Sinossi
Quando nei pressi del Tamigi viene ritrovato il corpo senza vita della giovane Zalie, il suo vicino di casa, Michael Wolphram, ex professore di lettere di un prestigioso college maschile, è il candidato ideale al ruolo di mostro: abiti impeccabili ed eloquio raffinato, solitario ed eccentrico, viene subito preso di mira dai media e dato in pasto alle folle dell’Inghilterra in piena Brexit, dove cultura ed eleganza sono viste con sospetto. Sul caso indagano due poliziotti locali, Gary e Alexander. Sono diversi in tutto: temperamento, stile, età, classe sociale. Nelle indagini Gary non si fa scrupolo di svelare le sue teorie e con i sospettati preferisce i modi spicci e brutali. Alexander, detto il Prof, è taciturno e riflessivo, perennemente immerso nei ricordi di un’adolescenza trascorsa dietro le mura del college. Erano gli anni Ottanta, e sotto una patina di spensierato edonismo si nascondevano abissi di violenza e perversione. Alexander ricorda uomini pronti a sfogare sugli alunni le proprie frustrazioni, ricorda una società chiusa fondata sui soprusi, ricorda Wolphram dietro la cattedra, la sua autorevolezza inflessibile ma giusta. E ora eccolo lì, dall’altra parte del tavolo, sotto le luci spietate della stanza degli interrogatori, in balia di un sistema di informazione che privilegia lo scandalo facile rispetto alla ricerca della verità. Un romanzo incalzante che è allo stesso tempo un ritratto preciso e disincantato della Gran Bretagna di oggi.
- ISBN: 8823525101
- Casa Editrice: Guanda
- Pagine: 336
- Data di uscita: 09-05-2019
Recensioni
This novel reminded me how inventive and accomplished Ali Smith's quartet of state of the nation novels are. Because Throw me to the Wolves too aspires to dramatise cutting social commentary. The prime targets for its ire are social media, the tabloid press and the old school network (and its sadist Leggi tutto
I saw Throw Me to the Wolves (2020) by Patrick McGuinness in my local library, was intrigued by the cover, and took it out on a whim. What a serendipitous decision that proved to be. I was beguiled from start to finish. Anyone familiar with the 2010 real life story of retired schoolteacher Christophe Leggi tutto
Is this the beginning of a beautiful relationship? This is, in my view, one of the great fictional police pairings and what I hope will be the start of an ongoing partnership created by author Patrick McGuinness. The framework of the story is based loosely on the Christopher Jefferies case of Decembe Leggi tutto
What glorious writing. I've never read Patrick McGuinness before (Thanks, Mary Lins .), but his writing is so exquisite, I wager he could write anything and it would be a joy to read. Here, he's used his skill to write a crime story, but my guess is the originality, music, humor, and literary muscle* Leggi tutto
It starts here: a murder of a young woman has been committed and in a rush to judgment, the police are ready to pin it on Michael Wolphram, a fastidious, refined and somewhat odd professor. Two detectives – Ander, his former boarding school student and his polar opposite Gary, a cynical working-clas Leggi tutto
I thought that Throw Me To The Wolves was outstandingly good. It’s ostensibly a crime novel, in that it is centred around two police officers investigating the murder of a teenage girl in a Kent town, but it is really a profound book about childhood, class, school, difference and the way people resp Leggi tutto
“Throw Me to the Wolves”, by Patrick McGuinness, came to me highly recommended by a dear friend who knows what I like; as usual, she was right! I was immediately submerged in this novel which is a psychological thriller, an astute social commentary, a fascinating character study, a murder mystery, a Leggi tutto
Drivel "A bit of an internet surfer, are we?" Asked Gary Mr. Wolphram doesn't hear the taunt, only the question it comes wrapped in. He thinks about it as if it were a genuine question, genuinely asked. Is he nonplussed by the surfing metaphor? Because he seems to consider it. Is this the first time Leggi tutto
This novel combines two genres — murder mystery and bad old school days — in what is not really a genre novel at all. I don’t have a penchant for either genre, at least in fiction, but McGuinness’s writing, his narrator’s voice and wisdom, and an ethical approach to bullying and social pressure, mad Leggi tutto
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