The Book Depository Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson
1600 ratings
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Price: £9.99
Brand: The Book Depository
Description: Human Croquet : Paperback : Transworld Publishers Ltd : 9780552996198 : 055299619X : 09 Oct 2014 : The brilliant and profound second novel from the three-times Costa prizewinner and number one bestseller Kate Atkinson. 'Vivid, richly imaginative, hilarious and frightening by turns' Observer Once it had been the great forest of Lythe. The Book Depository Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9780552996198
MPN: 055299619X
GTIN: 9780552996198
Author: Elizabeth Taylor
Rating: 4
Review: Its hard to describe what this book is about other than a chunk of the life of an individual at a particular place in time. The herione of our tale is a teenage girl filled with self-doubt about herself and her looks with a strange bag of misfit friends, a brother who is obsessed with aliens and bizarre events and who lusts after the best looking boy in town. Her rather strange world is described in very simple language like an old fashioned fairy tale so we hear about her aunt vinny and her cats, the creepy lodger and her parents. The main thread of the book is how the disappearance of her mother haunts both herself and her brother and how they believe this has landed them in the frankly surrealist world they live in. There are also other characters in the pot, the great forest which once dominated the landscape of england and some of the major characters that lead to the creation of the town. Throughout the book we hear the voice of the girl describing the events around her with an innocent eye, however, these chapters are interspersed with flashbacks during which we discover over time the truth behind all the characters past and present. Her father the ex-war hero, her mother who she sees as a beautiful elusive figure, her step-mother, her grandmother and so on. In doing so we receive a very different view which is far from innocent on the desires and weaknesses of the characters and a world a lot darker, more real and much more dirty than hers. Some of the book is very funny, and the characterisations told in simple language very interesting but if you're looking for humour be aware that this is a typical english thing, a black comedy with some sad truths. It is a very different book, in its style and approach and certainly grips you with a desire to know the truth behind all the people you meet and I stayed up late at night reading away. Its probably not everyones cup of tea and I'm not sure I'd want to read lots of this type of writing but its unusual, funny and worth the investment for long plane rides and train rides.
Author: Catmandu
Rating: 3
Review: This novel is a mix of family saga, time-travel and coming of age. There is lots of Kate Atkinson energy and fun but the plot is confusing and I didn’t warm to any of the characters. The time-travel episodes feel added on. I waited a long time for it to take off but it never happened. This is a long way from Kate Atkinson’s best.
