A Fine and Private Place

What defines life? Where is the line between alive and dead? What makes life worth living? Sound like an outline for a course in philosophy? But these questions are what drives this lyrical, quiet, and unassuming story of two ghosts, a raven, a man caught somewhere in-between the living and the dead, and a very traditional Jewish widow. The raven has an attitude, but insists on dragging sandwiches to Mr. Rebeck, a pharmacist... Read Full Review

Okay, that sounds a little corny, but it's probably what I will forever call last Tuesday when I went to the library to get a Beagle book or two. I'd read "The Last Unicorn," loved it, and had decided to see what else this man could do. I picked up "A Fine and Private Place," and another book by him, "Tasmin." I started AFAPP as soon as I got home, and finished it around 3:15 that morning. From the first sentence, I was hooked... Read Full Review

Although undoubtedly most well-known for his novel "The Last Unicorn," Peter S. Beagle's "A Fine and Private Place" has always been a personal favorite of mine. The title is taken from the Andrew Marvell poem, "To His Coy Mistress." The line is as follows: "The grave's a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace." The story Beagle tells in this novel is of two ghosts who in death find a richer love than... Read Full Review

What a romantic novel, and what imagination Peter S. Beagles's had! I wished I could be Michael Morgan when I first read this book - back in 1974! The characters were so well developed and real they were unreal, or were they so unreal that they seemed real? I lost count of the number of times I read it, and I still think about it often. I'm getting a new copy to replace my totally worn one so I can start over again.

I bought this book because I fell in love with Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" and was curious to see if he could hold my attention again. I was pleasently surprised. This is a thoughtful, satisfying book that is thoroughly convincing. The thing I love about Beagle is his ability to let the reader walk away having learned something about themselves but unable to pin-point exactly what. I believe that if I were to go back... Read Full Review