Send No More Roses
by Eric Ambler
On This Page
Description
Professor Krom believes Paul Firman, alias Oberholzer, is one of those criminals who keep a low profile and are just too clever to get caught. Firman, rich and somewhat shady, agrees to be interviewed in his villa on the French Riviera. But events take an unexpected turn and perhaps there is even someone else artfully hiding in the deep background?Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A mature masterpiece in my opinion. Layer upon layer of ambiguous psychological character analysis feeds this story set in one of Ambler's favorite locales, the French Riviera. So much of this novel takes place within the untrustworthy mind of its main character, Paul Firmin, that it ends up questioning the very stability of memory, as well as revealing self deception, intentional lies that have become "truth," and personal confusions. Has Firmin tricked himself or the reader in this tale?
Ostensibly the story of a so-called "Able Criminal," someone an obsessed Dutch criminology professor, Frits Krom, believes is among a shadowy elite of criminals who justice and the police are unable to apprehend, Siege of the Villa Lipp is more than show more that. It is the discovery of the price someone pays not only for "success" but for the realization that in the modern world success revealed to the public and the self leads to psychosis.
Essentially, the author of the study of the Able Criminal, despite his nagging ways and intrusive manner, is right about Firmin. Firmin is a liar. Most of all to himself. Somewhere, he has lost his "self," his inner being. In its place is a jumble of disorganized memories that may or may not be true. The only thing making Firmin somewhat sympathetic is the cast of characters that surround him. True master criminals that make him look like a playful amateur. Academics who seek the satisfaction of their ego over knowledge and the science of their discipline. Colleagues capable of betrayal, directly and indirectly, meaning you cannot trust anyone. Except perhaps one of them. The one who is willing to follow him to the metaphorical ends of the Earth. show less
Ostensibly the story of a so-called "Able Criminal," someone an obsessed Dutch criminology professor, Frits Krom, believes is among a shadowy elite of criminals who justice and the police are unable to apprehend, Siege of the Villa Lipp is more than show more that. It is the discovery of the price someone pays not only for "success" but for the realization that in the modern world success revealed to the public and the self leads to psychosis.
Essentially, the author of the study of the Able Criminal, despite his nagging ways and intrusive manner, is right about Firmin. Firmin is a liar. Most of all to himself. Somewhere, he has lost his "self," his inner being. In its place is a jumble of disorganized memories that may or may not be true. The only thing making Firmin somewhat sympathetic is the cast of characters that surround him. True master criminals that make him look like a playful amateur. Academics who seek the satisfaction of their ego over knowledge and the science of their discipline. Colleagues capable of betrayal, directly and indirectly, meaning you cannot trust anyone. Except perhaps one of them. The one who is willing to follow him to the metaphorical ends of the Earth. show less
è la prima volta che, dopo decenni di letture, un po' mi delude. Per essere un libro degli anni '70 mostra una capacità di preveggenza straordinaria del mondo che verrà (le astuzie dei malfattori in colletto bianco). Ma la trama è un po' contorta. Al solito, i dialoghi, e l'ironia sono sono il punto di forza del racconto. E l'ambiguità del protagonista - chissà se stupido pasticcione o astuto truffatore - è cio che, al solito, amo di Ambler perchè lascia al lettore l'onere del giudizio nello stesso momento in cui gli segnala che un simile dubbio riguarda tutti noi 'reali' protagonisti delle nostre esistenze.
Oh, attenzione! Non è un romanzo di introspezione psicologica: è solo un libro 'giallo' per l'estate
Oh, attenzione! Non è un romanzo di introspezione psicologica: è solo un libro 'giallo' per l'estate
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
71+ Works 10,385 Members
Eric Ambler was born in London on June 28, 1909. Ambler toured in the late 1920s as a music-hall comedian and wrote plays, following in the footsteps of his parents, who were entertainers. After studying engineering at London University from 1924 to 1927, he took an apprenticeship in engineering at the Edison Swan Electric Company. When the show more company became part of Associated Electrical Industries, he worked in its advertising department and wrote avant-garde plays in his spare time. By 1937 he was the director of a London ad agency. He later resigned and moved to Paris where he dedicated himself to writing. In 1936, his first novel, The Dark Frontier, appeared and followed by another five by 1940, as well as working as script consultant for Alexander Korda. During World War II he joined first the artillery and was then later posted to a combat photographic unit. He served in Italy as assistant director of army cinematography and during this period, wrote and produced nearly one hundred training and propaganda films. After the war Ambler was screenwriter for the Rank organization and starting from 1951 he published a number of novels with Charles Rodda under the pseudonym Eliot Reed. Several of his novels were made into films, including A Coffin for Dimitrios in 1944, Journey into Fear in 1942, and Topkapi in 1964. Ambler also wrote screenplays, including those for The Cruel Sea in 1953 and The Guns of Navarone in 1961. In the 1960s he moved to Hollywood and was responsible for the TV shows Checkmate and The Most Deadly Game. Ambler received the Gold Dagger in 1959 for Passage of Arms, in 1967 for Dirty Story and in 1972 for The Levanter. He also received the Diamond Dagger in 1986 plus an Edgar in 1964 for The Light of Day and was nominated Grand Master in 1975. Ambler was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1981, and received other literary awards in France and Sweden. He died in London in October 1998. Ambler published 23 novels total, 19 under his own name and four in collaboration Eric Amber died in London on October 22, 1998, at the age of 89. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Seuil, Points roman (R153)
detebe (20887)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Send No More Roses
- Original title
- Send No More Roses
- Alternate titles
- The Siege of the Villa Lipp (USA) (USA)
- Original publication date
- 1977
- People/Characters
- Frits Buhler Krom; George Kingham Connell; Geraldine Hope Henson; Paul Firman; Mathew Williamson; Melanie Wicky-Frey (show all 9); Yves Boularis; Carlo Lech; Frank Yamatoku
- First words
- They stopped the car by the gateway in the wall on the lower coast road.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I thought of good food, cold days and decent glasses of wine.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 227
- Popularity
- 144,069
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.42)
- Languages
- 8 — Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 30
- ASINs
- 11
