The Apprentice Lover

by Jay Parini

Book Overview

When Alex Massolini's brother is killed in Vietnam, he drops out of Columbia University and leaves his conservative family behind for Capri to become secretary to Rupert Grant, a famous British novelist and poet who dominates the island like a latter -- day Prospero. Alex soon finds himself ensnared in a web of love affairs, friendships, and rivalries within the eccentric community that inhabits the idyllic beauty of the isolated Italian island.

The...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060935561
• ISBN13: 9780060935566
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Sex, Death, Beauty, Time, Awareness

The Apprentice Lover is a very good read. Following the death of his brother, in 1970, in Vietnam, Columbia senior Alex Massolini drops out of school and, attempting "to cut loose from the overfilled barge of [his] youth," decamps Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and the family construction company that awaits him there, for the Isle of Capri. He lands a job as secretary, mentee, and surrogate son to Rupert Grant, a Scottish literary giant forty years his senior. Besides Alex, Grant is attended to by his wife Vera and, more curiously, two young live-in female "research assistants" with whom Grant regularly naps. In Victorian style, one of the assistants is dark, Italian, and physical, and the other is fair, English, and cerebral. Re-reading his dead brother's letters and the poetry of Rilke, Alex seeks to come to terms with the world he has abandoned, tries to make sense of the social relationships he encounters on Capri, and -- spurred on by literary example -- endeavors to make contact, both physical and emotional, with his true beloved. Henry James is the most recent American author that the fictional Grant appreciates. Interestingly, The Apprentice Lover has a Jamesian feel (though mercifully none of the Master's phraseology). Like a character in James, Alex struggles to adapt to very different sensibilities in a setting laden with a rich and perhaps parallel history (the first-century emperor Tiberius, who may or may not have been a pederast, made Capri his home away from Rome), to understand the highly obscure motives and indirect words of his hosts, and to make the fitful passage to adulthood. Many of the great themes of literature -- sex, death, art, truth, human connection -- swirl in this mix. To add to the enjoyment and perhaps to leaven the mystery, Graham Greene, Gore Vidal, W.H. Auden, and a Mario Puzo knock-off even come to dinner. Only a plot-driven reader could fail to appreciate this novel written in the form of a memoir. Parini, whose output as a novelist, poet, biographer, and critic is as broad as his range, is a very good writer. His characterizations, dialogue, descriptions, and inner voice are equally satisfying. By the end of the novel I cared enough about every character in it that, applying Greene's own standard of quality, I would love to be able to invite them all -- Greene included -- to lunch. Robert E. Olsen

"Love the questions themselves that lie inside you."

Do not be misled by the "moony" cover art, the title, or the fact that this is sometimes described as a coming-of-age novel--it is not romantic, whimsical, or lightweight. Instead, it is a meticulously crafted, mature novel which illuminates the major themes and issues which thoughtful men and women confront throughout their lives. Elegantly written and emotionally involving, it is one of the best--and most unsettling--novels I've read in a long time. Alex Massolini, aged 22, is a budding poet and student of classics in 1970, when he drops out of Columbia because he no longer "cared a feather about the fate of Rome or its [Gallic wars]...My only brother, Nicky, had been killed in Vietnam." Taking a job as a secretary to Rupert Grant, a well-known Scottish writer living on Capri, Alex faces his own, more subtle wars as he tries to discover who he is and what he believes, while living in Grant's turbulent household and observing his decadent lifestyle. Grant is manipulative, vindictive, and ego-driven, often abusive to his wife and two young female assistants. As his resentment of Grant grows, Alex finds himself in a quandary, since he admires Grant's writing, loves meeting his friends--W.H.Auden, Graham Greene, and Gore Vidal, among others--and hopes Grant will become a mentor for him in his own writing. Themes of love and loss, good and evil, free will and obligation, and war and its aftermath pervade the novel as Alex tries to understand himself, the creative life, and the sacrifices artists make for it. Issues of sexuality, religion, politics, philosophy, and even economics come into play for Alex, and Parini widens the perspective and gives universality to these themes and issues by juxtaposing, throughout, the letters which Alex's estranged brother Nicky has sent him from Vietnam. This is a beautifully realized, patiently designed, and maturely confident novel, by an author who himself illustrates a quotation by Rilke in the book: "Being an artist means, not reckoning and counting, but ripening like the tree that does not force its sap but stands confident in the storms of spring without fear that after them may come no summer." For this author, summer has arrived. Mary Whipple

Eloquent and Exotic

This book is a must read for anyone who ever considered writing the great novel. The characters in this story are multi-dimentional people who will inhabit your thoughts whether the book is in hand or not.Reminding me slightly of books that tackle the idea of eutopian societies, this takes place on the exotic Isle of Capri. It is, in short, the story of a budding writer who leaves behind his unfinished ivy league education for a Summer working as one of the great Rupert Grant's apprentices. An eccentric and impetuous being, Grant has quite an influence on all who are under his wing. His pompous behavior and eccentric manner make it obvious that his writing is his greatest attribute. Primarily I interpreted this as a coming of age story. For me, it was the story of Alex Mussolini, a young man utterly at odds with his upbringing, harbouring mixed emotions about the untimely death of his brother during Vietnam, and the insatiable desire to become a writer. Alex faces many challenges while on the Isle of Capri, all of which will captivate the reader as would the greatest mystery. But this book is a mystery of the soul. For who is anyone, aside from how others see them? For me, at the crux of this novel is the question of identity. But there is so much more. I will undoubtedly read this story again -- I hope, while visiting Capri someday. There is so much to this book, I cannot recommend it highly enough. And I will seek more by Jay Parini as his writing is truly incredible.

A fine and a fun book

This novel is extremely well made and fun to read. The settingis beautiful and exotic (to me, at least), the characters arevery finely drawn and memorable, the plot keeps you guessing.The famous literary figures and their foibles and highlyinteresting comments on writing are alone worth the price ofadmission. The dialogue, as in the party scenes, is wonderful -- accents are perfect, characters are immediatelyrecognizable, pacing is exciting, humor is in full floweryet it comes with real insights into the lives of thecharacters and their worlds. In sum, I loved it.

A great work -- deserves broad recognition

Parini's newest novel tackles some familiar themes: The world of ideas, the practical paths of philosophy in life, the writer and his methods and personality. What shines here, though, is Parini's humor. And his care for detail. You can tell that he has written major biographies of two of the century's greatest writers -- Steinbeck and Frost. This book is just what the reading public needs right now. At turns surprising and beautiful, this book should stand out as one of the best of 2002.