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The Blue Afternoon
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The Blue Afternoon
Unavailable
The Blue Afternoon
Audiobook10 hours

The Blue Afternoon

Written by William Boyd

Narrated by Lorelei King

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Los Angeles, 1936.

Kay Fischer, a young, ambitious architect, is shadowed by Salvador Carriscant, an enigmatic stranger claiming to be her father.

Within weeks of their first meeting, Kay will join him for an extraordinary journey into the old man's past, initially in search of a murderer, but finally in celebration of a glorious, undying love.

A W. F. Howes audio production.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 6, 2015
ISBN9781471293924
Unavailable
The Blue Afternoon
Author

William Boyd

William Boyd is also the author of A Good Man in Africa, winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award; An Ice-Cream War, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys War Prize and short-listed for the Booker Prize; Brazzaville Beach, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; Restless, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year; Ordinary Thunderstorms; and Waiting for Sunrise, among other books. He lives in London.

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Reviews for The Blue Afternoon

Rating: 3.606965093532338 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

201 ratings13 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I looked forward to reading another William Boyd book and straight off I have to say that this one was not one of his best but hey, don't let that stop you reading it because 'not one of his best' is much, much better than many another author. As usual the names are slightly odd but you soon get used to them. Salvador is an odd character I was never quite sure who he truly was and what he really did or did not do and when I got to the end although everything was laid out and covered and tied up I was still left wondering who was bluffing whom. Not a bad read all the same
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Unusual story told in three parts - first in Los Angeles, second, the largest part in Manila, and finally in Lisbon. A murder mystery and a love story. One of the main characters, Kay Fisher, is an architect and the story spends quite a bit of time trying to educate me on how and why this architect does what she does. This should have been interesting but that part of the story didn't interest me at all. What did interest me was the mystery surrounding an old man who appears and claims to be her father. The characters here weren't likable for the most part and it was hard to be sympathetic. The reader as well as Kay keeps wondering if the old man is scamming her. He seems sincere but he is also extremely obtuse and not forthcoming with information. He seems to sucker Kay in by the somewhat devious way he has of getting her to do things. She gets surprised.The central heart of the story is the middle where we move back in time to hear the old man's story. And he is the one telling it. The beginning of the book had me as a detached observer but once we went back to the Philippines in 1902 I was really pulled in. It represents 2/3 of the book and was really excellent historical fiction around events and a time and place that I was quite intrigued with and knew little about. At the end of the novel I was a little frustrated because we really don't know the truth of what happened and even though we the reader and Kay the daughter have been told a story it doesn't quite fit all the puzzle pieces together properly. I suspect some truths were not revealed and am still unsure of this all, and I suspect that was the author's intention. This gets a few points for atmosphere in 1936 Los Angeles and especially 1902 Manila. There is some interesting history written in here with the story about the American occupation of the Philippines. The descriptions of vivisection and surgical techniques and bodies really gets a little gruesome. Not for the faint of heart.This was pretty good, but I thought the first part of the story was quite weak and unbelievable. It keeps me from rating this higher. The characters all have very unusual names - I don't know if this is a William Boyd thing or just particular to this book.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Reading The blue afternoon confused me a bit. At first, the book starts with scenes from the life of Kay Fisher, but when Salvador Carriscant appears in the book, his story completely takes over, and Kay disappears completely into the background. The story of Carriscant is confusing in itself, as it takes the reader across the world and it is not very clear why or how all of this relates. Parts of the book are interesting, such as Carriscant's life as a doctor uncovering a kind of plot involving murder of patients, but there are so many unconnected parts and plots in the novel, that I lost track, and could not connect the dots. For example, what is the point of Pantaleon developing the first aeroplane.The book is very well-written, as far as language is concerned, but the loose structure, confusing story line and disconnected story elements failed to keep me interested. I have also wondered whether the whole story of Carriscant is fictional or based on fact The book might have been more interesting if that were known.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Brilliant, moving and gripping. Plus a fascinating and believable recreation of a little known part of the past.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is another thoroughly enjoyable yarn from one of our contemporary masters and one of my favourite authors, William Boyd. Stories that are so vidid and detailed that they feel closer to truth than fiction have become Boyd's trademark, and The Blue Afternoon is no exception. This time he takes us both to another time (beginning of last century) and to foreign environments in more ways than one. It is a wonderful love story, a thriller, a family drama, all in one. Again Boyd weaves real events into his storytellling, this time the beginning of aviation and the American-Phiippine war. The only weakness of this novel is the structure. Boyd starts telling us one story, but then takes us in a diffierent direction without really wrapping up the story he started with. He also races toward a conclusion in the end, instead of extending the novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the first book by William Boyd that I've read. I thought it was oddly structured, I actually really liked the start, Kay Fischer promised to be a more interesting character than Dr Salvador Carriscant turned out to be, for all the exotic details of his life. After a few chapters we go back decades and follow the story of Carriscant, a surgeon in the Philippines during the American occupation of that country. Part murder mystery, part historical drama, but disappointingly for me really just yet another unlikely tale of undying love.Boyd is wordy and I found myself reaching for a dictionary a few times, which is unusual for me. I would definitely read more by this author, the pleasure in reading him is in the detail rather than the plotting for me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fantastic and highly original. Scenes late on in the book depicting American retribution on the Philipino village haunt me still.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When the story proper begins, it is totally engrossing. Dr Salvador Carriscant goes from eminent surgeon in the Philippines to cook in a story or murder, infatuation and intrigue. Great read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The book is divided into three sections (present, past, present) - the second of which is by far the best. This is the primary "story" section and the 1st and 3rd sections are just devices to introduce and conclude the story.The early section which introduces the narrator and her father didn't arouse my sympathy for either. (In fact, I downright disliked the old man and found the narrator to be a silly guillable woman.)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm making my way through William Boyd's back catalogue, relishing most of the novels I uncover. The Blue Afternoon doesn't quite live up to the standards of his best books - Any Human Heart, Restless, Brazzaville Beach or The New Confessions - but it remains an excellent read. Sparingly written, as with his other novels, the plot is well constructed, the seemingly effortless blend of historical detail and human characteristics transporting the reader to the periods and locations in which it is set. It begins in California during the 1930s, but very quickly the reader is transported to the Philippines in 1902, a country still caught in the bitter aftermath of the war between the US and the Spanish. The lead character, Dr Salvador Carriscant conducts his practice amongst the higher echelons of Manila society, prey to the professional jealously of his fellow doctors. Though the plot features a murder investigation and the brave attempts of one character to build the first flying machine, in essence it is a story of love found and lost. Though Boyd has written more compelling books, this is a better novel than most authors are capable of writing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another excellent novel from William Boyd.This starts in los Angeles in the late 1930s, narrated by aspiring architect Kay Fischer who has just secired the sale of her first house. However, she becomes aware that she is being observed by an elderly man. This fellow eventually confrionts her, shocking her with the astounding claim that he is her father. She is initially reluctant to countenance such a bizarre claim but does eventually concede that it might at least be possible. Kay had been brought up to believe that her father was an English missionary whom her German mother had met in New Guinea. The stranger, Salvador Carriscant also has a mixed ethnic heritage: half-Scottish, quarter Filipino and quarter Spanish. He had been born in the Phillipines but educated as a doctor in his father's native Scotland before returning to Manila where he practised as a modernising sutgeon in one of the city's hospitals. Although his reputation is well established his professional life is not easy owing to a severe clash ot personalities and understanding of medical ethics with the hospital's director, Dr Isidro Cruz. The second section of the book is narrated in the third person and takes us back to 1903 in Manila, where Carriscant is struggling to convince Cruz of the need to introduce modern approaches (including a basic understanding of hygeine). Carriscant does, however, have a mutually beneficial relationship with his aspiring anaesthetist, Pantaleon, who also secretly aspires to be the first successful pilot.Following a typically Boydesque bizarre occurrence Carriscant meets the lovely Delphine Sieverance, wife of one of the garrison of American soldiers who had been despatched to quell recent uprisings. Despite being married to Kay's mother, he falls deeply in love with Delphine and eventually discovers that his feelings are reciprocated. He then falls to planning how they might both escape from their respective partners and start a new life elsewhere.However, while this has been going on, Carriscant has also been helping the local American police chief, Caprtain Paton Bobby, investigaste the horrific murders of two American soldiers, and then a local peasant woman, all of whose bodies have been subjected to brutally disfigured.Boyd manages the resolution of all of the simultaneously unfolding plot lines with his characteristic flair and mastery, and the conclusion of the novel is deftly revealed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My first exhilarating encounter with William Boyd. A wonderful story about a physician in the Phillipines at the turn of the century - combination detective and love story. I loved his writing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There are plenty of things that I did not like about Boyd's The Blue Afternoon, but the excellent telling of a story is not one of them. The limpid style and the sometimes unexpected note of hitting the human condition right between the eyes adds to an intriguing tale. Published in 1993 this is Boyd's sixth novel to hit the bookstores and he had by this time already established himself as a best selling novelist. The novel is divided in three unequal parts. The middle section is by far the longest and tells the story of Doctor Carriscant, it is set in Manila in 1902 and although Carriscant is telling the story of his life in the Philippines it is told in the third person. Carriscant was a surgeon in a large hospital and his new ideas of scrupulous cleanliness and his operating skills and teamwork had resulted in a huge success rate in comparison with the old style surgeon Dr Cruz who was still wallowing in filth. There is a guerrilla war against American forces taking place in the countryside, but this has little impact on life in Manilla. Doctor Carriscant falls in love with Delphine who is married to an American Officer, they conduct a difficult affair amidst the spying servants and the close knit community. Carriscant has other problems a series of gruesome murders of American serviceman leads Paton Bobby as the investigating officer to Carriscant's door first to help with the medical details, but then as a suspect. Carriscant's anaesthetist Pantaleon after learning of Carriscant's affair blackmails him into co-piloting an attempt on the heavier than air (motorised) flight distance record. The first section is told in the first person by Kay Fischer making a living as an architect in Los Angeles in 1936. Carriscant contacts her claiming that she is his daughter. Kay has no reason to believe him and her mother who is still alive stays by her story that a certain Englishman Hugh Paget was her father, but he died two months after she was born. Kay however gets drawn into Carriscant's claim and agrees to help him in a search for Paton Bobby who has retired to LA. They find Bobby and this is when Carriscant tells her his story. This first section is told as a pastiche of a Raymond Chandler mystery thriller with Kay acting out the role of a hard headed business woman. The final part is of course the search for Delphine who Carriscant believes is still alive and living in Lisbon and we are back with Kays first person story, but the pastiche is missing. This leads to one of the problems I found with the novel it does not quite hang together. Boyd has created a mystery and a style of telling the story only to abandon it when Cariiscant's story is told. There are also plenty of gaps in Carriscants tale that are never resolved, maybe because he is an unreliable narrator or because Boyd does not want to provide the reader with all the answers, but some of the answers would have been good.The story of the love affair and the clandestine relationship is the best and most intriguing part of the book. The murder story is gruesome as is the descriptions of the operations and Dr Cruz is shown as a monster, Boyd likes to rub his readers noses in the filth and the dirt, and this can spill over into his telling of acts of physical love, where he strives to convey an erotism that made this reader feel a bit like a voyeur. As a spinner of tales Boyd is right on the money, but at the end of the day I did not believe any of it, despite some flashing insights in human psychology that the author suddenly seems to pluck out of the ether and that do ring true. This novel is good entertainment with Boyd's skill at setting his characters in a time and place and providing enough of a sketch to fill in some of the background. A beach read, but one that may leave the reader a little frustrated. 3.5 stars.This was the next unread book on my shelves, which I must have bought in a charity shop. The books price had been reduced from £3.50 to 50p and inside was a newspaper clipping giving a good review of the book. I presume this was an enterprising bookseller but it could have been a reader who wanted to remind him/herself of the book.