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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
In Middle England, Jonathan Coe returns to characters from previous books with an eight-year stroll through some of England's most turbulent years - London riots, the Olympics, Brexit, various celeb deaths and so on.
I started off on the wrong foot as although I've read some Coe before, I haven't read The Rotters' Club. Nevertheless, I found this an interesting exploration of England's recent past. Interesting - not exciting. I found the characters' journeys gentle and not particularly pacey. But I enjoyed them growing and changing as the years went by.
Unfortunately, I did find myself skim-reading now and then, something I very rarely do. I guess I was just looking for a little more conflict!
I started off on the wrong foot as although I've read some Coe before, I haven't read The Rotters' Club. Nevertheless, I found this an interesting exploration of England's recent past. Interesting - not exciting. I found the characters' journeys gentle and not particularly pacey. But I enjoyed them growing and changing as the years went by.
Unfortunately, I did find myself skim-reading now and then, something I very rarely do. I guess I was just looking for a little more conflict!
After reading the first two books in this series, I figured this was going to be great. It was. Hoping for more installments in the future.
The world was changing now, things were spinning out of control in unpredictable ways, and it was important to stay informed, to have an opinion.Coe's novel is one of the many Brexit novels that spawned post-2016. It presents the developments of cancel culture, Britain's political landscape at the time and the directions that were set around that time - the characters were vehicles, but the novel feels very lived in. I think that is what describes my feelings on it the best. Quite drab though, to read it in 2022 and think back on 2016 with nostalgia. Fuck.
A much better sequel to The Rotters Club than The Closed Circle was, and a fantastic state of the nation novel.
Dit boek mist de genialiteit van 'What a carve up!', maar wat blijft Jonathan Coe een goede schrijver. Heerlijk hoe hij hier de Brexit en de Engelse actualiteit verweeft in de levens van zijn personages. En wat is het confronterend om vast te stellen dat we hier met net dezelfde problemen worstelen, al uit het zich anders dan in een referendum om ons af te splitsen van Europa.
Erg graag gelezen.
(3.5 sterren naar boven afgerond)
Erg graag gelezen.
(3.5 sterren naar boven afgerond)
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I listened to this in audiobook form via the excellent narration from Jeff Rawle on BBCR4. I loved it, but felt it lacked something... and then realised that it was of course abridged. Going to read the book in the new year to see what I missed.
I hadn't realised when I read this that there were 2 books prior to it. Maybe that explains why I didn't really feel I got to know any of the characters, maybe I was expected to already know them. Sadly I wont be getting to know them as I don't feel inspired to read the previous 2.
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Okay, I know this book is set only tennish years ago, but it seems like ... decades ago? Even the events of 2018 seem so, so long ago. It's a pandemic history timeline, I suppose. 2020-2021 has felt like its own decade.
Whilst the book can get a bit draggy at times, and sometimes accelerates crazily, it does have that charm of a recent history retelling that makes you feel like it couldn't have been that many years. I started it a few times, but once I dug into the meat of the story, it started to weave together like someone sitting next to me, filling me in on the last ten years of their life.
Ben and Lois are brother and sister who struggle with their past loves and traumas; whilst Ben goes on to success with his story, Lois can't seem to move forward. Lois's daughter Sophie's story is also related, from her meeting her husband to the Brexit drama ... and then there's Ben's father, who can't seem to figure out what world he's still living in. Charlie, Ben's friend, who seems to be down-and-out and scratching away at a living, and all the ins and outs of their family relationships, friendships, and loves.
Middle England is a book of unraveling, England's nostalgia for what must've been a better past, when faced with a changing idea of what England is - or what it even stands for. It's a Brexit novel, the mess, the uncertainty, the rowing, and divisions, even with families or marriages. It was not unlike the climate of the US recently, and a climate that still roils. Whilst the book ends on a note that sounds like future happiness and positivity, an eventual melting of ideas and forgiveness, I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced that this is the case, 2021. However, I can be a cynical reader, so perhaps there is as much hope as the ending suggests - I'm still pandemic-thinking.
Whilst the book can get a bit draggy at times, and sometimes accelerates crazily, it does have that charm of a recent history retelling that makes you feel like it couldn't have been that many years. I started it a few times, but once I dug into the meat of the story, it started to weave together like someone sitting next to me, filling me in on the last ten years of their life.
Ben and Lois are brother and sister who struggle with their past loves and traumas; whilst Ben goes on to success with his story, Lois can't seem to move forward. Lois's daughter Sophie's story is also related, from her meeting her husband to the Brexit drama ... and then there's Ben's father, who can't seem to figure out what world he's still living in. Charlie, Ben's friend, who seems to be down-and-out and scratching away at a living, and all the ins and outs of their family relationships, friendships, and loves.
Middle England is a book of unraveling, England's nostalgia for what must've been a better past, when faced with a changing idea of what England is - or what it even stands for. It's a Brexit novel, the mess, the uncertainty, the rowing, and divisions, even with families or marriages. It was not unlike the climate of the US recently, and a climate that still roils. Whilst the book ends on a note that sounds like future happiness and positivity, an eventual melting of ideas and forgiveness, I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced that this is the case, 2021. However, I can be a cynical reader, so perhaps there is as much hope as the ending suggests - I'm still pandemic-thinking.