UKC

Finished it at 3 this morning. I've never read such a brilliantly written book. Absolute genius. Faulks seems to be on a different plane to any other author I've read.

I know books affect different people in different ways, but has anyone else read this and thought it as great as I did?

In reply to wayno265:

I thought it a bit odd...

In reply to wayno265:

I've not read it but have heard lots of positive things about it. I might have to investigate.

That said, I'd had lots of recommendations for Birdsong, started it, and gave up ten pages in as I thought it was dreadfully written tosh.

In reply to wayno265:

Yes, Engleby went straight into the top ten books I have ever read. It is easily the best thing Faulks has written. I have enjoyed all his other books (except the, in my opinion, dreadful Human Traces), but all, including Birdsong, had their flaws whereas Engleby seemed perfectly poised in its ambiguity. Its ending was so moving that I had to stop reading it in an airport when I saw what was coming and knew that it would make me burst into tears....

However, it does seem to provoke strong opposing opinions and women seem to like it less than men, presumably because they find it more difficult, perhaps understandably, to empathise with the Engleby character.

I wonder whether, having spent a lot of time researching psychiatry for Human Traces and seen it go to waste, Faulks then decided to put it to better use by writing Engleby.

Incidentally, few people sem to have read Faulks, pre Birdsong "A Fool's Alphabet, which I thought was one of his best books.

In reply to wayno265:

I'm with you on that. I really really enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty clear that Faulks enjoyed writing it too, ranting away about all sorts of stuff and all under the guise of 'It's not me that thinks this, it's my character'. I found myself really liking the narrator too, even though it's obvious from about 4 pages in he's a bit of a wrong 'un. Easily my favourite of Faulk's books. Much better than 'A week in December' when I thought he was trying too hard to write a Trollope style 'state of the nation' satire.

In reply to Robert Durran:

+1. Really clever novel too.

Birdsong is good, if you skip the first and last third of the book anyway. I saw the play in December and it was the same thing, the first act was pretty slow and dismal, the second was infinitely better.

In reply to wayno265: I've been trying to analyse why I liked it so much.

I think it's the subtlety in the way it gradually changes your perception of the narrator, from someone you naturally like and empathise with (as he's the narrator and you tend to have a natural affinity with them) to someone you realise is actually quite nasty and dark. It's also ambiguous as you begin to realise that you can't really rely on his recollection of events or his capacity to tell the truth.

As the father of a young girl, I empathised with Jen and her parents; but at the same time it made me wonder about how close we all are to being like Engleby - what narrow thread, what choices and decisions and moments of luck dictate whether we have "normal" lives and relationships or end up being a danger to others. Quite worrying.

I also like the nostalgic feel of the background, as the novel runs the course of the first 20 or so years of my life.

The re-writing of the fateful day in Jen's diary was a masterful and heart-rending ending.

Absolute genius. Have to give some of his other stuff a go, but not before I've recharged with a Lee Childs.

In reply to Robert Durran:
Yawnfest I thought.

I thought Human Traces was better. Still a bit of a bore. Why did you hate it so much? It had a nice hint of the surreal kind of like a tiny bit of spice that you can't quite taste, but I have to say I've mostly forgotten it so I clearly didn't think it that good.

I have fairly 'masculine' tastes in books, discounting your gender theory, but I thought Engleby was the literary equivalent of Coldplay, beige or shepherds pie.

To be honest Faulks just doesn't do it for me at all. You know it has good plots, fairly good writing and always creative use of timelines or connections but it just doesn't have *it*.

In reply to Tdubs:

As I said, it seems to divide opinion!


I thought it overambitious - it just came over as overblown and pretentious. I finished it, but yes, a bit of a bore.

In reply to wayno265:

I am afraid I continued to like him right through the book! Right till the end I desperately hoped and that he hadn't done it; the fact that he was clearly a bit of a fantasist (aren't we all...) and the ambiguity of the writing seemed to me to leave that possibility. Most other people, however, seem to think there is no doubt that he did it - I wonder what this says about me! Rarely have I felt such sympathy for a charscter in a book; it is this which made it so powerful and unsettling for me.

In reply to Robert Durran: I agree - it wasn't a case of liking him then loathing him; it was far more nuanced than that.

In reply to wayno265:

I found it at lunchtime in Oxfam Books and have made my purchase. If it's not good at least I'll be comforted by the notion that I've bought part of a goat.

In reply to wayno265:

I not usually keen on his books but really liked this one. Interesting says that he took a very different approach to writing it. Normally he spends an age researching his subject and is meticulous in his writing. Apparently knocked this one out in quick time without so much research, although the Human Traces stuff is obviously relevant.

In reply to Removed User:

Eek! I hope you like it! I'm feeling under pressure.

In reply to wayno265: No offence but if Tall Clare couldn't appraciate the incredible Birdsong then I'm not sure he/she will appraciate Engleby, which although brilliant was still not as good as birdsong, a book which changed my outlook on many thnigs.

In reply to twm.bwen:

Birdsong certainly has its moments as well as its over-melodramatic flaws, but Engleby is flawless - it had to be given its dangerous subject matter!

In reply to wayno265:

Possible spoilers follow.


Honestly I found it really quite disturbing. It's possibly a measure of the quality of Faulks' work that it draws you in and brings a whole other world to life in vivid detail... in this case a strange world where something, you can't put your finger on it but something isn't quite right. A world you experience bit by naggingly missing bit in the first person through the eyes of the utterly unlikeable Engleby. I'm a fan of Faulks' but this one I just didn't like, I couldn't put it down but I didn't like it.

jk

In reply to twm.bwen:

I'm female.

Sorry, but I just couldn't get into Birdsong.

Perhaps I should read more.

In reply to jkarran:

I agree, except for the fact that I didn't find Engleby (or,therefore, the book) at all unlikeable (which is what made it all the more disturbing).

In reply to Robert Durran:


Reading through the thread after I posted did make me wonder if I was mis-remembering. I'm sure I didn't like it (not quite the same as didn't enjoy it) but it's possible my memory of the Engleby character is tainted by that and his gradual descent over the years as the book progresses. It's also possible my memory is as flakey as his

jk

In reply to wayno265:
Great book. Tapped into believeing in his character and sympathising with him, then the book slowly paints a much darker view of him but I still felt for him. Made me feel uneasy. Well recommended.

As to Fools Alphabet- couldn't get into it at all :/

In reply to wayno265: I really enjoyed Birdsong but not Engleby! I don't know if he's a character who's easier to empathise with if you're male, but I was never on his side. Not even when we were told all the horrible stuff he went through at school, I'm afraid to say, because I already felt that I couldn't necessarily trust his version of events.

As I result it just felt to me like I knew straight away what he'd done, so the rest of the book seemed a tedious unfolding of an obvious conclusion.

I like Faulks' writing and I appreciate that the book works exceptionally well for some people - I'm just not one of them in this case.

In reply to daveyw:

The unusual non time-linear constructio of the book seems strange at first but is very rewarding and makes sense if you persevere I think.

In reply to Alyson:

This seems to be the case. There is probably a bit of Engleby in most men..... which is probably the (disturbing) point.

In reply to Removed User: What's it got to do with being female (or male)?

In reply to wayno265: I've got a feeling it might appeal more to men that women, in general.

In reply to twm.bwen:

You said he/she so I thought I'd clarify for you. That's all.

In reply to Removed User: Sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you were saying that men would enjoy it more due to what my wife describes as "the best sex scene she's ever read" but for me it was the portrayal of life in the ww1 trenches and what our grandparents went through that was the most memorable part of the book.
Give it another go and stick with it, I honestly think its excellent.

In reply to Alyson:

Just finished it and I think my experience tallies with yours - it was obvious from very early on that he'd been written as a psychopathic character, and what had happened to Jen.

It did keep me gripped, though.