Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18789 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Synopsis
'Big, hilarious, intricate, furious, moving' - "Guardian". Telling the stories of the wealthy Winshaw family, "What A Carve Up!" is a riveting social satire on the chattering and all-powerful upper classes.

Customer Reviews

Interesting idea
On the whole i quite enjoyed this book but i did find it a bit long - the chapters that tell the narrator's story are the best because he is a real person with problems, whereas the other sections focus on increasingly despicable characters and are quite difficult to read, i refer particularly to the section about Dorothy - vegetarians be warned it does not make for comfortable reading.

the idea behind the text is interesting as Coe uses different forms of text to build up the story. I would definitely recommend it, if only for the last part which reads like a cheesy horror film - good fun though!

Surprisingly Good
I've read one other Jonathan Coe book, and was not impressed. However, I can honestly say that I enjoyed this book immensely, despite the fact that I was prepared not to.

Coe's story surrounds the protagonist, a reclusive author with much emotional baggage, and his research into the aristocratic Winshaw family. The novel is both a stark political comment on Thatcherite Britain as well as a very well-woven story.

The Winshaws are a caricature of themselves in attitude and behaviour and whilst they plunder the country under conservative policy, they represent Coe's social comment. Although Coe's criticism of conservatism does risk being crudely didactic (in a sixth-form politics type-of-way), it doesn't seem to be out of place within the context of the plot. The story itself, which keeps the politics on the ground, is in itself excellent, springing colourful characters and twists with every turn.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It was highly engaging and although probably not quite worthy of the prefix "classic", gets pretty close. For this reason, I would have given it 4 1/2 stars, but because I can't and because I enjoyed it so much, "What a Carve Up" gets 5 stars.

Christie + Wodehouse + Waugh + Hitchens = A Great Novel
The shifting fortunes of England between WWII and the early 1990s is the subject of this broad, complex, genre-blending, scathing, and hilarious satire from one of Britain's best contemporary writers. The framework for this is a fictitious Yorkshire family, whose tentacles extend deeply into politics, media, and the corporate world. The Winshaws include: Arms dealer Mark, MP Henry, widely-read columnist Hilary, investment banker Thomas, art dealer Roddy, industrial poultry executive Dorothy, and institutionalized Tabitha. Struggling novelist Michael Owen is commissioned by Tabitha to write the family history, and in the course of his research, Owen comes to realize that the Winshaws are "wretched, lying, thieving, self-advancing" elites whose actions embody the decline of the country.

In a dizzying feat of narrative, we learn of the Winshaws' private and public lives, how they all intersect, and especially how intellectually and morally shallow they each are. For example, via Hilary, we see the rise of Murdoch-style tabloid journalism, via Thomas the insider trading scandals, and via Henry, the trainwreck of Tory/Thatcherite economic policies. But as if this wasn't enough to keep the reader's attention, the story also works in a mystery involving two mysterious deaths, and a strange running congruence to the 1961 comedy film What A Carve Up! The result is a whirlwind of genres, including old-fashioned Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, P.G. Wodehouse-style comic novel, Evelyn Waugh-style social satire, and Christopher Hitchens-style political polemic, all of which combine for a thoroughly entertaining read.

Some may find fault in Coe's ripe and vivid portrayal of this family of scoundrels, but it's entirely in keeping with the satiric and farcical tone of the work. More importantly, it's entirely in keeping with the political nature of the story, for this is that rarest of beasts, a thoroughly entertaining political novel. Coe unabashedly lays the blame for social woes at the feet of the businessmen (and women), politicians, and pundits who profited throughout the "greed is good" '80 and '90s as the poor grew poorer. And if anything, the twelve plus years since its publication only vindicate his selection of targets as -- at least in America -- we have experienced war based on politically-based lies, ever-increasing consolidation and dumbing down of the media, corporate fraud on a massive scale, bioengineering of food -- all of which are directly attacked in the novel. A wonderful novel, one well worth rereading every few years.

Note: Originally titled "What a Carve Up!" in the UK, the book was retitled as "The Winshaw Legacy" for the US.