Beautifully written novel that effortlessly combines fantasy and reality
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After reading 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' by Kate Atkinson, I was desperate to read more of her work. When my friend offered to lend me 'Human Croquet', I didn't hesitate to accept! Kate Atkinson's writing is so unique in that she effortlessly blends fantasy and reality, and manages to make it feel completely natural. Isobel is a 16 year old girl who often finds herself in different moments in time but is completely unphased by it, and the story jumps through her childhood and focusses on the disappearance of her mother as a small child, something which deeply affected her, despite her limited memory of the time.
Atkinson has a real gift in that although her stpry jumps between times and points of view, she makes it feel like a natural progression. Her characters are strong, interesting and hugely likeable, and I cannot recommend her writing strongly enough, particularly 'Human Croquet'
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Fascinating start to the novel but flagged a bit in the middle
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I enjoyed this book particularly the start and finish, although found that the middle section seemed to drag a little but couldn't really decide the reason.
The location and period setting at the beginning is very unusual for a novel and worked very well in the context of the rest of the book.
I loved that, as the reader, I felt completely inside Isobel's head with all the little thoughts and worries that she has, along with the way that she deals with the time travelling events that seem to happen around her.
Time is an important theme of the book and the jumping between Present and Past throughout the book gives support to Isobel's strange experiences of time travel.
I enjoyed the technique of showing Eliza's speech in italics which had the effect of showing her as a magical, mysterious person.
The tone of the book seems to change in the middle and it became more franctic and "madder". Once I changed my approach to the reading then I enjoyed the ending but I did find the change unsettling at first.
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Even The Bard makes an appearance...
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This is one of my all-time favourite novels. With characters I can really relate too and wonderful situations that made me laugh out loud, this book cleverly weaves several alternate worlds together in such a style that you may be left wondering which was the "real" story.
But whether you can work it out or not, you cannot fail to be caught up in a world of time-travel, Shakespeare, magic and a pinch of teen angst from the perspective of Isobel, who has to deal with a missing mother, a crazy step-mum, a brother who communicates with aliens and the constant nagging worry that she herself is going slightly mad. The underlying plot of a missing mother she can barely remember is a serious one that works well alongside the other, strange going-on in Isobel's world and one that will tug at the heart-strings.
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'Call me Isobel (it's my name) . . . '
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This book was amazing, and written in such a way that it was very easy to read - succinct, but at the same time embellished, and alternating between the first and third person. The heroine Isobel is a very well-formed misfit teenager - fanciful, innocent and poignant.
the book is full of mystery, some of which the characters themselves never solve - only the readers. It is tragic but embellished with humour, and may have the underlying message that life goes on. there is some very morbid humour ('dark' humour) in it, some of which made me laugh and then feel that it was inappropriate to do so considering what I was reading - this is the author's ploy.
It would be impossible to anticipate the ending, not only what's going to happen but what has happened (as the book alternates between past and present) it is a fusion of teenage life and what adolescents experience, as well as subjects such as death, incest and abuse and murder - all spoken of in an almost casual manner.
I can identify with Isobel - not for the death and drama part, but I can imagine myself saying something that she would say. As an author i was very inspired!
And one more thing. Usually I hate it when a book ends with 'and then I woke up and it was all a dream' - but in this book you can easily see how reality ties with hallucination, and how incidents from the past can be subconciously dredged up.
A very good book. Serious but amusing and fanciful. Would be on my top ten list.
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Amazing book
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Human Croquet is about a girl, Isobel Fairfax, who lives with her father who left her when she was eight(?) and then came back, seven years later, Vinny, who's her emotionless and grumpy aunt, her stepmother, Debbie, who's nearly the same age as her, and her alien-obsessed brother. Her mother disappeared little before her father left her and her brother.
Human Croquet is a wonderfully bizarre book, full of twists and fascinating, deep characters. It is confusing in a good way, and when I finished it, I just felt like reading it again to notice every single little detail that, if I'd been more clever, would've maybe given the ending away.
I'll have to start looking for Kate Atkinson's other books
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