Fair Warning: A Novel

By Robert Olen Butler

Book Overview

Fair Warning is acclaimed novelist Robert Olen Butler's enthralling glimpse into a Manhattan auction house that caters to the shopping pheromones of the rich and powerful. At age forty, the company's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871138336
• ISBN13: 9780871138330
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Portrait Of A Texas Lady In New York

In this book Butler paints a truly extraordinary picture of a female auctioneer from Texas, working in New York City at the 3rd biggest auction house. She is in fact the star of the house. She has an ability to auction like very few others. And as this is the case, when the auction house decides to sell to a French investor, her continued employment is a significant issue in that purchase. But as usual, Butler takes on the role of a female character for his protagonist. In this impressive and interesting stream of consciousness presentation Butler reveals the innermost mental meanderings of a lady who is in a wonderful position in life, all she has to do is figure out who she wants to marry. As an auctioneer, she is obsessed with collectors and valuation. This predilection would be most natural for a person who does such activity every day of her life. But what she had not thought much about is that people can also be collectors of people and memories. In a sense, all people are collectors of memories. And this concept is highly relevant to her when she is making certain life-impacting decisions. Truly a fine modern novel, it is recommended to all those who are interested in the inner workings of the female mind, as Butler sees it. Since this is often his authorial position and since he has some incredible insight into the workings of the human mind, his book comes as no surprise. The book is recommended for all readers of classic literature, particularly those interested in gender analysis. Once again, this book is a fine offering from Mr. Olen Butler.

Butler explores materalism using a female auctioneer...

Butler is a writer that seems to enjoy taking challenges, and Fair Warning is no exception. Francis Ford Coppola hired him to write a story about a female auctioneer for a magazine. Later, Butler expanded the story into 225 pages. He does an amazing job writing from a female perspective.The main character, Amy Dickinson, is the star auctioneer at Nichols and Gray. We follow her as her company is in the process of being sold, and as she begins a relationship with the French businessman who is purchasing the company. Also, at the same time her life seems to be coming together, the lives of her sister and her mother are falling apart. Her sister, who has a picture perfect family, is getting a divorce, and her mother is still dealing with the death of her husband.But between the development of the plot, Amy describes lots of things. Things she's auctioning, things in her apartment, hands of her lovers, and even cities. (Houston, New York, and Paris.) Butler's description technique is perfect. It's never too over the top, and he uses amazing imagery.Amy also reflects on what it means to collect things, what it means to own things, what it means to be owned, and what it takes to own yourself.Fair Warning is definitely a book that will make you think, and perhaps even make you look at your life in a different way.

Well Done Romance

Fair Warning is the first of Butler's novels that I have read and therefore, I came to the novel with no expectations, other than the hope of finding a good read. Fair Warning is an enjoyable, quick read--a sort of sophisticated romance novel. I think, based on reading other reviews on these pages, if you come to this work expecting something like Butler has done before, you may be disappointed. If, however, you want to read a romance for grownups, this is your novel. It is the story of Amy Dickerson, a 40 year old auctioneer with some personal issues to resolve--her father, her mother, her failed love life. She becomes involved with two men as the novel progresses and begins to resolve some of those issues. She eventually falls in love. Not much else, but it is a quick compelling read which some readers will probably really enjoy. You just have to be careful that you are one of them.

A Return to Butler

I first heard of Robert Olen Butler when he won the Pulitzer Prize for A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Then I read his book They Whisper and enjoyed it. Then, for some reason, I lost track of him. I didn't read anything else of his until I came across this novel, Fair Warning.The main enjoyment of this novel comes from a character study in the form of its protagonist, Amy Dickerson. She is an auctioneer for a small but prestigious Manhattan auction house. She has a natural ability to read and understand people which makes her very good at her job. She is able to see what people are willing to part with in terms of both money and objects. On the other hand, this ability interferes with her relationships both with her family and her potential lovers. While longing for the ethereal herself, she can only see people's material wants and that includes a person's desire for her. In the end, she must try to see her own desires most clearly and come to peace with them.This is a nice little book. Butler's prose is quite engaging and the book is short enough to be read at a single sitting. Amy and her relationships do make for a fun glimpse into an upper class New York/Paris world. I was tripped up a bit at the end by Alain's neo-Naked Pictures of My Ex-Girlfriends obsession which seemed a bit of a cheap ruse in an otherwise very emotionally realistic novel. Still, it is certainly worth the time.

Completely New York

This book has all the smart and sexy charm of New York city. I was so caught up in the atmosphere of this book that at times I felt as if I was the protagonist, Amy Dickerson. Once I started reading I couldn't but it down until I finished. This is definitely a story that will stay with me forever.