Seven Types of Ambiguity (novel)

Seven Types of Ambiguity

Author	Elliot Perlman
Country	Australia
Language	English
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Picador
Publication date	2003
Media type	Print Paperback
Pages	607 pp
ISBN	0330364235 (first edition, paperback)
Preceded by	Three Dollars
Followed by	The Street Sweeper

Seven Types of Ambiguity is a 2003 novel by Australian writer Elliot Perlman.

Plot summary

The novel is narrated by seven different characters whose lives intersect in various ways. The first of these, Alex Klima, is a Czech psychiatrist who has been hired to treat Simon for his depression. Simon is obsessed with his ex-lover Anna, and it is this obsession that leads him on a downward path.

Awards

• 2004 shortlisted Commonwealth Writers Prize — South East Asia and South Pacific Region — Best Book
• 2004 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
• 2004 shortlisted Queensland Premier's Literary Awards — Best Fiction Book

Notes

• Dedication: for Debbie
• Epigraph:

God has pity on kindergarten children.
He has less pity on school children.
And on grownups he has no pity at all,
he leaves them alone,
and sometimes they must crawl on all fours...
(Yehuda Amichai)

Reviews

• The Guardian^[1]
• The New York Times^[2]
• The Sydney Morning Herald^[3]

References

1. The Guardian, Review by Kate Kellaway
2. The New York Times, Review by Daphne Merkin
3. The Sydney Morning Herald, Review by Andrew Reimer