Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose by Sandy Balfour, 1585423718, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Buy this book - you won't regret it.

You don't have to enjoy crosswords to think this is a book quite out of the ordinary: at times touching and at times it had me laughing out loud. But if you are interested in crosswords - or more particularly the people who compile them and the people who solve them - then this is a book you should already have read.
And no, I'm not a relation of Mr Balfour.

A captivating memoir

I had been intrigued by cryptic crosswords but had no idea how to solve them when I came across this book, which unlocked some of the unwritten rules and revealed the other side - the crossword setters. Balfour's growing passion for cryptic crosswords provoked a desire in me to learn how to master them myself. I duly attended a one-week course and the art of a the cryptic crossword has now become a passion of mine. What more can you ask of a book, but that it inspires you to take on new challenges?

The fact that the book is also a journey of self-discovery for the author is an added bonus and altogether I felt it made for a really unusual and interesting memoir.

A moving biography

I read Sandy Balfour's previous memoir, Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8) which is about 'love, exile and crosswords' and I loved it. But when I read he had done a second one, this time about 'father, sons and contract bridge', I wondered if he would pull it off. The answer is an unequivocal yes. Vulnerable in Hearts is much better written - you can feel Balfour's confidence in his own ability - and the story of his relationships with his father and (to a lesser extent) his son is much more complex and layered. And - although I am not a bridge player - the story of the game worked well for me. I don't have any real criticisms of the book. It flows well from the personal to the game and back again and although it won't teach you how to play bridge, it may offer a sense of why we play games. If nothing else, they let us talk to our parents.

Well written but rather aimless

An interesting history of how the author ended up in the UK and how he came to love crosswords, rightly described as a quintessential English pastime.
Where the book falls down is in the drift of the autobiographical element. We learn virtually nothing of Balfour's girlfried, despite the subtitle of the book being "A memoir of love..." and there is little to give a real feel for the sort of man that Balfour is. Indeed I was left with no feeling that I knew the author with anything more depth than some sort of stereotype of a Guardian-reading TV producer.
The other weakness of the book is in its devotion to the Guardian crossword. Those who are devotees of other papers' puzzles (i.e. Times, Telegraph, FT, Indy etc) may well feel slightly left out. There must have been interesting material in examining how the crosswords do or do not reflect the character of the papers that carry them (Telegraph generally facile, but highly Ximenean, Times a rather odd case of Olde England in the Murdoch empire?). The accounts of meeting setters are highly interesting, but might well have been complemented with a better feel for who our fellow solvers are.
The above criticisms notwithstanding the book probably is a must for any crossword-lover. And Balfour is correct, Bust down reason (9) is a very fine clue.

Playful structure for very readable memoir

This short - one might say handy - little book would make an excellent travelling companion. It's an agreeable memoir of various (mainly quite recent) foreign travels, built around a strong interest in crosswords. Indeed the overall effect is a bit like a crossword, with intersecting experiences and connections that slowly build into a recognizable thematic whole. The writing is pleasant, and the author's personality comes over as both intelligent and likable. Certainly one does not have to like crosswords to enjoy it (although it probably helps).

View more reviews or product details from Amazon.co.uk