Mention Books Conducive To Human Croquet
Original Title: | Human Croquet |
ISBN: | 0312186886 (ISBN13: 9780312186883) |
Edition Language: | English URL http://www.kateatkinson.co.uk/books/info/?t=Human-Croquet |
Setting: | Warwickshire, England |
Kate Atkinson
Paperback | Pages: 352 pages Rating: 3.72 | 8792 Users | 719 Reviews
Chronicle During Books Human Croquet
New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year Part fairy tale, part mystery, part coming-of-age novel, this novel tells the story of Isobel Fairfax, a girl growing up in Lythe, a typical 1960s British suburb. But Lythe was once the heart of an Elizabethan feudal estate and home to a young English tutor named William Shakespeare, and as Isobel investigates the strange history of her family, her neighbors, and her village, she occasionally gets caught in Shakespearean time warps. Meanwhile, she gets closer to the shocking truths about her missing mother, her war-hero father, and the hidden lives of her close friends and classmates. A stunning feat of imagination and storytelling, Kate Atkinson's Human Croquet is rich with the disappointments and possibilities every family shares.
Describe Regarding Books Human Croquet
Title | : | Human Croquet |
Author | : | Kate Atkinson |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 352 pages |
Published | : | November 12th 1999 by Picador (first published 1997) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Fantasy. Historical. Historical Fiction. Science Fiction. Time Travel. Literary Fiction. Contemporary. European Literature. British Literature |
Rating Regarding Books Human Croquet
Ratings: 3.72 From 8792 Users | 719 ReviewsArticle Regarding Books Human Croquet
If you loved Atkinson's Life After Life or John Crowley's Little, Big, you have to read this immediately. The jacket copy hooked me like crazy, but the book isn't exactly as advertised. It's just as good, though weirder and more impressionistic than I expected--but with enough threads of story to keep me hooked. I'm a plot junkie, but in Atkinson's hands I enjoyed the flights of micro-to-macro, universe-spanning fancy nearly as much as finding out "what happens next." Even when she's not writingHave you ever read a comedy of manners that involves time travel? Or a Gothic novel that takes place in the 1960s? Or a coming-of-age story whose rites of passage include meeting Shakespeare, witnessing several murders, burning down a house, and turning into a tree?Kate Atkinson once again blew me away with this book. I had just finished reading "Case Histories" (5 stars), an unforgettable non-traditional mystery and expertly woven tale of identity and attachment, when I found "Human Croquet" on
I've read a few books by English author, Kate Atkinson. I like her Jackson Brodie detective series which starts with Case Histories. I also enjoyed her first book, Behind the Scenes at the Museum very much. Human Croquet was her second published book. In some ways it's similar to Behind the Scenes, what with the past and present look at the Fairfax family, but you can also add a different touch, magic realism (at least it's catalogued under that genre). All in all it's an interesting, quirky

I'm a big fan of Kate Atkinson's witty prose and oddball characters, but I have to admit that this novel had a degree of weirdness beyond that found in those of her novels which I have read to date. In a mix of first person and third person narratives, it tells the story of Isobel Fairfax, a teenage girl from a most peculiar family, who finds herself unaccountably slipping through pockets of time. And that's the most easily understood part of the plot, because as time goes on, Isobel's life
I really enjoyed this book. It is well written and chock full of eccentric characters realistically rendered. I'm rather fond of teenage characters( all those years of teaching high school) and Isobel is an endearing narrator . Her wry and witty perceptions of life prevent the tragic experiences she encounters from becoming too overwhelmingly depressing.While I expected time travel to play a more significant role in the book it seemed almost an afterthought . I usually don't enjoy that type of
Here's the thing. I really enjoyed 'Case Histories,' and was looking forward to reading Human Croquet. Anticipated it.But here's the rub, and this is the spoiler so don't read past here if you don't want to know, I think it's very bad form to mislead your reader. Less than a third of the way through the story something happens that the reader isn't told about. We continue reading thinking we are still in real life, when in reality everything that happens from that point in the story only happens
Human Croquet is as good as Life After Life, which is right up there with my top fifty of all time. Kate Atkinson once again plays wondrous games with time and place, moving from era to century to event as she explores multiple levels of character and consciousness.Isobel Fairfax is the teen-age daughter of Gordon and Eliza Fairfax, living in a house situated near a wood named Arden. All conveniently coincidental, since Fairfax was once Shakespeare's patron, and the area was once part of his
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