David Monteil Archives - Page 2 of 2 - The Vintage Contemporaries Bibliography

Richard Ford – A Piece of My Heart (1985)

Bibliographical Description

85.04.W010: Ford – A Piece of My Heart

A Piece of | My Heart | RICHARD FORD | Vintage Contemporaries | VINTAGE BOOKS • A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE • NEW YORK

First Vintage Books Edition, April 1985

152 leaves, pp. [6] 1-2 3-4 5-63 64-66 67-134 135-136 137-158 159-160 161-186 187-188 189-201 202-204 205-253 254-256 257-297 [1]

Contents: π1a blurbs and author photo, π1b “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, π2a title, π2b imprint, π3a dedication, π3b blank, 1-297 A Piece of My Heart: 1-2 “Prologue”, 3-64 “PART I | Robard Hewes”, 65-134 “PART II | Sam Newel”, 135-158 “PART III | Robard Hewes”, 159-186 “PART IV | Sam Newel”, 187-202 “PART V | Robard Hewes”, 203-254 “PART VI | Sam Newel”, 255-295 “PART VII | Robard Hewes”, 296-297 “Epilogue”; χ1b about the author.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by David Monteil; interior author photo by Marion Ettlinger.

Copies: JDP 1.2 (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) Its power is mysterious and unmistakable…the beginning of a career that could turn out to be extraordinary. – Walter Clemons, Newsweek
A Piece of My Heart is the story of two men in flight—one pursuing a woman, the other pursuing his heart. Drawn by chance and mystery to an uncharted island in the Mississippi River, these men see their hopes and lives become imperiled in this small, fierce world where their ultimate, violent destiny is neither in the least redeeming nor escapable.
Ford is a masterful writer. – Raymond Carver, The Chicago Tribune Book World
Superb…brutally real and at the same time haunting…one of those rare surprises that come along every few years. – Jim Harrison
This is one of those books that hit you hard…a story filled with breathing characters and genius-crafted dialogue between moments of consummate description….I can’t be unbiased. I’m mad for this book. – Elizabeth Ashton, The Houston Chronicle
Without intruding on the very real momentum of his many characters, Ford has lifted his story into the realm of fable. – The Village Voice
A signal work of nativist fiction…this book may be a classic of the genre, first novel or tenth….Ford is a superb storyteller who can relate a vignette of pure horror or a comedy of rustic manners with equal brilliance. – The National Review

Frederick Exley – A Fan’s Notes (1985)

Bibliographic Description

85.04.W009: Exley – A Fan’s Notes

First Vintage Books Edition, April 1985

200 leaves, pp. [14] 1-385 [1]

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by David Monteil; interior author photo by Mark Jury.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) A singularly moving, entertaining, funny book. – The New York Times
A Fan’s Notes is strong, beautiful, American, one of a kind. – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Exley has the Fitzgerald-like gift to wrap up the aching vision of beauty (usually in a young girl), the funnily maladroit failure to possess that beauty, and the overwhelming despair that follows the entire process, all in a single tone of narrative accuracy whose authentic sweetness is the measure of its truth-telling….A welcome reminder of what the basic business of literature and of living really is. All fans of art and life should read it. – Jack Kroll, Newsweek
Writers of every kind of aesthetic and cultural persuasion talk about it with one another, and press it on their friends to read….When I urge A Fan’s Notes on a friend who asks what is it about? or what is it like? I say read it, just read it. – Geoffrey Wolff, The Los Angeles Times
This is the horrible and hilarious account of a long failure, but a failure which turns into success: the success that this book is. A Fan’s Notes is one man’s life, written with brilliance and insight. No one should have had Exley’s life, and no one who has read it can ever forget it. – James Dickey
The best novel written in the English language since The Great Gatsby. – Mike McGrady, Newsday

Anita Brookner – The Debut (1985)

Bibliographic Description

85.03.W008: Brookner – The Debut

First Vintage Books Edition, March 1985

96 leaves, pp. 1-6 7-192

Contents: 1 blurbs and author photo, 2 “ALSO AVAILABLE IN VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES”, 3 title, 4 imprint, 5 fly-title, 6 blank, 7-192 The Debut.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by David Monteil; interior author photo by Jerry Bauer.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) Deft, lively, and quite touching. – Mary Gordon
Since childhood Ruth Weiss has been escaping from life into books, and from the hothouse attentions of her tyrannical and eccentric parents into the gentler warmth of lovers and friends. Now Dr. Weiss, at forty, a quiet scholar devoted to the study of Balzac, is convinced that her life has been ruined by literature, and that once again she must make a new start in life.
Precise and haunting….Brookner is a master at creating miniaturist portraits of attenuated lives. – The New York Times
An almost flawless novel. – People
Sly, detached humor has caused Brookner to be compared to Barbara Pym, but her vision is darker and more complex….Brookner’s ambitions exceed those of Pym’s genteel novels of manners and place her outside the genre, to which her writing, with its delicate shadings of character, otherwise seem suited. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Anita Brookner is a stunning writer. – Edna O’Brien
Elegant, bittersweet…and very funny. If you read one book this year, this had better be it. – Fay Weldon