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belleb1401's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
4.0
There’s something about seeing things on a hot summer’s day on the beach that makes it more sinister. However I don’t think the fact the cover says it’s a ghost story needs to be taken literally. Maybe David did see a ghost, or maybe his mind is playing tricks on him as his suppressed memories try to break through.
Graham Joyce’s writing is so evocative, you can practically feel the oppressive heat of the holiday camp. The place is starting to fray around the edges, both in the physical sense and in the tired acts that no longer appeal to the young. It’s like a time warp. It’s strange to think the seaside camps were starting to fade back in the 70s considering they’ve managed to cling on and stay in business even now.
The plague of ladybirds is only a small part of the book. In fact it’s been released under the title The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit in the US (although that might be because they don’t know what ladybirds are). The plague did actually happens and 1976 is known as the year of the ladybird. So it’s about David experiences of that year, where reality became surreal.
If you’re looking for horror or a ghost story, you may be disappointed, but the writing is superb and it’s a wonderful peek into a different time and place. From the simple pleasures of a British seaside holiday to the uncomfortable presence of the National Front, gaining force amongst the working classes in the north, who felt immigrants were to blame for their hardships.
Graham Joyce’s writing is so evocative, you can practically feel the oppressive heat of the holiday camp. The place is starting to fray around the edges, both in the physical sense and in the tired acts that no longer appeal to the young. It’s like a time warp. It’s strange to think the seaside camps were starting to fade back in the 70s considering they’ve managed to cling on and stay in business even now.
The plague of ladybirds is only a small part of the book. In fact it’s been released under the title The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit in the US (although that might be because they don’t know what ladybirds are). The plague did actually happens and 1976 is known as the year of the ladybird. So it’s about David experiences of that year, where reality became surreal.
If you’re looking for horror or a ghost story, you may be disappointed, but the writing is superb and it’s a wonderful peek into a different time and place. From the simple pleasures of a British seaside holiday to the uncomfortable presence of the National Front, gaining force amongst the working classes in the north, who felt immigrants were to blame for their hardships.
bluestarfish's review against another edition
3.0
I'm glad this was not a garden variety ghost story. I don't think I like those and so pondered hard at the subtitle of "A Ghost Story" before picking this up. This is set in the (in)famous year 1976 at a summer holiday camp - a British institution of the past really, isn't it? Ladybirds, the National Front, economic depression, hosepipe bans and so on swirl in the background of this coming of age tale of a summer at the camp.
davygibbs's review
3.0
I couldn't help being a little disappointed with this one. The story is a great one, but the writing -- and I feel guilty even thinking this, knowing what Mr. Joyce himself must have feared: that this will be the last Graham Joyce novel -- is a little scattered. It's almost as if you can read in the prose how the author was feeling that day. There will occasionally be a 20-page stretch that just burns everything down, totally brilliant, and then there will be a chapter that stumbles a bit, and repeats sentences two or three times, and basically just treads water. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but at times I wondered why he wasn't getting more help from his editor on this one. But again: the story is wonderful, and there are plenty of moments in here where Joyce's brilliance shines through. Recommended, but maybe not as a starting point.
jenmcmaynes's review
2.0
Snore. Even taking into account that I have not felt like reading much lately, it should not have taken me a month to get through this. It was boring, predictable, and all the “mysteries” could have been solved in five minutes if the main character had bothered to ask a few basic questions. I liked the setting (a holiday resort in 1970s England) but the ghost and mystery surrounding it were clearly telegraphed from the beginning, David’s involvement with the psychotic janitor and his cheating wife were cringe inducing, and the injection of the National Front politics felt really out of place.
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
4.0
A British holiday camp in 1976 is the setting for this quiet coming-of-age tale. It is an outlandish place and time, which Joyce by all appearances captures perfectly. David, inexperienced university student, gets a summer job as a Greencoat, mixing it up with Italian crooners, fortune tellers and a fascist camp manager. He is more than a little naive, and clumsy to the point where he finds himself accidentally attending a National Front party meeting and making reluctant friends with white supremacist Colin and falling for Colins pretty wife Terri. Colin being insanely jealous, this seems like a bad idea. Of course, David is also completely oblivious to the fact that his gorgeous co-worker Nikki is dying to have some holiday fun with him.
The social and political climate of the time makes a threatening backdrop to the story, creating a palpable sense of danger and foreboding. At times though there is a hazy, almost hallucinatory quality to David's meanderings in the heatwave of that summer. He has disturbing visions of a man and boy at the beach and is plagued by nightmares. I suppose in a sense this is a ghost story, but the supernatural elements are very slight or even non-existent. The novel is all the better for it, I think. There are a few plot strands that don't lead anywhere, and some much too obvious symbolism, but all in all I found this a terrific read.
The social and political climate of the time makes a threatening backdrop to the story, creating a palpable sense of danger and foreboding. At times though there is a hazy, almost hallucinatory quality to David's meanderings in the heatwave of that summer. He has disturbing visions of a man and boy at the beach and is plagued by nightmares. I suppose in a sense this is a ghost story, but the supernatural elements are very slight or even non-existent. The novel is all the better for it, I think. There are a few plot strands that don't lead anywhere, and some much too obvious symbolism, but all in all I found this a terrific read.
blevins's review
3.0
First book I've read by Graham Joyce & it was pleasantly off-kilter and felt very English to me. I was in the mood for something English and about the coast too. No time, way behind on my reviews as I read this over a month ago.
pctek's review against another edition
5.0
I liked it. It was one of those books you keep reading cause you want to see what happens next.
I expected to dislike it, it claims to be a Ghost story.
It's not. Well, unless you count
I wouldn't say I'll keep it. I have my own criteria.
DNF
Read once and enjoyed
Read and liked it so much I keep it forever and reread many times.
It doesn't quite make the last category, not cause it's bad but it's not my usual genre.
I expected to dislike it, it claims to be a Ghost story.
It's not. Well, unless you count
Spoiler
being haunted by yourselfI wouldn't say I'll keep it. I have my own criteria.
DNF
Read once and enjoyed
Read and liked it so much I keep it forever and reread many times.
It doesn't quite make the last category, not cause it's bad but it's not my usual genre.
boygirlparty's review
4.0
Read this as part of the tournament of books long list and glad I did. Murakami meets British holiday resorts. Surreal and gripping.