Mention Books As Mortals

Original Title:	Mortals
ISBN:	0679737111 (ISBN13: 9780679737117)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Ray Finch, Iris Finch, Davis Morel, Samuel Kerekang, Chester Boyle, Dwight Wemberg
Setting:	Botswana,1992

Mortals Paperback | Pages: 736 pages

Be Specific About About Books Mortals

Title	:	Mortals
Author	:	Norman Rush
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 736 pages
Published	:	July 13th 2004 by Vintage (first published May 27th 2003)
Categories	:	Fiction. Cultural. Africa. Contemporary. Literature. Novels

Narrative Concering Books Mortals

At once a political adventure, a portrait of a passionate but imperiled marriage, and an acrobatic novel of ideas, Mortals marks Norman Rush’s return to the territory he has made his own, the southern African nation of Botswana. Nobody here is entirely what he claims to be. Ray Finch is not just a middle-aged Milton scholar but a CIA agent. His lovely and doted-upon wife Iris is also a possible adulteress. And Davis Morel, the black alternative physician who is treating her--while undertaking a quixotic campaign to de-Christianize Africa—may also be her lover.

As a spy, the compulsively literate Ray ought to have no trouble confirming his suspicions. But there’s the distraction of actual spying. Most of all, there’s the problem of love, which Norman Rush anatomizes in all its hopeless splendor in a novel that would have delighted Milton, Nabokov, and Graham Greene.

Rating About Books Mortals

Ratings: 3.74 From 525 Users | 68 Reviews

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Two stars because:1. The author insists on using the term "pubic escutcheon" several times.2. The book is 400 pages too long.3. Lots and lots of cringeworthy sex and anatomy talk. Both our protagonist, Ray, and his wife, Iris, sometimes refer to her pubic region as her "shame."4. Ray, a CIA agent in Botswana undercover as a college professor, is hopelessly, embarrassingly, relentlessly, exhaustingly uxorious.5. Ray and Iris are obsessed with the cutesiness of their inside jokes, puns, and

I read Mating a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed it, so was looking forward to Mortals. I didn't make it. After 300-400 pages, I had to return it to the library. It's heft made it a bit of a drag to read in bed (my only reading place apres le bebe)--but I could have overcome that if the narrative had pulled me along. It had occasional amusing shades of Our Man in Havana (small time spy, expat experience, funny), but was mostly a lot more information than I needed to know about the

4 1/2 stars - just shy of perfect"Mortals" does expertly well what I love most in novels - it hangs a plot on the lives of a few people to better tell their intimacies and interactions, to better show their humanity and reveal our own to us. For all of the fighting, the bombs, the guns, the escapes, the spying (well, sort of), the fires, the danger, I was most tense and riveted during the early bathing scene between Iris and Ray. Their 50+ page (or near - I'm recalling off the top of my head)

Another interesting psychological exploration by Rush... however the plot really gets in the way, at times. There is a 300 page digression of questionable value and relevance. My impression of this section is that it was included to position the book to be made into a movie. It is possible I didn't appreciate this part of the book b/c I skimmed it so fast-- but it was very hard to get interested in it given the other things happening. The portrayal of the breakdown of the marriage is compelling

My daughter-in-law turned me on to this book; she thought I would enjoy it because it was set in Botswana. That was definitely part of my enjoyment. It took me back to my childhood, when Botswana was Bechuanaland. But it was Norman Rush's seductive writing that captured and entranced me. How does he do it, I kept asking myself, how is he able to just keep going inside a character's head, off on tangents not related to plot or to moving the story forward, making a point over and over again in

Norman Rush is irrevocably added to my personal list of all-time great writers. For those who enjoy long, wandering pieces of dialog and introspection, I think Rush will endear himself to you permanently as well. The wonderful thing is, though his protagonists are wordy in their mental peregrinations, the plots of both of his novels (Mortals and Mating) kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end, at which point they both made me cry. Rush's genius, I think, is that he is concerned with

The story was good but way too long. The characters might have been engaging if it weren't for my boredom with the length of every description, which had too much interior dialogue and not enough about surroundings, reactions of others, etc. If the author's goal was to show how the protagonist was too wrapped up in himself, he nailed it. I did not like this book well enough to recommend it to anyone else.