Great read. Enjoyed this very much. Initially a little confused with the characters being introduced in sequential short chapters, but soon got used to this. Characters well drawn and story carried me along. Would certainly read more of his novels.
Libby and Nat are a married couple. She works for then runs her own ad agency. Nat is a narcissist, who puts his “writing” above everything and so does not appreciate his wife and children. He has an affair with a student from his creative writing class Anthea. The novel starts on the day of Tony Blair’s election to PM and continues to about 2002. ( )

Het boek begint op de 'nieuwe dag' van Labours verkiezingsoverwinning in 1997 en eindigt vijf jaar later. Aan de hand van vijf personages laat de schrijver zien hoe het land ervoor staat maar meer nog hoe het gesteld is met zijn bewoners, met hun mentaliteit, hun verwachtingen en hun carrière. De hoofdpersonages verschillen van elkaar maar blijven via levenspatronen verbonden. Onder het oppervlak van het stralende Engeland van Tony Blair loopt een zwarte onderstroom van politieke en persoonlijke desillusies, van mythologieën en stadslegendes, waar de ogenschijnlijke comfortabele levens van de hoofdpersonen doortrokken zijn. Rode draad is de vos, figuurlijk én letterlijk.
Een boek om in een ruk uit te lezen. Twee dagen, wie doet beter? ( )

Interesting proposition, I thought – a novel covering the first few years of the Blair government; I could barely remember what those years were all about, tucked away behind the mountain that is 9/11, Iraq and the War on Terror. And what those years were all about, according to this book was....foxes. At least that is what preoccupies all the characters, when they aren’t preoccupied with sex and lawnmowers.

Good things about this book – an interesting and even handed look at the fox hunting debate, and consistently superb writing. I particularly liked the two Englishmen playing tennis – summed up in eight words (‘pock, sorry, pock, sorry, pock, pock, pock, sorry.)
Unfortunately that brevity was the exception rather than the rule. This was a huge book, and had it not been for the teeny tiny writing it might have been on a par with War and Peace. It gave me eye strain: admittedly a small price to pay for the salvation of further acres of rain forest, but it could only be read in small bursts. Having reached the end, I am sure the events could have been told just as effectively in half the space. Every scene seemed to go on for ages, until every micro-detail had been examined and analysed to the nth degree.

I was annoyed, too, by the back cover blurb which described one of the characters as ‘unexpectedly poignant’. Can a person be poignant? Hmmmmm, not sure about that. And though I was expecting a novel with a bit of political commentary what I actually got was chick-lit. Okay, it’s written by someone with a butch name but chick-lit all the same. ( )

I have started reading a series (if you can count two as a series) of books about South London. The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark and South of the River by Blake Morrison. Where Spark's book is a tardis, Morrison's is a large drawing room overstuffed with furniture and incident. Too many words; too much event dropping; too much character sign-posting; to many 'let's form a band and get a bus'-type plot points. It was an easy book to read, perfect for a beach, but it could have done with a good stiff edit. ( )

This is an epic novel over 550 pages of small print. It's taken ages to read. At the start it was difficult to juggle the main characters Libby, Nat, Anthea, Harry and Jack and retain the information about them and their lives, however this becomes easier as you go on. Their stories (and they are almost individual stories) are set in the early Blair years and a theme of foxes reverberates through the pages, not just fox hunting but foxy fairy stories are included. The main characters do relate eventually, some more tenuously than others. The main characters lives are explored in great detail and that is what I appreciated most about the book. My favourite was family and work juggling advertising executive Libby married to the very annoying self absorbed lazy Nat.
The novel is well written, intricate with lots of sex including a very odd tale within a tale of a couple stuck together after copulation!
The book rolls along gently and finishes gently. The characters and the writing make you want to continue find out what happens. Not to be recomended for those who like action packed novels. I really enjoyed it. ( )