276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Bournville: From the bestselling author of Middle England

£9.9£99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

There's nothing new to be learned or experienced in Bournville because the early chapters are far too on-the-nose with historic events we all already know about, the middle is dull and non-eventful and the beginning/end bookends are far too personal. This was a bit slow for me, jumping from time line to time line- a multi generational tale explored through seven events from VE Day through to Covid. Coe] has a huge talent for balancing humour with poignancy ― Book of the month, Good Housekeeping --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. I've only read one other Coe novel - Middle England - and from that limited experience it seems that Coe has a tried-and-tested formula: state of the nation novels focusing on a specific (or a number of specific) events in recent(ish) history, and a tight cast of characters who spend a fair chunk of the narrative ruminating on politics and current affairs in said moment in history. Tied in, as you would expect, with the world of chocolate manufacturing it paints a picture of the social changes in Britain from the post-war era to the present day.

For eleven-year-old Mary, it is the center of her world, the place where most of her family’s friends and neighbors have worked for decades and where the streets smell faintly of chocolate. Should the next novel be in the offing, Coe already has a ready made opening setting with the death and state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. As the latest in J Coe's Unrest sequence, Bournville is one of the most warm-hearted, brilliant and beguiling of his State of the Nation novels. Told with compassion, steadiness, decency and always a glint in the eye, this is a novel that both challenges and delights. Coe's particular gift is to understand how nostalgia, regret and an apprehension of what the future will bring might make us more, not less, empathetic to the frailties of those around us * FT, Best Audiobooks of the Year * Very tempting * The Times * In this affecting generational saga, framed by the pandemic and structured by seven milestone broadcasts, Jonathan Coe - known for his state-of-the-nation novels - once again takes the temperature of Britain * FT, Best Books of 2022 * At heart Bournville is a novel designed to make you think by making you laugh, and the seriousness of the subject matter is tempered throughout by the author's piercing eye for the more ludicrous elements of human nature * New Statesman * A compelling social history that's sprinkled throughout with Coe's inimitable humour, love and white-hot anger * Evening Standard * A hugely impressive state-of-the-nation tale * Observer * British novelists love to diagnose the state of the nation.From the bestselling, award-winning author of Middle England comes a profoundly moving, brutally funny and brilliantly true portrait of Britain told through four generations of one family. Educated in Edgbaston, one gathers from the epilogue that many of the locales featured in Bournville are/were familiar to him in his younger years. And other small details such as Mary playing the piano at her WI every week (surely once a month only) annoyed me. Una fabbrica di cioccolato, un piccolo borgo alle porte di Birmingham e quasi un secolo di storia inglese, questi sono gli ingredienti che fanno di questo romanzo una chicca imperdibile! As somebody who enjoys reading about 20th century history and loves social history, this book was a dream for me to read.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Parts of the chocolate factory will be transformed into a theme park, and Bournville itself will gradually disappear into the sprawl of the growing city of Birmingham. Bournville is the name of the town which sprung up around Cadbury's factory in Birmingham and this is the story of four generations of a family who lived there.Like a murmurous river, like the incoming wash of the tide, a distant counterpoint to the swish, swish, swish of her broom on the step, a disembodied voice whispering in her ear, over and over, the mantra: Everything changes, and everything stays the same.

My particular favourite memory jogs were firstly the (Austin) Metro car, launched with great fanfare as the saviour of the British motoring industry (and also a Diana Spencer favourite).

Whilst the Lamb family have their ups and downs, Bournville is just as much about the everyday and the way we all experience the ebbs and flows of life against a backdrop of constant evolution. I especially enjoyed the description of the European market versus Cadbury chocolate, lots of humour in this book.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment