Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1343 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-05
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

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

Unremarkable
I bought this book after seeing on Waterstone's list of Life Changing books, and seeing the mostly positive reviews on here. But I am bemused by the high praise for it. The opening pages have a nice lyrical quality, but it's all downhill after that. I don't mind plot-light books, but for me it was also light on insight. I think the aim was pared down simplicity, but for me it was just ordinary and flat. The characters never came to life, the main character was annoyingly wet, and the description of the minutiae became tedious rather than illuminating. I guessed what the 'event' was quite quickly and it was not particularly interesting or momentous. How this book could be life-changing (except it seems for the publishers and author) is a mystery to me.

Remarkable Thing
Jon McGregor has a lightness of touch in the way he is able to weave stories. The novel has the feel of a Shakespearean tragedy. The terrible moment seems inevitable and we are led to it cinematically - sometimes in slow-motion - through windows and along pavements.

I found it an interesting and involving read.

Poetry in Motion
It is simply a beautiful read. Read it for the language and the plot - then again just for the language. The language is so evocative in itself that the plot - which some find light - is scarcely relevant. For all that, I don't agree. The plot covers a brief instant, but the author delves into the emotional lives of everyone directly or tangentially involved on the day to build up the tension as we approach that same instant.