Last Tango in Brooklyn by Kirk Douglas

Description

Bibliographic Details

• Author: Kirk Douglas
• Title: Last Tango In Brooklyn
• Publisher: ‎ Warner Books
• Publication Date: July 1, 1994
• Language: ‎ English
• Format: Hardcover – 340 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎ 0446516953
• ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0446516952
• Item Weight: ‎ 1.25 pounds
• Dimensions: ‎ 6.0 x 1.1 x 9.38 inches
• Book Condition: Used – Very Good (minor stampings inside front cover)
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Synopsis:

In this, his most satisfying novel so far, Kirk Douglas exhibits the brilliant versatility that he has showcased so vividly in his many decades as an actor. Here he tells the story of two ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances – circumstances that wait right around the corner for each one of us.

Ellen, a small-town girl from upstate New York, is trying to make it as a modern woman in the big city. She is doing well in her career as the librarian of a large Brooklyn hospital, but her personal life is a mess.

Her boyfriend, Richard, a world-renowned heart transplant specialist, is unfaithful.

Her roommate has moved out leaving her with a mountain of unpaid bills. She is broke. Then she meets Ben at a screening of Last Tango in Paris. Ben, a fitness instructor, is twice her age, but he is a vigorous man able to challenge and out-perform men young enough to be his sons.

A recent widower, Ben is frantically scrambling to find a temporary place to live, because his house in Flatbush has sold much faster than he expected. Ellen rents Ben a room, but what begins as friendly business relationship slowly turns into something more.

Ben feels a surge of vitality in which passion knows no age and no limits. Ellen, full of life spirit, and mischief, seems his perfect match. Yet Ellen and Ben's startling and consuming affair faces a gulf even wider than the gap that separates May and December.

Ellen's best friend is appalled, Ben's daughter, a psychologist, condemns their relationship as a Freudian nightmare. A terrible accident and then a mysterious death – which could be murder – threaten to doom their love.

Soon, life's expectations shatter on the rocks of the unexpected.

Roles change in astonishing ways. Yet, ultimately, Ellen and Ben's love will prove stronger than reason – in a powerful finale than will haunt the reader long after he or she has closed the book.

About the Author:

Kirk Douglas was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war films.

During his career, he appeared in more than 90 films and was known for his explosive acting style. He was named by the American Film Institute the 17th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema.

As an actor and philanthropist, Douglas received an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

As an author, he wrote ten novels and memoirs. After barely surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and then suffering a stroke in 1996, he focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life.

He lived with his second wife, producer Anne Buydens, until his death in 2020. A centenarian, Douglas was one of the last surviving stars of the film industry's Golden Age.