Tackle!! The latest Jilly Cooper

[blobby10]

Its not brilliant so far - much of the first chapter seems to be spent summarizing what happened in the previous book(s). I'm sorry that its not gripping me like the others did - maybe its my age - but I'm about a third of the way through and normally would stay up into the small hours to read the latest JC but this one I'm finding easy to put down. Hopefully it will pick up pace soon .........!

Is anyone else reading it yet?

I agree
It needed a darn good edit
Lazy and sloppy
Love Rat did not die due to a stallion attack..at end of last book he was found dead in his stable by Ruperts Dad, of old age! And so weird that there was never again a mention of Valent after he and R split up from the Club deal. Nothing whatever. Usually I love her books but this felt a bit contrived and the crowd songs were excruciatingly cringe making.

"Glitteris"

Oh dear - I normally love her and am about to start reading this. You're not filling me with optimism.

It's not great but I also struggled with Mount and Jump having loved all the others. I think it will need a second read as so many new characters that I keep forgetting who is who.

I’m inclined not to read this as I assumed it was terrible, and I want to think of Jilly (and Rupert et al) at their finest.

They’ve been going downhill, haven’t they. The early books are my comfort reads, but I have no inclination to re-read the more recent ones.

I was going to put this on my Christmas wish list but not sure I'll bother. The early books were (and remain) brilliant but it started going downhill in Apassionata and the last 2 have been dreadful if we're being honest. If Jilly were touting this to agents now she'd never get signed never mind then find a publisher. Think I'll just reread Rivals, my total favourite.

Rivals is definitely the best!

I listened to it and enjoyed it far more than mount and jump. That said, I thought wicked was her last great book. About to start listening to rivals again though. As much as the feminist in me struggles with certain parts of her old books, they were a product of the tunes and I bloody love them!

I was so excited at the thought of a new JC then I remembered how dreadful her previous few have been especially the last one (won’t mention that word 😳).

I can’t bear all the cliches, endless new characters who are ‘known as’ something not very hilarious and terrible puns. She was such a fantastic writer in her early books but she’s really lost it lately.

I struggled with Wicked. Much as I like to think I'm not a big prude (I have no issues with Billy and Janey in the stinging nettles and Rupert and his silky pubes) I wasn't a fan of reading about such young, sexually active children. It was super cringy. Not as cringy as 'honey c*nt' in the last book though and I did think at that point, eeeeeeeeew time to retire now Jilly!

Wasn't it buttercunt? I tried to blank it from my memory but that's the word that I have stuck in my head. I physically am shuddering reading it, total cringe.

I didn’t manage to finish Jump. Maybe I should try again.

I think I gave up after Appasionata, and haven't the energy to read any more, especially after what's been said here. I do think that a little of JC goes quite a long way. Her first few books were great - and I agree, Rivals is definitely one of my favourites. But having to learn a new cast of people may not be for me at present.

I’ve just started it and luckily have just re read Mount (terrible!) - this book follows on from it, which is strange. I’m finding it easy to put down so far!

The one about the two schools finished me off. I haven't managed to read the good ones since. Riders, Rivals and The Man who Made Husbands Jealous.

I barely remember the two schools one other than it was far from her best form.

It might be worth re-reading that before Tackle as there are several characters from it that I can't for the life of me remember.

She's a wonderful writer but I wish she had stuck to a sport she knew better. Even cricket maybe. The "crowd chants" in Tackle are unbearable.

You're right, it was buttercunt. Imagine being told your lady bits taste of Lurpak 😂

Margcunt would be worse.

I'm listening to Tackle and quite enjoying it. I admire Cooper's ability to continue to monetise her sagas! Her style makes me laugh-the way all the characters are introduced in full every time they're mentioned. But I think it was rapidly downhill from Rivals, which I do listen to quite often. Didn't do the school ones- they're a bit icky in my opinion.

It got very silly in places. Specifically when a character who is an actor is employed to teach posh footballers to speak with more 'working class' accents. For example (despite this being in the Cotswolds) the advice is to say 'pass' with a flat 'a' (a northern speech pattern). Yet he's also advised the same player to say 'parfway' instead of 'pathway'. Not only is this silly, but it's inconsistent silliness.

Agree with @TheMorrigans it got very silly. Part of me likes that Jilly stuck to form and wrote a book in the same vein as Riders/Rivals etc but most of me found it lazy. Characters were just carbon copies of those we've seen before - the boutique shop owner being a prime example.

As for the constant puns, it's not good when you have to scratch your brain to work them out and no way would the lads of 20ish use some of them. And don't even get me started on the absolutely ridiculous need to give everyone a nickname. Overall I found little to enjoy which is a shame because the plot isn't bad and revisiting characters like Rupert & Taggie brings me joy...but I'll stick to the vintage stuff.

I've just had a search to see what other people think of Tackle,and found this thread. I have only read Riders and Rivals, and that was years ago.
I'm finding it quite putdownable too, which is disappointing. So many clichés. But it's quite fun.

I finished MOUNT, but was so devastated by RCB’s treatment of Taggie, that I am almost afraid to start Tackle. Ruining their marriage (and doing it in such a self-centered cavalier manner) and hurting Taggie has put me off Rupert forever.

I thought Tackle was rubbish. All the main storylines had been done before in some form or other, the players had distinctly un-footballer-like names (OK, I think one of them was actually technically called Peter but always known by some daft punning nickname, the rest read like a list of upper-class rock stars' children), a very nice character from a previous book was suddenly made into a villain and then discarded just to further the plot, I just don't believe every player in an at first mediocre team has their own crowd song, and I particularly disliked a thing about a woman who had had a very traumatic bereavement suddenly becoming happy again because she got a new relationship that seemed to come out of nowhere. There was one subsidiary storyline with a couple I rather liked, but again it wasn't all that original - I always knew they would get together in the end (and the woman had another spectacularly daft name).

It made me wonder if Jilly Cooper is in the early stages of dementia. Iris Murdoch (a very different sort of author in most ways) also did this thing of becoming more repetitive and formulaic and somehow sort of rushed seeming in her last few books.

I actually didn't mind Tackle too much after thinking it was going to be appalling. It helps that Rupert features heavily in it. Nothing she writes will ever be as terrible as Wicked anyway.

I think the problem is that Jilly is quite old now and it really shows in her writing. The sex frequency and descriptions are nowhere near as good as they were in her much earlier books and she recycles a lot of the same sub plots and character types.