Exile

by William Kotzwinkle

Book Overview

In this "psychological mind bender," a Kafkaesque crisis of identity transports a famous actor from 1980s Hollywood to Nazi Germany (The Washington Post). At forty-five, Hollywood film star David... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 052524526X
• ISBN13: 9780525245261
• Release Date: May 1987
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Odd. Magnificent, but Odd.

William Kotzwinkle is and always has been an astonishingly talented writer. From the early days of "Swimmer in the Secret Sea" through to this book, Kotzwinkle has gone from genre to genre and strength to strength, apparently without anyone much ever really noticing.This is a pity. Kotzwinkle deserves to be noticed, and feted, and buried in large denomination bills, for one very simple reason. Kotzwinkle is one of the best and most consistent literary talents that the world has at present, and this book, "THE EXILE" is no exception.The story is simple enough. (And I will not spoil it here) A major Hollywood film star starts hallucinating. He hates it, and tries to keep it a secret from the people around him. The hallucinations get worse, and more detailed, and soon the fabric of reality itself starts to fray, even by Hollywood standards.The interesting thing with this book though is the way that a really rather conventional story is treated by the writer. There is practically no blood or violence and no histrionics or "drama." Just the inescapable feeling that the main character is trapped like a bug on flypaper. If Stephen King had written this book, (and he could have) it would have scared the beejeezus out of the average reader, who would then have felt that they had "got good value for money" before promptly forgetting that they had read it. Kotzwinkle's unique voice makes "The Exile" something far greater, and far more rare. "The Exile" is one of those books that will live on in your mind, and continue to deliver that same dreamlike fear years after you have read it. This book is a good starter to Kotzwinkle's ouvre, and a perfect example of why some books are classics and the vast majority a waste of paper. It isn't the subject matter. It's the story teller.Simply magnificent.

Best Novel Yet

This is definetly his best book yet. Dr. Rat is his funniest, but this is his best. The ending is awsome, and an unexpected twist. Definetly five stars!

Surprise

I really like this author. I cannot exactly determine why, but he touches me. Until lately, I have not known about this book and have not read it (it was first published in 1987). It consists of a combination of humor, romance and horror - a groove thing.