Skios
2012 comic novel by Michael Frayn
Skios is a 2012 comic novel by Michael Frayn. The novel was published in May 2012 by Faber & Faber in the UK and by Metropolitan Books the following month in the US. It centres on a group of individuals on the fictional Greek island of Skios.
01Synopsis
When it's announced that the keynote address of an influential foundation will be given by Dr. Norman Wilfred, everyone expects him to live up to his reputation as being an intimidating man with a dry personality. Much to everyone's surprise, Wilfred is not only charming but is also young and handsome, much to the delight of foundation organizer Nikki. However at the other end of the island Nikki's friend Georgie is trapped with a rather unpleasant individual... who also goes by the name of Dr. Norman Wilfred and has lost everything he owns other than a lecture on his speciality, scientometrics.
02Reception
Critical reception for Skios has been mixed, with a reviewer for the Guardian criticizing the characters as "bland" and "by-the-numbers". Common criticisms of the book included negative comparisons to Frayn's earlier works and skepticism over the idea of mistaken identity "in the age of Google images". Praise for Skios centered on the book's usage of the "niceties of class" and lightheartedness.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Skios”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Skios.jpg by Unknown author, Fair use
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