[LPT]∎ Read Gratis The Headmaster Wife A Novel edition by Thomas Christopher Greene Literature Fiction eBooks

The Headmaster Wife A Novel edition by Thomas Christopher Greene Literature Fiction eBooks

Download As PDF : The Headmaster Wife A Novel edition by Thomas Christopher Greene Literature Fiction eBooks

The Headmaster Wife A Novel edition by Thomas Christopher Greene Literature Fiction eBooks

Imagine yourself standing in front of a mirror with two friends standing alongside you. Now imagine the mirror cracking into dozens of pieces, barely holding together. The faces become distorted and unrecognizable. That, gentle reader, is the best description I can conjure of what happens in The Headmaster’s Wife. Plot-wise, it is the literary equivalent of Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase.”

On page one we meet Arthur Winthrop. Like his father before him, he is Headmaster of the elite Lancaster School in Vermont. It is a world of knowledge, beauty and order, in which Arthur leads a circumscribed life with an “explicit sense of primogeniture.” He grew from good boy to good man, and became a good teacher who is now a good headmaster. But when the book begins he is having a very bad day, wandering naked in Central Park on a snowy afternoon. Soon he is under interrogation by the police. As readers we are only slightly less confused than Arthur, but not so confused that we stop reading. In fact, we cannot stop reading. This is a “turn off the phone and don’t answer the door” kind of book. I was hooked from the first page, and a few pages later you could not have pried it from my hands. I devoured it in four hours.

Much of the book’s first half is told in Arthur’s voice. This is particularly eerie because prior to the incident in Central Park he’s become obsessed with Betsy, a Lancaster student “still learning to molt into adulthood.” For this “old man in his tweed and his school tie” Betsy’s youth is irresistible and he believes she will never be more beautiful than she is at this moment. There is a serious creep factor to the passages in which he dreams of Betsy day and night, recklessly stalks her in every corner of the Lancaster campus, and ultimately befriends her. Their relationship grows ever more complicated and unnerving and the reader begins to wonder if we have a Lolita situation developing. Do not be surprised to find yourself flinching at what is on the page. When Russell Hurley enters their world things go even further south. How can Arthur’s behavior fail to ruin everyone’s lives? Keep reading.

Greene is an elegant writer and there is much literary pleasure to be found in the world of academia he creates. But things are not always as they appear, so read carefully. And keep in mind Duchamp’s work of art, as well as the title of the novel. That’s where the story is.


Tags : The Headmaster's Wife: A Novel - Kindle edition by Thomas Christopher Greene. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Headmaster's Wife: A Novel.,ebook,Thomas Christopher Greene,The Headmaster's Wife: A Novel,Thomas Dunne Books,Thrillers - Suspense,060101 St Martins Trade Fiction,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,Boarding schools,Boarding schools;Fiction.,FICTION Literary,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,Fiction,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,Fiction-Literary,FictionLiterary,GENERAL,General Adult,Grief,Literary,Love stories,Marriage,MysterySuspense,New York,Psychic trauma,Psychic trauma;Fiction.,Psychological fiction,School principals,School principals;Fiction.,Thriller suspense,Thrillers - Suspense,United States,suspense books; thriller suspense; mystery suspense; literary fiction; literary thrillers; thriller suspense books; suspense thrillers; suspense novels; mystery thriller suspense; mystery suspense books; books suspense; boarding school; private schools campus novels; marriage; marriage life; new england; school principals; unreliable narrator; madness; contemporary fiction contemporary literature,FICTION Literary,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,FictionLiterary,Literary,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,American Mystery & Suspense Fiction,Fiction,MysterySuspense,Thriller suspense

The Headmaster Wife A Novel edition by Thomas Christopher Greene Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

I really, really enjoyed this book. Divided into three parts, each with a different narrator, this book tells the story of a headmaster of an elite New England prep school who is found wandering naked in Central Park. The story unfolds from this event - how did he get there? What events led to this breakdown?

The first part of the novel, entitled "Acrimony," is also the longest and one you will want to refer back throughout the subsequent two parts. Without giving anything away - and this would truly ruin the book - the second part ("Expectations") and the third ("After") provide framework and depth to the first part. The only thing that prevented me from giving this a five-star rating is the final part, "After." I thought it was too short and too "pat," especially in light of the complexities of the first two parts.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. There's much to discuss, the characters are complex and developed, and the plot line is unpredictable without being far-fetched. I will be looking for more books by this author.
Because of its twists and turns, I was stymied at first. Third person narrators, first person narrators, allusion to 'the man', all different perspectives to events experienced by the main characters, getting used to the way the cliff hangers slide and glide into the following chapters - I almost gave up on this novel, BUT I AM HAPPY THAT I DID NOT GIVE UP. It was worth the ride, the fun house, of a main character I did not like, but not all characters are likeable, not all of real people are good. And so the author has given us a main character who we don't care for, except at certain times, this headmaster who is sullen at times, who does not understand his family.
But, without giving you any 'spoilers', you are completely flummoxed by an identity crisis, where you thought one thing, and then realized that the author quite cleverly hid the truth from the reader. Almost seamlessly, too.
When the novel is finished, you appreciate some characters so much more, and feel you've been given a chance to see the workings of the mind, and recognize why some marriages will not work.
A few pages into this book I became concerned that it was nothing more than a stereotypical story about a middle aged man having an affair with a much younger woman. But this could not be further from the truth due to a surprising twist at the end of the first part of the book. I will not go into details as I do not want to spoil it for you.

This book is written in a beautiful and poetic manner that handles the issue of grief gently and sensitively. The book was inspired by the author's experiences and this brings a sense of honesty and real emotion to the text. The book is also about time and how it passes by so quickly - before we have had a chance to appreciate or even understand the past and how it has shaped us.

Despite its heavy subject matter the book is a quick and short read which left me feeling slightly unsatisfied. The ending is forced and lacks the emotion and style of the first two parts. It seem the author no longer knew what to do with the characters and lost interest in his own story.
A sad interesting story. At first you think it is a story about an affair between a student and head of a school...however this is where the book changes course. It is the story that is a flash back to a life led by a young man and his decisions. As it gets to the future day, the story gets bogged down how to resolve the mistakes and decisions of the past. The ending was abrupt. Not unexpected but left me wondering why the author spent so much time explaining feelings from page 1 and hoped to end this somewhat complicated story so quickly. I felt disappointed that such a detailed life could be tied up in a short not quite believable ending.
Imagine yourself standing in front of a mirror with two friends standing alongside you. Now imagine the mirror cracking into dozens of pieces, barely holding together. The faces become distorted and unrecognizable. That, gentle reader, is the best description I can conjure of what happens in The Headmaster’s Wife. Plot-wise, it is the literary equivalent of Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase.”

On page one we meet Arthur Winthrop. Like his father before him, he is Headmaster of the elite Lancaster School in Vermont. It is a world of knowledge, beauty and order, in which Arthur leads a circumscribed life with an “explicit sense of primogeniture.” He grew from good boy to good man, and became a good teacher who is now a good headmaster. But when the book begins he is having a very bad day, wandering naked in Central Park on a snowy afternoon. Soon he is under interrogation by the police. As readers we are only slightly less confused than Arthur, but not so confused that we stop reading. In fact, we cannot stop reading. This is a “turn off the phone and don’t answer the door” kind of book. I was hooked from the first page, and a few pages later you could not have pried it from my hands. I devoured it in four hours.

Much of the book’s first half is told in Arthur’s voice. This is particularly eerie because prior to the incident in Central Park he’s become obsessed with Betsy, a Lancaster student “still learning to molt into adulthood.” For this “old man in his tweed and his school tie” Betsy’s youth is irresistible and he believes she will never be more beautiful than she is at this moment. There is a serious creep factor to the passages in which he dreams of Betsy day and night, recklessly stalks her in every corner of the Lancaster campus, and ultimately befriends her. Their relationship grows ever more complicated and unnerving and the reader begins to wonder if we have a Lolita situation developing. Do not be surprised to find yourself flinching at what is on the page. When Russell Hurley enters their world things go even further south. How can Arthur’s behavior fail to ruin everyone’s lives? Keep reading.

Greene is an elegant writer and there is much literary pleasure to be found in the world of academia he creates. But things are not always as they appear, so read carefully. And keep in mind Duchamp’s work of art, as well as the title of the novel. That’s where the story is.