The Center of Things

by Jenny McPhee

Book Overview

"A JOLLY READMcPhee's characters are wonderfully weird. . . . Romance mingles with mind-swelling musings on superclusters and string theory. . . . The end equation is an elegant inquiry into the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385500777
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Back to the Future

The best example of 50's sf since - well, the 50's. Ideas as interesting as characters. Characters to care for. And a story just strong enough to tie them together. The tour through 1940's movies is worth the price of admission - suggesting ancient mythology has nothing on us for archetypes.A wonderful read and re-read.

Recommended.

A great book that works on many levels. It reads very quickly thanks to Mcphee's concise writing style and a rapidly unfolding plot. When you read it make Marie your focus - not Nora Mars. Marie is actually the more complex woman, even though at first glance you'll be brought in by the weird circumstances surrounding the movie star. Don't be put off by the science references - they are actually used much less than the reviews would lead you to believe. When they are used, they work quite well in tying together the big picture. If you're looking for a light read (without sacrificing substance and intellect) you will enjoy this novel.

Cleverly Unique

Jenny McPhee's The Center of Things is a wonderfully unique, tightly written first person narrative about Marie Brown, a tabloid journalist tracking down the truth about the life of one of her obsessions--the movie star Nora Mars, who lays close to dying. Marie is trying to put together an obituary to end all obituaries about Nora, and as she goes about her research, she learns some interesting truths about Nora, about herself and her brother. The Center of Things is an engaging and intelligently written novel, full of witty observations and interesting characters. The story is clever and unique--I've never read anything quite like it. I really enjoyed this one.

Great book

A wonderful read. Great chahacters and a a quick-moving plot but what really makes the book tick are the frequent profound insights into modern life and the links between modern science and modern life. If you like witty, intelligent, sexy novels this is for you!

Highly recommend this great book

My test of a novel is do I think of the characters-- wonder what they're doing-- when I'm not reading the book, and that was certainly the case with this novel. The author has created some really fascinating, eccentric yet completely appealing people. I liked them, wanted to know what was going to happen, and just basically found myself stealing moments to read the book as often as I could. This is a book you'll thoroughly enjoy and when completed will find yourself thinking, "darn! it's over. Wow, I hope she writes another one."