Torn between St. Petersburg, London, Paris and New York, as well as their own personal crises, the members of the Glover family are suddenly brought together by the death of one of them. This event acts as a detonator for each character to come to terms with his or her problems. Couples are broken, flats burgled, and pianos shattered. And, slowly, lips are opened and secrets come to light...

This is not an easy book to read, it is dense and intricately constructed, yet very powerful. This is not a page-turner because it is the kind of book that requires pauses to think about the implications of what one has just read (and also to reflect on the blissful simplicity of one's own life). Docx's exploration of the intricacies of a dysfunctional family is masterful and his disenchanted rants against contract publishing and the "bullshitness" of modern life in general are a pleasure to read. This book is a journey, not easy, but rewarding. ( )

I found it a huge struggle to finish this book. I put it down three times and read the whole of another book instead. If it hadn't have been featured in this year's Booker Prize longlist I don't think I would have bothered picking it up again. Surprisingly, in the end, my opinion of it was fairly decent mostly because I did enjoy the last 150 odd pages and at that point I couldn't put the book down. If I'd found the first 350 pages as turnable then it would have been much better (obviously). I just found the story very slow to get off the ground. Basically it's all about twins Gabriel and Isabella Glover: aged 30ish; split between London & New York; brought up by a distant English father and a Russian mother; both rather in need of having their lives sorted out. The book begins with the death of their mother in St Petersburg and the story flips around from chapter to chapter between Isabella, Gabriel, their father, a Russian man called Arkady and his English friend Henry. Although the links between the main characters are clear early on in the book for the longest time it seemed like I was switching between different stories. It was only in the later part of the book (where I was enjoying it) that it felt like one coherent story. I'm glad I persevered to finish the book, and I can see why the author thought the story needed to be so spread out in the beginning in order that everything was set up for the ending, it just didn't really suit me that way.

This took me a long time to read. Ok, it's a big book, but that wasn't it. Another reviewer called it a page turner, but it just wasn't for me. At times it was beautifully written, but it for some reason it took me over half the book to work out who was who. By that point I sort of cared what happened to the characters, a recommendation of sorts, as they weren't particulary likeable. One of the quotes on the cover compared it to 'What a Carve Up', but the only parallels I could see where the highly improbable endings (althought Self Help's is nowhere near as stupid as What a Carve Up's).

So, not a glowing review then, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Docx is clearly a talented writer though, and if his next book is shorter (ie less of a time committement needed on my part) I'l definetely give him another try. ( )

While the 500+ page count is not staggering, this is a physically large book, and thankfully not a self-help book, at least not directly. This contemporary novel was a nominee for the Booker prize and when reading it it's clear why. The author has created a fast-moving story in the voice of a number of different inter-related characters. The story follows a twin brother and sister as they deal with their mother living in Russia, their father in Paris, and a number of other closely related, unique and well-voiced characters. Without being at all trite or honeyed, the book does deal with grief, transformation, and understanding.

I couldn't put the book down at times; it's definitely a page turner. It has a bit of a Russian feel to it, the writing that is. Not sure of the author's ethnicity, but the Russian psychology is definitely in there. That said, I felt the story was more Dickensian than Russian, but the writing belied a Russian sensibility. Each chapter was written from the voice of or about a specific character, which is often a risky move, since it's easy for a reader to not like the characters equally, and thus slog through the boring chapters. This wasn't an issue for me and I felt the character's voices were unique. The family history tended to a little long and tedious, but I only skimmed 2-4 pages of this throughout the book. The book is in turns gripping, sometimes existential, and definitely philosophical. And hits some unexpected notes in the ending.

All in all, a book about heroism, pain, brightness and transformation through a taut, fast story with definite English and Russian writing styles (and locales). ( )

http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/self-help-edward-docx/ ( )