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When he was very young, Simon Garfield lusted after rare stamps but could not afford them. When he was older, the passion reignited with almost ruinous results. The Error World is an examination of obsession and desire, and the search for fulfilment. But it is also a story of wooden legs, pornography in the Finchley Road, Pelé's World Cup shirt, the man who guards stamps for the Queen, and a woman who is terrified of the Post Office Tower.
评论 (4)
出版社周刊评论
"I have built up a stamp collection I can barely afford," Garfield confesses, "and it has brought me to the brink of ruin." Yet despite a significant amount of autobiographical candor, his story doesn't quite deliver the emotional wallop promised in those opening lines. His youthful enthusiasm for stamp collecting, as well as the rediscovery of that passion in his mid-40s, when he has the income to buy the stamps he always dreamed about owning as a boy, are richly detailed. The few passages depicting the personal consequences of that pursuit, however, are too detached. Several digressions into the history of stamps and stamp collecting slow the narrative, which picks up energy only when Garfield returns to his most intimate interest-his focus on collecting only rare stamps that contain printing errors, for example, or tracking down the young girl who won a design competition he entered as a young boy decades ago. Garfield hits upon some interesting psychological questions about the nature of collecting all sorts of material objects, but it often feels like he is writing around the heart of his story. (Jan. 20) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
Observer feature writer Garfield (Private Battles, 2006, etc.) examines his passion for stamp collecting. The veteran British author begins in late 2006, when he was on "the brink of ruin." He was in debt; his marriage had collapsed; he was involved in an affair with a woman from his past. And philately was the proximatethough not, he reveals later, the ultimatecause of all this. As Garfield slowly unspools the story of his rise and fall, he detours frequently to zoom in on areas of stamp collecting's increasingly unfamiliar map. (Today's young people don't seem interested in the hobby, he notes.) He sketches the history of the postage stamp, interviews a former U.K. Postmaster General, visits stamp dealers and authorities, attends auctions, glances at how various writers (e.g., Philip Roth, Louise Erdrich) have used philately in their fiction, notes that celebrities like John Lennon have been collectors and examines stamps-never-issued in the Royal Mail Archive. Garfield began collecting as a boy, he says, then gave it up as an adolescent and young man, but returned to it, with renewed vigor, in his 40s. He made substantial purchases (concealed from his wife) and became obsessed with "error stamps," those with printing or production mistakes that elevated their value, sometimes enormously. He eventually credits Freud for helping him understand that his collecting was a form of compensation for the untimely losses of his father to a heart attack, his mother to cancer and his brother to viral pneumonia. Garfield depicts his marital infidelity in the same, vaguely self-serving lightand, of course, the flaws on his beloved stamps are analogous to those in his character. He eventually sold his most valuable stamps and paid some debts. The author's enthusiasm does not prove contagious. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Few other endeavors, save perhaps litigation, find themselves so preoccupied with mistakes as the world of philately. Garfield admits to a burning obsession with the collecting of stamps contracted at a very young age. Attributing his passion in some measure to his upbringing, he recounts his family history: scion of a middle-class Jewish family in postwar London challenged by the early deaths of both parents. Garfield began his collection, as many youths do, with a simple album displaying stamps from each of the world's nations. His interest blossoming, he eventually graduated to pricey auctions and to the company of distinguished dealers. Garfield's hobby ultimately consumed him to the point where his wife sought divorce. Non-adepts in philately will learn much about defective perforations, missing colors, inferior printing, and all the various production blunders that make errors on stamps so intriguing and valuable to collectors.--Knoblauch, Mark Copyright 2008 Booklist
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Garfield (Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World) wittily recounts his boyhood obsession with stamp collecting. Like other collectors, he took it into adulthood and sought out the most valuable specimens. Later, he abandoned his passion, moving on to a more mature, collection-free phase of his life. A delight for philatelists everywhere.-L.M. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.