Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1391 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Synopsis
'What I want you to have, Imogen, above all, is a sense of your own history; a sense of where you come from, and of the forces that made you'. Rosamund lies dying in her remote Shropshire home. But before she does so, she has one last task: to put on tape not just her own story but the story of the young blind girl, her cousin's granddaughter, who turned up mysteriously at her party all those years ago. This is a story of generations, of the relationships within a family - and of what goes to make a child. Called 'the best English novelist of his generation' by Nick Hornby, Jonathan Coe extends his range in this magnificent account of a Shropshire family in the last half of the twentieth century.

Customer Reviews

Evocative and well crafted...
Having previously read "What A Carve Up!" and "The House Of Sleep", I expected Jonathan Coe's latest to be more quality fiction laced with his slightly mischievous, surreal edge.

So, that "Before The Rain Falls" is a more traditional, straightforward (although no less memorable) book came initially as a bit of a shock. Still, I found it a moving and enjoyable novel. The switch from first to third person narratively is handled deftly throughout and, without wishing to give anything away, using a series of old photographs to unfold the narrative was a slightly teasing, but very clever, plot device. For anyone who has looked through an old photograph album that has laid dormant for several years, you know how the feeling of nostalgia and memory over takes you - and he replicates that feeling well here.

I've always found Coe an unusual, but always interesting and entertaining writer and "Before The Rain Falls" is well worth a read.

Disappointing male stereo types were not up to the job
J Coe is male but he is hard on his own sex - the men in this book are not the best. Perhaps one or two are ok types but they lie low. The big secret of Rosamund is not so very shocking and the only thing slightly iffy is whether she did did do what Beatrix thought she saw her do.. Ungrateful, damaged, hard and frightening women abound, luckily slightly to the left of the Executrice herself. A multi layered story that was worth the telling with plenty of delightful period detail to set the scenes. Satisfying and enjoyable, the dissection of various mother / daughter relationships was worth the trouble. The setting out of their feelings was accepting and understanding. I went on thinking about it all afterwards (read it overnight) and will read it again less hurriedly to enjoy the writing.

not a bad holiday read
not a patch on house of sleep, what a carve up or rotters club. however the photographic descriptions made compelling reading. what was disappointing was the poor and somewhat twee ending; i've got to hand it to coe because he tied up all those loose ends but there wasn't much of a twist in the tale and was a little predictable. don't buy it, borrow it from your library, if only for a holiday read.