LETSBuzz Book Club 28th October 2001
Author was a Booker prize nominee. Book is about four people: a woman dying of cancer, her two sons and a Hungarian writer whose work is being translated by one of the sons. The writer never meets the other characters but their stories run in parallel. Very well-written with well-drawn characters. Covers the cancer issue very well, cool but not unsympathetic. Very fine descriptions of people's feelings. No proper ending but none the worse for that. Highly recommended.
Doreen
Terrible. So disappointing. Seems like a collection of short stories but described as a ’cumulative novel in 64 parts. Lots of interesting ideas but doesn't work. Not a bad book but not as good as expected from Jim Crace.
Doreen
Short stories. Doreen loved this book. Not deep and meaningful but very enjoyable. A very sensuous writer, particularly when writing about food. Read these one at a time as they were too rich to read all at once. Loved the 'lists' story which is made up entirely of lists.
Doreen
Very average. Nice story, moves along well, has a pleasant ending (unusual these days), but a lot missing with stereotypical characters. Gill had also read this and quite enjoyed it. About small town America, a familiar theme, why does this get written about so much?
Gavin
Terrible. Repetitive beyond belief. Takes a very interesting subject and makes it really boring. Not recommended.
Gavin
Not the sort of book Gavin would normally read as it's a bit of a romance. Very interesting on French politics and the Resistance. Good but not brilliant. Recommended.
Gavin
Author a professional tennis coach who then became a management consultant. At first glance book is about tennis but also applies to other areas of life. Suggests that people perform better when not under pressure and that it' ;s better to learn from observation rather than instructing yourself to act in a particular way. Coaching is about using observation and neutral feedback (rather than either criticism or praise) to improve performance.
David
Autobiography. About growing up in a backwater in Wales. Fairly traumatic childhood with grandparents continuously at war. Lorna gets pregnant and Gill found the book became less credible at this point. Hard to believe the circumstances. A good account of growing up in a small Welsh village in the 1950s. First two-thirds good, last third less so.
Gill
Chose this book because I was interested in the idea suggested in some reviews that Fay Weldon had written it after her husband had gone into therapy and then left her. This is the basic plot of the book. Dreadful. Almost entirely dialogue. Characters and dialogue both unconvincing. Don' ;t think I will bother with any more Fay Weldon.
Jean
Very entertaining account of life in the restaurant business. Some horrendous stories of sex and violence but also interesting to finally understand how restaurants manage to put together so many different meals in such a short time. Enjoyable reading apart from the last few chapters where the author becomes a bit arrogant.
Jean
Reviews made much of the fact that Hornby writes in the first person as a woman but I didn't find this significant. A strange book - very funny at first, a bit boring in the middle and then quite serious and thought provoking. Enjoyed the children' ;s reaction to their father 'being good'. Very convincing. Recommended.
Jean
Read this very quickly as a holiday read. Moves briskly on and get drawn into the story of Henry, living rent-free on a boat and Daisy, living in a holiday cottage recovering from an unhappy past. The two get romantically involved. Caroline lost confidence in the Henry character and the story lost momentum as a result. All ends shockingly nastily. Not something to be taken too seriously.
Caroline
A romance told backwards. A very slow start with the two main characters, who were teenage lovers, meeting at a writers' festival. Feels as though she is writing herself into the story. The unnecessary twist in the tail at the very end leaves you doubting the entire book. The teenage romance is really well described.
Caroline
About South Africa in transition. Mandela has been released but the new government not yet formed. Also the story of a marriage unraveling against the background of events in South Africa. Not an easy read, could only read a bit at a time. Full of insights.
Caroline
About a village in Suffolk or Norfolk. Starts with a modern woman who lost someone she loved sitting in the village and then going back in time. The book goes into the story set in 1410 and ends up back in modern times. It would be better without this device. A good story, very physical, full of smells and death and makes you conscious of how close death was in those times. The leper is on the periphery but ends up leading the group on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Caroline
Short stories which vary enormously from quite stunning to not very good at all. Recommended for the good ones.
Caroline
Caroline loved this. Read like a first novel though it is her second. About a teenager in London and her half sister and little brother all living in an appalling council flat. Clearly autobiographical. Father turns up and takes her to posh restaurants. She goes to drama school. Lots of recognisable local London detail. Ends very suddenly.
Caroline
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.