The Dead Heart
by Douglas Kennedy
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Description
That dumbshit map. I'd been seduced by it. Seduced by its possibilities. That map had brought me here ... That map had been a serious mistake' The map in question is of Australia, stumbled across in a second-hand bookshop by American journalist Nick Hawthorne, en route to another dead-end hack job in Akron, Ohio. Seduced by all that wilderness, all that NOTHING, Nick decides to put his midlife crisis on hold and light out to the ultimate nowheresville - where a chance encounter throws him show more into a sun-baked orgy of surf, sex and swill, and a nightmare from which there is no escape. 'Douglas Kennedy might never be allowed into Australia again. This is a crazy, compulsive ultimately serious thriller and a bravura fictional debut from one of our best travel writers' Philip Kerr show lessTags
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Member Reviews
i found this in an amazing book barn in Le Somail, a tiny village on the canal du midi, dans L'Aude, south of france. i remember thinking that it was a scary read for anyone with intentions of visiting australia! but so much fun! the film was pretty well done too...i discovered some years later, welcome to woop woop. i love woop woop, where ever one manages to find it.
Found this disappointing altough I did finish it. Not very well written, and rather predictable. OK reading for a plane or train trip I guess.
In the Australian's bush, an American is looking for a new life and a new breath. He won't be disappointed!!! To go through the desert is just a funny game compared to what is waiting for the narrator...
fascinating
hilarant voyage au fond de l'Australie
Australia/Travel
On passe un bon moment avec ce pauvre Nick, ce n'est pas de la grande littérature mais l'idée est originale et ce thriller sort un peu de l'ordinaire, on sourit beaucoup et on a envie de connaître la fin pour savoir comment il va se sortir de ce guêpier.
Mar 14, 2008French
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Author Information
33+ Works 6,177 Members
Douglas Kennedy was born in New York City in 1955. He attended the Collegiate School at Trinity College in Dublin, and graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1976. Kennedy worked briefly as a journalist in Maine and as a stage manager in New York. In 1978, he traveled to Ireland for a two-week visit and ended up staying there, living in show more Dublin for the next 11 years. It was at this time that Kennedy began to write in his spare time, and five years later, he turned his attention to writing full-time. Kennedy first supported himself as a playwright. His early radio plays, Shakespeare on Five Dollars a Day and The Don Giovanni Blues, were broadcast by the BBC. Kennedy's first book, Beyond the Pyramids, was published in London in 1988. In the next few years, Kennedy went on to write two more travelogues and the novel The Dead Heart, none of which were ever published in the United States. It wasn't until 1997 that one of Kennedy's books made an American debut. The book, The Big Picture, focuses on a suburban yuppie lawyer who throws his life away with one sudden act of violence. A selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club, film rights have been optioned by Fox 2000 and foreign rights have been sold in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Norway, and Spain. In addition to his books, Douglas Kennedy is a much-published journalist whose work regularly appears in such London publications as The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, British GQ, and Arena. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Dead Heart
- Original title
- The dead heart
- Alternate titles*
- Cul-De-Sac
- People/Characters*
- Nick Hawthorne; Angie; Krystal
- Important places*
- Darwin, Australia; Broome, Australia; Wollanup
- Related movies
- Welcome to Woop Woop (1997 | IMDb)
- Epigraph*
- "L'homme seul, dans un environnement inconnu, éprouvera naturellement de l'angoisse."
Maurice Dunleavy, Stay alive (manuel de survie dans l'outback publié par les autorités australiennes) - Dedication*
- À Max Kennedy
- First words*
- Partout, des tatouages. Je n'en avais jamais vu autant de ma vie. À Darwin, tout le monde en avait. Et dans ce bar aussi, y comprise la stripteaseuse en train de se tortiller sur la scène improvisée, exhibant le papillon v... (show all)ulcain qu'elle avait à la fesse gauche.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)- Ce devait être un cauchemar, alors.
On n'aurait pu mieux dire. - Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 359
- Popularity
- 87,261
- Reviews
- 13
- Rating
- (3.51)
- Languages
- English, French, German, Italian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 20
- ASINs
- 5
