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A review by the_old_gray_cat
Number 11 by Jonathan Coe
3.0
Jonathan Coe's "The House of Sleep" is my favorite book, and I love others of his earlier work (The Dwarves of Death, The Rotters' Club, The Winshaw Legacy aka What a Carve-up!). I've found that since his huge success with the Rotters' Club and its sequel (and then later another sequel), his writing has not been the same. This is not unique to Coe; many authors will write books which win so many prizes and accolades, and then their writing thereafter is never as good again. Some of his books are overly ponderous and trying to be important. Others are revisiting his old work and trying to add on to it. This book is in the second category, expanding upon minor characters and themes from The Winshaw Legacy (What a Carve -up! outside the U.S.).
I enjoyed reading it, but it's a disjointed book. Coe never goes back to revisit characters who seem very important, and he never ties up various bits of plot. And with the ending (no spoilers here), he just seems to run amok for a few pages, as though he were tired of writing this novel, had no good ideas for how to end it, and then decided "what the hell, let's just get this over with."
Jonathan Coe shall forever be one of my favorite authors, but my expectations for him are very low nowadays. I just treasure his earlier work.
I enjoyed reading it, but it's a disjointed book. Coe never goes back to revisit characters who seem very important, and he never ties up various bits of plot. And with the ending (no spoilers here), he just seems to run amok for a few pages, as though he were tired of writing this novel, had no good ideas for how to end it, and then decided "what the hell, let's just get this over with."
Jonathan Coe shall forever be one of my favorite authors, but my expectations for him are very low nowadays. I just treasure his earlier work.