Any Human Heart

Mountstuart's sorry tale is also the story of a British way of life in inexorable decline, as his journey takes in the Bloomsbury set, the General Strike, the Spanish Civil War, 1930s Americans in Paris, wartime espionage, New York avant garde art, even the Baader-Meinhof gang--all with a stellar supporting cast. The most sustained and best moment comes mid-book, as Mountstuart gets caught up in one of Britain's murkier wartime secrets, in the company of the here truly despicable Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Elsewhere author William Boyd occasionally misplaces his tongue too obviously in his cheek--the Wall Street Crash is trailed with truly crashing inelegance--but overall Any Human Heart is a witty, inventive and ultimately moving novel. Boyd succeeds in conjuring not only a compelling 20th century but also, in the hapless Logan Mountstuart, an anti-hero who achieves something approaching passive greatness. --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.uk

Product Description
William Boyd’s masterful new novel tells, in a series of intimate journals, the story of Logan Mountstuart—writer, lover, art dealer, spy—as he makes his often precarious way through the twentieth century.

If you have the time and you are looking for a summer assignment, go to the book store and purchase William Boyd's library. Read them in any order you like. But if you are looking for one excellent example of this writer's genius, then Any Human Heart is a great place to start. I cannot recommend any book more highly.


culmination of boyd's awesome career   February 17, 2003
john (los angeles, ca)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

this novel is so brilliant, so swiftly paced and poetically composed, i can hardly do it justice. i have read (and taught in university courses) Boyd's books over and over again down the years (a fav is The New Confessions) and Any Human Heart rates right up there with the best work he's done. there's a real melancholia evident here--so those who are looking for the hilarity of such early works as A Good Man in Africa or On the Yankee Station are gonna be puzzled a tad. Logan Mountstuart is a great creation...so pleased, especially as i didn't like Armadillo and The Blue Afternoon--despite the fact that, with Ian McEwan, Wm Boyd is my favorite contemporary novelist. get this as soon as you can...


Simply Perfect   July 2, 2003
Mark Diamond (Sydney, NSW Australia)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Gee the reviewers of this book are sparing in their praise. "Quite affecting..." and "All is not wonderful..." What's a poor novelist got to do to please these guys? This book is flat out perfect. I got lost in the story almost from page one and by the time I reached the end I really KNEW Logan Mountstuart. I cried at the end because I didn't want him to leave. His story gave so much and had so much more to give. See! I'm doing it to myself again... What really comes through in this brilliant novel is the courage of the author to have Mountstuart make some dramatically bad life decisions, yet he is still guided by a strong sense of integrity and truth. It makes you want to follow those same guiding principles in your own life. Only the greatest books make you think about how you live your life. This is such a book.


Terrific   April 18, 2003
Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

In Any Human Heart, William Boyd manages to create a not entirely likeable character, Logan Mountstuart, who nonetheless is an entirely sympathetic protagonist. Logan is not the nicest person in the world. He manipulates friends for his own amusement, sleeps with one of his closests friend's fiance, and commits a number of other, minor atrocities. Yet for all Logan's badness, I missed him when I finished the novel and throughout, I found myself rooting for his finding some semblance of happiness. Logan is entirely human in the sense that his story indeed could be the story of any human heart--any British heart is probably more like it. He manages to come in contact with quite a few notables from the twentieth century and reinvents himself and his career many times over. Perhaps no one lives a life as rich as Logan, maybe so. But that still does not take away from the fact that Any Human Heart is a terrific novel, excellent storytelling. Enjoy.


A real treasure to read!   May 15, 2003
M. J Leonard (Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I loved this book! Any Human Heart is a real treasure to read, and totally ambitious in its scope. Following the trials and tribulations of Logan Mountstuart, it jumps through the twentieth century with lightening speed!

We are witness to Logan from his early childhood in Montevideo, son of an English corned beef executive and his Uraguayan secretary, through his years at a Norfolk public school and Oxford, Mountstuart traces his haphazard development as a writer. Early and easy success is succeeded by a long half-century of mediocrity, disappointments and setbacks, both personal and professional, leading him to multiple failed marriages, internment, alcoholism and abject poverty.

Yes - he isn't a particulary honorable character, but this is what makes Logan so appealing. He's a flawed human being, like the rest of us, and he makes his fair share of mistakes in life. I loved this incredible backdrop of twentieth century life that Boyd has constructed around this character, the personalities that he meets on the way - Virginia Woolf, Edward and Mrs Simpson. And I loved the fact that the story spans so many continents - Europe, America, Africa etc. A great novel, and I'm looking forward to picking up more of Boyd's works.

Michael