decorrookie's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
cathdm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
kristi_mac_mikey's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bookwormlukas's review against another edition
3.0
It’s always interesting to read a new author and not really know what to expect. Reading the synopsis for this novel, it sort of gives you the impression that you’re going to get a bit of a low-key thriller involving a creepy kid, but what you really get is an examination of loneliness through the eyes of someone who has been abandoned by those around him (albeit because he IS very creepy) and the breakdown of village life by an outsider who knows and uses all their secrets.
Timothy Gedge is quite the creation, half annoying child - half master blackmailer, Trevor imbues the character with a commendable level of spunk, whilst also making sure to keep the creep factor at a level that never tips over into likability. He’s always just a little *too* weird, or a little *too* calculated for you to get behind how he goes about attempting to destroy his fellow villagers lives, resulting in a novel full of characters who can best be described as ‘grey’.
It’s an interesting tale that truthfully took me a little while to fully immerse myself in, and if there’s anything negative to say here it’s that it simply began to end just as it began to truly engage me, resulting in a finale that felt a little deflated considering the expectations that had risen as the novel continued.
Overall, Trevor is definitely an author I plan to read a bit more of, especially since his novels now come in all MATCHING editions! Thank you publisher, you’ve done good work
Timothy Gedge is quite the creation, half annoying child - half master blackmailer, Trevor imbues the character with a commendable level of spunk, whilst also making sure to keep the creep factor at a level that never tips over into likability. He’s always just a little *too* weird, or a little *too* calculated for you to get behind how he goes about attempting to destroy his fellow villagers lives, resulting in a novel full of characters who can best be described as ‘grey’.
It’s an interesting tale that truthfully took me a little while to fully immerse myself in, and if there’s anything negative to say here it’s that it simply began to end just as it began to truly engage me, resulting in a finale that felt a little deflated considering the expectations that had risen as the novel continued.
Overall, Trevor is definitely an author I plan to read a bit more of, especially since his novels now come in all MATCHING editions! Thank you publisher, you’ve done good work
booktwitcher23's review against another edition
3.0
If you liked books like The Cement Garden, you will like this book. My 3 star rating actually would equate to a 7 out of 10, as this is William Trevor at his usual good human observation, but with a creepy twist!
arirang's review against another edition
3.0
Those who didn't like gravy were indicated also, for there was often trouble where gravy was concerned.
My first William Trevor novel, read for the Trevor vs. Ali Smith knockout round of the 2019 Mookse Madness (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/333086?group_id=186163) - except this book turned out to have been eliminated in a previous round and advanced by mistake.
Set in the early 1970s, the novel is set in the fictional small sea-side town of Dynmouth. Part of the novel's attraction, read 45 years later and as someone who was born at the same time as the 4 year old twins featured in the story, is how Trevor very much captures England at that time. On the one hand meals-on-wheels, and Opportunity Knocks and on the other the local gang, the Dynmouth Hards, who regularly attack the one non-white face in the town ‘the Pakistani from the steam laundry’ as part of an almost checklist-based regime of menace:
- leathers on - tick
- girlfriend on back of bike - tick
- attack the man from the laundry - tick
- terrorise the local nurse - tick
- spray pay racist graffiti - tick
- destroy a bench - tick
But the plot is driven by 15-year old Timothy Gedge, a memorable if not entirely realistic creation, who devises a bizarre and disturbing routine for the local talent show and then proceeds to blackmail most of the local residents with secrets observed in his wanderings around town (including a married man to whom Gedge's revelation of his true sexuality seems as big a surprise to the man as it is to his wife) in order to obtain the props he needs.
The black humour and disturbing story is rather muted by a thread that concerns the local clergyman and his wife - the former concerned at his impotence in being able to genuinely help his parishioners, and something of a redemptive ending to the novel involving the latter.
Worthwhile but no Ali Smith. 3.5 stars
My first William Trevor novel, read for the Trevor vs. Ali Smith knockout round of the 2019 Mookse Madness (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/333086?group_id=186163) - except this book turned out to have been eliminated in a previous round and advanced by mistake.
Set in the early 1970s, the novel is set in the fictional small sea-side town of Dynmouth. Part of the novel's attraction, read 45 years later and as someone who was born at the same time as the 4 year old twins featured in the story, is how Trevor very much captures England at that time. On the one hand meals-on-wheels, and Opportunity Knocks and on the other the local gang, the Dynmouth Hards, who regularly attack the one non-white face in the town ‘the Pakistani from the steam laundry’ as part of an almost checklist-based regime of menace:
- leathers on - tick
- girlfriend on back of bike - tick
- attack the man from the laundry - tick
- terrorise the local nurse - tick
- spray pay racist graffiti - tick
- destroy a bench - tick
But the plot is driven by 15-year old Timothy Gedge, a memorable if not entirely realistic creation, who devises a bizarre and disturbing routine for the local talent show and then proceeds to blackmail most of the local residents with secrets observed in his wanderings around town (including a married man to whom Gedge's revelation of his true sexuality seems as big a surprise to the man as it is to his wife) in order to obtain the props he needs.
The black humour and disturbing story is rather muted by a thread that concerns the local clergyman and his wife - the former concerned at his impotence in being able to genuinely help his parishioners, and something of a redemptive ending to the novel involving the latter.
Worthwhile but no Ali Smith. 3.5 stars
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