Download Books Stars and Bars For Free

Stars and Bars

William Boyd

Paperback | Pages: 348 pages

Rating: 3.45 | 1379 Users | 75 Reviews

Identify Books Concering Stars and Bars

Original Title:	Stars and Bars
ISBN:	0140075968 (ISBN13: 9780140075960)
Edition Language:	English

Representaion Toward Books Stars and Bars

Sharply observed and brilliantly plotted, Stars and Bars is an uproarious portrait of culture clash deep in the heart of the American South, by one of contemporary literature’s most imaginative novelists.

A recent transfer to Manhattan has inspired art assessor Henderson Dores to shed his British reserve and aspire to the impulsive and breezy nature of Americans. But when Loomis Gage, an eccentric millionaire, invites him to appraise his small collection of Impressionist paintings, Dores's plans quite literally go south. Stranded at a remote mansion in the Georgia countryside, Dores is received by the bizarre Gage family with Anglophobic slurs, nausea-inducing food, ludicrous death threats, and a menacing face off with competing art dealers. By the time he manages to sneak back to New York City–sporting only a cardboard box–Henderson Dores realizes he is fast on the way to becoming a naturalized citizen.

Define Based On Books Stars and Bars

Title	:	Stars and Bars
Author	:	William Boyd
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 348 pages
Published	:	1985 by Penguin (first published January 1st 1984)
Categories	:	Fiction. Humor

Rating Based On Books Stars and Bars

Ratings: 3.45 From 1379 Users | 75 Reviews

Rate Based On Books Stars and Bars

Boyd regards the US (New York and Georgia) through the eyes of an uptight Englishman who yearns for the laid-back freedom of the American way of life, only to find himself caught up in a nightmare. Entertaining and well written with some lovely turns of phrase.

After having read Boyd's Any Human Heart I ventured further into his literary catalogue, picking Stars and Bars. I was aware that with this one I could expect less of the serious writing and more of the chaotic, humerous and rather silly. I enjoyed about twenty pages, then I just wished it was over. This might have come down to my personal very strong dislike of stories where the main character entangles themselves further and further into ridiculous situations instead of pulling the plug and

One of his earlier books. Reminded me a bit of his novel Armadillo and its slap stick humour. At the time I read Armadillo, it was so different from anything I had read, so I enjoyed it. In Star and Bars it was hard to really route for Henderson and all the antics he faced because he wasn't such a sympathetic character.

Perhaps this fairly amusing novel could be seen as a kind of 20th-century corrective to Henry James, whose theme of innocent Americans floundering in ultra-sophisticated Europe is here turned on its head: sophisticated Brit art historian gets flummoxed by the outwardly Beverly Hillbillies-like rubes in Luxora Beach, GA who turn out to be grasping and corrupt, and rake him over pretty thoroughly. leaving him estranged from ex-wife and girlfriend, out of a job, and creeping uptown along Park Ave.

Very funny, very literate fish-out-of-water story concerning a Brit-born art dealer, "an Impressionist man," now in NYC, forced to take a trip to the Deep South to corral the purchase of several million dollars' worth of paintings. He's recently begun a relationship with his ex-wife, who -- in the 15 years' interim -- married and divorced and has two kids, one a sulking 14-year-old girl. The protagonist is also in a relationship with another woman; neither woman is aware of the other's

An attempt at comedy that I found didn't really work. Bizarre story, strange unbelievable characters and ridiculous interactions. A disappointment after reading and enjoying some of his other books, but maybe I just missed the point somewhere.

I picked this up and after the first chapter realised I had read it years ago. The second reading was just as enjoyable as the first. Very clever with plenty of laugh out loud moments from the wonderful mind of Boyd.