Reviews

To Battersea Park by Philip Hensher

nherbs's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

hannahdavey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

flomc's review

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

meepsharrison's review

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

indy_oc's review

challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

stechu___'s review against another edition

Loan ran out on book

lucyekh's review

emotional reflective sad 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? No

3.0

tomstbr's review against another edition

4.0

A wonderful little mood book. Really captured the spirit of the covid years in an imaginative way. Lovely writing.

beefmaster's review against another edition

5.0

Not surprised in the slightest that Goodreads reviewers would dislike this novel, enough to get it under 3 stars. Four parts, tenuously linked, no clear protagonist, autofictional, metafictional, self-reflective, gorgeously written, difficult, opaque. I remember read The Emperor Waltz almost a decade ago and thinking, this is exactly what I want from novels. I don't need things to make sense; I only need for the artifice of the novel to be aesthetically pleasing and to be consistently surprised by language. Of course, I am not every reader and there is room for all sorts of novels in the world, including Doctor Who tie-in novels, pulp Westerns, ecofiction, and whatever else captures my interest at the moment. But I am always drawn to Hensher and Ali Smith and Will Self and Nicola Barker for the fascinating and novel things they do. Like Deleuze may or may not have instructed: take what you want from art and leave what you don't behind.

juxtabook's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

5.0