Extraordinary Fiction!: Timothy Findley's new novel is the result of a poetic and limitless imagination which goes beyond the confines of national boundaries and places him securely among the most original creative writers in the twentieth century. With a rich, brilliantly crafted plot, this novel of gripping international intrigue is one of his best yet. Ingenius characters and a fantastic plot make this novel a brilliant example of Findley's genius. A captivating piece of fiction.

Extremely well written with an engrossing plot ( )

This is a brilliant, inventive book that sends me scuttling away to find other works by Timothy Findlay. The main character in the book is writer Hugh Selwyn Mauberly, a creation of Ezra Pound's! Findlay mixes history and fiction together to create a suspenseful story set in World War II yet he never wavers from providing quality, poetic writing. The writing is on the wall (see what I've done there?) for the producers of non-literary thillers. Let's pack Fredrick Forsyth and his ilk off to the sanatorium his idiotic right-wing ravings deserve! ( )

Christ, this is an awful book. It's a fictionalized account of the events in Europe leading up to and at the beginning of WWII. And, for being about Nazis, it's horribly, soul-suckingly boring. Also, the writing style has this undertone of "This is Serious Writing about a Serious Subject; Please admire my masterful command of the English language," and it's really noticeable and pretentious and annoying. I suppose that's what I get from picking up a book from the "free old journals and miscellaneous crappy labware" pile in the basement of my building. ( )

This is one of Findley's best and most enigmatic novels. ( )