Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Didn't finish but I've had too many DNF this year and it's bothering me. Well-written but really not my thing. Realized it was a sequel (sort of... companion?) to another book after starting it and couldn't get into that one because of the writing style.
(listened to the BBC 4 dramatization)(all day long)
Together ‘Reservoir 13’ and ‘The Reservoir Tapes’ are like a kaleidoscope, in which the second book fills in some of the missing colored bits from the first one. Still centered around the disappearance of thirteen-year-old Becky Shaw, this book looks at various of the townspeople she encountered in the days before her disappearance, filling in their backstories in ways the chronological first book could not. It’s a fascinating technique that builds on the first book’s story of how life goes on, to show how life and relationships stop, too.
More clues, mysteries and red herrings
Jon McGregor's [b:Reservoir 13|33283659|Reservoir 13|Jon McGregor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481095738s/33283659.jpg|44007812] (2017) was an intriguing mystery about 13 years in the ongoing life in a northern English town in the Peak District after the New Year's disappearance of a 13 year-old girl named Rebecca (Becky) Shaw. Its unique leisurely observational style overseeing a cast of about 75 characters takes some getting used to, but if the style wins you over you will likely become a committed fan. It somewhat notoriously, but concerns itself more with the aftershocks to the girl's parents (who were only holidaying in the area) and to the surrounding community.
"The Reservoir Tapes" are a prequel set of 15 short stories that were originally broadcast via a weekly podcast on BBC Radio 4 from Sunday October 1, 2017 through to January 7, 2018. 15 characters (several of whom appeared named or unnamed in the first book, but most of whom are new) provide reminiscences of events prior to Becky's disappearance.
It shouldn't be a further spoiler to say that these additional stories do not necessarily solve the mystery of Becky's disappearance but add their own further mysteries and/or clues to the mix. If you are searching for a nefarious solution, there are hints of some criminal types in the area. If you are looking for a revenge motive, there is a story that paints Becky in a not-very-pleasant light. If you are looking for an accident as solution there are stories of other mishaps in the region. It is all part and parcel of the expanding mystery of "Reservoir 13".
The narrations were all well done by the voice actors and the uncredited minimalist music theme and cues add a further layer of yearning and loss to the picture.
Links
This is a review of the original audiobook podcast edition of "The Reservoir Tapes" available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b097n5h3 or via iTunes podcast for 12 months from the dates of the original broadcasts. There may be a later commercial audiobook edition released as well. The on demand audiostreams include an interview with author Jon McGregor on "How I Wrote the Reservoir Tapes" at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05lv20b
My earlier listing of this edition was deleted for some unexplained reason (I checked at the Goodreads Librarian Guide that a podcast edition does qualify as a book before I added it) so I'm reposting and adding these further details here in case the listing (but hopefully not the review) disappears again.
The narrators for the BBC Radio 4 audiobook edition were 1. Indira Varma (Charlotte’s Story), 2. Sian Brooke (Vicky’s Story), 3. Sacha Dhawan (Deepak’s Story), 4. Joe Armstrong (Graham’s Story), 5. Joe Dempsie (Liam’s Story), 6. __* (Claire’s Story), 7. David Schofield (Clive’s Story), 8. Paul Hilton (Martin’s Story), 9. Siobhan Finneran (Stephanie’s Story), 10. Kate O’Flynn (Donna’s Story), 11. Neil Dudgeon (Ian’s Story), 12. Jacqueline Redgewell (Irene’s Story), 13. Sara Kestelman (Ginny’s Story), 14. Tamsin Greig (Jess’s Story), 15. Bertie Carvel (Joe’s Story).
*the narrator of Episode 6. Claire's Story is unidentified due to a typo at the BBC Radio 4 website which currently (as of January 7, 2018) credits it to Joe Dempsie, the narrator of Episode 5.
Jon McGregor's [b:Reservoir 13|33283659|Reservoir 13|Jon McGregor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481095738s/33283659.jpg|44007812] (2017) was an intriguing mystery about 13 years in the ongoing life in a northern English town in the Peak District after the New Year's disappearance of a 13 year-old girl named Rebecca (Becky) Shaw. Its unique leisurely observational style overseeing a cast of about 75 characters takes some getting used to, but if the style wins you over you will likely become a committed fan. It somewhat notoriously
Spoiler
does not provide a solution to the girl's disappearance"The Reservoir Tapes" are a prequel set of 15 short stories that were originally broadcast via a weekly podcast on BBC Radio 4 from Sunday October 1, 2017 through to January 7, 2018. 15 characters (several of whom appeared named or unnamed in the first book, but most of whom are new) provide reminiscences of events prior to Becky's disappearance.
It shouldn't be a further spoiler to say that these additional stories do not necessarily solve the mystery of Becky's disappearance but add their own further mysteries and/or clues to the mix. If you are searching for a nefarious solution, there are hints of some criminal types in the area. If you are looking for a revenge motive, there is a story that paints Becky in a not-very-pleasant light. If you are looking for an accident as solution there are stories of other mishaps in the region. It is all part and parcel of the expanding mystery of "Reservoir 13".
The narrations were all well done by the voice actors and the uncredited minimalist music theme and cues add a further layer of yearning and loss to the picture.
Links
This is a review of the original audiobook podcast edition of "The Reservoir Tapes" available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b097n5h3 or via iTunes podcast for 12 months from the dates of the original broadcasts. There may be a later commercial audiobook edition released as well. The on demand audiostreams include an interview with author Jon McGregor on "How I Wrote the Reservoir Tapes" at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05lv20b
My earlier listing of this edition was deleted for some unexplained reason (I checked at the Goodreads Librarian Guide that a podcast edition does qualify as a book before I added it) so I'm reposting and adding these further details here in case the listing (but hopefully not the review) disappears again.
The narrators for the BBC Radio 4 audiobook edition were 1. Indira Varma (Charlotte’s Story), 2. Sian Brooke (Vicky’s Story), 3. Sacha Dhawan (Deepak’s Story), 4. Joe Armstrong (Graham’s Story), 5. Joe Dempsie (Liam’s Story), 6. __* (Claire’s Story), 7. David Schofield (Clive’s Story), 8. Paul Hilton (Martin’s Story), 9. Siobhan Finneran (Stephanie’s Story), 10. Kate O’Flynn (Donna’s Story), 11. Neil Dudgeon (Ian’s Story), 12. Jacqueline Redgewell (Irene’s Story), 13. Sara Kestelman (Ginny’s Story), 14. Tamsin Greig (Jess’s Story), 15. Bertie Carvel (Joe’s Story).
*the narrator of Episode 6. Claire's Story is unidentified due to a typo at the BBC Radio 4 website which currently (as of January 7, 2018) credits it to Joe Dempsie, the narrator of Episode 5.
Great, but can only recommend if you have read and enjoyed 'Reservoir 13'.
I have two strong recommendations: 1) read Reservoir 13 first and 2) listen to this as a podcast (available from the BBC), rather than reading it as a book, and preferably spin out the pleasure in small doses. The voices with their northern accents add so much to these multi-faceted stories around the disappearance of Becky and the quality of reading in every single episode is superb. Special mention to the technical excellence of episode 1, in which you hear just one side of a conversation and yet it fully conveys the feelings and reactions of the unheard person.
Each story in itself is beautifully done, so finely observed and characterised, and as a whole they are more than a sum of the parts. Instead of the broad bird's eye view in Reservoir 13, you get piercing insights into each character's head. Again, there's no solution to Becky's disappearance, but McGregor repeatedly raises uneasy suspicions in the listener's mind. While at the same time you have a broader sense of how every community hides male violence against women (physical and psychological); that people both know and refuse to know that it happens.
I'm just so impressed with both these works. My best reading and listening of the year so far.
Each story in itself is beautifully done, so finely observed and characterised, and as a whole they are more than a sum of the parts. Instead of the broad bird's eye view in Reservoir 13, you get piercing insights into each character's head. Again, there's no solution to Becky's disappearance, but McGregor repeatedly raises uneasy suspicions in the listener's mind. While at the same time you have a broader sense of how every community hides male violence against women (physical and psychological); that people both know and refuse to know that it happens.
I'm just so impressed with both these works. My best reading and listening of the year so far.
[b:Reservoir 13|34146665|Reservoir 13|Jon McGregor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501517176s/34146665.jpg|44007812] was a world unto itself. Despite a certain lack of character development and sometimes only mere hints about characters’ lives, it needed nothing else. But since I’ve read everything else Jon McGregor wrote, I was excited to read this prequel/companion to Reservoir 13. Each short chapter takes up a different character, one you’ll remember from the earlier novel, but I regret to say this ended up feeling superfluous to me. (And if you haven’t read Reservoir 13, I don’t see how this book can have much, if any, meaning for you.)
I read it in one night (not only are the pages few, but there’s a lot of white space). Perhaps due to its origins as a BBC radio serial, the prose is simple, not a bad thing in itself; but in many cases it’s too simplistic and (if nothing else) I couldn’t grab on to the rhythm of McGregor’s language as I usually can.
In some ways the chapters are like short stories, though with none being able to stand on its own; and when I finished, I was reminded I didn’t care nearly as much for McGregor's short-story collection [b:This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You|11866341|This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You|Jon McGregor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1329325619s/11866341.jpg|16823401] as I did his novels. I was also reminded of my experience reading [a:Michel Faber|16272|Michel Faber|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1417041854p2/16272.jpg]’s [b:The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories|963940|The Apple New Crimson Petal Stories|Michel Faber|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1179853824s/963940.jpg|1445202] after reading his [b:The Crimson Petal and the White|40200|The Crimson Petal and the White|Michel Faber|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408937589s/40200.jpg|1210026]: it didn’t need to happen.
I read it in one night (not only are the pages few, but there’s a lot of white space). Perhaps due to its origins as a BBC radio serial, the prose is simple, not a bad thing in itself; but in many cases it’s too simplistic and (if nothing else) I couldn’t grab on to the rhythm of McGregor’s language as I usually can.
In some ways the chapters are like short stories, though with none being able to stand on its own; and when I finished, I was reminded I didn’t care nearly as much for McGregor's short-story collection [b:This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You|11866341|This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You|Jon McGregor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1329325619s/11866341.jpg|16823401] as I did his novels. I was also reminded of my experience reading [a:Michel Faber|16272|Michel Faber|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1417041854p2/16272.jpg]’s [b:The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories|963940|The Apple New Crimson Petal Stories|Michel Faber|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1179853824s/963940.jpg|1445202] after reading his [b:The Crimson Petal and the White|40200|The Crimson Petal and the White|Michel Faber|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408937589s/40200.jpg|1210026]: it didn’t need to happen.
He’s definitely one of the best contemporary writers and if you’re not reading McGregor you’re missing some of the most considered and precise writing. This is a truly excellent companion to RESERVOIR 13 but be sure to read that book first.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes