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The Rain Before It Falls

by: Jonathan Coe

June 05, 2008
More than two thirds into the story,Rosamond the woman who tells the story in the book begins a chapter with the following words:
"Thank goodness! I am growing tired of this story, and you must be exhausted,listening to me chatter on for hours on end. (....) It will be over now,all over , very soon.A relief all round ,I am sure."
There is not much to add really , this is exactly how I felt after 200 pages - rarely have I witnesed a more contrived story and as little character development as in this book .
As a great admirer of Coe's previous work I can only advise readers to stay away from this one and read any other of his books which are all great (especially House of sleep,The rotter's club and What a carve up).

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What a Carve Up! (Penguin Celebrations)

by: Jonathan Coe

September 06, 2007
Reviewer Ross is the best on this one. There are umpteen levels to this book and it is the nearest one will get to a modern English picaresque novel. I think some of the other reviewers have missed the point (even though they have given it 5 stars, rightly) perhaps they lack the necessary biro - it is meant to be cartoon like, didactic on a 6th form level, etc etc. It s meant to be Dickensian. This is one of the best novels I have read in years. Above all, it is very funny in an Evelyn Waugh kind of way (another touchstone in the novel); figuring out the levels and references is half the fun.

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The Rotters' Club

by: Jonathan Coe

May 19, 2008
The first part of this book read like the Golden Years, a description of childhood through rose-tinted spectacles that all of us could wear about growing up decades ago. But this part is brought to a close with cataclysmic events that bring to the story closer to current life. The book then develops depths that I hadn't expected initially, combining a dark humour with the tragedy that made this a more stimulating read. Some of the deep divisions in 1970's society and the collapsing hierarchy are seen through an adolescent's eyes, that tarnish the initial golden years.

This is a mixture of observation of family life combined with commentary on a particular period of British history. The book builds some surprises and tells the story well. The only ... Read More:

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What a Carve Up! (Essential Penguin)

by: Jonathan Coe

February 22, 2001
On the whole i quite enjoyed this book but i did find it a bit long - the chapters that tell the narrator's story are the best because he is a real person with problems, whereas the other sections focus on increasingly despicable characters and are quite difficult to read, i refer particularly to the section about Dorothy - vegetarians be warned it does not make for comfortable reading.

the idea behind the text is interesting as Coe uses different forms of text to build up the story. I would definitely recommend it, if only for the last part which reads like a cheesy horror film - good fun though!

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The House of Sleep

by: Jonathan Coe

May 28, 1998
My main problem with this book was that it panders to my own left wing Yogurt weaving prejudices about 'the man' in very obvious way. For example the obviously Tory evil doctor has more akin to a private Eye cartoon character than even the worst Thatcher period minister. Please, Please, please, Mr Coe;
can we have some believable evil right wing villians to hate. That is if your not really a computer designed to cut and paste plots and characters
for the Guardian reading (me included), right on demographic to slobber over.

Might work better as a mini series on BBC two though.

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The Accidental Woman

by: Jonathan Coe

May 19, 2008
The central character in this book is odd, nothing really special about her, Coe often makes his characters fairly interesting but I'm guessing this is his first novel..

It's a good read, fairly sdlim book so it can be read within the week, but like all other Johnathan Coe's a slow start but once you get going, it's so brilliant you never want to stop reading, Not a patch on What a carve up but I'm looking forward to reading the rest of his novell's - the guy really is a groundbreaker in literature.

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The Rotters' Club

by: Jonathan Coe

March 19, 2002
I really thought I was going to like this book after the first page which made me chuckle. It's 2003 in Berlin. Two young people are sitting down to dinner and talking about their parents. One asks the other where he thinks they have gone. "Clubbing, probably. Checking out the techno places," says one. "Are you serious?" comes the reply. "Of course not. My dad's never been to a club in his life. The last album he bought was by Barclay James Harvest." "Who" "Exactly."

Now as anybody who knows me will testify I am more than a bit partial to BJH, as I would suggest the author is to have brought it up. And of course at the height of their career BJH were massive in Germany and in particular Berlin.

I suppose the fact that this is the most memorable part of ... Read More:

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The House of Sleep

by: Jonathan Coe

May 19, 2008
My main problem with this book was that it panders to my own left wing Yogurt weaving prejudices about 'the man' in very obvious way. For example the obviously Tory evil doctor has more akin to a private Eye cartoon character than even the worst Thatcher period minister. Please, Please, please, Mr Coe;
can we have some believable evil right wing villians to hate. That is if your not really a computer designed to cut and paste plots and characters
for the Guardian reading (me included), right on demographic to slobber over.

Might work better as a mini series on BBC two though.

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The Closed Circle

by: Jonathan Coe

May 19, 2008
Continuing the nostalgia-led theme of the Rotters Club into contemporary Britain was never going to be easy, but Jonathan Coe does a pretty good job. I couldn't help but feel disappointed with the direction that some of the characters went - sometimes things felt a bit contrived, hence the star knocked off.
Benjamin cuts a rather pathetic figure,unable to escape the past and his brother has become a Machiavellian New Labour sneak (is there any other kind of New Labour sneak?). Many of the other characters don't exactly carve out an Eden for themselves.
Lose ends are tied up, but perhaps not in a way which will sit easily with every reader.
One thing is for sure - to read this without having read the Rotters Club would be to rob yourself of a great experience. Why the publisher ... Read More:

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The Closed Circle

by: Jonathan Coe

June 02, 2005
Continuing the nostalgia-led theme of the Rotters Club into contemporary Britain was never going to be easy, but Jonathan Coe does a pretty good job. I couldn't help but feel disappointed with the direction that some of the characters went - sometimes things felt a bit contrived, hence the star knocked off.
Benjamin cuts a rather pathetic figure,unable to escape the past and his brother has become a Machiavellian New Labour sneak (is there any other kind of New Labour sneak?). Many of the other characters don't exactly carve out an Eden for themselves.
Lose ends are tied up, but perhaps not in a way which will sit easily with every reader.
One thing is for sure - to read this without having read the Rotters Club would be to rob yourself of a great experience. Why the publisher encourages ... Read More: