I really didn't like this book. Had it not been a bookclub book, I'm not sure I'd have finished it.The writing was flat: I never cared about any of the characters, and as such had trouble keeping them straight. The plot was pretty much nonexistent: the only driver seemed to be whether or not the gal would get the guy (Stella and Meredith). Lots of things happened, but most weren't interesting enough to bother absorbing, and the ones that were weren't described in enough detail to truly absorb. As such, I generally felt confused during the entire story - where have we been, where are we now, where are we going were all questions I couldn't really answer at any point, even now at the end.The main character, Stella, seems devoid of feelings, except for a scant few passages where we learn about her feelings caused by Meredith. The whole narrative takes on a very detached, almost clinical tone, making the whole story very flat. Stella is also quite cruel, really, especially to her uncle, so being in her head was rather uncomfortable and unrelatable. I feel that if an author wants to try to show us an unusual point of view, s/he really must work to show it to us; the scant details afforded us didn't help me understand or relate to this almost psychopathic worldview.The author seems to have gone for mysterious, with a few subplots running the length of the story clearly designed to make the reader wonder; to me, they just came across as obvious and/or stupid. I didn't guess all the finer points, but then I never try to guess where a story is going to take me; a reader who does like to guess will undoubtedly figure it out in no time.It was at least a quick, simple read. The anciliary details were also very interesting, telling me about 1950s Liverpool.
This quirky novel is the first by Beryl Bainbridge that I have read. It is a model of concise, spare writing. Having said that, I should stress that one has to concentrate fully throughout the book's almost 200 pages to grasp the intricacies and the subtleties of the plot and of the characterisation. The action takes place in the 1950s in Liverpool and revolves around the activities of a professional repertory theatre company. The central character is 16-year old Stella Bradshaw, who lives with her uncle and aunt. Stella's mother is absent (and does not appear in the novel, other than as an offstage recipient of phone messages from her daughter: something that turns out to be a pivotal aspect of the plot). Stella has a literary bent - she loves poetry and, on one occasion, mentally quotes Louis MacNeice's "The Sunlight on the Garden". She also uses words such as 'salubrious'! So, she gets a job as an assistant stage manager at the repertory company. And, while there, she strikes up a relationship with one of the actors in the rep's Christmas production of "Peter Pan". That relationship, unknown to either, has repercussions that link with Stella's past. The novel is peopled by eccentric characters. The bitchiness of life in a repertory company is vividly portrayed, as is the anxiety and insecurity that I imagine most actors feel. This is an entertaining and often very funny book, which was apparently shortlisted for the Booker prize. My one reservation is that I am not entirely sure what the author's central message is. I have a nagging doubt that I have missed something or that the book is, in essence, an empty vessel. 7/10.
Do You like book An Awfully Big Adventure (2003)?
The more I read Beryl Bainbridge, the more I'm convinced that she is one of the most brilliant English novelists of the late 20th/early 21st century. She's utterly original, unafraid to dispense with unneeded novelistic conventions. She's like a tightrope walker, who doesn't just edge along the wire, but who positively dances.... Her prose is uncluttered, her storytelling assured.This novel follows Stella's journey from Innocence to Experience when she joins a theatre company. At first the novel seems like a dark comedy. All the characters are in the grip of some kind of obsession, which causes them to misunderstand one another. Artifice and make-believe rule. Yet when a substitute actor - O'Hara - joins the company, and finds out the truth about Stella, tragedy looms....
—Sibyl
I sat down and re-read this deceptively slim volume this afternoon and evening, as I'm going to do it with a class of mine. The story would be funny if it weren't so sad. Ms Bainbridge brings us a naive and desperately needy young girl who leaves disaster and death in her wake, but in spite of her streak of self-centred brashness, she really is not to blame for what has happened. Indeed no-one quite knows what has happened, least of all her, and each of the characters will put their own interpretation on events, will turn it into a private drama starring themselves in the main role. There's life for you. And all in a three hour read. Condensed and subtle and dark and witty.
—·Karen·
An extraordinarily witty, perceptive exploration of a young girl's initiation into the world of adulthood. Line by line, this slender novel builds a world that is at once full of possibilities and governed by limitations. A black comedy that ultimately persuades the reader to have compassion for the circumscribed lives of its characters and to consider the limitations of one's own life as disguised opportunities for sympathy and gentleness for oneself and others. Cogent, sardonic, quick and emotionally satisfying.
—Mark
