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All Souls

By Javier Marías
Penguin Classics
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.65 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 4,721 ratings, 542 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
All Souls by Javier Marías delves into the introspective world of a visiting Spanish academic at Oxford University. The novel intricately explores the rituals, relationships, and secrets of the university's cloistered environment, observing the peculiarities and dramas of its inhabitants. It masterfully blends themes of solitude and yearning within a richly detailed and often mysterious academic setting.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate stories that weave together elements of romance, mystery, and introspection. The novel captures the nuances of cultural differences, intellectual discovery, and human connection in the setting of an Oxford university. Its rich narrative and elegant prose offer a deeply immersive experience.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The pretty young tutor Clare Bayes attracts many eyes at an Oxford college dinner, not least those of a visiting Spanish lecturer. As they begin an affair, meeting in hotel bedrooms away from the eyes of Clare's husband, the Spaniard finds himself increasingly drawn into the strange world of Oxford.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

All Souls by Javier Marías is a darkly humorous Oxford novel, newly available in Penguin Modern Classics.

The pretty young tutor Clare Bayes attracts many eyes at an Oxford college dinner, not least those of a visiting Spanish lecturer who is desperate to escape his conversation with an obese economist about an eighteenth-century cider tax. As they begin an affair, meeting in hotel bedrooms away from the eyes of Clare's husband, the Spaniard finds himself increasingly drawn into the strange world of Oxford, described as 'one of the cities in the world where the least work gets done'.

This is a story of lust, loneliness, vanity, and memory, filled with brilliant set pieces and pin-sharp observation. All Souls is a masterpiece of black humour.

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Reviews praise All Souls for its clever portrayal of academic life in Oxford, highlighting its wit, humour, and nostalgic elements. Critics have noted it as one of the wittiest novels set in British academia, comparable to works like David Lodge's Changing Places. The novel is also commended for its intelligent writing and exceptionally funny set pieces.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780141389240

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 August 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 182g

Pages: 240

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Javier Marías Literary Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics Penguin Classics: General Fiction Series: Penguin Modern Classics

About the Author

Javier Marias was born in Madrid in 1951. He is the author of sixteen works in Spanish, which have been translated into forty-two languages including English. His translated English works are All Souls, A Heart So White, Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me, When I Was Mortal, Dark Back of Time, The Man of Feeling, Voyage Along the Horizon, Written Lives, the Your Face Tomorrow trilogy (Fever and Spear, Dance and Dream, and Poison, Shadow and Farewell), Bad Nature, While the Women Are Sleeping and The Infatuations. Javier Marias has received numerous literary prizes including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Prix Formentor, and he is the King of Redonda. He lives and works as a translator and columnist in Madrid, and his forthcoming novel Thus Bad Begins will be published by Hamish Hamilton in March 2016.

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