The City of Your Final Destination - Softcover

Cameron, Peter

3.86

2,704 ratings by Goodreads

9781857029734: The City of Your Final Destination

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857029739 ISBN 13: 9781857029734

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2003

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This startling, beautiful novel set in South America explores the mysterious concepts of love and home. Omar has won an award to write the authorised biography of a celebrated yet obscure writer, Jules Gund, author of The Gondola. It only remains for him to obtain permission from Gund's literary executors: his widow, his mistress and his brother. Their lives still revolve around Ochos Rios, a dilapidated mansion in Uruguay that Gund's parents built after fleeing Nazi Germany. The three cannot agree to approve the work -- although Adam Gund feels sure this will not stop Omar, because 'biographers are clever, vindictive, ruthless people.' If Omar cannot reverse the executors' decision, he will lose his award, his job and, perhaps, his redoubtable girlfriend. Not allowing himself time for reflection, Omar acts against instinct and flies to Uruguay. There, he disturbs the uneasy intimacy of the world Gund has left behind and changes it forever.

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Review:

Peter Cameron's sublime, beautiful novel City of Your Final Destination concerns true love and a young academic's struggle to break free from a life he's molded but doesn't want to live. Omar Razaghi, who's pursuing a Ph.D. at a Midwestern university, fudges his application for grant money, stating he has already obtained authorization from the family of the deceased minor novelist Jules Gund. When he belatedly seeks permission to proceed, the three executors--Gund's brother, Adam; former wife Caroline; and Arden, Gund's mistress and mother of Gund's daughter, Portia--decline. Prompted by his girlfriend, Deirdre, Omar shows up unexpectedly in Uruguay, seeking to convince the family of his--and their--need for a biography of Jules Gund to exist.

Cameron is an able storyteller, and his command allows the prose to flow simply and beautifully; here, most every word counts. Adam's often hilarious wit and Caroline's recalcitrance are sharply drawn, descriptions are in crisp relief, and Cameron gives us many reasons to smile: "Pete stood there for a moment, as if he were deciding, trying to think of a reason why he must stay with them, but he was not clever enough, and so of course he had to leave." The City of Your Final Destination is a refreshing look at the impact of desire and love on quirky, elegantly drawn characters. --Michael Ferch

About the Author:

Author of the highly acclaimed The Weekend and Andorra (both published by Fourth Estate) Peter Cameron has also written for The New Yorker, Grand Street, and The Paris Review. He lives in New York.

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PublisherFourth Estate
Publication date2003
ISBN 10 1857029739
ISBN 13 9781857029734
BindingPaperback
Number of pages320
Rating
- 3.86
  
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