Kate Atkinson
Paperback | Pages: 352 pages Rating: 3.72 | 8792 Users | 719 Reviews
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| Original Title: | Human Croquet |
| ISBN: | 0312186886 (ISBN13: 9780312186883) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.kateatkinson.co.uk/books/info/?t=Human-Croquet |
| Setting: | Warwickshire, England |
Chronicle As Books Human Croquet
New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the YearPart fairy tale, part mystery, part coming-of-age novel, this novel tells the story of Isobel Fairfax, a girl growing up in Lythe, a typical 1960s British suburb. But Lythe was once the heart of an Elizabethan feudal estate and home to a young English tutor named William Shakespeare, and as Isobel investigates the strange history of her family, her neighbors, and her village, she occasionally gets caught in Shakespearean time warps. Meanwhile, she gets closer to the shocking truths about her missing mother, her war-hero father, and the hidden lives of her close friends and classmates. A stunning feat of imagination and storytelling, Kate Atkinson's Human Croquet is rich with the disappointments and possibilities every family shares.
Identify Based On Books Human Croquet
| Title | : | Human Croquet |
| Author | : | Kate Atkinson |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 352 pages |
| Published | : | November 12th 1999 by Picador (first published 1997) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Fantasy. Historical. Historical Fiction. Science Fiction. Time Travel. Literary Fiction. Contemporary. European Literature. British Literature |
Rating Based On Books Human Croquet
Ratings: 3.72 From 8792 Users | 719 ReviewsArticle Based On Books Human Croquet
I've read a few books by English author, Kate Atkinson. I like her Jackson Brodie detective series which starts with Case Histories. I also enjoyed her first book, Behind the Scenes at the Museum very much. Human Croquet was her second published book. In some ways it's similar to Behind the Scenes, what with the past and present look at the Fairfax family, but you can also add a different touch, magic realism (at least it's catalogued under that genre). All in all it's an interesting, quirkyWe need a better feedback scale, 10 stars. The 4 I admiringly bestow "Human Croquet", 1997, have no delineation from lesser books. I felt the heady enthusiasm of 5 stars for 70%. Kate writes with an enthralling stream of consciousness, achieving a juggernaut saga that is never boring. We are ensconced empathetically in Isobel's mind. Although we soar through erratic flashes and timeframes, a riveting mystery centres us. Even when we learn Eliza Fairfax's whereabouts, the experience keeps feeling
I love Kate Atkinson but don't feel this novel is one of her best. Her prose style is still wonderful but this one seemed to lack her usual humour. In places I found it overwhelmingly sad and in others I was totally confused. The ending wasn't as satisfying as it might have been and I felt more than a little let down. Maybe when I've mulled it over a bit more I may feel differently. Still good though, if not particularly enjoyable because of difficult subject matter.Buddy read with Kim :-).
I really enjoyed this book. It is well written and chock full of eccentric characters realistically rendered. I'm rather fond of teenage characters( all those years of teaching high school) and Isobel is an endearing narrator . Her wry and witty perceptions of life prevent the tragic experiences she encounters from becoming too overwhelmingly depressing.While I expected time travel to play a more significant role in the book it seemed almost an afterthought . I usually don't enjoy that type of
Surreal but grounded, quirky but not frivolous, endearing and sad- this is a mystery of lost identity, lost souls, crimes of passion, time warps and warped minds. It's delicious, clever, unsettling, grim and guffaw-inducing. Atkinson is a category unto herself.
I loved this book. Infused with gothic melodrama, darkly comic and yet wistful, literate and playful. The narrator is deeply unreliable so those readers who prefer a straight tale will probably not like it although the book is an enthralling page turner. Yummy
First miss by Atkinson, although not an unpleasant experience, but just kind of all over the place, mostly too bleak (although I do suppose she catches the spirit of a depressed teen, but then, who wants to spend 300 pages with such a person? not to mention all of the terrible things that happen to people in the book), the humor is a little bit too "punny" which gets a bit annoying after a while and doesn't manage to really lighten the mood and frankly, I'm not sure if I saw the point in it all
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