An Ice-Cream War William Boyd,
Publisher: Avon Books (P)
ISBN: 0380715678
DDC: 823.914
Edition: Paperback; 1992-12
Summary:
"Rich in character and incident, An Ice-Cream War fulfills the
ambition of the historical novel at its best." --The New York Times
Book ReviewBooker Prize Finalist"Boyd has more than fulfilled the
bright promise of [his] first novel. . .. He is capable not only of
some very funny satire but also of seriousness and compassion."
--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times1914. In a hotel room in German
East Africa, American farmer Walter Smith dreams of Theodore
Roosevelt. As he sleeps, a railway passenger swats at flies,
regretting her decision to return to the Dark Continent--and to her
husband. On a faraway English riverbank, a jealous Felix Cobb watches
his brother swim, and curses his sister-in-law-to-be. And in the
background of the world's daily chatter: rumors of an Anglo-German
conflict, the likes of which no one has ever seen.In An Ice-Cream
War, William Boyd brilliantly evokes the private dramas of a
generation upswept by the winds of war. After his German neighbor
burns his crops--with an apology and a smile--Walter Smith takes up
arms on behalf of Great Britain. And when Felix's brother marches off
to defend British East Africa, he pursues, against his better
judgment, a forbidden love affair. As the sons of the world match
wits and weapons on a continent thousands of miles from home,
desperation makes bedfellows of enemies and traitors of friends and
family. By turns comic and quietly wise, An Ice-Cream War deftly
renders lives capsized by violence, chance, and the irrepressible
human capacity for love."Funny, assured, and cleanly, expansively
told, a seriocomic romp. Boyd gives us studies of people caught in
the side pockets of calamity and dramatizes their plights with humor,
detail and grit." --Harper's"Boyd has crafted a quiet, seamless prose
in which story and characters flow effortlessly out of a fertile
imagination. . .. The reader emerges deeply moved." --Newsday
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