Anybody read A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks?

[JannerBird]

I am at the point of giving up on this book (which I hate to do) and wanted to ask if anybody here has read it?

I am on page 182 and I really don't feel that anything has happened, at all. Is it worth perservering with, does anything actually happen?

Bin it - my book group read it and we all loathed it. Snobbish, sneering, implausible dross.

I have just finished reading this and I agree with lala , it is rubbish . I am yet to see the point of it .

That is one over rated author!! (in my - not very humble - opinion).
The only one I have enjoyed was BirdSong and with every book since, I have wondered like you, what is the point of persevering.

Oh that seems like a pretty clear message - thank you all. I will place it in the 'charity' pile and move on.

Jajas I agree with you regarding Birdsong. I haven't read Engleby but have to say I would be less inclined to read any more Sebastian Faulks after this!

One of the worst books that I have ever read. I have no idea why the reviewers were so kind to it.

Not a single one of the characters is remotely credible and, having worked in the City, the financial stuff is clearly wrong in parts. Not that that matters but why write pages and pages of it that most people will gloss over and those in the know will find holes in?

I think that Faulks read "Saturday", a similar and equally terrible book and thought "this is great, I can do something like this" and he did....

here

I have it on my growing list of books to read ... perhaps I shouldn't bother, but I did like Birdsong.

Don't let Birdsong fool you - it's the same as liking Annie Hall and thinking that Match Point or Cassandra's Dream would be worth a pop... Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I loved Birdsong, one of my favourite books, and thoroughly enjoyed Engleby- but I had to force myself through 'A Week in December'.I didn't like all the part on money.

itsjust Birdsong is in my top ten favourite books but this one is shite , honestly I wouldn't bother .

I spent the whole book waiting for something even slightly interesting to happen . And the last few pages were finished off by a 13 yr old I am sure .

Jajas,

i agree that Engleby is good. Very chilling.

I'm just finishing A Week in December - it will be going in the recycling - not sure I'd want to inflict it on a charity!!!

Blimey, it wasn't that bad JR. I read some of the book club thread and some people really liked it including Justine MN (although she may have been politely faking it ).

Erm so am I alone in really not enjoying Engleby, then???

I found it predictable and utterly un-gripping, if there is such a word. To be fair, I'm not a Faulks fan, have read a few of his to give him a chance to improve (Birdsong best of his I've read) but Engleby left me cold and not in a good way. Not chilling, more sleep-inducing......

But wouldn't it be boring if we all thought the same thing!

I put off reading Engleby-it didn't appeal -and I picked it up one day when I had nothing to read and couldn't put it down.

Did you see this thread.

It was MN book for Sept.

Sorry Lala, forgot to come back! I think my problem with it was that it was just so damned pleased with itself, everyone was "saved" from total doom in the end, SF exercised his highly educated brain extensively and convincingly over a variety of topics, I found myself comparing the writer to one of the characters and just as I warmed to it in places it froze me out again. Obviously it has very Londoncentric feel to it, but only certain bits of London, it isn't really a narrative about real London, just margins of it, the very rich and the very intelligent. The barrister and a tube driver who has clearly been failed by the educational system make up some kind of "normal" slant but it all somehow rings hollow.

I felt patronised and unconvinced, I love London and all it's crazieness, I got married there rather than at "home" because I've spent most of my adult life there and the city had become my home. I didn't see that city and the diversity of it in this book and I suppose that disappointed me. I agree that if you are tired of London you are tired of life, this book had none of London's joy in it, only glimmers of occasional hope and redemption in a dark and depressing world I'm happy to never know!

Ooooh, rant over..... The satire wasn't even particularly good........ I'm stopping, honest......

I forced myself to read it, and then read the back describing it as 'hilarious' and 'satire' which I totally missed (and I have an Eng Lit degree....really dire

I am reading it. Haaaaaaaate it. I will finish it though.

Wish I had found this thread much earlier but it helps to know I am not alone in my suffering.

Gave up on it - very rare for me.

I gave up too. Birdsong is one of my most favourite books, but i've not finished anything else by him. Very disappointing.

Mariella Frostrup had him on the ropes on R4 last week. He came across as a misogynist and pompous.

Sounds like I'm alone. I LOVED it! So did DP and my best friend. I agree that not much happened, but I was very engaged by the characters and the situations.