Details Books Conducive To Emotionally Weird
Original Title: | Emotionally Weird |
ISBN: | 031227999X (ISBN13: 9780312279998) |
Edition Language: | English |
Kate Atkinson
Paperback | Pages: 368 pages Rating: 3.45 | 6617 Users | 631 Reviews
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Title | : | Emotionally Weird |
Author | : | Kate Atkinson |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 368 pages |
Published | : | July 6th 2001 by Picador (first published 2000) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Scotland. Contemporary. Mystery |
Ilustration To Books Emotionally Weird
A hilarious and utterly original novel about mothers, daughters, and love, by the author of Life After Life. On a weather-beaten island off the coast of Scotland, Effie and her mother, Nora, take refuge in the large, mouldering house of their ancestors and tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear--like who her real father was. Effie tells various versions of her life at college, where in fact she lives in a lethargic relationship with Bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed, and to whom Klingons are as real as Spaniards and Germans. But as mother and daughter spin their tales, strange things are happening around them. Is Effie being followed? Is someone killing the old people? And where is the mysterious yellow dog? In a brilliant comic narrative which explores the nonsensical power of language and meaning, Kate Atkinson has created another magical masterpiece.Rating Out Of Books Emotionally Weird
Ratings: 3.45 From 6617 Users | 631 ReviewsCriticism Out Of Books Emotionally Weird
Well, I just don't know. I finished this a few days ago and I am still trying to make up my mind. I have enjoyed all the other Atkinson books I have read and I enjoyed this - kind of. It was a bit like picking at a spot in a way, I was getting pleasure from it but I couldn't say why. To be honest there was a section in the middle where I would have given up if I'd been the sort of person who gives up on books, this only happens when they are very,very dire. This certainly wasn't that, theThere are many stories being told simultaneously in this layered novel from Kate Atkinson. The main tale is spun by narrator Effie about her life in college as an English major and a series of quirky events that somehow led her to the remote Scottish island where she is telling this story to her mother Nora. Segments of a novel Effie is writing, as well as entertaining samplings of the literary explorations of her peers, are mixed within Effie's tale. But Effie's narrative is also broken up by
At times the epithet clever is used to belittle a novels worth. Certainly not in this case, for Atkinsons cleverness plays an intricate role in Emotionally Weirds theme of just what is fiction. A student in a class I taught commented after reading this book that the novel was having a dialogue with itself. That is perfectly correct. Everything--from the narrator Effies paper on Henry Jamess assessment of Middlemarch as forsaking plot, to Noras urgent comments to hurry the plot along, to the
I've loved the Kate Atkinson books I've read but this is the weakest one so far. It is very funny, I laughed out loud a couple of times which is something I rarely do when reading and often had a smile on my face. However, it was so slow moving. The main story (literally a story within the story) is of the main protagonist's last year at University the majority of which has little or nothing to do with the plot whatsoever. In contrast, the ending felt rushed, too much information in too short a
I have yet to encounter a Kate Atkinson book I didnt like. This one no exception. It is a post-modern comic novel, dealing with post-modernism in the only way a serious author can. By relentlessly taking the piss.If that were all it was, it wouldnt be much. But the post-modern pisstake is merely a framework to hang a much more humane and observational humour. The story is about a girl and her mother, a book she is writing and a story she is telling. Or somethng like that it takes a little while
I was disappointed and it was an effort to get through to the end.Although Kate Atkinson is rarely dull, this novel is meandering and comes perilously close to being self-indulgent.It's as if the writer is having so much fun recalling her own time as an English student, satirising her would-be-radical classmates and dysfunctional lecturers, that she loses sight of the fact that this territory has been thoroughly covered by other novelists. (It's like a post-modernist take on David Lodge.)
I'm about 2/3 of the way through and I have guffawed and giggled hysterically more while reading this than I have in the past five years altogether. I've HAD to read passages out loud to my poor husband when all he wanted to do was sleep or check his emails. My dog and cat wonder what the heck is causing my bizarre behavior, as I've been hitherto a calmish person. I sure hope Atkinson can bring this to a good conclusion, but even if she can't, I'll be grateful for what she's done so far. Review
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