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Human Croquet
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Human Croquet is a game in which some people act as hoops while others propel a blindfolded "ball" around the course. Though the game is never actually played in Kate Atkinson's remarkable novel, Human Croquet, the parallels between plot and pastime are undeniable. Atkinson, winner of the 1995 Whitbread Award in Britain, tells the story of Isobel Fairfax and her older brother, Charles. The children's parents vanished when they were young, leaving them to the care of their grandmother, now dead, and their Aunt Vinny. Recently their father has returned with "the Debbie-wife" in tow, and they all live in Arden, the family's ancestral home built on the foundations of the original manor house that burned to the ground in 1605. According to family legend, the first Fairfax took a wife who mysteriously disappeared one day, leaving in her wake a curse on the Fairfax name. More than 300 years later, Fairfax descendants are still struggling with this painful legacy.
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. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
From Kirkus Reviews
Atkinson's follow-up to her Whitbread-winning Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1996) is a self-consciously smart and mildly amusing family saga. Isobel Fairfax, age 16, narrates the busy goings-on at Fairfax Manor, an ostensibly cursed mock-Tudor in a suburb in northern England--although the events she describes may well be fantasies, embellished with tidbits from Shakespeare and Ovid and whatever else she's reading in school. The Fairfax family, as Isobel presents them, is a wildly dysfunctional cast of caricatures: There's sour Aunt Vinnie, who's always draped in cats; brother Charles, who's obsessed with alien abductions; and ineffectual dad Gordon and his plump second wife Debbie, who imagines that the sausages she's about to barbecue are moving about on their plate. When Isobel is not deep in lustful thoughts about Malcolm, the local gynecologist's son, she time-travels and has brief and remarkably uneventful interludes in earlier eras. And both she and Charles desperately miss their long-disappeared mum, Eliza. World War II hero Gordon plucked glamorous Eliza from the rubble of a London bombing, then brought her home to the Manor, where his widowed mother and Vinnie criticized her every move. Although besotted with his wife, Gordon couldn't break with his mother, and the marriage was strained. During a picnic, Charles and Isobel were left alone, only to toddle upon the body of their mother: Did Gordon kill her before disappearing for seven years to avoid the law, leaving his kids to repress the memory and get brought up by Vinnie? This is only one of many hyperventilating mysteries that Isobel sifts through: violent deaths, stolen babies, and sexual peccadilloes galore crowd Fairfax family history. Isobel's semi-jaded wisecracking serves up some mild laughs, but this exercise in over-deliberated cleverness, while never dull, is ultimately more exhausting than engaging. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
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5 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
Kate Atkinson knows how to write a great book. Having read virtually thousands of novels during my seventeen years, I've grown increasingly frustrated with the "formula" writers who all sound exactly the same. Luckily, Ms. Atkinson has dared to break the mold. In this sparkling story, we are led through the fascinating mind of Isobel Fairfax, are introduced to her dysfunctional but enjoyable family, and an array of very human characters. The characters here are a little exaggerated, but Atkinson uses such brilliant imagery in her descriptions that we can easily forgive her. At the heart of the story is the mystery of Eliza, Isobel's mother, who disappeared years ago. Strange, inexplicable fluctuations in time slowly reveal more of the story behind the mystery as we are led into the past and through several different realities of the future. Following the time jumps can be confusing, but the patient reader will be rewarded in the end. I am a very critical reader, and I loved this book- so go read it!
3 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
This book was lovely -- beautiful descriptions, fascinating characters and plot, and an intriguing first chapter that hooked me instantly. It doesn't quite fit into any category that I can think of . . . except that it is (and has been since I first read it) on the list of my favourite books of all time.
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
Not much seems to happen in the first third of Human Croquet. Then a few pops of excitement occur. As the book progresses, the action becomes more and more furious, until at the end, all kinds of little explosions are taking place. Unfortunately, like popcorn, there isn't as much substance as one would hope for, despite the author's not-too-subtle attempts to create it with esoteric references to other literary works, and at the end, this reader remained hungry.
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the magical world's open
I just can't stop read it! Isobel's live is so piercing and unbelievable that it's still a pleasure to leap from one page to another even if it's not the first time...
Veröffentlicht am 21. April 2000 von Ravache Alice
could not put it down
I really enjoyed reading this book. I enjoyed the journey that the story took me on. I never saw some the twists in the plot coming. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 3. April 2000 veröffentlicht
Not as good as "Behind the Scenes..."
I came upon "Human Croquet" after reading Atkinson's first novel, "Behind the Scenes..." and quite frankly I do have to admit I preferred the first. Lesen Sie weiter...
Veröffentlicht am 14. März 2000 von mark thomas
Don't miss this book!
Wow! This novel is incredible. I started it after dinner, and it was so good I stayed up all night to finish it - I literally couldn't put it down. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 11. Juli 1999 veröffentlicht
Magically Delicious
A captivating and bewildering-in-a-good-way beach read. I couldn't stop thinking about the book after I'd finished.... The title is very apropos to the plot. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 21. Juni 1999 veröffentlicht
Very enjoyable!
I loved the way the reader gradually finds out more about the characters until the end. Every chapter added a new suprise that made me say, "Oh my GOSH!". Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 4. April 1999 veröffentlicht
A mystery tale gone wild
Since this book is labeled as mainstream, it was quite a surprise to realize that Kate Atkinson plays with reality and time much the same way as the sci-fi legend Philip K. Dick. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 15. Dezember 1998 veröffentlicht
It grabs your attention and doesn't ever loose it.
Human Croquet introduces a variety of charactors both from the past and present. There is a sense of mystery throughout the book concerning Eliza's disappearance. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 21. September 1998 veröffentlicht
wow
The writer who conceived of this book must have a tortuous mind. 'Human Croquet' is a wild, magical ride, and I found that the only way to read it was to jump on and go through to... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 30. Juni 1998 veröffentlicht
Mind Candy
The description in this book is amazing and keeps you hooked. A great book for those who don't have a lot of time to read; it keeps you hooked.
Am 21. Juni 1998 veröffentlicht
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