Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

The Outcast by Sadie Jones

24 replies

RubySlippers · 19/11/2008 12:55

I can't decide if i really loved this or not

When i started reading it, i couldn't put it down, then i felt it sagged a bit/got repetative

Has anyone else given it a read?

OP posts:
RubyrubyrubyRedMist · 19/11/2008 12:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mumof2222222222222222boys · 19/11/2008 12:57

i thought it was really well written...but not exactly a feel good book! Enjoyed it but felt so sad. thinkgs have changed for the better since the '50s.

bamboostalks · 19/11/2008 12:58

I thought exactly the same RubySlippers. Gripped at the beginning and then a bit sluggish.

Original poster
RubySlippers · 19/11/2008 13:00

Ruby - yes it is ... then the book charts the aftermath

OP posts:
Original poster
RubySlippers · 19/11/2008 13:01

not a feelgood book but i really liked the central character

towards the end it was a bit like "how much more can one person take" though

OP posts:
RubyrubyrubyRedMist · 19/11/2008 13:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sheen4272 · 19/11/2008 22:06

Absolutely loved it - couldn't put it down. Really didn't fancy it to start with but am so glad I read it.

bettythebuilder · 19/11/2008 22:21

I didn't enjoy the book- I didn't like the characters, or the writing particularly, and also found it repetitive. Got to about page 300 and could quite happily have not finished it (had to, though, it was for bookclub )

I enjoyed discussing the book, though, it was good to hear other people's perceptions and opinions (most people enjoyed it)- but then that's what's good about bookclubs, isn't it!

Suedonim · 19/11/2008 22:34

I read this recently and am v much of the same opinion as others here - good to start off with, then it went on and on a bit. I think the 50's setting was interesting, though probably because I'm a child of the 50's myself. People were so repressed then. My half-sis and bro lost their mother when they were 4yo and 10mths. My sis was told her mother was 'away on holiday' until months later when someone insisted she be told the truth. So I can imagine the father acting as he did.

Also, the other father, the way he treated his family would have been accepted then. Women had no rights, although I thought the mother was particularly spineless in allowing her children to be mistreated too.

Cocodrillo · 30/11/2008 17:07

oh, I loved this book so much! It's one of my faves of 2008. I even bought it so I'd have my own copy after borrowing from library.

Jenbot · 02/12/2008 15:30

Meh, it was a bit throwaway, I'd never really think of it again, or seek out more from the author.

janeite · 15/01/2009 20:14

Bumping this as I've just read it. Whilst I didn't "not" enjoy it, it left me feeling a bit "cold" tbh as I thought the writing style was too detached. This worked well for episodes such as the self-harming but the rest of the time it left me unable to relate to the central character and feel as if I was alienated from his emotions. Perhaps this was deliberate but it got a bit wearing.

I liked some of the descriptions a lot though, especially his trip on the train with his mother.

FlossieT · 17/01/2009 23:27

What do you reckon to its chances in the Costas? (May be a bit hard to assess since both the Magorian and Foulds are in rushed reprints...)

letuseatcake · 18/01/2009 00:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FlossieT · 18/01/2009 01:10

@letuseatcake: ooh, I hadn't thought of that!

No - I wanted Sebastian Barry to win the Booker and am glumly convinced he won't win this either. Just trying to assess the competition in case I can safely get my hopes up...

janeite · 18/01/2009 15:04

I read the Michelle Magorian one last week and was really disappointed tbh. I thought it was overlong and lacking in depth and that it wouldn't appeal to today's "youth" much, if at all. If I'd have read it aged around 12 I think I'd have liked it a lot but that not many 12 year olds now would give it the time of day.

mollyroger · 18/01/2009 15:09

I enjoyed it but it was heavily influenced by Ian McEwan I felt....

janeite · 18/01/2009 17:05

Maybe that's why I didn't like "The Outcast" much then - I can't abide Ian McEwan.

Molesworth · 20/01/2009 11:50

I found it a real page-turner. Enjoyed the terse writing style and rather lurid story. I can imagine this as a Douglas Sirk film.

The name "Dicky Carmichael" made me cringe though. Perhaps it's because it reminds me of Ian Carmichael, but it seems like a clichéd 1950s comedy name. Maybe the author did that on purpose, I don't know

donnie · 12/02/2009 14:07

I also felt the influence of McEwan in this book. I liked it - I thought the scene where Lewis's mother drowned was just brilliantly rendered, and that she got the stifling atmosphere of 1950s middle class England just right.

notnowbernard · 12/02/2009 14:10

I liked it

BeautyandtheBreast · 12/02/2009 14:21

I really enjoyed it - would love to see it dramatised too

jujumaman · 16/02/2009 18:15

I loathed this book, thought it was melodramatic tosh. Didn't care about any of the characters. Emperor's new clothes.

Grabaspoon · 11/06/2011 15:17

Old thread but was searching to see if anyone else had read this :

Just finished this after picking it up yesterday afternoon.

I liked the book on the whole and felt for the main charatcer. I also was confused as to what Kit's sister was upto. Did she like him, was it a game, an agenda?

Also felt for Gilbert (the dad) as you could understand that he did want what was best for his son but didn't know how/what etc.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page