Product Description

That Mark Haddon's first book after The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was a poetry collection perhaps came as a surprise to his legions of fans; that it is a collection of such virtuosity and range did not. The gifts so admired in Haddon's prose are in strong evidence here too - the humanity of his voices, the dark humour and the uncanny ventriloquism - but Haddon is also a writer of considerable seriousness, lyric power and surreal invention, and The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea combines bittersweet love-lyrics, lucid and bold new versions of Horace, comic set-pieces, lullabies, wry postmodern shenanigans (including a note from the official board of censors on "18" certificate poetry), and an entire John Buchan novel condensed to five pages. Consolidating Haddon's reputation as our most powerful myth-weavers and spell-makers, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea also confirms him as one of the most outrageous and freewheeling imaginations at work in contemporary literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61076 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

Nick Laird, Daily Telegraph
..a collection so unusually funny, frank and wry, and so restlessly engaged with examining the received narratives of life.

From the Back Cover

All the gifts so admired in Haddon's prose are strongly in evidence in his first book of poetry – the humanity of his voices, his dark humour and uncanny ventriloquism – but Haddon is also a poet of considerable seriousness, lyric power and surreal invention. With bittersweet love-songs, comic set-pieces, lullabies, bold new versions of Horace, wry postmodern shenanigans (including a note from the official board of censors on '18' certificate poetry), and an entire John Buchan novel condensed to five pages, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea confirms Haddon's reputation as one of the sharpest and most consistently surprising imaginations at work in contemporary literature.

'Unusually funny, frank and wry, and restlessly engaged with examining the received narratives of life' NICK LAIRD, Daily Telegraph

About the Author

Mark Haddon is an author and scriptwriter who has written sixteen books, both for adults and children, and won two BAFTAS. He has received numerous awards for his bestselling novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, including Whitbread Book of The Year.

Customer Reviews

Short but sweet(ish)
I picked this book up in Singapore airport, and whilst its short, I found much of the prose poignant and thought provoking. I dont think its worth the gushing review on the cover, but I really enjoyed parts of it.

If anything, thats this books problem, its runs from being hit to miss from page to page. Even within poems, there can be two lines that would sweep me off my feet and take me away somewhere wonderful - and then there would be two lines that just didnt fit.

Take it with a pinch of salt and enjoy what is there, and its great. But a little hefty at £8!

Waste of my money
Granted, there were no customer reviews when I checked it out - only a short sentence by someone from the Daily Telegraph and the book's own synopsis - but, being someone who bought Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time when it was a fresh release in hardback and LOVED it, I expected...well, I'm not sure what I expected exactly. But not this.

Now, I'm an abstract kind of guy as it is, but this "poetry" hardly makes sense, and, when it does, is so unprofound it takes away any of the pleasure you'd normally get from working out riddles, clever word-plays, or whatever.

Based on the synopsis and Haddon's Whitbread prize winner, I expected a book full of creative and original beauty, something to be treasured and returned to over time. What I received was the kind of gibberish you'd expect from someone who's met Lucy in the sky with diamonds a bit too much lately.

To be fair, I'd correct the last paragraph and say that at least one of the poems were the kind you scribble in draft on the back of a paper napkin and don't return to.

I'm particularly annoyed because I also bought this book for a friend's birthday and now I'm sure I look like an idiot.

Don't buy this book. Good poetry - with it's inherent short lines and double spacing - is just about justifiable on an environmental basis. This isn't good poetry.

A breath of fresh air
i like this book a lot.

it's the first time for a long time that i've read a book of poems thru completely. the poems are quirky, thought-provoking, interesting, touching; as fresh and tingle-making as a winter sea. blew the cobwebs away.