Head-Long

Rating:
Summary: A Comical/Historical/Esthetical/and Wholly Delightful Novel
Review: "Headlong" is a confession by the narrator of his failed plan to secure, identify, and present to the nation a long-lost painting by Pieter Breugel. Not entirely failed -- for a brief time at the end he does secure it -- but the rest of his plan comes to naught, as the reader knows it must, for Martin tells us in the prologue that he will come to look ridiculous. Martin's failure is the reader's fun, however. His descriptions of his country neighbor's seething mass of friendly dogs, the neighbor's forward wife, his own scurryings about the neighbor's house in an attempt to examine the painting are the top level of pleasure in this novel. The next level is more serious: a consideration of the circumstances of Breugel's life, his fears, the hidden meanings of his paintings. Frayne makes Martin's excursions into the bloody history of the Netherlands and the conditions of art production just as interesting as the adventures of his protagonist. "Headlong" is in places laugh-out-loud funny; it has tender moments of marital affection; it has intellectual detective work and art interpretation. It is my favorite novel of 1999.

Rating:
Summary: Intellectual Property
Review: "Headlong" is a very entertaining sort of novel that revolves around a wonderful plot device: a man finds, in his boorish neighbor's house, a neglected painting be believes may be a lost Bruegel. The rest of the novel revolves around his plot to confirm the painting's identity and to steal it from the undeserving neighbor. Frayn does a remarkably good job of showing how protagonist Clay, while neglecting his own philosophical scholarship, engages in his quest to confirm the painting's authenticity, and the history and art history are mixed in fast and furiously. The novel becomes one of those intellectual mysteries in which the clues are scholarly details, and this material is handled remarkably well, and I learned a great deal about Dutch political and aesthetic history. This aspect of the story, however, is hung on a less effectively executed plot to free the painting from its undeserving owner. If the book drags at times it is not because it gets bogged down in history, it is because it doesn't bog itself down sufficiently in the present. I would have liked to have seen the characters fleshed out a bit more, motives made clearer, and the emotional investments of the characters made more real. Ultimately, however, "Headlong" is an effective and engaging read.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining farce
Review: I was waffling on reading this one but a friend gave me the final nudge I needed and I'm awfully glad he did. This book moves from comic novel to theatrical farce so smoothly you can practically see it on stage as you read. Farce is ridiculously hard to do and Frayn is very, very good at it. In fact, his play "Noises Off" is a farce about a farce and is one of the funniest productions I've ever seen.

Philosopher turned amateur art-historian Martin Clay and his art historian wife Kate take an extended stay in the country, mostly for Martin to finish his book on "the impact of Nominalism on Netherlandish art of the 15th century." They happen upon their neighbors -- Tony Churt and his wife Laura, owners of a dilapidated manor (and wonderfully vivid supporting characters) --and get invited to dinner where they are asked to assess the value of several paintings in the family estate. Among these paintings, Martin believes, is a lost masterpiece by Flemish artist Peter Bruegel. He doesn't say a word to the Churts about this "discovery"; instead, he sets out to prove its authenticity and immediately begins plans on staging an elaborate art theft.

The progression of plot depends very heavily on art history but because its told through the spinning wheels of Martin's over-active mind, it's very entertaining stuff, and you don't feel as if you've walked into an art-history text book (well, okay, there are moments when you do, but I found it all rather interesting). Martin is beautifully comical in his earnestness and completely believable at that. Very British too, which adds to his appeal.

The story comes to a frenzied head near the end, as farces generally do, and goes out with a bang. Fun stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, if you are academically inclined
Review: Many reviewers have complained about the detail of the art history aspect of the novel. Some have even called it a flaw. I couldn't disagree more! It's the books greatest strength. The ability to reflect on what is only a mix of pigments on a canvas, and to extract intriguing insights into a long-gone century and culture is fascinating. To those familiar with the academic milieu, the iconography/iconology distinction and mutual distain is dead-on and hilarious. If you aren't interested in history and/or art, well, you might not find the book so thrilling.

The main plot is sitcomesque, to be sure (though it's not half as hokey as Ian McEwen's "Amsterdam"). Nonetheless, it is fun to watch the main character's mind at work - everybody thinks they're perfectly reasonable, now matter how flawed they are. If you enjoy that aspect of the novel, consider reading Tim Park's "Juggling the Stars" and its sequel, "Mimi's Ghost". The "protagonist" in those darkly comic books descends into multiple murder, all the while maintaining an entirely reasonable attitude (in his eyes).

Rating:
Summary: Obsession, or a Moral Tragicomedy in Intellectual Apparel
Review: This is the first book by Michael Frayen I've ever read and I'm really impressed. The novel is a page-turner: the comical part of the plot is rather unobtrusive, it includes genuine pearls of humorous characteristics and funny remarks; the part depicting life and time of the great Flemish artist Peter Bruegel is excellent, it is cognitive and incentive, one will feel necessity to dive into bizarre world of painter's fantasies by visiting libraries or appropriate sites on the Net. The author invites you to solve the mystery of Bruegel's art and simultaneously entertines with masterly depiction of unfortunate attempts of Martin Clay, a hero of the novel, to obtain lost masterpiece.

But under the layers of comical effects one can discern elements of tragical events in some keeping with bloody history of the Netherlands under Spanish rule in the 16th century. Martin, a modern person who has everything he really needs - a loving young wife, wonderful daughter, decent work and income, by accident comes across a lost Bruegel's (probably) canvas in the home of his country neighbor who is unaware of his fortune and wants to sell it. Martin commences his efforts to acquire the picture with a proper desire to give it to the National Gallery in London and receive universal kudos for its discovery. But little by little the craving for its possession takes him all, he lies, cheats, commits illegal actions. Next comes possibility of adultery and even leaving his wife and daughter as a price for the canvas. Martin can not resist his monomania anymore, he is ready to justify all his unbecoming deeds. Even in the last ordeal by fire, when he has to choose between rescue of Laura, his neighbor's wife, and the longed-for canvas, he picks the latter at first and only Laura's desperate scream helps him to make right choice.

The last pages of the novel are rather sad...the life of the hero is normalizing again (or at least he thinks so). The book is Martin's confession, his endeavor to alleviate pain caused by his rash actions, to understand what has happened with him... And why...

Rating:
Summary: SLY MIX OF ART, GENIAL APLOMB AND LATE-NIGHT CHASES..
Review: This is the first time I've read Frayn, but his high-tea civilised comic intelligence is reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse. The wit that encases Headlong is not in the laugh-out-loud, satirically savage league of Sedaris or Rakoff, but it manages to hold its own in the bittersweet and ironic department.

Plotwise, there isn't exactly too much adipose. Our urban protagonist, a philosophy lecturer with an interest in art history, camps up in his country cottage to cope with a writer's block, meets a rich but rural landowner and his younger wife (bundles of urban-rural barbs), finds at their house what we are led to believe is a collector's item unbeknownst to the landowner, and sets out on a frantic process of discovery to authenticate this potentially pricey work of art and steal it from his host. Troubles ensue. The wife of the landowner is enlisted as an accomplice in the grand heist plan. Oodles of action, clinched by a chase sequence at the end.

While not something I'd read again (I am told Frayn's "Sweet Dreams" is better) Headlong is certainly a pleasant book that chugs along with a genial step. Very decent light-reading material to accompany you on a lazy Sunday afternoon.