The Emperor of Ocean Park

by Stephen L. Carter

Book Overview

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - INSPIRATION FOR THE UPCOMING MGM+ ORIGINAL SERIES - ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME - In his triumphant fictional debut, Stephen Carter... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375413634
• ISBN13: 9780375413636
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 654 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A compelling mystery

I just finished this book and loved it. The mystery is satisfying and the chess metaphors and culture well used. I thought that the characters were complex and interesting, particularly for this genre. I also appreciated Stephen Carter sharing insights into the culture of Washington, DC's black elite. Though a 30+-year (white) resident of DC, I know little about the lives of my neighbors who grew up on the other side of the park on DC's Gold Coast, participated in Jack and Jill, and vacationed on Martha's Vineyard. I also found the internal musings of the hero, Misha Garland, on race relations and white liberals very interesting. Another standout is a wonderful scene in the book that seats persons of faith within the academic community at the dinner table with secular agnostics who assume people with religion are stupid. Although it doesn't resolve anything, the contrast between the formidable Morris Young bravely discussing the work of Satan in the midst of cynical academics is jarring and believable. A few things in the book bugged me. As previous reviewers have noted, the editing is poor. Not only could the book be shorter and tighter, but there are internal inconsistencies that should have been caught. For example, on page 189, Misha mentions that he would "wink...but I never actually learned how." Then, on page 215 he writes "I wink at Bentley again...". Stupid, annoying error. In a similar vein, he uses the phrase "chewing on cotton" way too often. Without getting into any spoilers, I also think that some of the loose ends could have been tied up better. (Is there more to K's stonewalling than just the potential nomination?; How did WWW learn of last trip to MV?) On the whole, though, a very good read.

Gets under your skin (pun intended)

I love books that take me to a different place in my head, the kind of book that keeps you thinking about it even when you're washing the dishes or getting ready for bed, whatever. I'm a polar opposite of the protagonist, being an older working class white female, but I'm also like him in so many ways, having lived in Washington for a couple of decades and having worked in private (and elite) higher education all my working life. Because of the juxtaposition of the similarities and contrasts, this book was really fun for me. Carter's descriptions are, for the most part, excellent (although at times unnecessarily detailed). Characterization is where he really stands out, though. The protagonist is accused by several other characters (in particular, his wife) of becoming so obsessed with the mystery that he's getting "crazy", and I certainly bought into it: there were times I had to wonder if that was going to be the plot twist, that it really was all a figment of his over-active imagination. I loved that he had character flaws that felt real to me, unlike the way so many other authors write their main character's flaws, the way a politician who is running for president describes his biggest fault ('I care too much about doing The People's business'). Along the way, he drops in some really wonderful mini-essays, bon mots and zingers about American society today, often with a slightly different slant, which make one stop and think. That's the other thing I really loved about this book, it just makes you stop and think. I have to admit, I would like nothing better than to have perhaps half a dozen long lunches with the author, and I've already ordered his next book.

Great Book from a great thinker

After reading Carter's earlier works -- The Culture of Disbelief, Integrity, and Civility -- I was curious to see what kind of novel he would write. It was a joy to read about non-stereotypical African-American character, i.e. those who are are not drug lords and gangsters, and follow as some of Carter's philosophies are woven into the plot. The judge was a man tortured and I found the circumtances to led to his demise revealing. The book talks a lot about drawing lines and moving forward. Also revealed is the importance of not crossing some lines. Period. Carter's protagonist was called to live a certain ideal and that ideal sometimes left the character seeming wimpy, but considered from the perspective of the calling which the Reverend Young explained beautifully, Tal's inability to really handle things made a lot of sense. On the subject of Tal, I appreciated that he was human, and not a superman, and thus, situations sometimes got away from him. Carter handled some of the subleties of race well, as well as the impact on race relations by relativism. Tal was not to blame for everything that happened, but that didn't matter to his colleagues, who really, pretty much were interested in protecting their own. Carter's point here, I believe, was that the Good Ole Boys' club still exists, and if you're not in it, you're flaling on the outside, with no protection or hope. I loved the length of the book, as the meatier a book, the better as far as I am considered. Those who prefer 200 pagers would probably want to look in a different section of the store. This book is for readers and thinkers.

The Extant Anti-Thriller

There is a lot to say, sociologically in every way about this book. I went into THE EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK with a bad attiude: from various critics I had read (who I have a huge amount of respect for) it sounded dire. But then, critics are never a good reason to not pick it up at all.If you glance through the various recent reviews (at the time of writing) on this website too, you will not find any particularly high appraisals either. Let's try and work out what is going on here, then, because the author was paid $4.2 million for this grand oeuvre, and publishers are usually fairly frugal with their bugets for first novels.For a start, this is not, in the traditional sense, a first novel. Stephen L. Carter has written numerous works of non-fiction before, which are incredibly and often moving excercises of historical and political theory. So it's not as if he has NEVER picked up a pen before and attempted in one swift blow a six-hundred page debut! In writing non-fiction, you only have to imagine how many times Mr. Carter must have sketched out a random prose of fiction about the state or history he was researching ... it's a natural human inclination.This book was pegged as a thriller, and a kind of socio-analysis of American society a the same time. This, I think, is where the reaction lies. If you've seen EYES WIDE SHUT (Kubric's last work) you'll understand why people were so disappointed on seeing it: they expected their commercial, loveable Tom Cruise to be the commercial, loveable Tom he always is and that they are so familiar with. People did not want to see a genuine piece of art with agenuinly brilliant actor: they wanted to unwind. In THE EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK, the scenario was very similar: the public thought they had a new Grisham, and found to their horror that they were left here with a new voice. And not only that, this voice had a gutteral hallmark to it.The EOP is a great, far-reaching piece of work. Inside every description, in every telephone call and mild familial banter, is a subliminal critique on society. The plot is a mechanism for super-analysis, somethng very few authors still manage to pull off. Read this book, and while doing so, look for hints ... there are many of them. This book was, to me, the extant anti-thriller: a place where all society like sheep came to congregate to find that their hero was a member of mensa instead of an actor off a Hollywood side-show. Well worth its money, and well worth its time.

Yes it's long -- but worth the read!

Yes, Emperor is long (650 pages!) -- but I simply couldn't put the book down. The stage is set in the Prologue (which I don't usually read, but I'm glad I did -- there were a lot of clues there), when we get a feel for the tense relationship between the family members of the narrator, Talcott Garland. We also find out about Abbey, and the circumstances surrounding her hit-and-run death so many years before. This becomes important as the book progresses... Judge Oliver Garland dies suddenly under very suspicious circumstances, and bequeaths a home in the Ocean Park section of Martha's Vineyard -- along with a mysterious letter -- to his son Talcott. Talcott tries, through a series of clues in the strange letter, to unravel the mystery of "the arrangements"... Talcott has no earthly idea of what these arrangements are, but he quickly discovers that there are many people whom he's never met who are desperate to find them. As more and more people end up murdered, Talcott knows that he must find the arrangements before the evil ones do -- before he ends up dead as well.This mystery is different -- more real to life, because the ends aren't tied up neatly -- proof that "happily ever after" doesn't necessarily mean that everything works out the way that the reader expects. Emperor is unpredictable, well-written, and occasionally hilariously funny. Definitely worth the lengthy read. :-)