Book Swap - All Quiet On The Orient Express - Magnus Mills

[UCM]

What a brilliant little book. I loved it. The story is of a 'nice young man' who ends up getting taking advantage of dreadfully and I ended up wanting to shout at him 'tell them to get lost', so if it evokes that sort of feeling in me, then it's good.

I think, but could be wrong that there is a moral somewhere here, but I am not sure that I have quite grasped it. For me the moral was 'don't be a martyr, or try to help everyone, say no occasionally or you will lose out'.

I like the twist in the tale as I thought that Bryan with the cardboard crown was a local eccentric who was ever so friendly, but when you realise the extent to which they are taking this guy for a ride, you change direction and sort of shudder a bit.

Good read in all.

BTW this is probably the first book review I have written since my schooldays, so don't laugh

Mars, what did you think?

This book owes most of its ideas to a real campsite, pub etc where the author worked for a season about a mile from me..
The unpopular shop keeper is!

He has darkside that works so well... also wrote another book, can not remember the name, about some fencers that was also V good.

oh god this book really sticks in my mind, especially the final statement...

The Restraint of Beasts is the other book. I loved that one (which was a Booker nominee), but have not come across All Quiet... I will look out for it now.

I loved this book. Sorry, got busy and forgot to review. I love the way that everything happened so slowly. I laughed and was appalled at the way the tragedy was completely forgotten by everyone.

I laughed that the nameless hero got sucked into the life of the locals. Great book.

I thought this was a great read too, if a bit frustrating - as you said UCM, I was getting quite cross that he never told them no! By the end of the book I found myself wondering i I had read the fate of Deakin correctly because it was so brushed over. Very creepy (can't think of the right word so this will have to do!) yet entertaining book.

I'm afraid I found this book very very dull.

I could kind of see the point that the nameless affable narrator gets taken advantage of by the locals and seems to get drawn deeper into things by very gradual steps, and that the slowness of pace reflects the creepyness of the story.

Unfortunately it was just so tedious to read. The cover blurb mentions something about the increasing 'menace' - I found no sense of menace at all. It also promises the book to be hilarious, but I didnt find it funny at all.

Maybe I just didnt get it but to me whatever the author was trying to achieve he didnt quite pull it off.

I think I read 'The Restraint of Beasts' and it was much better.

I absolutely loved this. Ironically another copy of it has been sitting on my book shelf for about 3 years unread, as I bought it after enjoying "Restraint of Beasts" very much, but never got started with it (I think the cover put me off to be honest).

However it was marvellous and the most enjoyable book I have read for a while. I adored the increasing menace, and thought it very cleverly and subtly done. It was fabulously like the Wicker Man, except with jokes. I am going to get carried away with praise here and also risk being pretentious, but I found it almost Kafkaesque in the apparently simple but blindingly tight plot, and the theme of thwarted escape from a claustrophobic society.

There were so many great images - the cardboard crown, the green square, the wanton schoolgirl playing darts up in the hayloft, and the shockingly sudden demise of the dairyman.

Ruddy hell it was great. I may read it again in a few months, and there are not many books I do that with these days. Thanks so much to its originator. Can't wait for the next book to come my way, now.

quite enjoyed it, but is is a little slow. also like the last sentence very much. you wonder how much the camp site owner really controls people's lives. on the surface it seems like such a quiet & quaint community, but then you realise it's very 'League of Gentlemen'.