Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18892 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 848 pages

Guardian
`A sprawling book, funny and frightening, strange and yet strangely unputdownable, this is one to loose yourself in'.

Scotland on Sunday
'...an ambitious, daring, delightful and compelling work...it is
fearfully gripping...'

Susan Mansfield
'Her books are experimental in style, endlessly inventive.'

Customer Reviews

Magnificent
I'm not going to go into long plot explanations - others have done it already far better than I could. I just want to say that this is a magnificent novel. I've not read any Nicola Barker before, and I was just blown away by the sheer audacity and exuberance of her prose. Yes, this book is long, but within a few pages I was completely gripped, barely able to put it down as it built up an exquisite dramatic tension. Barker develops, layer by layer, scene by scene, an almost anarchic assortment of characters, throws them together and shows us the unpredictable results. It's an almost cinematic approach to novel-writing, and makes for a demanding read - you work hard to piece together the clues scattered in her narrative - but it's totally engaging and thoroughly rewarding.

Not for a long time have I come across a writer with such a playful feel for language. Her observations, too, are startlingly fresh and apt. Yes, the novel does rely heavily on coincidence, but then so did Thomas Hardy. I don't think her aim is to be 'realistic'. We're drawn into a more magical and mysterious version of the 'real' world, and leave the novel both entranced and enriched by the experience.

Stunning
There is a huge amount that is exceptionally good in here, as some other reviewers have stated. However, it certainly is not just humour and history: the book is very poetic and has an extraordinarily poignant and, I think, topical ending. A truly brilliant achievement that is way up there with "Wide Open".

Big, but not clever...
Prior to reading Darkmans, I knew of Barker by reputation - and by the awards she has recieved and/or been nominated for - but was not familiar with her actual works. If Darkmans is anything to go by, I'd been lucky until now, and certainly won't be seeking to get any better acquainted with this particular author. By its rear-cover blurb, intriguing cover design and faintly irritating title, Darkmans looked and sounded intriguing - and the sheer level of critical praise that's apparantly been heaped upon it made it a must-read...
...But both the blurb and the acclaim must be for a different book. Darkmans is appalling. The plot is virtually non-existent, and what little of it is in evidence is unravelled sporadically and nonsensically via a neverending slew of dull, lifeless exchanges between some of the most laughably implausible and unlikeable characters ever committed to print. Which would be forgivable if Barker's prose and dialogue was anywhere near as clever as she thinks it is - but it's not. The dialogue is clumsy and inept (and bears precisely zero resemblance to actual human interaction) and the writing on the whole is crippled by a comically pointless reliance on parenthesis, equally inane use of spacing - mostly in order to interject monosyllabic thought processes - and a general misuse of grammar, punctuation and meaning that makes reading this book an experience of unparralleled frustration. It's odd that the author has gone to such lengths to remove any entertainment value from this novel, or indeed anything that would make this a pleasurable reading experience. The only use I can see for this book, is of a prime example of how not to write.
I must confess, I gave up on it about halfway through (making this one of only three or four books I have ever given up on), so maybe I'm missing some grand revelation or point that would have made sense of it all. Frankly, I don't care; this book has rendered me numb and disheartened...and perhaps a little bit angry.