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Primrose Hill: A Novel
The "firecracker debut"( Kirkus ) about London teenagers contemplating murder. After his mother takes another beating from her drug-dealing boyfriend, Danny decides to do something about itcommit murder. Should his best friend Si get involved? Seen through Si's eyes, this moral dilemma and ultimate test of friendship comes alivefraught, exhilarating, shocking.
- GenresFiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Helen Falconer
5 books21 followersSee https://www.helenfalconer.com/bio
"The Story of a Strange Marriage" is not my work, I don't know why it's there and I cannot delete it. (I've tried!)
"The Story of a Strange Marriage" is not my work, I don't know why it's there and I cannot delete it. (I've tried!)
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 25, 2015
Well. I said I'd love it or hate it and I absolutely hated it! (Possible spoilers, but tbh it won't matter 'cos if I were you, I wouldn't bother picking this up).
First of all, it carries a trigger warning for pretty much anything you could imagine: incest, drugs, domestic violence, violence, seriously bad language, sexual content, suicide, self harm, mental illness, weapons and the list goes on! But it was all for some weird facade the author was tring to acheive. Like the book was shocking for shocking's sake and I HATE that in any form of media. Picking one or two of the above "triggers" would have made the story a lot more shocking. I just found myself rolling my eyes every 10 pages when something else happened.
Not ONE of these characters were likeable, the main narrator (whose name I can't even remember) was slightly funny but Eleanor made me want to slap the book on my face, which I actually did near the end of the book because something she said annoyed me so much.
I feel like this book is very confused. The author is from the area the book is set (some rough part of London) but I dont think she captured it very well. It was like an Eastenders episode on speed. The book was published in 1999 and has not aged well AT ALL. Some of the word choices, even on serious parts were so cringy I let out an actual HA (sometimes in public) because it was just so ludicrous.
I would stay away from this book, especially if you are sensitive to anything I mentioned above. I am not too sensitive to those things luckily but I still felt EXTREMELY uncomfortable.
It's a real shame because my copy is signed, so if there is anyone who LOVES this book and is wondering why I bashed their fav book so badly, feel free to message me and we can see about getting it sent to you but I WILL be donating it when I move out in a week because I DO NOT want it on my shelves.
I have avoided a reading slump by the skin of it's teeth by believing in the hope that the next book I read can't possibly be as bad as this one.
First of all, it carries a trigger warning for pretty much anything you could imagine: incest, drugs, domestic violence, violence, seriously bad language, sexual content, suicide, self harm, mental illness, weapons and the list goes on! But it was all for some weird facade the author was tring to acheive. Like the book was shocking for shocking's sake and I HATE that in any form of media. Picking one or two of the above "triggers" would have made the story a lot more shocking. I just found myself rolling my eyes every 10 pages when something else happened.
Not ONE of these characters were likeable, the main narrator (whose name I can't even remember) was slightly funny but Eleanor made me want to slap the book on my face, which I actually did near the end of the book because something she said annoyed me so much.
I feel like this book is very confused. The author is from the area the book is set (some rough part of London) but I dont think she captured it very well. It was like an Eastenders episode on speed. The book was published in 1999 and has not aged well AT ALL. Some of the word choices, even on serious parts were so cringy I let out an actual HA (sometimes in public) because it was just so ludicrous.
I would stay away from this book, especially if you are sensitive to anything I mentioned above. I am not too sensitive to those things luckily but I still felt EXTREMELY uncomfortable.
It's a real shame because my copy is signed, so if there is anyone who LOVES this book and is wondering why I bashed their fav book so badly, feel free to message me and we can see about getting it sent to you but I WILL be donating it when I move out in a week because I DO NOT want it on my shelves.
I have avoided a reading slump by the skin of it's teeth by believing in the hope that the next book I read can't possibly be as bad as this one.
October 13, 2011
Gritty, raw first novel, set in London England during the sweltering summer of 1999. Si is 18 and he is embracing his summer of love, smoking dope with his friends, lounging in the heat all day on Primrose Hill (part of Camden Town - think the late Amy Winehouse).
Si's mother is pregnant and the baby's father has done a runner. Si's own father left him and his mother when he was a baby.
Si's best friend is Danny. Danny's mother is a heroin addict, and her boyfriend is beating the living hell out of her. She is also pregnant.
Both boys feel helpless and are caught between trying to act like men, and being scared boys. But they are tough in their own right, growing up poor and spending most of their time on the street amongst druggies, bullies and gangs. In Camden, at least in 1999, it was a very rough, ugly place to be.
Enter Eleanor, a fifteen year old girl, who makes an appearance on Primrose Hill and becomes fascinated with Si. She is pretty, small and waivers between baby talk and manic, run-on sentences. She is also morbidly fascinated by murder and death. Eleanor carries her own dark secrets, but unlike Si and Danny, her family has money.
This book takes you into the world of teens who love their families, but can't catch a break. Their mothers break their hearts, but they love them just the same. When parents fuck up, it doesn't matter what you have or don't have as a child.
And so Danny, Eleanor and Si proceed down a very dark road as they hatch a plan to bring justice to a least one of their families.
This book, once I got into it, kept me riveted, although granted, it is not pleasant subject matter.
Si's mother is pregnant and the baby's father has done a runner. Si's own father left him and his mother when he was a baby.
Si's best friend is Danny. Danny's mother is a heroin addict, and her boyfriend is beating the living hell out of her. She is also pregnant.
Both boys feel helpless and are caught between trying to act like men, and being scared boys. But they are tough in their own right, growing up poor and spending most of their time on the street amongst druggies, bullies and gangs. In Camden, at least in 1999, it was a very rough, ugly place to be.
Enter Eleanor, a fifteen year old girl, who makes an appearance on Primrose Hill and becomes fascinated with Si. She is pretty, small and waivers between baby talk and manic, run-on sentences. She is also morbidly fascinated by murder and death. Eleanor carries her own dark secrets, but unlike Si and Danny, her family has money.
This book takes you into the world of teens who love their families, but can't catch a break. Their mothers break their hearts, but they love them just the same. When parents fuck up, it doesn't matter what you have or don't have as a child.
And so Danny, Eleanor and Si proceed down a very dark road as they hatch a plan to bring justice to a least one of their families.
This book, once I got into it, kept me riveted, although granted, it is not pleasant subject matter.
October 24, 2012
Although this novel took me a while to get into with its laboured pace, it wsa actually a very good novel which touches on some really interesting issues.
The novel is told from the viewpoint of Si, a teenager enjoying his summer in the London suberbs, hanging out with his friends on Primrose Hill overlooking the city. However, when his friend Danny tells Si of his plans to murder his mothers abusive boyfriend, and Eleanor enters their lives, Si is forced to make decisions which will question his morals and friendships to breaking point.
Its a really interesting exploration of how difficult lifes decisions can be, particularly for a young man with little life experience facing some really difficult decisions. The novel looks at domestic violence and child abuse in a really interesting way, and looks at its affect, not on the victims, but those in contact with them and the decisions that they take when dealing with the situation. The novel looks at these decisions really sympathetically and the first person narrative really helps to get to the heart of the issues and the implications of taking difficult decisions.
There were a few disappointments with this novel. The first was that it was very laboured in the start, and it is only when you get to know the characters and the various aspects of their lives at the heart of this novel. This takes until about half way through, and until this point I found the novel quite hard work and was struggling to keep going. The ending was also disappointing as it didnt really conclude the novel. In many novels this is OK but because of the issues discussed here, I think it needed a firm conclusion to really show the impact of the decisions made by Si, be they right or wrong.
However, overall I think this is a good novel which looks at really interesting topics affecting young people in the modern world. I like the fact that Falconer wasn't afraid to look at these difficult topics and the way she chooses to do this is really good to sympathetically show the difficulty faced by young people in a similar situation. Once it got going, I really enjoyed this novel.
The novel is told from the viewpoint of Si, a teenager enjoying his summer in the London suberbs, hanging out with his friends on Primrose Hill overlooking the city. However, when his friend Danny tells Si of his plans to murder his mothers abusive boyfriend, and Eleanor enters their lives, Si is forced to make decisions which will question his morals and friendships to breaking point.
Its a really interesting exploration of how difficult lifes decisions can be, particularly for a young man with little life experience facing some really difficult decisions. The novel looks at domestic violence and child abuse in a really interesting way, and looks at its affect, not on the victims, but those in contact with them and the decisions that they take when dealing with the situation. The novel looks at these decisions really sympathetically and the first person narrative really helps to get to the heart of the issues and the implications of taking difficult decisions.
There were a few disappointments with this novel. The first was that it was very laboured in the start, and it is only when you get to know the characters and the various aspects of their lives at the heart of this novel. This takes until about half way through, and until this point I found the novel quite hard work and was struggling to keep going. The ending was also disappointing as it didnt really conclude the novel. In many novels this is OK but because of the issues discussed here, I think it needed a firm conclusion to really show the impact of the decisions made by Si, be they right or wrong.
However, overall I think this is a good novel which looks at really interesting topics affecting young people in the modern world. I like the fact that Falconer wasn't afraid to look at these difficult topics and the way she chooses to do this is really good to sympathetically show the difficulty faced by young people in a similar situation. Once it got going, I really enjoyed this novel.
February 5, 2014
"Me and the crowd were hanging on Primrose Hill, playing music, smoking a bit of draw, watching the brilliant sun go down, made blazing colours by the polluted air. And we were having this heavy discussion about how terrible it all was, global warming and that, but I was laughing because we were basking in it, man – day after day, all July, sunning ourselves on the burning hill – tropical London! I was feeling good, when Danny ran out of the beautiful sky and threw himself gasping on the ground beside me.
“I’m going to kill that fucker.”
I didn’t need to ask. All the good feeling went out of the evening, like a separate sun suddenly going down.
“He’s fucking done it again, Si.”
“Shit...”
“With a baseball bat.”
“What?”
“She had to call an ambulance.”
“Jesus, Danny,” I said, feeling sick, sitting up. “What’re you going to do?”
“I’m going to kill him.” And he clutched at his face, his expression of rage, like he’d rip it right off, like a mask." …….
----
Sweats atmosphere – The Sunday Times
Shocking, moving and addictive – Express on Sunday
I couldn't put it down – The Guardian
Heartrending and hilarious –Literary Review
A fantastic first novel – Face Magazine
“I’m going to kill that fucker.”
I didn’t need to ask. All the good feeling went out of the evening, like a separate sun suddenly going down.
“He’s fucking done it again, Si.”
“Shit...”
“With a baseball bat.”
“What?”
“She had to call an ambulance.”
“Jesus, Danny,” I said, feeling sick, sitting up. “What’re you going to do?”
“I’m going to kill him.” And he clutched at his face, his expression of rage, like he’d rip it right off, like a mask." …….
----
Sweats atmosphere – The Sunday Times
Shocking, moving and addictive – Express on Sunday
I couldn't put it down – The Guardian
Heartrending and hilarious –Literary Review
A fantastic first novel – Face Magazine
August 22, 2010
I hate this book and wish it would die! Thankfully it was in the HMV bargain bin so I didn't pay much for it. We follow the story of a group of teenagers including Si and Danny who spend most of their spare time hanging around a hill. Things change when Eleanor joins them and a plot is hatched to commit a revenge murder.
What did I hate about this? Pretty much everything really. The writing is terrible, the plot pathetic and the characters are nasty, bitchy, deranged little tossers that I personally wanted to kill-especially the dimwit cow Eleanor. Every time she opened her whiny mouth I wanted to slap her into unconsciousness. The plots just made no real sense and the author couldn't seem to make up her mind what she was doing with it which made it a complete mess. If this story is the typical urban teen angst books that are so much fun to read then the future is looking pretty damn bleak for book lovers everywhere. Do yourself a favour and don't pick this crap up!
What did I hate about this? Pretty much everything really. The writing is terrible, the plot pathetic and the characters are nasty, bitchy, deranged little tossers that I personally wanted to kill-especially the dimwit cow Eleanor. Every time she opened her whiny mouth I wanted to slap her into unconsciousness. The plots just made no real sense and the author couldn't seem to make up her mind what she was doing with it which made it a complete mess. If this story is the typical urban teen angst books that are so much fun to read then the future is looking pretty damn bleak for book lovers everywhere. Do yourself a favour and don't pick this crap up!
August 2, 2011
A quite superb story of the way a teenager's hippie summer turns to a nightmare when he gets involved in his best mate's plot to bump off his stepfather. Totally believable, it visits some very dark places, as well as having excellent moments of humour (the little kid being dumped in the hedge early on, for example). There is a scene towards the end, where the narrator confronts his girlfriend's abusive family, which was so well written I wanted to applaud. Really really hope to see more from this author.
January 16, 2012
This is a pretty good first novel that at once makes you long for the drunken, twisted summer days of your teens and grateful that they're all behind you.
March 21, 2012
Troubled youth in the 90s.
October 27, 2014
I've marked it as read but it's actually too awful to finish so I'e abandoned it approximately half way through. Poor writing, poor characterisation and just generally extremely irritating.
May 23, 2023
The book had me hooked. Regardless of the shitty characters (Eleanor) I always felt something towards each character. I found it hard to keep up with everyone especially how story lines just got dropped so quickly but overall the shock factor worked on me.
April 4, 2021
My favourite book in the world ❤️ Have re read this over and over again. It’s like uk series ‘skins’ but much better 😋
April 30, 2020
NOT WORTH IT.
Not recommended unless you have got nothing better to do with your time.
The book has some interesting events in the plot that would bind the readers, but overall the plot is just lame. The characters are annoying & confusing and one of the vital characters is simply irrational.
Somewhere in the middle the story takes some interesting turns, but don't get your hopes up; the plot suddenly gets painfully slow and might bore you to death.
Not recommended unless you have got nothing better to do with your time.
The book has some interesting events in the plot that would bind the readers, but overall the plot is just lame. The characters are annoying & confusing and one of the vital characters is simply irrational.
Somewhere in the middle the story takes some interesting turns, but don't get your hopes up; the plot suddenly gets painfully slow and might bore you to death.
October 3, 2015
I'm torn about how I feel about this book. I didn't love it, and the ending offered no real closure (major pet peeve) but I liked the protagonist, Si. He wanted to do right by his loved ones despite all of their selfishness and other flaws. Eleanor and Danny's characters were heartbreaking examples of children neglected or worse by parents and supposed guardians who were left physically and mental damaged by people who should have taken care of them. This book made me sad but also gave me some insight into how lucky I am to have a stable family life and solid role models.
June 21, 2013
I absolutely loved this book - and I was no expecting to. The characters had an authenticity and inspired an empathy in youth that I have not encountered since reading The Catcher in the Rye aged 13. A wonderful, evocative book about growing up in London. Beautiful....
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews