millefeuille
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NB's best written work. It demands a patience of the reader which reflects the endurance of it's protagonist.
Wonderfully suspenseful, in an old fashioned, crafted way. Sublimely layered story telling which takes you to the brink so many times...
It is slow and intense, this will keep your attention.
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A tense layered psychological thriller
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This stunning novel creates psychological tension, not through the endless shocks and horrors typical of the video generation, but through layer upon layer of authorial craft, slicing and shaving its way to the heart of a man. An unusually incomunicative creepy man.
The result is engaging and tense, intriguing and gripping, in a gentle pervasive way that is far too rare these days.
Read the book. It's weird, it's strange, it's art. And then wait for someone to ruin the film.
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Moving and profound
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I found this book a most enthralling and moving read and my excitement and enjoyment increased as my reading progressed. What a joy to have this book to return to after a day at work. The theme of deeply thwarted, hidden desire in the hot summer of 1967 is beautifully handled and convincing. The ending is moving and profound. Overall, a very impressive novel quite unlike anything I have read before.
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Frustratingly poor
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Skin Lane could have been gripping and full of suspense; however it was dragged out and predictable. The climax was non existent and I was left frustrated and annoyed at having wasted two weeks in reading the book.
As well as the painfully slow build up, I found Bartlett's narration very annoying. Instead of leading the reader into their own views and imagination, the author would chip in with comments such as `I don't know about you but I think.......' And `you are now probably thinking that........' for me this was too much and I found I was not left to make up my own mind on situations. Also there could have been more subtle and intriguing links made to Beauty and the Beast, but calling one of the characters Beauty! To me this was too obvious.
This could have been a great short story, but I felt it was over worked and ended up being rather poor. Don't believe Will Self's endorsement!!!
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Astounding!
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Skin Lane is very quiet, and very profound. It tells the story of Mr F, who works in Skin Lane making fur coats. His is a very banal and orderly existance, until one night he dreams (a thing he never does) of a naked boy hanging in his bathroom. The boy in question, nicknamed 'Beauty', works with Mr F, who becomes obsessed with him. It it extremely moving and there are minor references and parallels to Beauty and the Beast. The ending is astounding, as is everything that leads up to it. Bartlett has a very eerie way of connecting past events with the present. This book is definately worth reading!
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