
was failing to comprehend some of the underlying themes (I had the same
feeling when reading
The
Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard). For me, Publishers Weekly
sums things up succinctly by saying,
'erudite exposition is packed
into the book, so that character study and discourse occasionally grind
the plot to a halt. Edifying and evocative, if...
Beyond the Book
Cynthia Ozick was born in Manhattan and has lived in the New York City area most
of her life. She is acclaimed for her many works of fiction and criticism
including
The Puttermesser Papers and
Quarrel & Quandary.
Related Link: In an
interview
at BookBrowse, Ozick says that the character of James A'Bair was
inspired by (but not modeled on) Christopher Milne, son of A.A. Milne.
Christopher Milne spent much of his life trying to escape his father's
shadow and the legacy of being forever seen as the little boy,
Christopher Robin. For a biography of Christopher Milne see:
http://www.pooh-corner.org/christopher.shtml.
