Emerald
member
Reged: 27/08/2007
Posts: 304
Loc: Greater Manchester
|
|
In this book, the author cleverly uses a split narrative. The majority of the book is spent in various flats on a suburban street in London, giving detailed descriptions of tenants, their hopes, aspirations and fears. In the beginning we are aware of a terrible tragedy and left to wonder what that might be. The other narrative is told in the first person by a young woman who finds herself pregnant, and living there when the tragic event occurs, with the focus shifting between past and present.
None of the characters are ever named. Only a physical detail as well as the number of their apartment is used to identify them.
I found the novel needed a lot of concentration-and the ending left me not really knowing the answer-but the writing left me feeling I knew the neighbours, and wanting to continue reading. Thanks Jayra for the choice-it’s so good to have exposure to authors I haven’t read before.
--------------------
|
nannyconnie
member
Reged: 05/03/2008
Posts: 455
|
|
I found this a very strange book.Definately one I could have picked myself,and I was looking forward to it.However although I enjoyed reading it,I kept feeling there was more to come and somehow ---it didn't come.Did I miss something really deep and meaningful,because the ending didn't give me answers either.Thanks for the selection Jayra and I am looking forward to what you personally thought of it.
--------------------
|
lynne
member
Reged: 13/03/2006
Posts: 910
Loc: The Far North Of England
|
|
What was the book?
|
ElaineThomas
member
Reged: 29/03/2008
Posts: 13
Loc: South Cheshire
|
|
If nobody speaks of remarkable things by Jon McGregor
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I kept wondering why it held my interest and enjoyment when it was written in sentences that were rarely more than 2 lines long, that only one character had a name. But that was part of the imagery in my opinion. The inhabitants of the street didn’t know names so the reader wouldn’t either. (The only name we know was Michael who didn’t live on the street) I loved the way characters were known as their appearance or which house they lived in. Very clever! That Jon Mcgregor could take over 2 pages to describe rain falling on a street and still maintain my interest says a lot about his writing. It was only in the final pages that I realised that one of these characters was the main narrator during that time. (I am slow on the uptake!) Which one?? Help! Was she the one with square glasses and short hair? I feel I need to read the whole book again and look out for this particular character to learn more about her in her younger days. The end was unexpected!
Thank you for choosing it.
|
billie
member
Reged: 21/11/2007
Posts: 71
Loc: Derbyshire
|
|
Have to agree with Emereld this book needed a lot of concentration.I'd borrowed it from the library and was really looking forward to reading it as it looked my type of book. However, although i enjoyed the descriptions in the begining i found myself struggling to keep reading and ended up putting it down thinking i'll read something else and come back to it. When i finally picked it up again i realized it was way over due so i skipped through it to the end which was naughty of me i know. So sorry Jayra have to say wasn't for me but i do love the challenge of new authors, even if i failed to read it all this time.
|
jayra
member
Reged: 20/05/2007
Posts: 197
Loc: Scotland
|
|
I know, ladies...that's why I took cold feet about it!
I read the book a couple of years ago and found it compulsive reading...wouldn't have picked it up but it was passed on by a friend. I got so absorbed in all the different characters that I forgot about the accident and was shocked at the end. Some of the passages were amazing- eg the father with the scarred hands speaking to his daughter about 'remarkable things' brought tears to my eyes.
I picked it up again a couple of weeks ago and thought this is too intense to read again but after skipping through it, I got caught up again and had to go back and read it properly.
It is an unusual, strange book but I find its descriptions so lyrical and compelling. I've brought it down by the computer while writing this review and I keep picking it up and reading it wherever it opens...the description of the rain, for example (see Elaine above).
I can imagine that some people will just find it irritating.
I toyed with recommending any one of several titles of great books I have read the past year or two but tried to choose something very different from anything I'd read before. I really enjoy reading about parallel worlds, e.g. The Time Traveller's Wife, The Post Birthday World and that's another aspect of this book I enjoyed.
And yes, it's the little girl with the short hair and glasses...I had to keep looking back to check too!
Thank you for trying it and looking forward to the next one!! 
Edited by jayra (02/06/2008 19:25)
|
snoopy56
member
Reged: 28/08/2007
Posts: 78
Loc: Norfolk
|
|
I was slightly disappointed with this book because I think it promised more than it delivered. To write a novel where most of the action takes place over 24hrs is quite an achievement ( like Ian McEwan's 'Saturday')but I don't think the split narrative really worked in this case. It felt like two separate stories with a tenuous link and I was also a bit confused by the ending. I liked the descriptions of the characters and the street and I found myself wanting to draw a picture of the street to identify who was living where.
An interesting choice. Has anybody read anything else by this author ?
--------------------
|
ElaineThomas
member
Reged: 29/03/2008
Posts: 13
Loc: South Cheshire
|
|
This was his first novel and the only one as far as I know.
|
Sealover
member
Reged: 31/08/2006
Posts: 1271
Loc: Devon
|
|
Well, I loved it! I found it really gripping and felt that the tension was very well hightened as the book progressed, so that I was compelled to carry on reading to find out what the awful event was that we knew was going to take place. I think the author has a very particular style and will certainly look out for more of his books in the future.
Thanks, Jayra, I enjoyed your choice.
|
jayra
member
Reged: 20/05/2007
Posts: 197
Loc: Scotland
|
|
Jon McGregor has written another novel which I read but have forgotten the title! He read a chapter in Aberdeen last year at the Word festival and answered audience questions. As an Aberdonian, I enjoyed the fact Aberdeen featured in the novel as it did vaguely in 'remarkable things'.
The chapter was very evocative for those of us brought up in the 1950s and lucky enough to be given a new council house...we were so proud of our low flush toilet and showed it off to visitors!!
Anyway, both books are quite different - the second not so intense.
J x
|
jayra
member
Reged: 20/05/2007
Posts: 197
Loc: Scotland
|
|
Just looked up Amazon - second novel called 'So many ways to begin'
J x
|
Splash123
member
Reged: 04/05/2008
Posts: 1128
Loc: South Glamorgan
|
|
Havent read this book yet but have just finished Saturday by Ian McEwen which i enjoyed more than his Enduring Love.I am reading Margaret Drabbles The Sea Lady at the moment. It is well written and shows how what we experience in childhood continues to influence us into old age. /however I used to love Margaret Drabbles writing in the 60s and 70s and I am finding this book slow and rather dull! I am plodding on but it is not gripping me!Has any one read it? What did you think?
Happy Reading
--------------------
[i
|
Cerys
member
Reged: 20/01/2008
Posts: 382
Loc: North Wales
|
|
I read Jon Macgregor's book a while ago, loved it and instantly passed it on to my ED who loved it as well....I felt it was like reading poetry...it was so descriptive and after reading all your reviews i want to read it again...now...yes he has written another one and I brought it for Xmas for my eD but she never said if she enjoyed it as much as the first. I will ask her.
Oh and as it has been mentioned....read Saturday last week...overall I enjoyed it but found it too long and think the author dragged the day out..... was abit bored in the middle......
Cerys
|
jennifer36
member
Reged: 16/01/2008
Posts: 444
Loc: West Oxfordshire
|
|
Well what a super bok!! I've now read it twice as I thought there was so much description I probably missed things the first time as I read quickly. (and I did find things the second time I'd missed!)
I don't usually like things written in 2 time frames but this is an exception. The author held my interest all the way through and I couldn't wait to find out what happened. The imagery is very powerful and the descriptions amazing.I agree about the rain falling, also the opening pages about the city slowing down and then coming to life. His observations about the trivia of life are fantastic and I really feel I know the characters even though they don't have names (except for Michael and Sarah) - each one of them is so beautifully drawn and observed.
This is written in a very distinctive style and makes me want to read more of his books.
A really good choice Jayra!
|
duncs
member
Reged: 29/08/2007
Posts: 289
Loc: Kent
|
|
Yes, I'd agree about concentration being needed. It is a very interesting style of writing, depending on my mood I loved it or was irritated when I only wanted a chillout read, not too much concentration.
I also found that there were some characters that didn't really grip me, so I tended to skip some of their passages. I wasn't really interested in the twins, but found the elderly couple mesmerizing.
Again, a book I would never have picked up, so thanks for the choice.
|
jayra
member
Reged: 20/05/2007
Posts: 197
Loc: Scotland
|
|
I agree duncs - the elderly couple were so touching...I could really 'see' them.
First time of reading, I wasn't bothered by the twins and got such a shock when I realised that one of them had been the victim of the accident that this time around, I paid more attention.
Also didn't pick up that the driver was the young man mentioned earlier in the book, going out to buy a car to impress and surprise his father...
So many threads to the story and, like you, I sometimes skipped to get to my favourite characters. More than any other book, I kept jumping backwards and forwards.
Thank you all for your fascinating reviews and, despite my earlier reservations, glad I chose it now!
J x
|
duncs
member
Reged: 29/08/2007
Posts: 289
Loc: Kent
|
|
Yes, Jayra, I think it is definitely a book that you could read several times and get more out of each time. One to keep rather than recycle through the charity shop.
Thanks again for the choice.
x
|
duckegg
member
Reged: 26/02/2007
Posts: 1071
|
|
This was the second time I've read this book - the first was when it came out in paperback in 2003 just after my daughter had graduated from Leeds University - and it was very easy for me to imagine that the street was one of the ones in the Hyde Park area of the city.
At the time, I thought it was an extrordinary piece of writing and it was one of the few paperbacks I chose to keep on the bookshelf rather than recycle. Now that I've read it again I still feel the same way about it even though I knew what had happened on the day in question
For me, even when I first read it, the actual storyline was almost unimportant - it was the way he wrote in such detail about the seemingly ordinary events that took place in the lives of all the characters that kept me wanting to read more.
Thanks for suggesting this book foe Eyes Down Jayra - it was definitely no hardship for me to read it again.
|
dryad
member
Reged: 11/02/2008
Posts: 151
|
|
I read this book in 2003 but I too was very happy to read it again. The skill and daring of this young writer amaze me. He succeeds in creating a debut novel which has a strong appeal to both the intellect and the emotions. His prose often reads like a poem and then, as the detail increases, inevitably the pace of the narrative slows down. I can understand why his unusual style is not to everyone’s taste.
The essence of the story is the tragedy of a terrible accident which shatters the tranquillity of a street which could be yours or mine. The beginning has a dreamlike quality and then suddenly something happens to turn the dream into a nightmare. We are left wondering about key facts and the mystery keeps us in suspense until the last page. Whether we enjoy the book as a whole or not, I suspect that we are all are curious to know how the story ends.
The language is beautiful – musical in its sound and rhythm. We have only to read the first page, where he describes the sounds of the city, to appreciate the lyrical quality of his words.
'If you listen, you can hear it.
The city, it sings.
If you stand quietly, at the foot of a garden, in the middle of a street, on the roof of a house…'
Vivid imagery is the result of acute powers of perception. The writer has the ability to see something quite ordinary and to make it extraordinary. I wondered about the title until I read the words of the man with the scarred hands.
'There are remarkable things all the time, right in front of us, but our eyes have like the clouds over the sun and our lives are paler and poorer if we do not see them for what they are.'
Above all, the language is highly emotive. Many writers make me think, some make me feel but few evoke such an intense reaction as Jon McGregor. The description of the accident made me hold my breath. Not only could I see it, I could hear it.
'The noise which people sometimes refer to as a screech of brakes but the word doesn’t even come close.'
For me the impact of the tragedy was all the more poignant and shocking because I shared it with people who had become so familiar to me. Intimate knowledge of their private lives gave me a clear understanding of their hopes and fears. I had a sharp image of them all. Sometimes I felt I was looking through a kaleidoscope, each shake bringing a new person into focus – the boy with the big hair, the man doing the painting, the girl with the square glasses.
I found the final pages of the book very moving. After the terrible accident life goes on for the residents of that quiet urban street but those who witnessed the tragedy will never be the same again.
'And that’s all there is. That’s it. There is no pause or rewind.'
Lastly, to add to the drama, there is a twist in the narrative: 'something faint like the quivering flutter of a moth’s rain-sodden wings, something unexpected. Something remarkable.'
This book is exquisite. Excellent choice, jayra! Thank you.
|
dryad
member
Reged: 11/02/2008
Posts: 151
|
|
As June draws to a close, I am just wondering if anyone else has something to say about Jon McGregor's second novel - SO MANY WAYS TO BEGIN - before I order it from Amazon...
Thanks for your comments on this book, jayra, and thanks again for an excellent book choice for June!
Edited by jdm (28/06/2008 15:58)
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
