What do you think?
Rate this book
Portobello
INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELL’S FINAL NOVEL, DARK CORNERS
Ruth Rendell is widely considered to be crime fiction’s reigning queen, with a remarkable career spanning more than forty years. Now, in Portobello, she delivers a captivating and intricate tale that weaves together the troubled lives of several people in the gentrified neighborhood of London’s Notting Hill.
Walking to the shops one day, fifty-year-old Eugene Wren discovers an envelope on the street bulging with cash. A man plagued by a shameful addiction—and his own good intentions—Wren hatches a plan to find the money’s rightful owner. Instead of going to the police, or taking the cash for himself, he prints a notice and posts it around Portobello Road. This ill-conceived act creates a chain of events that links Wren to other Londoners—people afflicted with their own obsessions and despairs. As these volatile characters come into Wren’s life—and the life of his trusting fiancée—the consequences will change them all.
Portobello is a wonderfully complex tour de force featuring a dazzling depiction of one of London’s most intriguing neighborhoods—and the dangers beneath its newly posh veneer.
Ruth Rendell is widely considered to be crime fiction’s reigning queen, with a remarkable career spanning more than forty years. Now, in Portobello, she delivers a captivating and intricate tale that weaves together the troubled lives of several people in the gentrified neighborhood of London’s Notting Hill.
Walking to the shops one day, fifty-year-old Eugene Wren discovers an envelope on the street bulging with cash. A man plagued by a shameful addiction—and his own good intentions—Wren hatches a plan to find the money’s rightful owner. Instead of going to the police, or taking the cash for himself, he prints a notice and posts it around Portobello Road. This ill-conceived act creates a chain of events that links Wren to other Londoners—people afflicted with their own obsessions and despairs. As these volatile characters come into Wren’s life—and the life of his trusting fiancée—the consequences will change them all.
Portobello is a wonderfully complex tour de force featuring a dazzling depiction of one of London’s most intriguing neighborhoods—and the dangers beneath its newly posh veneer.
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 20, 2008
120 people are currently reading
1125 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Rendell
456 books1,626 followersA.K.A. Barbara Vine
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 503 reviews
March 30, 2021
As always, if you expect a synopsis of the plot, you are not going to find it here. You may check Goodreads for that!
Ruth Rendell possesses two admirable attributes- the art of elegant prose and a powerful imagination. Her novels, both by Rendell and her pseudonym, Barbara Vine, all reflect these valued qualities. Without her intelligent, informed insights, she would be unable to develop her colorful characterizations, behaviors and her complex plots. It is a wonder that she has been able to produce such a huge volume of books through the years, but also the staggering number of weird and defective individuals within them.
Portobello is a fine example of Rendell's capabilities. My first assessment was that this is not one of her best. However, as I continued to read and further considered this, I realize this novel contains numerous examples of the features that her admirers expect and are rewarded by her. This is not a classical crime novel, but Rendell's never are considered typical.Granted there are crimes committed herein, but the essence lies in the psychology and the anti-social characterizations. Only one individual in these pages appears "normal" and appealing, the remainder own an assortment of neuroses, psychoses and/or social dysfunctions. Rendell has expertly woven these maladies into her complex tale to create tension and a sense of incomprehensibility and intrigue.
Despite my original sense that this is not one of my favorite of her books, I continue to admire this fine author and will continue to seek the amazing attributes I have found in her writing.
Ruth Rendell possesses two admirable attributes- the art of elegant prose and a powerful imagination. Her novels, both by Rendell and her pseudonym, Barbara Vine, all reflect these valued qualities. Without her intelligent, informed insights, she would be unable to develop her colorful characterizations, behaviors and her complex plots. It is a wonder that she has been able to produce such a huge volume of books through the years, but also the staggering number of weird and defective individuals within them.
Portobello is a fine example of Rendell's capabilities. My first assessment was that this is not one of her best. However, as I continued to read and further considered this, I realize this novel contains numerous examples of the features that her admirers expect and are rewarded by her. This is not a classical crime novel, but Rendell's never are considered typical.Granted there are crimes committed herein, but the essence lies in the psychology and the anti-social characterizations. Only one individual in these pages appears "normal" and appealing, the remainder own an assortment of neuroses, psychoses and/or social dysfunctions. Rendell has expertly woven these maladies into her complex tale to create tension and a sense of incomprehensibility and intrigue.
Despite my original sense that this is not one of my favorite of her books, I continue to admire this fine author and will continue to seek the amazing attributes I have found in her writing.
July 29, 2011
I've read every work of fiction that Ruth Rendell has published but I have to say that I was terribly disappointed with this latest effort. The initial premise I found flawed. Wealthy guy finds a quantity of cash in the street and instead of handing it in to the police or simply pocketing his lucky find, he advertises the fact on neighbourhood lamposts as one would when searching for a missing cat. Not only does this seem unlikely but he is described as private and secretive, yet he lists his home telephone number for all to see! This chap also comes to suffer from an addiction to/obsession with a certain brand of sugar free sweets. Ms Rendell goes on to describe this addiction in minute and very repetitive detail which I assume is meant to capture the obsessive nature of the addiction but it just becomes extremely tedious and downright annoying.
The novel also contained a couple of continuity errors which should have been picked up before publication.
The novel also contained a couple of continuity errors which should have been picked up before publication.
January 16, 2015
Softly sketched, disarmingly rendered, but a knockout.
Unassuming round-table-of-characters mystery, sifts a lot of dissimilar layers and keeps going. Part of the beauty here is watching an intentionally tipsy narrative gathering all threads toward the center and then convening for a moment, only to unravel outwards again.
Broadly disparate lives interact, confront, fracture and repair along the course of the telling here. Rendell is by now a past master of the art of shuffling character & narrative direction in alternating chapters; setting all participants reeling toward some unseen, unknowable rendezvous... With the only guarantee being that they'll all somehow interlock at some point.
Nothing lurid or bloody, all in all, more a restrained tour of an unpredictable landscape; all anchored nicely with the frame, or spine, really, of the Portobello Road and its environs.
This brings to mind Polanski at the peak of his form, or maybe classic Hitchcock; so it is cinematic, though not in scope or sweep terms but in pacing and editorial precision. And it comes across as something Rendell did in-between crossword puzzles, unassuming, unspectacular.
Character, atmosphere, timing, pace.
This is head and shoulders above anything being written in the mystery genre that I know of, and beautifully understated at that.
Five stars.
Unassuming round-table-of-characters mystery, sifts a lot of dissimilar layers and keeps going. Part of the beauty here is watching an intentionally tipsy narrative gathering all threads toward the center and then convening for a moment, only to unravel outwards again.
Broadly disparate lives interact, confront, fracture and repair along the course of the telling here. Rendell is by now a past master of the art of shuffling character & narrative direction in alternating chapters; setting all participants reeling toward some unseen, unknowable rendezvous... With the only guarantee being that they'll all somehow interlock at some point.
Nothing lurid or bloody, all in all, more a restrained tour of an unpredictable landscape; all anchored nicely with the frame, or spine, really, of the Portobello Road and its environs.
This brings to mind Polanski at the peak of his form, or maybe classic Hitchcock; so it is cinematic, though not in scope or sweep terms but in pacing and editorial precision. And it comes across as something Rendell did in-between crossword puzzles, unassuming, unspectacular.
Character, atmosphere, timing, pace.
This is head and shoulders above anything being written in the mystery genre that I know of, and beautifully understated at that.
Five stars.
July 6, 2017
This was a peculiar story, even by Ruth Rendell standards. Nevertheless, enjoyed it.
There's a wealthy gallery owner Eugene, who gets into the habit of savouring Chocorange, a sugar substitute sweet..and his doctor girlfriend, Ella.
There's Jean, a troubled youngster who's bothered by a ghost/angel called Mithras, his estranged father and suffering Mother.
there is Lance, a good for nothing youngster, and his conscientious nd beautiful girlfriend Gemma.
There's Lanse's thug turned preacher grandfather, and Gemma's brother and his friend.
How do all these people come together and interact?
Portobello tells us exactly how.
Why I read this book?
Last December I bought it for just 20 rupees from a used bookstore. When it's Ruth Rendell, I buy without even checking the blurb.
There's a wealthy gallery owner Eugene, who gets into the habit of savouring Chocorange, a sugar substitute sweet..and his doctor girlfriend, Ella.
There's Jean, a troubled youngster who's bothered by a ghost/angel called Mithras, his estranged father and suffering Mother.
there is Lance, a good for nothing youngster, and his conscientious nd beautiful girlfriend Gemma.
There's Lanse's thug turned preacher grandfather, and Gemma's brother and his friend.
How do all these people come together and interact?
Portobello tells us exactly how.
Why I read this book?
Last December I bought it for just 20 rupees from a used bookstore. When it's Ruth Rendell, I buy without even checking the blurb.
December 19, 2010
I had been disappointed in the most recent Rendell/Vine novels (I'm not counting her Wexford books which I don't read) but I'm pleased to say she's back at the top of her game with this one. There's no gimmicky ending, which is what I found in The Water's Lovely, and the voices of her characters are true, something I found lacking in The Birthday Present.
In many ways, this is a novel of addiction; and while being inside the head of one character got a bit repetitive at times, that is the nature of dependency, after all -- and this character has quite an unusual craving. Creating such a varied range of personalities (along with each one's flaws and yearnings) is one of the reasons I find Rendell so readable.
This isn't her best book, but it certainly is a good one.
In many ways, this is a novel of addiction; and while being inside the head of one character got a bit repetitive at times, that is the nature of dependency, after all -- and this character has quite an unusual craving. Creating such a varied range of personalities (along with each one's flaws and yearnings) is one of the reasons I find Rendell so readable.
This isn't her best book, but it certainly is a good one.
February 4, 2012
I was pretty disappointed with this book. I love reading Rendell's Inspector Wexford series, and I was eager to read more of her work away from that formula and character. Unfortunately, in spite of Rendell's skill as a writer, this was just a boring book. I could not become interested in even one of the characters whose lives skim together to keep the minimal plot moving forward.The first character we meet has an addiction to sucking on sugarless sweets. Right away I disliked this character and hoped that he was, like in so many mysteries, a throw away character you only see once. No such luck. He was one of the main characters and his ridiculous "addiction" was with us throughout the entire book. The only character of remote interest to me was an evil old man who cared for no one but carried on full of spite, hatred and a good amount of luck. His connection to a dubious church group was entertaining. Otherwise this was a keen observation of the many facets of the Notting Hill neighborhood in London, with a flimsy plot thrown in for good measure.
June 28, 2023
WTF. A bizarre story with different characters lives connecting when Eugene a wealthy antique dealer finds an envelope with £125 and advertises to return the money with a flier on a lamp post. Why not just hand it into the police? Eugene’s addiction to Chocorange sweets is bonkers. His girlfriend/fiancé a doctor called Ella is a very insecure doctor with confidence issues. They all get involved with the other characters when Ella becomes Joel’s doctor and Lance burgles them and their neighbor. All very odd
Lance, Uncle Jeb, Gemina and the crazy Joel are a weird cast of characters. Rendell writing also has some continuity problems especially the first few chapters. Where Lance gets the key for the gate is baffling.
I understand that Rendell was trying to show any form of addiction can be overwhelming but her ideas on poverty are odd.
Lance, Uncle Jeb, Gemina and the crazy Joel are a weird cast of characters. Rendell writing also has some continuity problems especially the first few chapters. Where Lance gets the key for the gate is baffling.
I understand that Rendell was trying to show any form of addiction can be overwhelming but her ideas on poverty are odd.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2021
This book differs from the other Rendell books I read. The novel studies several characters whose lives become intertwined because they live on or near or visit Portobello Road. One character is a middle-aged man addicted to a candy; his fiancée is a doctor who becomes a personal physician to a man we meet because he becomes injured on the Portobello Road. A young thief who loves a girl he assaulted and whose relative belongs to a cult-like church also appears. The action is slow. The flawed characters often express themselves in peculiar manners. While it is not my favorite Rendell book, I didn't hate it. I listened to the audiobook read by Tim Curry.
January 21, 2018
utterly awful beginning ... stopped reading after 20 pages
June 28, 2012
Now here's an author who can interweave different storylines and really make it work! I love Rendell's stand-alone fiction. Not crazy about her Inspector Wexford series, which is beter-than-usual British police procedural, but I have read with gusto most of her stand-alone novels. Most of them involve ordindary - really really ordinary - people caught up by happenstance in extraordinary circumstances and the stories unfold and weave together expertly and tantilizingly. So much so, that I find myself gasping out loud in the 'Don't go down the cellar barefoot in your nightgown with only a candle' kind of dread because you just know some of these people are making disastrous choices which will lead to their undoing. Sometimes there's a murder mystery involved, as well, but mostly it's her keen character development that drives the narrative. OK, so this one starts with someone fainting on a doorstep and losing an envelope of cash and what happens when the finder posts a 'found' flier in the Portobello Rd, a London flea market type place with lots of criminal activity. And always a satisfying conclusion with Rendell.
August 31, 2011
I'm continually amazed at Ruth Rendell's ability to produce quality fiction both under her own name and as Barbara Vine. Nobody writes about obsession better than Rendell. She has a particular gift of making the most everyday of activities brim with menace. She also has a unique ability to create fascinatingly odd but knowable characters who are connected in a seemingly random way and play them out in each others lives (even without knowledge of each other) with often tragic always compelling ways. PORTOBELLO is no exception. The characters are intriguing, the pace and plotting are expert and the ending is unusual and satisfying. Her descriptions of the Portobello Road throughout the book but particularly at the beginning and end of the book elevate it from mere backdrop to virutal character status and show you how exceptional a writer Rendell truly is.
August 12, 2016
I've been a huge fan of Rendell since discovering her work not too long ago. This one was consistently out at the library and I finally got to read it. I have to say it wasn't my favorite of her books, though it is still quite good. Similar premise of several interwoven narratives of morally and otherwise challenged characters in London tangentially connected by crimes. There is a quality to Rendell's characters, they tend to be wretched, in fact I think of them as rendellian wretcheds, there is just a way she wrote about psychology of things that oppress a person be it poverty, lack of drive or obsessions. In this case it is primarily the latter. The main character becomes spectacularly obsessed with a specific kind of sweets and nearly allows it to screw up his life. In fact it is this character that I had a problem with the most. He's well to do, has a comfortable life, intelligent and yet makes really bizarre choices. I'm not just talking about his obsession. The behavior I'm referring to is his strange careless for personal safety. Inviting random strangers in on chance the money he found belongs to them, leaving his house burglar ready. Rendell does a terrific job of describing the psychology of obsession and in all fairness she never did care all that much for likability of her characters, but this time the ratio was dramatically off for me and not enough occurred otherwise to offset it. Still absolutely worth a read, such strong writing, the Portobello area described so vividly, it becomes a character itself, the one constant player, despite the changes, observing patiently the clumsy humanity scurrying past it, scheming and plotting and trying to get by. Well observed. Well written. Recommended.
March 6, 2015
First off, Tim Curry is an INCREDIBLE narrator!
Now, let's get to the book. This was a wonderfully atmospheric novel. The characters were alive and vibrant. Even the ones committing crimes you were sympathetic with. The interconnectedness of the area of Portobello really came alive.
To me, I always remember the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks "Portobello Road" as performed by David Tomlinson.
The characters in this one are so much fun, crazy, neurotic, and wrapped up in their own lives. After awhile, you get wrapped up in them too! Much fun!
Now, let's get to the book. This was a wonderfully atmospheric novel. The characters were alive and vibrant. Even the ones committing crimes you were sympathetic with. The interconnectedness of the area of Portobello really came alive.
To me, I always remember the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks "Portobello Road" as performed by David Tomlinson.
The characters in this one are so much fun, crazy, neurotic, and wrapped up in their own lives. After awhile, you get wrapped up in them too! Much fun!
February 1, 2017
This is probably one of my Ruth Rendell's favourite books. She is a master describing moods and atmospheres. She makes the dullest person a literary masterpiece. The addicted Eugene and the schizophrenic Mithras are as believable as your next door neighbour and that is what is so scary.
January 28, 2011
It was quite different from other Ruth Rendell novels I've read. I'm not really sure why it was classified as a mystery, so that puzzled me, but overall, it was an enjoyable read.
October 22, 2010
This was a distinctly odd book. Starting out, I didn't think that I was going to like it at all and I ended up liking it quite a bit.
The chocolate-orange mint addiction drove me crazy at first- both because it seemed so absurd in a 'serious' book and because I started CRAVING them. I ate about 15 sugar free Werther's while reading this book! She goes on and on about them. And after awhile, I realized that that was the point - Eugene is obsessed with them and so, when Eugene is part of the story, the mints are, too.
She is such a wonderful writer and makes the characters so real. I didn't feel that way about Joel, though. His character was very murky to me. Was he truly insane, was he shamming to get back into his father's house, or did he start out shamming and slide into insanity?
A good book and a quick read.
The chocolate-orange mint addiction drove me crazy at first- both because it seemed so absurd in a 'serious' book and because I started CRAVING them. I ate about 15 sugar free Werther's while reading this book! She goes on and on about them. And after awhile, I realized that that was the point - Eugene is obsessed with them and so, when Eugene is part of the story, the mints are, too.
She is such a wonderful writer and makes the characters so real. I didn't feel that way about Joel, though. His character was very murky to me. Was he truly insane, was he shamming to get back into his father's house, or did he start out shamming and slide into insanity?
A good book and a quick read.
December 29, 2010
I love Ruth Rendell so incredibly much that it's hard to step back and say exactly why. Partly I think it's because her books are both plot-driven (they're total page turners) and character-driven (I'm always drawn into the characters' lives and able to find sympathy for them, even the most evil/depraved/unsympathetic ones). Partly because they contain the most compelling elements of classic mysteries, and yet at the same time they're completely unlike any other mysteries I know. Partly because the writing is so smart and beautiful. Partly because they manage to be surprisingly funny, as well as scary, startling, thought-provoking, and incredibly moving. Ruth Rendell, I hope you live for a very very long time, and keep writing. What would I do without you?
February 22, 2011
Ruth Rendell knows how to weave a complicated story out of a few simple actions by unrelated persons. Another tale by this British master of mystery.....but it is really not a mystery but a novel of dark doings, obsessions (real or imagined) and colorful, complex characters. The story takes place in London's Portobello Road, home to one of the world's great street markets and a polyglot of nationalities where the affluent and non-affluent live side by side. The characters, representing both sides of society clash resulting in arson, murder, and redemption. This is not the usual dark tale that we expect from Rendell's non-Wexford books and it actually has a fairly happy ending. If you like this author, you will like this book......recommended.
November 5, 2010
Ruth Rendell, defiantly not run of the mill books from her. This one is basically a slice of life along Portabello Road, a street with a long history of markets and stores, more pedestrian than vehicular. Several main characters are followed as their lives move forward and intertwine. A reformed prisoner and now member of a small religious group, his relation, a young man on the dole, a well to do owner of an art gallery, a single woman doctor, a young single mother, and 2 rough young men, one leading the other in less than savory activities. Mix them all together in this window to life of a London suburb.
June 26, 2018
This audiobook was difficult to get through, because it was so bland and boring. The only thing that kept me coming back at all was because Tim Curry (THE Tim Curry) is the narrator of this novel in audiobook form. It wasn’t really a mystery, just a view into some English people’s lives that lived off the Portobello road, in Notting Hill.
I didn’t think this novel was “wonderfully complex tour de force”, nor did I think it “featuring a dazzling depiction of one of London's most intriguing neighborhoods—and the dangers beneath its newly posh veneer”, like my library’s description sells it as.
Curry’s plummy tones kept me coming back to this novel, and a vague hope for an HEA, even though I couldn’t be bothered to care about a single character. (Seriously, a couple of his impressions were hilarious!). But that’s about it.
3 stars, and not really recommended to anyone, unless you need help sleeping at night.
I didn’t think this novel was “wonderfully complex tour de force”, nor did I think it “featuring a dazzling depiction of one of London's most intriguing neighborhoods—and the dangers beneath its newly posh veneer”, like my library’s description sells it as.
Curry’s plummy tones kept me coming back to this novel, and a vague hope for an HEA, even though I couldn’t be bothered to care about a single character. (Seriously, a couple of his impressions were hilarious!). But that’s about it.
3 stars, and not really recommended to anyone, unless you need help sleeping at night.
September 27, 2024
My first standalone book by the author is a psychological that quietly gripped me before I realized it. It's the story of three men quite similar, each with an obsession that can ruin them. This was much different from what I expected and I wasn't sure what I was reading had to do with crime, or anything Rendell would write. But then gradually things came together, the material got darker, a psychological element appeared and I was hopelessly hooked on this sly tale of obsession and despair.
April 14, 2019
Ruth Rendell has a genius for creating characters with deep psychological issues which render them completely unpredictable. They aren't always criminals (although they can be) but they have incredibly messed-up habits and ways of thinking. One art dealer who is otherwise an exemplary character develops an all-consuming addiction to sugarless candy, for example. This cast of oddballs inhabits a particular street in London called Portobello Road. Although that is all they have in common, you know their lives will intersect at some point. It was a solid read but lacked any great tension or insight. This was a book I finished mainly to satisfy my curiosity as to how these people would resolve their issues. And they did.
June 13, 2017
Borrowed Ruth Rendell's Portobello on audiobook from the library to listen to during my 3-hour drive over to Indy as an extension of the crazy-fun that is Tim Curry & Tequila night. Also: Ruth Rendell has been on my to-read list for a little bit. Anywho, Tim Curry is amazing, was not only in Rocky Horror and Clue, but also this odd 80's tv drama called Worst Witch filmed shortly after I was born, and inspires fantastic evenings with my particular group of friends.
As to the book: No, this is not a book about mushrooms or poisoning, as some of us (i.e. me) might have thought for a moment as we hit the 'BORROW' link on the library OverDrive site. Rendell's Portobello is set on Portobello Road, a street in the Notting Hill district of London that hosts the weekly Portobello Market (incidentally, this road was named for an 18th century naval victory and mushrooms don't come into it at all). In said market, all sorts of people come to buy all manner of eccentric wares, and on occasion, lose things--whether a wallet to a pickpocket, valuable antiques to a gang of street thugs, self-respect to a sugar-free sweets addiction, or an envelope of cash to the chaotic fallout of a heart attack.
The narration switches viewpoints as the tale unfolds--beginning with Eugene, a neurotic art dealer addicted to sugar-free sweets finding the envelope of cash on the street. Rather than reporting this to the police, he fixes a notice to a lamp post. Long before Joel contacts him from hospital where he's recovering from a heart attack, the young, perpetually out-of-work Lance tries to reclaim the money, but is unable to name the exact amount. He does take the opportunity to case Eugene's house, seeing the priceless artwork as another solution to his lack of income. Eugene's doctor-fiancee Ella half-unwillingly acquires Joel as a patient when she returns his money at the hospital, and dislikes visiting him in his ill-lit, stifling house where he sits in the dark hiding from an imaginary(?) he calls Mithras. Thefts, misunderstandings, and further health scares ensue.
I suspect different people will be pulled to different characters. I reluctantly identified with Eugene's useless(!) internal preoccupation and liked Ella's direct approach to problems, but found Joel the most tragic and interesting. Rendell's character work is deft; however the pace did tend to drag with so many characters to follow up with. Still, it proved a diverting listen during my six-hour round trip, and I plan to continue exploring Rendell's novels.
As to the book: No, this is not a book about mushrooms or poisoning, as some of us (i.e. me) might have thought for a moment as we hit the 'BORROW' link on the library OverDrive site. Rendell's Portobello is set on Portobello Road, a street in the Notting Hill district of London that hosts the weekly Portobello Market (incidentally, this road was named for an 18th century naval victory and mushrooms don't come into it at all). In said market, all sorts of people come to buy all manner of eccentric wares, and on occasion, lose things--whether a wallet to a pickpocket, valuable antiques to a gang of street thugs, self-respect to a sugar-free sweets addiction, or an envelope of cash to the chaotic fallout of a heart attack.
The narration switches viewpoints as the tale unfolds--beginning with Eugene, a neurotic art dealer addicted to sugar-free sweets finding the envelope of cash on the street. Rather than reporting this to the police, he fixes a notice to a lamp post. Long before Joel contacts him from hospital where he's recovering from a heart attack, the young, perpetually out-of-work Lance tries to reclaim the money, but is unable to name the exact amount. He does take the opportunity to case Eugene's house, seeing the priceless artwork as another solution to his lack of income. Eugene's doctor-fiancee Ella half-unwillingly acquires Joel as a patient when she returns his money at the hospital, and dislikes visiting him in his ill-lit, stifling house where he sits in the dark hiding from an imaginary(?) he calls Mithras. Thefts, misunderstandings, and further health scares ensue.
I suspect different people will be pulled to different characters. I reluctantly identified with Eugene's useless(!) internal preoccupation and liked Ella's direct approach to problems, but found Joel the most tragic and interesting. Rendell's character work is deft; however the pace did tend to drag with so many characters to follow up with. Still, it proved a diverting listen during my six-hour round trip, and I plan to continue exploring Rendell's novels.
December 19, 2012
I picked this up at the library on my last vacation. A free book to read while on vacation that I didn't have at home so I ditched the couple of reads I brought with me (I can read those when I get home) and read this instead. I have never read Ruth Rendell and the cover touted her as a "reigning queen" of crime fiction and the premise interested me so jumped in. Set in London's Notting Hill and featuring Portobello Road, a middle-aged art dealer finds an envelope full of cash one day and attempts to return it to its rightful owner.
The opening, the premise, the writing all engaged me from the very beginning. However, I just never grew to care enough about the characters to want to invest that much time or energy on the story. The addiction developed by the main character and his subsequent decisions made as a result of this addiction had me thinking, "Really?!" **Partial Spoiler alert!** I mean, he can't stop eating Choco-orange flavored sugar-free candies and his fiance's discovery of this brings on such shame that he cancels their engagement?! God help them if they ever have any REAL life issues in their relationship to deal with. In addition, I don't know many human beings in this day and age who have read the news or are even remotely aware of societal dangers that would invite a complete stranger inside their home who is trying to claim cash that they found. Give them the benefit of the doubt and meet them at a coffee shop? Yes. Come on over to my home and come on inside when I know nothing about you, haven't asked you anything about yourself and the only reason I'm talking to you is because you responded to an add stating I had found money? No.
By the way, the first page or two telling the story about how Portobello Road got its name is worth picking up the book in an of itself but beyond that, it didn't impress me much and I actually forced myself to finish the book speed reading the res of the way because it wasn't that long and I didn't want to have yet another halfway read book uncompleted. I can be a bit obsessive that way.
The opening, the premise, the writing all engaged me from the very beginning. However, I just never grew to care enough about the characters to want to invest that much time or energy on the story. The addiction developed by the main character and his subsequent decisions made as a result of this addiction had me thinking, "Really?!" **Partial Spoiler alert!** I mean, he can't stop eating Choco-orange flavored sugar-free candies and his fiance's discovery of this brings on such shame that he cancels their engagement?! God help them if they ever have any REAL life issues in their relationship to deal with. In addition, I don't know many human beings in this day and age who have read the news or are even remotely aware of societal dangers that would invite a complete stranger inside their home who is trying to claim cash that they found. Give them the benefit of the doubt and meet them at a coffee shop? Yes. Come on over to my home and come on inside when I know nothing about you, haven't asked you anything about yourself and the only reason I'm talking to you is because you responded to an add stating I had found money? No.
By the way, the first page or two telling the story about how Portobello Road got its name is worth picking up the book in an of itself but beyond that, it didn't impress me much and I actually forced myself to finish the book speed reading the res of the way because it wasn't that long and I didn't want to have yet another halfway read book uncompleted. I can be a bit obsessive that way.
July 11, 2017
I love spending time with Ruth Rendell's characters. This book is basically the tale of how a handful of people who live near each other interact and influence each other's lives, often without realizing it. No matter which pov we were in I was completely engrossed in their story, though probably my favorite was Eugene Wren, a gallery owner who spirals into an addiction to Chocorange (later renamed Oranchoco), a sugar-free candy. I could somehow completely identify with his shameful attempts to hide his "habit" from his girlfriend and pretty much every shopkeeper. They say the most important thing is for a character to want something, and this storyline never leaves you in doubt of what Eugene wants, how much he wants it, how much he wishes he didn't and what he'll do to get it.
Read
May 23, 2020I’m not entirely sure how to rate this book. I picked it out solely because the audio book is narrated by Tim Curry. I needed a book to listen to at night before bed and heard Tim Curry audios were amazing. And since this was the only one that was available right away from the library I have it a go. I can’t say a really liked the book but I didn’t hate it either. It ended up taking the whole 20 day loan to finish mostly because I would fall asleep unusually fast while listening. I found the characters rather unlikable but also was drawn in enough to want to know how it all wrapped up.
May 19, 2018
This is a sort of book about characters all living in the same neighborhood and how their lives are intertwined. Some of the connections are weak, some strong. It shows how our lives affect other lives whether we are aware of it or not. The ending was good because it was unexpected.
Read
July 24, 2025Of a restrained little book in which the character who limits himself to domestic violence, break country and theft seems to come off best -- in contrast with those who add us and murder to their list. This narrative survives on its interconnectedness, hence the title: everything happens in an around Portobello Road. It was quite readable, but somehow to me didn't seem to be quite the tour de force that a lot of Rendell's books are. Maybe the 'whydunnit' just wasn't as interesting.
January 11, 2021
This might be the worst book I’ve ever read.
September 27, 2018
The strength of this book is that Rendell somehow got me to care a bit about her cast of misfits -- mostly harmless ne'er-do-wells, candy addicts, religious zealots, schizophrenics, and ineffectual doctors -- whose lives overlap in the London neighborhood of Portobello.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 503 reviews