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Nasty!
Michael Rosen keeps bumping into a chatty old lady who tells him wildly unlikely stories - like there being man eating fleas on the London tube. In addition there are grizzly bears roaming the streets of London, killer wasps and all sorts of tall tales. This book features seven stories of funny mock horror.
- GenresFiction
96 pages, Hardcover
First published April 13, 1982
17 people want to read
About the author
Michael Rosen
583 books550 followersMichael Rosen, a recent British Children’s Laureate, has written many acclaimed books for children, including WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, and I’M NUMBER ONE and THIS IS OUR HOUSE, both illustrated by Bob Graham. Michael Rosen lives in London.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 20, 2012
This was a very strange children's audiobook.
It is a collection of linked tales all told by 'the Bakerloo flea woman' an elderly woman the narrator keeps bumping into and who has led a very interesting life. The book seems steeped in London in quite a curious but realistic way. The blurb refers to the supernatural and to horror, so not my sort of thing in theory but intended for a young teenager. He was saying "Where's the horror?" - it would seem that giant fleas and killer wasps were not quite enough for him - and he had rather missed the everyday horror of twins being knocked down and killed on the road. When we came to the plague of mice and how the local wise woman disposed of them however, he was satisfied.
From there we moved on to that classic urban 'dodgy burger' tale to a really quite disturbing and 'adult themes' story of twins each having an identical child and one dying, thus setting up a Wisdom of Solomon situation, and ending with a very unPaddingtonish bear on the loose in the Metropolis.
I enjoyed the way it recreated the banality of conversation and the main protagonist being an ordinary woman of mature years doing all kinds of jobs - definitely not the passive onlooker.
It is a collection of linked tales all told by 'the Bakerloo flea woman' an elderly woman the narrator keeps bumping into and who has led a very interesting life. The book seems steeped in London in quite a curious but realistic way. The blurb refers to the supernatural and to horror, so not my sort of thing in theory but intended for a young teenager. He was saying "Where's the horror?" - it would seem that giant fleas and killer wasps were not quite enough for him - and he had rather missed the everyday horror of twins being knocked down and killed on the road. When we came to the plague of mice and how the local wise woman disposed of them however, he was satisfied.
From there we moved on to that classic urban 'dodgy burger' tale to a really quite disturbing and 'adult themes' story of twins each having an identical child and one dying, thus setting up a Wisdom of Solomon situation, and ending with a very unPaddingtonish bear on the loose in the Metropolis.
I enjoyed the way it recreated the banality of conversation and the main protagonist being an ordinary woman of mature years doing all kinds of jobs - definitely not the passive onlooker.
September 18, 2014
I was quite looking forward to this book as I enjoy "nasty" topics of books, but I didn't really engage with it at all.
The book is a collection of short stories, all linked together by the main character bumping into the same woman, who tells him a new anecdote. The first story, about a massive flea on the underground, is quite funny and builds a great imagery in the head around these ladies chasing this bouncing hungry monstrosity through the tunnels. From there, the stories get a bit bizarre. It also becomes difficult, slow and irritating to follow, as the text follows the bumbling conversation between the main character and the woman. Maybe Rosen wanted this style of writing to show the woman's viewpoints were questionable, or maybe that she was believable, but it negatively effects the story flow. As the main character gets frustrated with the woman, I got frustrated with the book.
The book is a collection of short stories, all linked together by the main character bumping into the same woman, who tells him a new anecdote. The first story, about a massive flea on the underground, is quite funny and builds a great imagery in the head around these ladies chasing this bouncing hungry monstrosity through the tunnels. From there, the stories get a bit bizarre. It also becomes difficult, slow and irritating to follow, as the text follows the bumbling conversation between the main character and the woman. Maybe Rosen wanted this style of writing to show the woman's viewpoints were questionable, or maybe that she was believable, but it negatively effects the story flow. As the main character gets frustrated with the woman, I got frustrated with the book.
April 15, 2014
A good book.
Very fun to read, I know its for children, but Its the kind of books I recommend to people who start reading in English -like me-. You won't get board while reading it :)
Very fun to read, I know its for children, but Its the kind of books I recommend to people who start reading in English -like me-. You won't get board while reading it :)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews