Promiscuity and pedophilia
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If you think either promiscuity and pedophilia are enough to get you through a rather large book, you might actually enjoy this one. There is absolutely nothing else to it, the characters are wholly noncredible and there is basically no story line. It's really just about adultery and sex orgies between children and/or adults. I usually enjoy trashy books as summer reads, but this one is appalling.
This was my first, and most definitely last, Jilly Cooper book. Please save your money.
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The vilest tripe I ever had the misfortune to read
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I like the other reviewers have long been a fan of Jilly Cooper and before I continue I must say that I am as far from a prude as you can get but this book had me aghast.
The whole book is pretty much about sex between all the characters with a bit of story line about schools thrown in. Now the sex would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that most of the characters are CHILDREN and by children I mean 11 - 16 year olds. Cooper tells of sex between the adults, sex between the children and sex between the adults with the children and all told as if it's all a jolly jape. There are stories of orgies between the children, alcohol shared by adults with children and drugs as a matter of course.
There are lots of inaccuracies in the general storytelling even though Cooper uses 6 pages at the end for accreditations.
This book is completely unrealistic and it seems like Cooper has absolutely no idea how children think and behave.
For those of you who think I'm a moany old cow, I do realise this is fiction and meant to be fantasy but to be honest it is SICK.
I was completely confused because this is not Cooper as I know her. I am concerned for her if this is what she calls literature. I know I could have stopped reading but I could not have written an accurate review if I had.
Please do not read this book. I didn't even want to give it one star but had to to write this review.
I will not be reading any more Jilly Cooper and I would suggest that neither do you.
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Disappointing!
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I eagerly read this novel as an avid Jilly Cooper fan, but I have to admit this novel really disappointed me. What drew me to her earlier and best novels, notably Riders, Rivals, and Polo was her ability to create an entire world to absorb yourself in - incredibly wild but at the same time believable - and characters you'd love and hate in equal measures at the same time, along with plentiful helpings of raunchy sex scenes and agonising love stories.
Wicked just doesn't live up to these books. I found the story relatively tedious, and most of the characters, particularly the protagonist Janna, quite irritatings, without being loveable at the same time. It felt at times that it was verging on paedophilic, with the sex scenes described about children as young as 12. Additionally to that, it was just simply unrealistic. I couldn't believe in half the characters, which greatly reduced my enjoyment of it.
In summary, it is perfectly readable as any JC is, but I personally think it tries too hard to live up to its predecessors, and in doing so, crosses the line into the ridiculous.
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Bit OTT
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The old Jilly Cooper comes out in this book which is enjoyable and the plot itself is typical JC and enjoyable.... But ....
I do have dificulty with the fact that JC seems to think that most 12 year olds are either mothers/junkies/alcoholics, I come from a rural village of about 3000 people and there have been drugs around for a long time, but the average 12 year old snorting cocaine (and being able to afford it) shagging at every given opportunity .... and teachers doing the same .... I'm not saying that we don't have these problems with some people, but in a small town/village ? sorry but not in my world ... I was a very good storyline but I felt it was ruined by going way over the top with the teenage problems.
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Are schools really like this?
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A comic novel with serious points about the lack of equality and opportunity in British education as a good but honest comprehensive strives to better itself against the forces of capitalist developers and the arrogant local public school. At almost 1000 pages, this is a lengthy read that can feel stretched in places. The adult characters are generally entertaining and well described but some of the younger ones lack identity and in places feel like crude caricatures. The novel is well-researched and fulfills its didactic purpose well, leaving the reader with serious doubts about the integrity of the British educational system.
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