Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87694 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-07
• Binding: Hardcover
• 528 pages

Thelondonpaper Thelondonpaper
'A compulsive page turner . . . dark and playful'

Kirkus
'Donna Tartt goes postmodern ... Sharp, snappy fun for the literary-minded'

Jonathan Franzen
'Beneath the foam of this exuberant debut is a dark, strong drink'

Customer Reviews

A Great Read
There's no accounting for taste, - I mean, 1 star - ugh! This is a great read and really rattles along towards the end. The 'pretentious' writing style (trope overkill) is deliberate (and fun, if you go with it) - as the characters have, quite literally, their own pretentions - and that's why the 'overwritten' style works - Duh! OK, you need to get past the 200 page mark and from there on in, I assure you, it gets fast and dark. You also have to work out what is going on, - I'm not so sure some people could handle that, judging by some of the reviews here.

Frustrating
I found myself flipping forward pages just to get past all the coma inducing digressions and references in the hope of finding some skeleton of a story. (P.S I didnt)Seriously has the author ever heard of editing? What a total mess!

Stick with it... it's fantastic!
Although there are already lots of reviews of this book, I just had to add my own, if only to boost the average rating which at the time of writing (3 stars) is unjustifiably low. I think the trick with this (and all??) books is to try it for its own sake, not to uncover a worthy understudy to a favourite read. It might take a little getting into, being peppered with references to various novels and films, but it's absolutely, certainly, 100% worth it. This is absorbing, original and takes some great twists and turns. It's not a conventional whodunnit, nor the usual coming-of-age tale of adolescence and high school, but it has great characters, sharp observations and a plot that's smooth, tense and crackling all at the same time.