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Original poster

Kate Atkinson: When will there be good news?

14 replies

boogiewoogie · 01/02/2009 21:53

I've just finished reading this book and thought it was brilliant. Just a shame she hasn't got another Jackson Brodie novel on the way soon, or has she?

Does anyone else find Louise Monroe irritating or is it just me? She seems to think that she will appeal to Jackson more by treating him like filth!

Other Kate Atkinson fans, what else will I like?

OP posts:
moondog · 01/02/2009 21:54

You've read her first two I take it?
I reckon she went off the boil after these.

Original poster
boogiewoogie · 01/02/2009 21:58

Actually, I've done things in the wrong order and read "One good turn" first having read "Behind the scenes of the museum" back in 2000, then recently read "Not the end of the world" before picking up OGT earlier in the year.

OP posts:
LaDiDaDi · 01/02/2009 21:58

I did like it, have read her other JB books and Behind the Scenes ... too, but at times I wondered if it had been written with TV adaptation in mind?? Bits of it just had that kind of feeling imo.

BitOfFun · 01/02/2009 22:10

Good News is the best IMO, I really enjoyed it- I get the others mixed up, but I remember feeling slightly disappointed by one of them.

IdrisTheDragon · 01/02/2009 22:11

I can never remember which ones of hers I have read

Portofino · 01/02/2009 22:15

I'm reading at the mo. Don't spoil the end! I've enjoyed all hers so far, particularly Case Histories.

FlossieT · 02/02/2009 07:46

Case Histories is good too, although One Good Turn gives away a bit of the plot.

I think I've read everything she's written now, and personally didn't enjoy any of the middle ones (Human Croquet, Emotionally Weird, Not the End of the World). But thought Behind the Scenes was brilliant, and Good News to my mind the best of the Brodie books thus far.

CJCregg · 02/02/2009 19:44

Hello, I'm a big KA fan and have also just finished When Will There Be Good News ... agree she lost it a bit after Behind The Scenes (one of my all-time top ten books) but the Jackson Brodie novels are a new direction and I think she's really hit her stride again. God, the opening was grim, though - and yes, could well have been written with tv adaptation in mind.

ClaraDeLaNoche · 04/02/2009 10:03

I'm about half way through, not sure about it. It's a good story but am finding Louise the copper very annoying. Her husband Patrick seems so nice and she is a pig.

MamaHobgoblin · 06/02/2009 15:07

I liked all of hers a lot, but some are better than others - Emotionally Weird is her weakest, IMO. I'd go for Scenes and Human Croquet if you haven't read them yet.

Just finished When Will There Be Good News yesterday. Brilliant, but very harrowing! KA seems to have massive ishoos with murdered sisters, doesn't she? I don't think it actually happened in her own life. She does have two grown-up daughters. My mother reckons she's writing out her own worst nightmares to exorcise them...

FiveGoMadInDorset · 15/02/2009 20:30

I want a Reggie. Really enjoyed the book, found it not too taxing to read and enjoyed the twists.

CDMforever · 15/02/2009 21:31

I love KA and Behind the Scenes definitely in my top 20. But I do have a problem with so many books recently being about child murder/abuse/neglect. (I gather When will There Be Good News begins with murder of a child or a child witnesses a murder.For this reason I don't want to read it).There is so much of this in the press too. I do read books that deal with challenging or difficult issues but when it comes to anything harrowing to do with children I find it very upsetting and mostly unneccessary. It seems to be somehow "fashionable" to include this subject in books/film/TV. I've just finished reading Rose Tremain's "The Road Home" and she comments very adeptly on this.
More of Behind the Scenes/Human Croquet please Kate! Less of the gore.

mummyontherun · 17/02/2009 13:34

I think you are missing out, CDM, although I do understand your opinion. I have lambasted Kate Moss's Labyrinth for the same reason where the violence made me feel revolting reading it, as I felt it was written in an almost voyeuristic way. And as for Martina Cole, I gave away her last copy to an air stewardess on a plane as I felt so sick/contaminated after the first few pages that I didn't even want it in my bag!!!

But back to Good News - I didn't feel that way about the description of the horrific event with which the novel opens, and there is a moment towards the end of the novel which refers back to that scene which made me cry in a sort of "redemptive" way, (the Brodie bit) when she (KA) ties up some loose ends. Also in KA's favour the episode is key to the book as is its effect on the survivor.

However, there is more than one episode involving violent acts (although again not described grusomely) so you may want to avoid....

DoThisDoThat · 19/03/2009 16:21

It's fabulous. I loved Reggie too.

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