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If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things
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| List Price: | £7.99 |
| Price: | £5.24 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £15. Details |
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Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2527 in Books
- Published on: 2003-05-05
- Original language: English
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
Editorial Reviews
The Spectator, 18th January 2003
"Mcgregor is an exemplary archivist of the humdrum ... written by someone who detects so passionately the remarkable in the everyday."
Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail, 24th August 2002
"McGregor's publishers must be openly rejoicing …'If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things’ is the work of a burning new talent."
Sunday Times 22nd September 2002
"moving vision of contemporary Britain, a remarkably accomplished first novel, Booker-longlisted."
Customer Reviews
The voice of inexperience?
I knew nothing about the author when I read this book - I bought it mainly on the basis of favourable reviews. My first impression was that the prose style seemed rather like the work of a talented sixth-former. Yes, the writing has a poetic quality, but it lacks economy. It seems to strain to create many images that might have been more selectively chosen for their impact, and more effectively drawn in fewer words. The main problem, however, comes with the premise of the story itself. Detailing the minutiae of everyday life, as this novel does, requires great skill, maturity and insight in order to make the events 'remarkable.' It needs to tell the reader more than they already consciously know about human behaviour/relationships. I felt the novel failed in this respect.
After finishing the novel, I found out that the author was in his mid-twenties when the book was published, and that this was his debut novel. With that in mind, I wished that he'd approached this work as his forth or fifth novel. While insight doesn't necessarily come with age, perhaps a little more experience would have made this brave but fundamentally flawed novel a truly moving one.
Awful 
Read this book thinking it would be an intelligent read. Really did not like it very confusing and nothing becomes clear at anypoint. All a bit wishy washy for me.
If nobody reads unremarkable books
I really didn't enjoy the book. I found it overly descriptive and not especially interesting. I persevered to the end and was disappointed.
