Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #443 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-07
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Evening Standard: Rev'd Catherine Shoard
`It's a resolutely unpretentious read: drily, almost flatly funny,
but with a deep, sharp humanity...'

The Independent
One of the '50 best holiday reads'

The Daily Telegraph
'[a] comedy of suburban manners'

Customer Reviews

A fun read, but lacking real emotion
When starting to read this book I thought that I was in for a real treat - an every day story told with charm, wit and clever insights into modern life.

But it carries on in that way for 500 pages without ever managing to develop the characters into people you really care about or genuinely believe in.

It has a lot going for it, but I doubt that its one that will stick in my mind or that I'd consider re-reading.

You could develop psychological problems reading this book!
I had never read any of Mark Haddon's books before so I did not know what to expect. I took this on holiday to read for fun and ended up feeling as though I was having a nervous breakdown caused by this dysfunctional family!

It developed like a soap opera with one unbelievable episode following on from the next. George really depressed me and I did not find his character tenable.

However there were some amusing aspects to the story and a few illuminating insights in this book - particularly the life-like way Jamie's character developed.

I was assured by a fellow holiday maker that I would enjoy "The curious incident ..." so I will give it a try.

A heart warming and hilarious novel
George has just entered retirement and likes to spend his time building his studio at the bottom of his garden. He lives with his wife Jean who works part time in a bookshop. He has a son, Jamie, who is homosexual and a daughter, Katie who is about to marry a guy who the family doesn't approve of. The story is told in the weeks leading up to the wedding and shows all the problems that the family experience on the way. George finds a growth on his side and begins to believe he is dying of cancer, even though his GP has said it is eczema , leading him into a deep pit of depression, paranoia and suicidal thinking. Jean is having an affair with George's old work colleague, David, and is undecided whether to leave George for a new life or not. Katie and Ray have many of their own problems, mainly based on insecurity and jealousy, so the wedding preperations are not going too smoothly, as well as looking after her young son jacob. Jamie's boyfriend Tony dumps him after getting insulted that Jamie doesn't want him at the wedding. Each of the short chapters is from the third person perspectives of each of the different family members and Ray, giving their thoughts and emotions through all of these tradgic, funny and sometimes strange scenarios.

I love this book. I am already a massive fan of Mark Haddon's first adult novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, (which is probably one of my top 10 favourite books of all time that I read once a year), and although this book is completely different to his other book, it feels very familiar with Haddon's dark whit and touches very closely on some very serious subjects. The characters are all wonderful but could easily be anyone you know in your everyday life, making the story a lot more realistic and more believeable as everything that happens in the book could easily happen in real life. A lot of issues such as cancer scares, loneliness, nervous breakdowns, affairs, and pre-marriage jitters are covered here and are written in such a way that although they are uncomfortable subjects to read about Haddon puts a light-hearted and comical tint to them to make them a lot more pleasent and even funny to read about in these scenes.

Overall this is yet another great book from the brilliant Mark Haddon and I can't wait for him to write another, as alongside TCIOTDITNT this is one of the best pieces of recent British fiction I've read and one that will definitely be added to my "read once a year" pile.