The Confessions of Edward Day

The Confessions of Edward Day has ratings and reviews. Deborah said: When “The Confessions of Edward Day” first came out, a very famous novelist.
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Oct 03, Jocelyn rated it liked it. A good beginning, terribly disappointing ending. Valerie Martin is old enough to know firsthand about these anachronisms. Oct 01, Kasa Cotugno rated it really liked it. Early in this fictional memoir a young aspiring actor is saved from drowning by another who closely resembles him, setting in motion a life long complicated relationship.

The "memoir" develops as their lives diverge and they meet with differing successes in love as well as on the stage. It is constructed like a play, with 3 act Early in this fictional memoir a young aspiring actor is saved from drowning by another who closely resembles him, setting in motion a life long complicated relationship. It is constructed like a play, with 3 acts and an important coda, and is as much a character study of four representatives of type as a depiction of theater life.

Nov 03, Teresa rated it really liked it. Valerie Martin is a wonderful writer. Her novels are all different from each other; she never repeats herself.


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What does get repeated is her ability to create a very flawed narrator who sucks you into his life -- which can feel quite chillingly uncomfortable -- and this novel is no exception. She can also be wickedly funny at times and that's the case in this novel too. Near the end of the book, the 'voice' felt a bit like a Paul Auster narrator to me, perhaps because of a sort of doubling them Valerie Martin is a wonderful writer.

Near the end of the book, the 'voice' felt a bit like a Paul Auster narrator to me, perhaps because of a sort of doubling theme that exists in the novel. Jul 16, Lisa-susan added it. I loved this book. I found it compelling and odd. Edward Day is an actor, whose life is saved by another actor who strongly resembles Edward Day.

The Confessions of Edward Day by Valerie Martin| Book Interview | Books | The Guardian

The two men share love and career interests and their careers and love love-lives are negatives of each other. The book is a bit of a psychological thriller. I was never quite sure about what was real as I read the book and what I was supposed to have been believing. Jan 22, Eric rated it liked it. The acting life in free-swinging, mid's NYC might seem to be rife. The self-obsessed narrator sure thinks so. The ending -- "you changed my life" -- is just too, too much.

The Confessions of Edward Day by Valerie Martin: review

I suppose that's the point. Dec 14, dead letter office rated it really liked it. Some guy rescues the drowning Edward off the midnight coast of Jersey, and the two of them wind up tangled up in a lifetime's worth of debt and resentment and jealousy and blue. Madeleine is the object of everyone's affections and either an aggravating cause of Edward's antipathy toward Guy the lifeguard, or Edward's chosen weapon in their lifelong battle. Actors are awful people.

But then, so are mathematicians. Sep 13, Krysia rated it did not like it Shelves: Having really liked Martin's Property imho rivalled Kate Chopin , I was very disappointed in this novel. I expected more; this is a beach read filled with anachronisms. Aug 01, Henrik Ofen rated it really liked it. I really enjoyed this. The ending was surprising and vaguely reminiscent of her earlier works, especially in the narrative tone.

Valerie Martin reads Confessions of Edward Day

I would recommend it for anyone to enjoys Woolf. Jul 08, Kim Whitley-Gaynor rated it it was amazing. Gobbled it up in 2 days. I didn't think I would, honestly -- the story didn't seem like something I would like.


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But it surprised me. I love when a book does that, don't you? Aug 13, Jim Leckband rated it it was amazing. I couldn't put it down, but I didn't want it to end. The prose was light but perfect and Martin expertly followed Elmore Leonard 's dictum "Don't write the stuff readers skip. Edward Day and Guy Margate as doppelgangers, almost alike but not quite and intertwined like Night and Day, like Sea and Sky , Madeleine as the Tennessee Williams-like frail dram "The Confessions of Edward Day" surpassed every criteria that I ostensibly have for a five star book. Edward Day and Guy Margate as doppelgangers, almost alike but not quite and intertwined like Night and Day, like Sea and Sky , Madeleine as the Tennessee Williams-like frail drama queen, and Marlene as the knowing Svengali.

And then there is the plot, subtexts and narrative structure. This is where this book becomes "litrachur". The actor Edward Day is the unreliable narrator par excellence. As he states in the text, actor's memoirs are not known for their factual integrity or their humility. Everything should be read with this in mind, this is a survivor's tale and there is no outside confirmation of what he writes.

I won't give out the plot, but I'll give an idea of what this book is about. A group of actors meet on a New Jersey beach house in , something happens that affects three of the characters Edward, Madeleine and Guy for the rest of their lives. The actors advance in their careers or don't advance and we learn much about how actors use themselves in the characters they create. Identity is a huge concern in this novel, maybe the prime concern.

We are in Vladimir Nabokov 's Terratory now. In fact, Martin begins the book with a very Nabokovian rip on Freud - I am positive this is a nod to Nabokov's obsession with dissing Freud. While not absolutely necessary, it can greatly add to the reading of the novel if you are familiar with the plays I've listed below. These plays are being produced in the text and the themes of the plays directly reflect what is going on in the novel. In fact, a weird serendipity occurred that as I was reading Sweet Bird of Youth a couple of weeks ago, my wife was independently reading this book. She was bowled over by "The Confessions of Edward Day" she ended up reading it again and is now going to read all of Martin's novels and handed it to me, not knowing I had just read the Williams play.

What a surprise when I discovered Sweet Bird of Youth was prominent in this book, because it is not at all an iconic Williams play. It is like Marlene and her tarot cards were playing with us! And knowing that play very much informed my reading of this book. Sources intertwined in this book: Jul 29, Amanda Morgan rated it it was amazing. Set largely in the s New York City theatre scene, where working actors struggled to make a living, struggled to figure out their characters and struggled to have personal lives, Edward Day recalls these days when he was in his I loved this book.

Set largely in the s New York City theatre scene, where working actors struggled to make a living, struggled to figure out their characters and struggled to have personal lives, Edward Day recalls these days when he was in his early 20s as he is present-day looking back on that time. Edward found his calling in college when he decided to major in acting. His friends were also actors who liked to hang out with each other and discuss the current plays and roles available at the time. Immediately after their initial coupling, Edward decided to take a walk along the pier.

While leaning on the railing, debating his future and remembering his recent past, he accidentally fell over the railing into the ocean. Caught in the current, Edward began screaming for help. Luckily, a passerby was able to jump in and save him. When Edward came to on the beach, he realized the man who saved him looked quite familiar. In fact, he rather looked like a version of himself. Edward realized the man was named Guy Margate, another actor whom does look remarkably like Edward. The competition at time fuels Edward, at times emotionally defeats him.

Guy never allows Edward to forget the debt which he is owed, and often uses it to get one up on Edward. After the weekend in New Jersey, Edward and Madeleine become a couple. Success and hardship follow each of the three in different manners. The story is consuming and does not disappoint.

Extremely well-written with the ability to draw the reader in and evoke emotion, this is one of my new favorites and I will definitely be looking into other books by this author. Oct 03, Sharon Pisacreta rated it liked it. And what a fascinating — and quirky — group of characters it showcases. First and most important is the narrator of the piece, Edward Day. Day is an ambitious actor who may not always be likable, yet remains sympathetic as we follow him from struggling acting student days to successful Broadway debut.

Along the way we meet a colorful and interesting coterie of fellow professionals. Most intriguing is Guy Margate, a fellow actor and rival. When Edward is saved from drowning early in the story by Guy, it is a mixed blessing. And their subsequent encounters are marked by such guilt, resentment, suspicion and jealousy that it can only end in violence. Since the story is narrated by Edward, you may find yourself wondering if he is simply viewing Guy so negatively because he resents having to be grateful to him for saving his life.

However there is a distinctly creepy, ominous quality to Guy that also brings to mind a figure straight out of Edgar Allen Poe. And the reader somehow knows this relationship cannot end well. Set primarily in the s, The Confessions of Edward Day is wonderfully evocative of that decade; especially for the exciting period it was for many in the theater world in New York City. Yet as self-absorbed as the actors often appear, the portrait is not unkind. Jul 25, Alison rated it really liked it.

This fictional memoir surprised and amazed me. This was a time when actors were clammoring to get in class with Sandy Meisner, Stella Adler, and Uta Hagen, and sat over drinks discussing nothing but their methods, their motivations and their roles. Edward Day takes us on his journey to find truth in his life, and, thus, truth in his acting. Actors are a strange breed, and Valerie Martin gave us This fictional memoir surprised and amazed me. Actors are a strange breed, and Valerie Martin gave us as accurate a portrait as one could hope without spilling over into stereotypes or hyperbole.

I spent a wee bit of time in New York studying acting, and I used to talk with my fellow actors, all of us in awe over New York in the s. Valerie Martin transports us to that time effortlessly. Edward Day is on a quest in search of truth in his acting, which,, according to Stella Adler, he should find in the truth of his life.

Every conversation, every gesture, every laugh, and every emotion he has in life, he dissects and files away for use in his work. If that is how he lives his life, how can that be truthful? But this is the life of an actor, narcisistic to the core. Even if you aren't an actor, or don't watch Inside the Actor's Studio, it's fascinating to follow Edward Day from his growing career to his love affairs, with Guy Margate lurking in the wings of both. At what point is that debt repaid? Beyond the actor's story, this novel is downright dark and creepy, and I loved every minute of it.

Dec 28, Marguerite Kaye rated it really liked it. What is real and what isn't? What is personality and what is persona? When are we acting and when are we simply being? Is all the world really a stage? These are just some of the questions this book raises. At the centre of the story is purportedly a love triangle between a man, his lover, the man who saved his life, and who becomes her husband I know, it does sound a bit like a Peter Greenaway film. They are all actors, the female successful, but the careers of the two male protagonists are What is real and what isn't?

The novel neatly dramatises her contradictions, making her at once sympathetic and repulsive: Writing the novel, Martin says, made her aware of just how central ownership and obligation are to all human life. Everything comes down to property.

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When I was working on the novel and thinking about slavery, I would notice how I would be sitting in a restaurant and the service would be a little slow, and I'd think, 'Can I get some service here? Martin's new novel revisits these themes, albeit more obliquely. Edward Day, an aspiring actor, is holidaying at a friend's summer house when he falls from a derelict pier into a stormy sea. He is a weak swimmer and is on the point of drowning when Guy Margate, another guest at the house whom Edward hasn't met yet, miraculously comes to his rescue.

Guy happens to look a lot like Edward and is also an aspiring actor; Edward takes an immediate dislike to him, especially when it becomes clear that they are after the same girl. The novel proceeds to tell the story of the two men's relationship over the next decade, showing how the event that brought them together — Guy pulling Edward out of the sea — locks them into a poisonous, unwanted intimacy. Guy starts making small demands of Edward — to lend him money, to do him favours — and it becomes clear that he considers Edward to be in his debt. But what, precisely, is the nature of Edward's obligation to Guy?

If you save someone's life, what repayment are you entitled to extract from them? Questions such as these — to do with the way tacit power structures bear on human relations — have long fascinated Martin and in The Confessions of Edward Day she brings them ingeniously to life. Martin has lived most of her adult life in New England and currently spends part of her time teaching creative writing at a college in Massachusetts. Where the book scores is in its stylish, intelligent, unruffled prose. Also in Vintage Contemporaries.

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