Scan barcode
dhall58's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
davidsteinsaltz's review against another edition
4.0
Aiming to be a vast panorama of life in the modern capital, and how it is shaped by access to capital in the other sense, it has many wonderful moments that don't quite add up to as much as I had hoped. Lanchester is a remarkably generous writer, and even the characters who start out as comic cliches get their redeeming moments.
twrighty90's review against another edition
reflective
slow-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
annie_explores's review against another edition
3.0
This is an interesting book to read during a government shutdown, recalling the time just before the global economic situation—not to mention everything we thought we knew about politics—collapsed. Certain themes, such as the Younts' over-the-top expenditures and Zbigniew's secret stock portfolio, really make you want to yell into the pages, Stop! You fools! The naïveté of these times is sometimes hard to read about, but also impossible not to read about.
That said, I was disappointed by the somewhat trite storylines and the characters, which seemed undeveloped. There were so many characters, and ultimately not much to know about each one. I expected the book to be a kind of soul searching of the collective psyche in the months before the stock market crash, but instead found myself very entertained by the book while not thinking very hard about the serious issues it touched on but stopped short of giving a thoughtful consideration of.
That said, I was disappointed by the somewhat trite storylines and the characters, which seemed undeveloped. There were so many characters, and ultimately not much to know about each one. I expected the book to be a kind of soul searching of the collective psyche in the months before the stock market crash, but instead found myself very entertained by the book while not thinking very hard about the serious issues it touched on but stopped short of giving a thoughtful consideration of.
tsharris's review against another edition
4.0
At first I wasn't sure if Lanchester would be able to get beneath the skin of his characters, who at first glance seemed to be little more than stereotypes. It also at times felt a little too much like the film 'Babel' - look at our globalized world! But the deeper in, the more compellingly fleshed out his characters seemed, the more real the human drama became - I don't know if I've ever really read an account of a child having to care for a dying parent quite like the one found here.
mrhumpage's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable. Much lighter than I was expecting and perhaps a generous 4 but the multiple narratives are very familiar as a Londoner, and they are interwoven well.
jenn756's review against another edition
4.0
I can imagine John Lanchester sitting in a café watching the world go by, and wondering about the lives of everyone he sees. You do it sometimes if your terrace faces a busy street and it is warm enough to sit out without being uncomfortable. Well now Lanchester has written down all these musings in book format. It is an attempt at a snapshot of a city in motion and a pretty good one on the whole, light-hearted and gentle without being sentimental. Timely too, for London is changing rapidly – I know it’s always changed rapidly but it’s on warp speed now.
He has a huge cast of characters, a sort of Dickensian cast, obviously not the range of Dickens but even Dickens was not above the odd stereotype. They mainly live on one street – Pepys Street. So there is the posh city banker and his spendthrift wife; their Nanny; a Polish builder; an elderly woman dying of a brain tumour; the Nigerian dissident working as a traffic warden and the Asian family working the family shop. All the characters are sympathetic, even the spendthrift wife has her moments. I have the feeling Lanchester is a kind-hearted man. There is a definite two tier society – the wealthy house owners and people who service them (mainly foreign). It is interesting to note at one point the banker character, Roger Yount, realises he has never walked down his own street before. The story of the elderly lady touched a cord with me, having been in a similar situation as Mary, her daughter. Very sensitively done I thought.
I know it is has acquired mixed reviews but all I can say is I thoroughly enjoyed Capital. A sort of pool-side book, when you don’t want something too taxing.
He has a huge cast of characters, a sort of Dickensian cast, obviously not the range of Dickens but even Dickens was not above the odd stereotype. They mainly live on one street – Pepys Street. So there is the posh city banker and his spendthrift wife; their Nanny; a Polish builder; an elderly woman dying of a brain tumour; the Nigerian dissident working as a traffic warden and the Asian family working the family shop. All the characters are sympathetic, even the spendthrift wife has her moments. I have the feeling Lanchester is a kind-hearted man. There is a definite two tier society – the wealthy house owners and people who service them (mainly foreign). It is interesting to note at one point the banker character, Roger Yount, realises he has never walked down his own street before. The story of the elderly lady touched a cord with me, having been in a similar situation as Mary, her daughter. Very sensitively done I thought.
I know it is has acquired mixed reviews but all I can say is I thoroughly enjoyed Capital. A sort of pool-side book, when you don’t want something too taxing.
gahreading's review against another edition
3.0
An enjoyable read. Cruise material that dosnt require a lot of thought.
thecesspit's review against another edition
4.0
A series of lives linked by a road in London. Each story interlinks with the others based on the location, sometimes a lot, sometimes hardly at all, just like real life neighbours.
restlessreader's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5