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zoefruitcake's review against another edition
2.0
I was massively disappointed with this book. I adore her poetry, but this book of short stories about thoroughly unpleasant people left me cold. It was a struggle to finish it
mikewa14's review against another edition
3.0
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/the-fantastic-book-of-everybodys.html
lyndajdickson's review against another edition
5.0
This is a collection of ten short (albeit quite long) stories. I haven't read them all yet, so this review is for the first four stories.
In "The Octopus Nest", Claire and her husband discover a mysterious woman in all their holiday photos taken over the last ten years. But not all is as it seems. The ending will shock you.
In "Friendly Amid the Haters", our narrator deals with incompetence at every turn - until she reaches her breaking point. Just how far can things go over a stained carpet?
In "We All Say What We Want", Tom finds it impossible to say what he actually feels, but what would happen if he did? Did you ever wonder what "cc" and "bcc" on emails stand for? You'll find out in this story!
In "The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secrets", Tamsin is compiling and editing a book of secrets, but what is her motivation? Not all narrators can be trusted to provided an unbiased account of their actions.
This last story appropriately provides the title for the collection, as all the stories have a bookish theme and feature people who have secrets of their own. The writing is excellent, the pace is brisk, suspense is maintained throughout, and the author makes some clever observations of human behavior. With their tongue-in-cheek humor and witty, sarcastic banter, these stories had me laughing out loud at some points, had me cringing at others, and left me shocked at their conclusion.
I look forward to reading the rest of this collection.
I received this book in return for an honest review.
Full blog post: https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-fantastic-book-of-everybodys-secrets-by-sophie-hannah.html
In "The Octopus Nest", Claire and her husband discover a mysterious woman in all their holiday photos taken over the last ten years. But not all is as it seems. The ending will shock you.
In "Friendly Amid the Haters", our narrator deals with incompetence at every turn - until she reaches her breaking point. Just how far can things go over a stained carpet?
In "We All Say What We Want", Tom finds it impossible to say what he actually feels, but what would happen if he did? Did you ever wonder what "cc" and "bcc" on emails stand for? You'll find out in this story!
In "The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secrets", Tamsin is compiling and editing a book of secrets, but what is her motivation? Not all narrators can be trusted to provided an unbiased account of their actions.
This last story appropriately provides the title for the collection, as all the stories have a bookish theme and feature people who have secrets of their own. The writing is excellent, the pace is brisk, suspense is maintained throughout, and the author makes some clever observations of human behavior. With their tongue-in-cheek humor and witty, sarcastic banter, these stories had me laughing out loud at some points, had me cringing at others, and left me shocked at their conclusion.
I look forward to reading the rest of this collection.
I received this book in return for an honest review.
Full blog post: https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-fantastic-book-of-everybodys-secrets-by-sophie-hannah.html
emmavardy2's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Loved this. Contained grim humour and suburban crime. Reminded me of Celia Dale and Shirley Jackson. And one story set in best location ever, Betty's tea room in RHS garden at Harlow Carr.
siobhanward's review against another edition
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This was... ok. I've read a couple of Hannah's other works and I think her strengths lie more in novel-length books than in short stories. It felt like some of the stories were too long and others didn't really go in any direction. Based on Hannah's other works that I've read and the book's description, I figured that this book would be a collection of thrillers/mysteries, but the stories just weird and off-putting more than anything. I dunno, not really my speed unfortunately.
carhog's review against another edition
4.0
So good. I usually don't like short stories. Some of these were fab, some were too short, all made me think.
20000leagues's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
youmeatunicorn's review against another edition
1.0
The Octopus Nest was the only short story worth reading in my opinion
frickative's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a bit of a disappointment. It started off so promisingly with "The Octopus Nest", in which a couple discover the same stranger in the background of all their holiday photos. The premise alone gave me chills, and the story itself scared the hell out of me, despite the fact that I read it in public in broad daylight. The following story, "Friendly Amid the Haters", also started off with promise. As in her debut novel, Little Voice, Hannah demonstrated how adept she is at writing violence against women, but it all rather petered away into nothing in the end, and the rest of the stories were never anywhere close to as good as the first.
In "We All Say What We Want", a guy is passive aggressive at work and adopts a new family at home. It was largely dull and didn't really go anywhere. "The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secrets", "The Tub", Herod's Valentines" and "The Most Enlightened Person I've Ever Met" all featured desperate women in varying degrees of derangement and mostly made for frustrating reads, though the end of the latter was fairly amusing in its utter brazenness.
The most touching story was "Twelve Noon", about a mother long estranged from her daughter. It lacked the thriller element which a lot of the stories featured, but alongside "The Octopus Nest" is perhaps the one I'll best remember. Finally, "The Nursery Bear" was suitably creepy but maddeningly ambiguous, without enough pay-off for my liking, and "You Are a Gongedip" was just plain silly.
I've booked myself a ticket to see Hannah speak at the start of next month, so I'm trying to race through some of her work. I borrowed this from the library and almost purchased my own copy on the strength of the first story. Taking the remainder into account, I'm quite glad I didn't.
In "We All Say What We Want", a guy is passive aggressive at work and adopts a new family at home. It was largely dull and didn't really go anywhere. "The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secrets", "The Tub", Herod's Valentines" and "The Most Enlightened Person I've Ever Met" all featured desperate women in varying degrees of derangement and mostly made for frustrating reads, though the end of the latter was fairly amusing in its utter brazenness.
The most touching story was "Twelve Noon", about a mother long estranged from her daughter. It lacked the thriller element which a lot of the stories featured, but alongside "The Octopus Nest" is perhaps the one I'll best remember. Finally, "The Nursery Bear" was suitably creepy but maddeningly ambiguous, without enough pay-off for my liking, and "You Are a Gongedip" was just plain silly.
I've booked myself a ticket to see Hannah speak at the start of next month, so I'm trying to race through some of her work. I borrowed this from the library and almost purchased my own copy on the strength of the first story. Taking the remainder into account, I'm quite glad I didn't.
lnatal's review against another edition
3.0
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Series of chilling tales from crime writer Sophie Hannah's first short story collection.
Series of chilling tales from crime writer Sophie Hannah's first short story collection.
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