LETSBuzz Book Club 30th March 2003
This is the first novel from the Observer columnist. Andrew's early impressions were that this was yet another "lad-lit", semi-autobiographical, Nick Hornby inspired work of which there are plenty around. However, Andrew persevered and decided the book transcended the genre which it had seemed at first to represent. Andrew thought some parts of the story were a bit lazy, such as making the main character a Beatles fan and that it displayed a slightly unattractive moral tone but overall it was an enjoyable read.
Andrew
This was reviewed two months ago by Doreen who, despite being a fan of the author, thought this novel was very poor. Andrew too is a fan and he agreed that this was the author's least satisfactory effort but he did find more to like in it than Doreen! Andrew liked the book's strong plot about teenage children in an Irish Catholic school and the atmosphere of inevitable doom and thought that some parts of the book were quite thrilling. The sex scene didn't offend Andrew despite its macabre setting. In sum, not bad but not good either.
Andrew
Andrew chose to read this after The Anatomy School because he thought it would be completely different in style and content: an American female author likened to Anne Tyler and a story set in small-town America. In fact, the two books had much in common, including Andrew's conclusion that they weren't much good. Andrew didn't like the author's carping tone (a feature which he had detected in another of her stories but which he had hoped was exclusive to that book) and "the element of the fantastic" which wasn't fantastic at all. "Just not that good" said Doreen who had read this one already.
Andrew
Gill picked up this one from Andrew's shelves where it had stood gathering dust for some time. Deservedly so, according to Gill who said it was just awful. The story is set in London and features a group of 20-30 somethings who are unsympathetic, unengaging and who utter soap-opera views. The book's only redeeming features were that it was easy to read and it presented an accurate picture of life in London.
Gill
This has been reviewed twice already so Gill did not go into a lot of detail but she confirmed the verdicts of Jean and Doreen that it is an excellent book, shocking but enjoyable.
Gill
A very, very unusual and interesting book. The story is set on a small island off the coast of America where the population is highly literate but obliged to use a language which is diminishing letter by letter [for a reason which I didn't quite follow, sorry]. The novel is made up of the letters (the other sort!) which the inhabitants write to each other using this steadily reducing language, showing increasing inventiveness to overcome the loss of one letter after another. Highly recommended first novel.
Gill
Great story, great plot, great characters to love and to hate, great book. Tremendous research but still great. As with many "classics", this is difficult to understand for the modern reader and the notes at the end are essential to make sense of the story. Definitely a two-bookmark job.
Doreen
Before making any other comments, Doreen confessed that she does not like this author and was reading the book now only because she wanted to see the film "The Hours". All her prejudice was confirmed as she hated the prose, thought the "story" (such as it was) a preliminary to a story and not a story in itself and ultimately found the book unreadable.
As part of her preparation for viewing the film, Doreen then read:
Doreen
This was much better! The story is based on three characters living in three different times, one of whom is Virginia Woolf. All three are really interesting and engaging and the story is excellent. Doreen was now much more interested in and understanding of Virginia Woolf and went back to read Mrs. Dunnaway. This time she finished the book and enjoyed it.
Doreen
This had been read and reviewed twice already so Jean said simply that it was very evocative of office life, she enjoyed it and it was worth reading.
Jean
These are the journals of the last years of the author's life as he was dying of aids. The range and variety of his experiences struck Jean, one day describing the small pleasures of his Dungeness beach garden, the next recounting his astonishing sexual exploits on Hampstead Heath in sometimes poignant terms. He writes too about his art and paintings, the interesting social circles, which he inhabited, and there are moving accounts of his boyfriend's care for him. Derek Jarman's hospital experiences also struck a familiar note with Jean. All of these elements are interwoven in a most enjoyable way. Highly recommended.
Jean
Again, Bob was aware that this book had been read and reviewed at least twice before so didn't describe it in detail. It is a very powerful book with a strong central character (Owen Meany) and it will live in the memory for a very long time. Some parts of the book seem superfluous and a distraction from the main plot but apart from that it is a compelling story with a fantastic denouement. Definitely recommended.
Bob
After the book before, a very small book both literally and metaphorically. It is a typically English novel in that it contains a tightly controlled plot with only a few characters and occupying a short period in space and time. The story is set in early eighties Birmingham and features a liberal-minded social worker; her Thatcherite sister who works as an estate agent; her left wing university lecturer boyfriend and an itinerant artist working with found objects. On one level, this book is about the relationships amongst these four people and on another it is about the changes in the political climate brought on by the new Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher.
Bob
Bob's initial impressions were not good. Although apparently authentic, the names of the characters were irritatingly bizarre (e.g. Blood, Mink, Dub) and some of the similes irritatingly unhelpful. However, as the story of Blood's lifelong career as a drifter across America unfolded and the farm and family he left behind developed, Bob's opinion of the book became more positive. In the end, this was an interesting story, well told, and is recommended.
Bob
Bob's opinion of this book took the opposite trajectory. To begin with, this was an interesting crime thriller with some deliciously vitriolic and gratuitous attacks on a wide range of targets including the theatre, the police and middle-aged women. In the end, the plot became too unlikely and fizzled out rather than reaching any sort of climax. Not for the faint-hearted but an entertaining ride for the unforgiving adolescent in all of us (well, some of us).
Bob
At the time of the meeting Bob hadn't quite finished this book but he has now. He still doesn't know what to make of it though. It's a relatively straightforward story of a middle-aged man looking back on his unsatisfactory life in London: as an intellectual film director forced by failure to shoot porno rubbish and as the adulterous father of a son who dies whilst he sleeps with his mistress. He returns to his birthplace in South Africa to tend his dying mother and attempts to re-connect by taking on a farm and its resident baboon. Once the focus of the plot shifts to South Africa and gives up the early, multi-layered approach (in other words fragmented) the story gains momentum and cohesion. It's certainly written well even if he doesn't out-perform Martin Amis, as the dust-jacket comments claim. Quite good.
Bob
The frames have gone all funny by click to make it good.