Jonathan Coe 'the Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim'

[paisleyleaf]

Mumsnet's in it.
I really enjoyed What a Carve Up and House of Sleep. but the reviews of this new one make it sound as though it's really chewy to read and hard to follow.
Anyone read it yet?

No one?
I don't know if it's in paperback yet.

It's in paperback and on my 'to read' shelf along with 34 other books! I hope it's good. I love The House of Sleep and WACU! And the Rotters books.

Yep, I've got a 'to read' shelf.

DIdn't realise there was a new one out. Off to look. I love JC (but not in the same way others around here do ).

Is it trade paperback (those big ones ?) seems expensive for a normal PB ?

Just read - and loved - this one. And excitingly, Mumsnet itself is involved in a (rather sinister) plotline. Is this the first appearance of mumsnet in contemporary British fiction?

It is a lovely novel. Jonathan Coe is a great writer - he is deft, and subtle and humorous, and his plot is fantastic and beautifully crafted and researched. He has an amazing way of capturing the noughties Zeitgeist and showing us how things are changing - a little nostalgic perhaps, but never sentimental or mawkish.

His ability to turn from comedy to tragedy in a second is so very clever - there were points in this book where I was suddenly aware of a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart, when moments earlier I'd been chuckling. He is so good at exposing the hopes and fears and failures of the ordinary man (like some of his other novels, his protagonist is a middle aged man who has never reached his potential) in ordinary places. It takes only a few pages before you feel so much sympathy for his characters - Maxwell in particular is so well drawn and so flawed that you can't help but love him (in the same way I did with Ben Trotter in The Rotters Club).

It's not perfect; but such a joy in every other way that the slightly indulgent writerly gimmicks that appear here and there didn't bother me too much - if you can write as well as this you can get away with almost anything.

Please don't leave it on your TBR pile - I'd love to hear others' thoughts.

Just finished it
I wanted to be reading it for MUCH longer.
I adore his writing.
And I agree about the emotional shifts. I laughed out loud on several occasions and then also had a bit of a heart ache.
BUT (and I don't want to put any spoilers in) the ending made me feel like I'd read a completely different book to the one I thought I was reading and I'm not sure if it's in a good way or not.
The only thing I'll say is you feel you've read a book rather than a story...
(The last time that happened to me was with Atonement but that was in a good way).

What I'm saddest about is how long we'll have to wait before the next JC novel as I've read all the others....

@mousyhair - what should I read next of his? Have read the two Rotters books, What a Carve Up! and House of Sleep....

I'm so jealous that you still have some to read
The Accidental Woman, A Touch of Love and The Dwarves of Death are his first three and are fun to read - especially Dwarves of Death which has a sort of House of Sleep moment (without giving anything away...)

And then the most recent gap on your list is The Rain Before It Falls which is his take on the sort of women's fiction published by Virago but as written by Jonathan Coe.

I am a BIG fan

Oh that last one sounds fascinating. Thank you!

My amazon wishlist is currently 8 pages long but I'm sure I can squeeze these ones on....

OK I'm not going to say what the ending was .... but I so, so, wish that that ending had stayed firmly in Jonathan Coe's notebooks rather than making it into print - if I'd been his editor I'd have told him 'no way'!

but presumably he's now a bit editor-proof ...

I'm reading The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim now and was very amused by the first Mumsnet reference - the narrator has just revealed joining Mumsnet pretending to be a mum to talk to/spy on his ex.

iloveasylumseekers - just read your post and having never even heard of this Coe chap, I now need to get a novel by him. Which do you recommend for a first read?

What a Carve Up! and then The Rotters' Club

Shall I order it? I enjoyed The Rotters' Club and House Of Sleep. I won't be disappointed, will I?

thanks basildonbond! In my amazon basket now!

BitofFun I'm afraid to say I think you will be disappointed :( it's not a patch on some of his earlier books

Bugger

BOF, have you read the sequel to The Rotters' Club?

I'm quite enjoying Maxwell Sim so far, I think it's the 4th I've read by him (The Rotters' Club, its sequel about the 80s, and The Accidental Woman).

Hmm, I'm not sure. I'll have to look it up and try to remember.

I finished Maxwell Sim this morning. I thought it was very good, not quite as good as Rotters and sequel but not at all disappointed.

Enjoyed this (almost despite myself at times) but was completely unsettled by the ending.

This was saved to take on holiday (sitting by my bed for several weeks just willing me to read it!)but I had to take it away with me as I have yet to be disappointed by any of his books. This certainly didn't let me down.
The first of his I read was The House of Sleep, given to me as a present and after that I was hooked.