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Human Croquet

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His real passions were esoteric, as a little interest to the common man or his colleagues in Bow Street, certainly not to his wife—the Berlin Treaty between Germany and the Soviets (how could that end well?) or a demonstration of a ’televisor’ to the Royal Society by a chap called Baird (like something from a H. G. Wells novel). He had an enquiring mind. It was a curse. Even sometimes for a detective”. That trauma beaten, Atkinson set to in earnest, and her much-vaunted "overnight success" followed swiftly. She was spotted by an agent, landed herself a book deal and wrote Behind the Scenes in three months. "I never had a qualm about it," she remembers. "I had great confidence in that book." But if the reading public - half a million of them, in this country alone - loved her multi-generational family saga, the media scrum had other ideas. It's not immediately apparent, but the present-day action of the novel all takes place on April 1, 1960, Isobel's 16th birthday. Set in chapters that alternate past and present, ''Human Croquet'' opens with an excursive yet The novel is scattered with literary allusions - the Shakespearean ones being the most obvious to me - and Atkinson's writing is rich in clever wordplay. But ultimately it's one of those works which is exhausting rather than completely satisfying and I can't help but wonder if lots of it went over my head. Overall, this was not an easy book to read and I can't say that the experience was one of unalloyed pleasure. The characters have haunted me though, so that says something about the power of Atkinson's prose. He had tried, God help him, to chat and prattle about the weather or horse-racing, even films, but he ended up sounding like a poor amateur actor”.

Although Kate Atkinson is rarely dull, this novel is meandering and comes perilously close to being self-indulgent. I think the reason the story works so well is down to the voice of Isobel. She's an intelligent, witty girl, but self-critical and lonely. She has a huge crush on Malcolm, one of her school-friends, and you root for her to win him over. But I also enjoyed the mysteries of the plot - the riddle of Eliza is one thing, but the apparitions Isobel experiences left me scratching my head in wonder. In a way. Nora could be too, for that matter, as there’s barely any corroboration of her story either. Except at the end where ...’ Isobel Fairfax, the heroine of ''Human Croquet,'' is an omniscient narrator who, paradoxically, often hasn't a clue about what has really happened. Like Ruby Lennox, the droll narrator of ''Behind the Scenes at the Museum,'' that he and Isobel have known all along -- and rejected in favor of not knowing -- what has really become of Eliza.is propelled forward by another, ''the player.'' Atkinson tells us that ''hoops must never move from their stations, and must give no indication of their whereabouts to oncoming balls. When one game has been MY THOUGHTS: It took me some time to become engaged in his book - purely a reflection of me and my state of mind, not Kate Atkinson's writing, I have come to realise. In a country still recovering from the Great War, London is the focus for a delirious nightlife. In Soho clubs, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time.

The characterisation is exceptional. There are a lot of characters but in this author’s capable hands it matters not a jot as with a few deft strokes they are visible. I love Gwendolen, she’s one smart cookie as is Ma as you find you have no choice but to admire her guile and manifold abilities. You have to get up very early in the morning to catch her out and even then she’s probably two jumps ahead of you!! What a woman!!! hen Kate Atkinson's first novel was named the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year in Britain, equal attention was paid to the failure of Salman Rushdie'sYears ago, her husband had gambled all the family money away, so Nellie had taken her four children and joined forces with a disreputable man called Jaeger, who had been running ‘tango teas’ during the war, but by 1918, people were ready to really party. Not at all,’ the toff said, swaying affably. ‘It’s a cause for festivities. Old Ma Coker is being released.’

novel ''The Moor's Last Sigh'' to win the prize. And so the astonishing literary feat of ''Behind the Scenes at the Museum'' was transmogrified into a political upset on the part of a divorced He had no liquor licence, but did have tame police, and Nellie learned the trade well. When a young Irish girl, Maud, died of an opium overdose, Nellie dealt with it by suggesting a couple of army chaps take her body to the river to dispose of her. Is it a hanging?’ an eager newspaper delivery boy asked no one in particular. He was short, just thirteen years old, and was jumping up and down in an effort to obtain a better view of whatever it was that had created the vaudeville atmosphere. This sounds like a mess, but the way Atkinson handles these stories within stories is not nearly as difficult as I'm making it sound, it's more confusing to think about then to actually read. The use of different fonts for different narrative levels keeps the reader from getting lost. Isobel has a brother named Charles, who is fascinated by topics generally regarded as science fiction. His particular interests center on alien abductions. This may be due in part to the disappearance of Charles and Isobel's mother, Eliza, when they were young. They also lost their father, Gordon, for a seven-year period immediately following the disappearance of their mother.The latter chapters provide additional historical accounts of the Fairfax family, and in a final chapter, Isobel reveals what happened to all of the principle characters. Through all of the delightful twists and turns, Isobel delivers a deeper message about the nature of imagination. Detective Chief Inspector John Frobisher of Scotl stay there,' snorts Vinny.)'' As a child, he was dedicated to finding his missing parents, and he is still perpetually searching for clues about Eliza's disappearance, though before long readers will begin to realize

I'm not giving this book 5 stars, but I would give it four-and-a-half if I could. There are a few spots where, even in a book of alternate universes, there are some consistency problems, and a few places where the writing gets bogged down in descriptions of either philosophy or trees. (Interesting place to get bogged down, can't see the forest for, etc.) All the world and time is Atkinson’s stage, and this is certainly an ambitious and clever novel that offers alternative readings of not only scenes, but characters’ interpretations of events. What the reader accepts is up to her or him, but nothing is predictable. matter if a reader recognizes every gesture in Atkinson's literary high-wire act, because the multitude of characters are defined with such vivid specificity that they -- and what happens to them -- matter the most.Nellie Coker is at the forefront of the story. She isa cut-throat nightclub owner recently released from prison who finds her hands full battling with her 6 duplicitous children, a librarian, a detective, and two missing teenage girls. It was an eye-opener for Nellie. She couldn’t fail to notice that many of the men went home at the end of the night with a dance hostess who had been a complete stranger to them a handful of hours earlier. ‘The young ladies get very good tips for that,’ Jaeger said phlegmatically. ‘Can’t blame ’em, can you?’ Emotionally Weird - це типове "Обоже, ця жінка вирішила ні в чому собі не відмовляти!". Пародія на тру_брітіш сімейну сагу з шотландським колоритом (багаті спадкоємиці, нещасні сім'ї, загублені діаманти, хлопчики, які не повернулися з війни, розбиті ударом голови родини, something nasty в асортименті - оце от усе). Пародія на університетський роман про кафедральні чвари. Пародія на університетський роман про сердитих молодих... а, підставте, кого треба (наприклад, фем-активісток другої хвилі). Пародія на детектив - і готичний, і cosy. Пародія на постмодерний роман, з якого щедро вихлюпується метатекст. Пародія на а-ля вікторіанський роман виховання. Пародія... Нє, досить, мабуть, хоча там ще є.

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