Human Croquet
Oct. 15th, 2020 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI really enjoyed the other books by Kate Atkinson that I've read, so I thought I would try another. Unfortunately, Human Croquet didn't really work for me.
It starts with the big bang and spends the prologue summarising the whole history of the universe up to 1960, where the story supposedly actually starts. But then comes 30+ pages of many, many, many character introductions. These are well-drawn, but a bit overwhelming, especially with no plot to speak of, to ground any of the people in the story.
Once things finally do get going, I liked Isobel as a narrator. She has a quirky viewpoint and her narrative voice is strong. The author also does a masterful job of showing things to the reader that Isobel doesn't fully notice or properly understand, which is a difficult thing to do.
And the mysteries of Isobel's past and present did hold my interest in the middle section, where we gradually learn more about what has happened to her mother and what is going on in the other families in her neighbourhood.
The time travel aspects were confusing - not because of their existence, but because of their seeming irrelevance, since they only happen on three or four pages of the first 300 and then transform into something quite different by the end.
My main problem with the novel is that it gets progressively more and more unpleasant as it goes along. The last third became very difficult to read and I didn't feel as if the ending made that worth suffering through.
But others may not be as bothered by that as me, or may find it more meaningful than I did.
It starts with the big bang and spends the prologue summarising the whole history of the universe up to 1960, where the story supposedly actually starts. But then comes 30+ pages of many, many, many character introductions. These are well-drawn, but a bit overwhelming, especially with no plot to speak of, to ground any of the people in the story.
Once things finally do get going, I liked Isobel as a narrator. She has a quirky viewpoint and her narrative voice is strong. The author also does a masterful job of showing things to the reader that Isobel doesn't fully notice or properly understand, which is a difficult thing to do.
And the mysteries of Isobel's past and present did hold my interest in the middle section, where we gradually learn more about what has happened to her mother and what is going on in the other families in her neighbourhood.
The time travel aspects were confusing - not because of their existence, but because of their seeming irrelevance, since they only happen on three or four pages of the first 300 and then transform into something quite different by the end.
My main problem with the novel is that it gets progressively more and more unpleasant as it goes along. The last third became very difficult to read and I didn't feel as if the ending made that worth suffering through.
But others may not be as bothered by that as me, or may find it more meaningful than I did.
