The Confessions of Edward Day

by Valerie Martin

Book Overview

A brilliant new novel set in the bohemian, glamorous theater world of 1970s New York, by the Orange Prize-winning author of Property. - "One of the best novels I've ever read about the actor's psyche." --The New York Times Book Review

It's the 1970s in New York--rents are cheap, love is free, and with the explosion of theater venues off and off-off Broadway, aspiring actors will work for nothing in no clothes. Enter Edward...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307389200
• ISBN13: 9780307389206
• Release Date: July 2010
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable

This is a better than average novel with excellent characterizations and a notable avoidance of formulaic writing. As a result, there are many enjoyable twists and turns that contribute to a very high interest level. The context is one of a group of self-centered young actors sturggling for success and recognition--romance, rivalries and backbiting abound. Reminded me a bit of those hilarious and sad tales of academia in which the high maintenance protagonists become so involved with each other one never knows how it will all be resolved. Highly recommended.

Great great book!!

This is a wonderful tale. Having been a NY actor in the 70's , I can attest to the authenticity of Martin's impressive book! It's so well-written, so funny ,sad and charming. Totally recommended!!!

Standing Ovation

"The Confessions of Edward Day" is light on its feet, packed with the energy of a good thriller and pulls you in like a gripping Patricia Highsmith--almost as if Highsmith had found a slightly more literary voice. Even the New York setting evokes Highsmith's work and both Edward Day and his friend-nemesis Guy Margate display the determined, relentless drive of some of her darkest characters. Just when I thought "The Confessions of Edward Day" might morph into a soap opera (such as during the summer theatre scenes in Connecticut) a nifty surprise or two brought the plot roaring back. The ending, as neatly timed as "Noises Off," had the potential to turn trite--a gun backstage, "Uncle Vanya" on stage--but was buoyed by Martin's dazzling touch. When the denouement carries a sweet last morsel of suspense, you find yourself thinking of "Confessions of Edward Day" as the finest, most well-crafted book you've read in a long time and you ask yourself, "how did she do that?" All three characters in the love triangle are up-and-coming actors when we meet them and one of the strengths of "Confessions" is living inside the head of an actor who is learning his craft and also watching others learn theirs. Thinking about Guy's growth as an actor, Day thinks: "He could never see himself from himself. He created character from the outside looking in, he constructed a persona. Basically anyone can do it, politicians can do it nonstop. It's not, perhaps, a bad way to start. But Guy could never inhabit a character because he was himself so uninhabited. Nobody home, yet he wasn't without strong emotions. I didn't know that last part then." The writing is brisk, clever. This will be one of the fastest 286-page books you might ever read. You inhale in a few gulps and yet try to relish each breath. Samples: "Their applause sounded like dried peas rattling in a can." "He gave me another long, magnified look, opening and closing his prune lips a few times like a fish trying to catch a wafer of food in an aquarium." The relationship between Day and Margate is prickly, tense and full of foreboding. When Margate rescues Day from drowning in the ocean early on, we know the debt will play a significant role. And that's just it--the roles, the conflicts between inner dreams and what you let your friends and associates see--and what you don't let them see.

Who Do You Trust?

Valerie Martin has an unequaled ability to capture the essence of a character and build a page-turning story around it. I was sucked into Edward Day's life as if by an industrial vacuum cleaner, fascinated by his persona and the events that shaped it. As the story progresses, a peculiar tension builds around Edward Day. It is a struggle not between good and evil or anything nearly as mundane as good guys versus bad guys, but rather a growing realization that he may be the villain of his own memoir. I don't believe I have experienced a character such as that since reading Crime and Punishment. This book epitomizes the writer's dictum to "don't tell--show", which serves the theme perfectly. Edward tells his own story, commenting on the actions, appearances, and attitudes of every other character in the piece in ways that ultimately reveal more about him than about them. It's a powerful technique that Martin has clearly mastered. The business of acting in live theater makes a wonderful background for the story. Edward Day is a consummate actor, which also happens to make him the perfect protagonist for this excellent dark novel.

literary art

The requirements for a successful acting career include a sense of humor, an understanding of irony, some generosity of spirit, and some sensitivity to literature and literary methods. With these criteria in mind, it's not surprising that the previous reviewer is (a) a former actor, (b) pompously inarticulate, and (c) unable to appreciate this funny, intelligent, complex, artful, and thoroughly satisfying novel.