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Loading... Human Croquetby Kate Atkinson
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I think that if there was some kind of Project Runway for the literary set, Tim Gunn would have taken one look at this book and told Kate Atkinson to bring an editing eye to it. There are so many interesting elements to this—the humour, the meta elements, the mixture of history and imagination—but for me it failed to become a cohesive whole, experimenting with different forms but never quite settling on one of its own. I could see what Atkinson was aiming for—looking at how the stories change with the teller, how a storyteller can work to twist an audience's sympathy for or against one character or another—but at times she was too obtuse and at times too lacking in subtlety. Still, recommended if you're a fan of Atkinson's prose. (  ) siriaeve | Aug 7, 2009 |  This is an interesting, if slightly mad, book. The narrative shifts between, past, present, future and dreams as the mysteries which surrounds the narrator, Isobel Fairfax unfolds. There are strange, tragic, plot twists throughout the story. In the hands of a different this book would be a mess, but Atkinson's mastery as a writer binds all the elements of the story into a cohensive whole. (  ) riverwillow | May 29, 2009 | my fave young character of atkinsons, the scenes about the car crash are tragicly(sp?) reasuring(that not every book ends happily) (  ) purplesue | May 27, 2009 | What an odd book. It breaks one of the rules that is always dictated to beginning writers - no odd turns of plot that later turn out to be a dream. In this case there are three odd turns of plot that all happened while the narrator was in a coma, which the reader know nothing about until later. And yet it all works somehow. Let me be honest - I love the writing style of Kate Atkinson. She could write a grocery list and I would read it. Her style really resonates with me, and I thoroughly enjoyed this queer book, strange plot twists and all. ( ) samfsmith | Apr 5, 2009 | This is truly an amazing novel and Ms Atkinson is a very fine writer. The mix of history, imagination, literature, and ghastly family ties and secrets make for a riveting read but this is also very beautiful prose. The stories within are sometimes heartbreaking, abandoned children, abusive men, but the stubborn heart of Isobel Fairfax shines through and binds these stories together with her own brand of black humour and wry observation. ( ) bhowell | Jan 3, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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Atkinson's novel is obviously not rooted in dull reality. Narrator Isobel has an uncanny knowledge of past and future events; Charles is obsessed with the concept of parallel universes and time travel; and a faery curse hangs over everybody. Fortunately, Kate Atkinson is a masterful writer who manages to keep her world of wonders in check. Human Croquet is no ordinary novel, and readers who venture into the Fairfax universe are in for a magical ride.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:56 -0400)
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