Resumo de Seven Types Of Ambiguity

This is a very interesting novel, in both its subject matter and its architecture. Its subject matter concerns the impact of the abduction of a young boy, Sam. The abductor, Simon, is a former boyfriend from ten years earlier of the boy?s mother, Anna. Perlman plays on the ambiguity of what might seem a fairly clear-cut moral judgment for the reader by first painting a portrait of Simon as an essentially good man on the margins of an unforgiving society prior to the crime, whose motivation in taking Sam is perhaps the boy?s best interest. The ripples of the crime are then felt: on Simon, on Sam, on Anna, on Anna?s husband, on Simon?s friend and Simon?s psychiatrist, and the ambiguity is built as everyone is not all that they at first seemed. Perlman?s perspective on the harshness of modern society, with its commercial and monetary obsessions, is clear if hardly surprising. The book is set in Australia at a time of governmental embracing of downsizing and economic rationalism, and the ever-present impact of that on people?s lives is felt throughout. For Melbourne readers, there is some nice scene-spotting to be done, but the emotional themes explored are universal.Where the book is exceptional is in its architecture. It is structured in seven parts, each told from a different narrative perspective. Although that is not new, the complexity of a seven-part structure is ambitious and Elliot Perlman pulls it off. Unlike John Fowles? The Collector which relates the same story from two perspectives, Seven Types of Ambiguity overlaps for part and operates as a continuing narrative as well. It is no small feat that the book conveys to the reader a comprehensible story while not getting lost in the demands of the structure. While his male voices and characterisation are stronger than the female, the subtleties of the inter-weaving achieved overall are considerable.If the book has a shortcoming it is a small one, in the referencing of literary theory ? as in the title ? poets, psychology and pop culture. At times it almost seems as though the author is in an undergraduate tutorial showing-off what he has read. It is a long novel, 606 pages, and flags a little in the final quarter, but well worth picking-up and well worth finishing.

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