The Stranger Next Door

by Amélie Nothomb

Book Overview

Traces d'usages, visuel différent, légère pliure jaquette, qq peu défraîchi mais sinon bel ouvrage.Expédition rapide de votre commande avec protection soignée de vos articles.Professionnel de la vente... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805048413
• ISBN13: 9780805048414
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Excellent and Original Work

This is a highly memorable story, which, to me, makes it an excellent book. The characters and story are highly unique and well developed. Nothomb is a talented author. Those reviewers who make comments based on the author's country of origin and not on the merit of the work itself have no business writing reviews. I would venture to say that Nothomb would not want to be pigeon-holed that way. I look forward to reading her other works and highly recommend this book.

Bizarre!

Enile Hazel and his wife Juliette finally reach retirement age and the two, who have been in love since their childhood, move to their perfect retirement home--out of the city and in a secluded spot. That is, away from everyone except for a doctor and his wife who live in a nearby house. The doctor pays the Hazels a visit one day but sits most unappreciatively in a living room chair only answering Mr.Hazel's questions with one-word answers. When this neighbor returns every day at precisely 4 p.m., things begins to get uncomfortable for everyone.I love the way the author constructed this story. It's short and to the point. I can't tell whether or not the author is poking fun at any of the characters because they are all so pitiful. The main character is a wimp who, at first, simply lets his neighbor call the shots. The neighbor is obnoxious and demanding. The wife of the neighbor has to be absolutely one of the most disgusting and repulsive characters I've ever encountered on the written page. The story itself is mesmerizing in a mysterious and creepy sort of way. I like how the action turns inside out, how the characters sort of turn into each other. I wonder what it all means. Perhaps it's a statement on man's need for solitude versus dependency. Or maybe it's to say that we can never predict how we'll behave in a given situation and will try different behaviors until we find one that works. Whatever meaning the author intends, this novel certainly is thought-provoking and well worth reading!

a delightfully entertaining comedy of characters

Amelie Nothomb has created a story whose characters carry the plot along. A retired couple exhile themselves to a house in the woods for what they hope will be an uneventful passing of their final days. Soon enough however, they discover that their neighbor, the town doctor, is a terrible nuisance. The Stranger Next Door depicts the struggles of the couple as they battle to come to an understanding of their neighbor and his wife. The descriptions are wonderfully amusing and unlike any most readers might have come across.

True horror without a supernatural being in sight

When Emile Hazel retires from teaching, he and his spouse Juliette move to an isolated home in Southern France. The radical change in lifestyle from the urban classroom to a locale with only one neighbor seems perfect to the Hazels. However, they are soon visited by their extradinarily obese sole neighbor, Dr. Bernardin, who demands a cup of coffee. The doctor keeps them company for several hours, but fails to hold up his end of any conversation. The uninvited doctor starts visiting the resentful Hazels every day. Subtle and direct efforts to end the daily coffee break fail miserably, almost as if the doctor is immune to any actions by his "hosts". The Hazels eventually invite the doctor and his equally obese spouse for dinner. However, the next day, Bernardin renews his solo visits until a frustrated Emile literally shoves the doctor out the door. When Bernardin stops coming, a guilty Emile investigates why and soon finds himself even more deeply bound to his former guest. THE STRANGER NEXT DOOR is a frightening psychological drama that rips asunder the veneer of politeness in modern civilization. The Hazels and their only neighbor(s) are all wonderful caricatures, a parody that surprisingly makes them all seem like genuine but grotesque human beings. Only a talent as good as Amelie Nothomb could accomplish such a feat in a poignant tale. Readers need not be concerned that this is a translation because Carol Volk does a terrific job without missing a beat. Harriet Klausner