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Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Too much waffle An interesting premise and a great basis for a novel, but I found this too dragged out and laborious. Cutting it by about half might have made for an excellent read. Mike Engelby is a loner.
As he leads us through the traumas of his childhood and school days and then on into his time at Cambridge University, we start to see chinks in his personality. He has no close friends and seems a bit autistic, possibly a touch schizophrenic. He starts to drink heavily and take 'blue pills' regularly. He... more info
Wow! I loved this, and really have nothing more to add to the positive comments so far posted. This is my first reading of Sebastian Faulks. I was not sure if I would like it, as had been told about (although not read) Birdsong, which didn't really appeal. However, bought this on the strength of seeing several positive reviews. I found it an engrossing read, managed to find some sympathy for the unappealing central character, enjoyed the elegance of Faulks' prose and his ability to evoke period detail of the 70s... more info
An excellent read I agree with the other positive reviews of this book, initially I thought: "Why should I care about this character" but as the novel unfolds, so the ability to put the book down diminishes. This was the second Faulks book I have read and I have just completed my third, he is certainly a talented author. The ending was excellent - obviously I don't want to give too much away - but I was never quite sure whether it is actually the things that happened to Engleby, or it's how he imagines they COULD have... more info
Review This is the first Faulks novel I have read, and was inspired to do so on the strength of a favourable review in The Spectator. We see the life of the protagonist during his schooldays, childhood, student days and afterwards. There is sympathy for the character, but he also has a number of unpleasant traits, too. So our regard for him alternates. The novel can be confusing as it shifts back and forth in time, sometimes without any indication and it only becomes apparent after a few pages. One oddity is that... more info
