Product Description

The Book of Other People is just that: a book of other people. Open its covers and you’ll make a whole host of new acquaintances. Nick Hornby and Posy Simmonds present the ever-diverging writing life of Jamie Johnson; Hari Kunzru twitches open his net curtains to reveal the irrepressible Magda Mandela (at 4:30a.m., in her lime-green thong); Jonathan Safran Foer's Grandmother offers cookies to sweeten the tale of her heart scan; and Dave Eggers, George Saunders, David Mitchell, Colm Tóibín, A.M. Homes, Chris Ware and many more each have someone to introduce to you, too. With an introduction by Zadie Smith and brand-new stories from over twenty of the best writers of their generation from both sides of the Atlantic, The Book of Other People is as dazzling and inventive as its authors, and as vivid and wide-ranging as its characters.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81130 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
A highly enjoyable alchemy (The London Paper )

'The Book of Other People is a readable, often comic, but seriously weighty anthology' Spectator

Novel and touching and fun (Sunday Times )

Review
`A roll-call of the hip and the smart on both sides of the Atlantic fills this charity anthology of short stories'.

About the Author
Zadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975, and continues to live in the area. She is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man and On Beauty. All proceeds from The Book of Other People will go to 826 NYC, Dave Eggers' non-profit organisation dedicated to helping children with their reading and writing

Customer Reviews

Failiure to launch
I was excited by this book.

The cover art, the authors I've previously enjoyed (Toby Litt, Adam Thirlwell, A.M Holmes, Nick Hornby) and illustrations by Daniel Clowes and Posy Simmonds.

According to the blurb: "The Book of Other People" is just that: a book of other people. With an introduction by Zadie Smith and brand-new stories from over twenty of the best writers of their generation from both sides of the Atlantic, "The Book of Other People" is as dazzling and inventive as its authors, and as vivid and wide-ranging as its characters."

Although the characters and situations are wide-ranging this doesn't mean they're engaging.

Short stories are often seen as the less glamorous siblings of the novel but they're often a lot harder to master, and this is evident here.

The trouble is, it left me feeling bit flat. Whist there are some ace stories in here, I get the feeling that some of these writers are so sued to having a full novel to flesh a character and their story out, that having a short story to make their mark was perhaps too much of a challenge.

David Mitchell's Judith Castle, Heidi Julavits Judge Gladys Park Schultz and Rhoda, By Jonathan Safran Foer really stood out, but the rest, whilst the actual writing is proficient, a fair few of the scenarios refused to lift off the page, with characters who weren't that interesting or believable, which was disappointing.

Interesting read
An interesting read. Lots of different perspectives on storytelling and on building characters. Nice concept. Of course there are some quite trivial stories in the book but also some very touching ones!

Disappointing
A nice collection of character snapshots, but overall quite hit-and-miss. Some of them are short stories in themselves, others are character sketches, and a few are really not worth reading.

A nice idea for a book and a great collection of contributors, but this is no one's best work.