An Absolute Gentleman: A Novel - Softcover

Kinder, R. M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1582433887 ISBN 13: 9781582433882

Publisher: Counterpoint, 2007

Synopsis

An intriguing debut novel based on the author's own relationship with a convicted murderer chronicles the life and times of Arthur Blume, a charming, small-town college English professor and sometime murderer, as he sets out to inscribe his memoirs and to reveal the monster that lurks beneath the pleasant façade of normality. Original.

About this title

About the Author:

Rose Marie Kinder, who writes under the pen name R.M. Kinder, won the 2005 University of Michigan prize for A Near-Perfect Gift, a collection of short stories. Another collection, Sweet Angel Band, was awarded the Willa Cather Award in 1991. R.M. Kinder's prose has also appeared in Other Voices, Short Story, and the New York Times. The author holds an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. She currently resides in Warrensburg, Missouri.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Inspired by her own brush with a serial killer, Kinder has created a fictional representation that is chilling in its normalcy, haunting in its intensity, and stunning in its portrayal of sheer, sadistic madness. Taciturn English professor Arthur Blume launches his narrative by boldly stating that he is believed to have murdered as many as 17 women. Yet what most outrages him, now that he has been incarcerated, is that journalists are depicting him as a monster. He pens a memoir to correct this impression. In it, he describes in lavish detail the outfitting of his newly rented rooms in the small university town of Mason, Missouri; demurs over particulars of his illicit love affair with a fellow professor; and shares self-deprecating anecdotes about his gallant championing of a maligned colleague. Tucked among these decorous tidbits, however, are tantalizing clues to the demon within, one Kinder allows to emerge as stealthily as a cobra sliding from its bamboo basket. The addition of a self-explanatory epilogue regarding her personal experience detracts only slightly from Kinder's otherwise spellbinding debut novel, a pitch-perfect rendition of the cunning malevolence that can lie hidden beneath the guise of refined civility. Haggas, Carol

About this edition

• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1582433887
• ISBN 13: 9781582433882
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304