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The Heart of Henry Quantum af Pepper Harding
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The Heart of Henry Quantum (udgave 2016)

af Pepper Harding (Forfatter)

MedlemmerAnmeldelserPopularitetGennemsnitlig vurderingSamtaler
578453,320 (3.18)Ingen
Henry Quantum has several thoughts going through his head at any given time, so it's no surprise when he forgets something very important - specifically, a Christmas gift for his wife, which he realises on the morning of December 23. Henry sets off that day in search of the perfect present for her: a bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume. But much like Henry's ever-wandering mind, his quest takes him in different and unexpected directions, including running into the former love of his life, Daisy. His wife, meanwhile, unhappy in her marriage, is hiding a secret of her own. And Daisy, who has made the unsettling choice of leaving her husband to strike out on her own, finds herself questioning whether she and Henry belong together after all.… (mere)
Medlem:ennie
Titel:The Heart of Henry Quantum
Forfattere:Pepper Harding (Forfatter)
Info:Gallery Books (2016), 288 pages
Samlinger:Dit bibliotek
Vurdering:
Nøgleord:Ingen

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The Heart of Henry Quantum af Pepper Harding

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The Heart of Henry Quantum

Henry Quantum works in advertising in a nondescript office that looks into an apartment about be a strip joint. It’s December 23rd and he realizes he has yet to buy his wife a gift. Opting to buy her a bottle of Channel 5, he sets it as his goal for the day.
Henry has a mind that wanders more than Grandma Gatewood did and tends to miss a lot of stops along his way.
Reminding me of Ignatius J Reilly, he’s a man of his own mind. Analytical, subjective, goofy, and endearing.
His latest promotional campaign is for “Protox” .. a purported skin enhancer that, in truth, is no more than a laxative for which “The reason your skin glows is that you are totally dehydrated and feverish.”
The revelations he encounters as he tries to tout virtues are hilarious! His fear of becoming a sophist slave to the firm more so. I like Henry. We think so alike. (An ongoing train, dazzled with graffiti, with cars from every whichwhere.)
Henry happens onto Daisy, an affair he had some 5 years ago. She is not so freshly divorced, while he remained wed. He was on his way to get the Channel. She tells him she still desires him. He tells her he loves his wife, Margaret. She flees. He ponders.
The voice of Margaret follows as she heads out for a nooner with her lover. She no longer loves Henry and contemplates life with Peter, as the two unite for the day.
The voice of Daisy makes the next chapter glow. Vibrant, loving, needed. She survives the day, reminiscing and surrendering. She yearns as it rains.
Henry has not bought the perfume yet. There are too many distractions, mentally and physically, for him. We follow their leads. We all end up at the same place. ( )
  CherylGrimm | Aug 5, 2019 |
I am not sure what to say about this book. The other reviewers and ratings are all over the place and I understand why. This book takes place over one day, however a lot of the story is made up of remembrances so it seems like there was a lot of time and a lot more happening than there really was. The story is told by three narrators, Henry Quantum, his wife Margaret and his ex-lover Daisy. It is about relationships, life in general and making decisions. It was not very exciting and there were a few times I almost put it down. I enjoyed parts of the story, especially Daisy. She was really the only character I liked. I found Margaret selfish and self-centered and Henry was way too much of a pushover who got into the position he was in because he was afraid to let anyone down and make the decisions necessary. It was an okay read and the ending did bring everything together in a satisfactory way, which is the only reason I rated it 3 stars. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. ( )
  Carlathelibrarian | Feb 5, 2019 |
The Heart of Henry Quantum is a very interesting novel that will elicit extreme reactions from readers. Many quite understandable, some a bit less so. I found the book to be a compelling character study (not just of Henry) as well as a realistic study of the dynamics of relationships. These topics interest me and Harding delivers in these areas.

Henry is like the person you probably know who can't seem to take anything at face value, always questioning how or why something is. He is not so much bothered to the point of wanting to make the world different but more as a state of constant curiosity. These thoughts range from mundane to philosophic in nature with the result being that he misses much of the nuance that takes place around him because he lives more in his head than in the world.

He has life changing effects on people, both Margaret and Daisy in the context of this novel. His personality contributed to Margaret making the changes she made in her life during the time of their marriage. While the traits Margaret finds annoying moved her away from Henry those same traits were endearing to Daisy and moved her closer to him, at least in her heart.

The sections on Margaret and Daisy provide a wonderful understanding of the thinking behind how and why people make major decisions. This isn't to say it makes complete sense but I'm not sure all of our decisions are ever completely rational or well planned, they develop and seem at times to just happen, even though it takes an action to actually implement it.

The characters say and do some things the reader may find offensive if taken out of context, try to remember these comments are meant to portray who this character is and not as a social or political statement. This is fiction and making insensitive comments gives an idea how that person thinks and interacts with the world.

I would recommend this to readers who appreciate character-driven minimal action novels, particularly those readers who enjoy getting inside another person's mind even when that person doesn't do as you might think you would do. I do have to admit that I find it amazing the number of people who can't read a book with adultery in it because it makes them dislike the character and thus the novel, but they have no qualms (based on other book reviews) reading about murderers and their motivations in novel form. Do they like murderers more than adulterers? Do they consider murder a minor thing while adultery is major? Are they better able to relate to a murderer than an adulterer? Anyway...

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads. ( )
  pomo58 | Nov 10, 2017 |
Really had hopes for this one, but alas. Kirkus Reviews misled me. They said "In Harding's wry debut fiction...the San Francisco setting is perfectly mapped on the page Henry's a perfectly sketched character, his interior monologue...at times funny, at times profound." Only one statement was true. the San Francisco area is so mapped out that you can count the steps Henry walks downtown, and if you know the city, follow the journey exactly in your head, and maybe suggest alternatives. I almost gave the book up at page 103, but then saw there was a character POV shift in the next part, and was hopeful I'd get drawn into the story, but Henry and his women just didn't work for me. ( )
  bookczuk | Jan 25, 2017 |
Pepper Harding’s strange, funny, comic The Heart of Henry Quantum is a perfect little bon-bon to read. I lay down to read it before fixing dinner last night and read straight through to then end. My supper was a little late.

How many of us find our minds racing from topic to topic, a new stream of thought broken off by something we saw, a stream that wanders back toward the main river most of the time. Occasionally we note we have gone far afield in our thoughts and haul ourselves back. Sure, we can focus when we need to, but given a moment to wonder and wander, we do. That’s Henry, a wonderer, a daydreamer.

It’s December 23rd and Henry needs to get his wife a Christmas present, some Chanel Nº5 he thinks. We go with him throughout the day, but then we also follow his wife Margaret and his former lover, Daisy. Yes, during his walk to Macy’s to buy that perfume, he bumps into Daisy and those old emotions rise to the surface and are forced back down. We follow Margaret as she drives to meet her current lover and even allow Daisy after she leaves her encounter with Henry and goes home.

They take us back in time, to when they were in love, how love changed, how they have come to be where they are today. None of them are blameless, though since this is the story of Henry, we are going to probably prefer him to Margaret, but I think that is doing a disservice to her and to this book.

Margaret is cheating on Henry, that’s true. But then, he cheated on her. We might identify with him, thinking she is harsh, but if we really identify with him, we would remember that she was loving and there was something real and solid when they began and recognize that while she disappoints him, he disappoints her just as much. Margaret reflects what feminism can be. When she was young, she wanted her husband to be a go-getter, but thanks in part to his encouragement, she became what she wanted him to be. She did not have to live vicariously, she could do it for herself. I think that is powerful and I am glad for her. The author does have her shout one shockingly hard and cruel thing. I disliked that and felt it was actually out of character, except in the way she plays us being tough.

I loved this story. As I said, I read it in one cannot-put-in-down session. I liked all the characters, thinking they were a pretty normal mix of the selfish and the loving. Henry is a bit of a daydreamer, a kind man, but one that must get frustrating from time to time just because he is so agreeable. Margaret is strong now, strong in large part because Henry supported and encouraged her strength. She is also strong because he is not. Since she could not get that strength vicariously, she had to get it for herself. Daisy is even more a story of a woman who once accepted less for herself and then found that lacking and went out and changed her life, finding her own way.

Henry is interested in philosophy and science. Daisy is doing science research and so they both have interesting segues that take us all over from the metaverse to the inner eye. It’s a lovely journey

★★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/the-heart-of-henry-quantum... ( )
  Tonstant.Weader | Oct 31, 2016 |
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Henry Quantum has several thoughts going through his head at any given time, so it's no surprise when he forgets something very important - specifically, a Christmas gift for his wife, which he realises on the morning of December 23. Henry sets off that day in search of the perfect present for her: a bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume. But much like Henry's ever-wandering mind, his quest takes him in different and unexpected directions, including running into the former love of his life, Daisy. His wife, meanwhile, unhappy in her marriage, is hiding a secret of her own. And Daisy, who has made the unsettling choice of leaving her husband to strike out on her own, finds herself questioning whether she and Henry belong together after all.

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