Product Description

With only a schizophrenic mother and a militantly hostile sister for backup, Hazel Sugden, food-splattered mum and queen of low self-esteem, is palpably unfit to save the future of mankind as we know it. But, when embryology, psychiatry and religion clash over the miracle designer drug Genetic Choice, the dysfunctional trio are propelled into action with explosively comic results.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #197448 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
'One preposterous event succeeds another in this ingenious and entertaining cautionary tale' The Times 'An assured, hilarious and insightful novel propelled along by the comic rhythm of the writing, you're carried on a crazy journey you won't be sorry you took' Time Out 'Entertaining with a wickedly black sense of humour' Observer 'Wonderfully dark a real page-turner, not for the squeamish' Helen Lederer

Observer
‘Entertaining … with a wickedly black sense of humour’

Scotland on Sunday
‘Very highly recommended … Egg Dancing is a superb, sad comedy’

Customer Reviews

Cracking good book (groan!)
The first compliment I pay a book is to recommend it to a friend, the second is to lend it and the third is to demand it back. I'm happy to report that Egg Dancing is back in my mitts for the moment but will be crossing the Thames again very shortly.

The friend who read this book commented about halfway through "I like the fact that you are never sure who is the crazy one". That is exactly the fun in reading this book. Is she crazy? Is he crazy? Are they crazy? Perhaps everyone is crazy - including the writer and the reader. Who knows? It's hard for a book to convey this, to be written so skillfully that you really aren't sure whether the narrator is telling the truth or the truth as she sees it and when exactly does one become the other, but Liz Jensen performs this conjurors trick with apparent ease. Like a magician's slight of hand she manipulates the readers sympathies so that one minute you are certain you know exactly what is going on and the next minute you are wide-eyed and gasping in confusion and rifling back through the pages to find the exact point at which the rules got changed. If you stand firm, however, and place your trust in the writer you will find yourself being gently steered back into reality once more. And all in all, it's a very pleasant trip!

I loved this book. It was a tense as any thriller, as funny as any comic and as touching as only a really good book can be. If I give it 4 stars not 5 it is only because I feel sure there is even better to come from this extremely talented and unusual writer.

(Actually, haveing read Paper Eater and currently ploughing through Ark Baby I can confirm that this is indeed the case)

Buy it, read it, lend it . . . but make sure you get it back!

Cracking good book (groan!)
The first compliment I pay a book is to recommend it to a friend, the second is to lend it and the third is to demand it back. I'm happy to report that Egg Dancing is back in my mitts for the moment but will be crossing the Thames again very shortly.

The friend who read this book commented about halfway through "I like the fact that you are never sure who is the crazy one". That is exactly the fun in reading this book. Is she crazy? Is he crazy? Are they crazy? Perhaps everyone is crazy - including the writer and the reader. Who knows? It's hard for a book to convey this, to be written so skillfully that you really aren't sure whether the narrator is telling the truth or the truth as she sees it and when exactly does one become the other, but Liz Jensen performs this conjurors trick with apparent ease. Like a magician's slight of hand she manipulates the readers sympathies so that one minute you are certain you know exactly what is going on and the next minute you are wide-eyed and gasping in confusion and rifling back through the pages to find the exact point at which the rules got changed. If you stand firm, however, and place your trust in the writer you will find yourself being gently steered back into reality once more. And all in all, it's a very pleasant trip!

I loved this book. It was a tense as any thriller, as funny as any comic and as touching as only a really good book can be. If I give it 4 stars not 5 it is only because I feel sure there is even better to come from this extremely talented and unusual writer.

(Actually, haveing read Paper Eater and currently ploughing through Ark Baby I can confirm that this is indeed the case)

Buy it, read it, lend it . . . but make sure you get it back!

All men should read this!
Jensen is a master. And I know I shouldn't use that word but I want to avoid saying that she is a mistress. She is not. She is always in control of this book, taking the reader through all sorts of emotional states and happenings, which men would usually shy away from. Yes, it is a book about an irretrievably female predicament (pregnancy) but forthat reason men should read it; men should read it to undersatnd the range of emotions that can be felt and the profound effect childbearing has on the mother and all around her. It also has a delightfully aggressive side to it, a power which I think a male reader would not expect from such a book. This is a great read and truly thought-provoking. [...]