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Cargando... The Trouble with Goats and Sheeppor Joanna Cannon
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Even though I expected a more packaged, complete ending, I did enjoy this novel. The writing feels very free, unencumbered, simple yet sophisticated. There are some delightful turns of phrasing and implied descriptions that provide detail without saying too much. The narrator, Grace, is a lot like Flavia de Luce without being a replication. Both are intelligent and think more highly of themselves than they ought and are blissfully unaware of their faults - in an endearing way. It is too bad the narrative has to go third person for past events and other characters. It would have been a very excellent novel if Grace's story was held throughout. However, its interruptions introduce and develop many other interesting characters who also live in The Avenue. Tilly could have had more page time, too, because she is also delightful. The story is set in 1976 with 1967 flashbacks, but hopefully readers see the bias and judgementalism as commentary on today's society just as much. This book is definitely a novel of two halves. Told from multiple viewpoints, it is set in the roasting hot dry summer of 1976 in a small housing estate somewhere in England. The main action takes place in a close/culdesac of houses where a woman, Mrs Creasey, has gone missing. Two ten-year-olds, Grace who lives in the close, and Tillie, her friend who lives somewhere nearby, decide to investigate, but in the form of a quest to find God in the close, as they have been convinced by the sermon in church that He will sort things out. Part of the story is from Grace's point of view, and other parts are from some of the adults living in the neighbourhood, and they switch between 1976 and 1967, when a baby was supposedly abducted. Gradually, we learn that the various adults all have secrets which Mrs Creasey, a good listener, was privy to - and it seems likely she was murdered to keep her quiet. One man, Walter Bishop, is a local scapegoat for everything that goes wrong - he was suspected of abducting the baby, had his house burned down with his mother in it, and has been subjected to harrassment by - at times - crowds threatening to become a mob. The finger is pointed at him in connection with Mrs Creasey's disappearance, especially since she had apparently been helping him (his glasses are found at her house with information that indicates she was taking them to be fixed). Despite the narrative being a little too knowing at times for a 10-year-old, I enjoyed Grace's viewpoint best of all and was really enjoying the story which was heading for a 5-star review. And then the bottom dropped out when the whole neighbourhood suddenly developed a fixation with a stain on a water pipe which bears some resemblance to Jesus, even characters who seemed very unlikely to have any religious convictions. I couldn't really take it seriously after that - or the abrupt recovery of a child who was seemingly at death's door in hospital. And the ending is a deliberate tease. So given that the first part was very enjoyable and the second not, my verdict can only be a 3-star rating.
An insightful, honest book, The Trouble With Goats and Sheep is the first novel from Joanna Cannon, a doctor whose psychiatric specialities are put to good use here. Each character has fascinating quirks and foibles, and their battles with guilt, distrust and horrifying past traumas are manifested masterfully...Cannon represents the world through the eyes of a child sensitively and intelligently, and highlights the everyday absurdity of grown-ups. ..Cannon presents a whole street full of complicated and realistic people whose roles as pillars of the community are called into question. This debut is one of the most complex, touching, and delightful novels I’ve read in a long time. ... Her prose shines with a genuine understanding of human nature – the beauty and the frailty – and a mastery of the written word. Cannon captures the nuances of so many aspects of society perfectly, but perhaps she most notably hits the mark in the way she conveys how it feels to be a child. Grace’s voice, and Cannon’s prose, astonishes with frequent, shimmering loveliness...As Grace and Tilly get closer to the truth, their observations reveal both the beauty and the ugliness at the core of humanity. People, as an author such as Cannon knows better than most, are never exactly who or what they seem. This is not always a dangerous truth, but it is one that must be handled with care. For some readers there may be too many ordinary misfortunes; too many enigmas in the one book...Having said that, this is a novel to be savoured rather than hurried through...the various characters’ histories come together to form a vibrant whole, reminding me both of Carys Bray’s brilliantly profound A Song for Issy Bradley, with its parallel narratives, and of Kate Atkinson’s wry and clever Jackson Brodie novels. Full of humour and careful depictions of everyday suffering, this is not so much a mystery novel as an investigation into the wealth of secrets and heartbreak that even the most commonplace street can hold.
En parte novela de misterio, en parte novela de paso al mundo adulto, este ha sido el debut más elogiado y destacado de 2016 en Gran Bretaña.«Una historia conmovedora, original y maravillosamente escrita, una delicia de principio a fin.»Paula Hawkins, autora de La chica del trenVerano de 1976. La señora Creasy se ha esfumado sin dejar rastro. Su marido, perplejo y desesperado, revuelve sus cosas tratando de encontrar alguna pista, mientras los vecinos echan la culpa a la ola de calor de haber alterado a esa mujer afable y generosa aunque propensa a sonsacar los pecadillos a los demás. Cuando la policía la declara oficialmente desaparecida e inicia la investigación en La Avenida, la pequeña Grace, de diez años, decide aportar su grano de arena y emprende sus propias pesquisas con la ayuda incondicional de su mejor amiga Tilly. Juntas van de casa en casa interrogando subrepticiamente a los residentes. Pero a medida que las puertas y las bocas van abriéndose, esa avenida empieza a revelar sus más oscuros secretos y pronto las detectives aficionadas descubrirán más de lo que habrían sospechado. Comentarios de los lectores: «Si crees que esto va a ser como una aventura de Los Cinco, no puedes estar más equivocado. Las dos niñas pronto descubrirán que en su calle se ocultan secretos e intrigas, y nada es como en principio podría parecer. Me declaro fan total de este libro.» «Yo tenía once años ese verano de 1976, y la novela evoca perfectamente aquella época.» «Tiene una trama detectivesca, pero es más que eso. Me cautivó.» La opinión de la crítica: «Una trama excelente, una escritura magistral. Ideal para los fans de El curioso incidente del perro a medianoche », Cadena de librerías Waterstones «Como en una novela de Agatha Christie, cada personaje guarda un secreto, pero no necesariamente el que el lector sospecha.» The Guardian «Tiene un aire a las series de los años setenta. Maravillosa.» Daily Mail «Me tuvo enganchada de principio a fin. Grace y Tilly son dos de los mejores personajes que me he encontrado en mucho tiempo. Son mis nuevas heroínas.» Kate Hamer «Imagine El secreto de Donna Tart en una zona residencial de Inglaterra en los años setenta.» The Guardian «Un misterio atípico y perspicaz.» Publishers Weekly «Un debut extraordinario por su estructura, sus personajes, su escritura, sus toques de humor y su humanidad. Cannon es una autora para seguir.» Booklist «Muestra nuestro complejo mundo con compasión y humor.» BookPage «Un debut sobresaliente.» The Sunday Times ENGLISH DESCRIPTIONPart coming-of-age story, part mystery, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is a quirky and utterly charming debut about a community in need of absolution and two girls learning what it means to belong.England, 1976. Mrs. Creasy is missing and the Avenue is alive with whispers. The neighbors blame her sudden disappearance on the heat wave, but ten-year-olds Grace and Tilly aren't convinced. As the summer shimmers endlessly on, the girls decide to take matters into their own hands. Inspired by the local vicar, they go looking for God--they believe that if they find Him they might also find Mrs. Creasy and bring her home. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)823.92Literature English English fiction Modern Period 2000-Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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What a relief when I turned the last page. ( )