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The Invention of Dr Cake
What is the truth about the mysterious Dr Cake? Why, at his funeral, is there no name on the brass plate so ostentatiously screwed into his coffin-lid? Andrew Motion, poet laureate, has written a novel about poets and the afterlife.
142 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
3 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Motion
114 books64 followersSir Andrew Motion, FRSL is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.
Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack.
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC about liberty, about homelessness for the Salvation Army, about bullying for ChildLine, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the Today programme, about the Paddington rail disaster, the 11 September attacks and Harry Patch for the BBC, and more recently about shell shock for the charity Combat Stress, and climate change for the song cycle I've finished for Cambridge University with Peter Maxwell Davies." In 2003, Motion wrote Regime change, a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict, and in 2005, Spring Wedding in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109 year old Harry Patch, the last surviving 'Tommy' to have fought in World War I, Motion composed a five part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells in 2008. As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.
Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to [his] work". The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters. As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in The Guardian which concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry." Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater, Radley College, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was. Carol Ann Duffy succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.
Andrew Motion nació en 1952. Estudió en el University College de Oxford y empezó su carrera enseñando inglés en la Universidad de Hull. También ha sido director de Poetry Review, director editorial de Chatto & Windus, y Poeta Laureado; asimismo, fue cofundador del Poetry Archive, y en 2009 se le concedió el título de Sir por su obra literaria. En la actualidad es profesor de escritura creativa en el Royal Holloway, de la Universidad de Londres. Es miembro de la Royal Society of Literature y vive en Londres. Con un elenco de nobles marineros y crueles piratas, y llena de historias de amor y de valentía, Regreso a la isla del tesoro es una trepidante continuación de La isla del tesoro, escrita con extraordinaria autenticidad y fuerza imaginativa por uno de los grandes escritores ingleses actuales.
Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack.
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC about liberty, about homelessness for the Salvation Army, about bullying for ChildLine, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the Today programme, about the Paddington rail disaster, the 11 September attacks and Harry Patch for the BBC, and more recently about shell shock for the charity Combat Stress, and climate change for the song cycle I've finished for Cambridge University with Peter Maxwell Davies." In 2003, Motion wrote Regime change, a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict, and in 2005, Spring Wedding in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109 year old Harry Patch, the last surviving 'Tommy' to have fought in World War I, Motion composed a five part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells in 2008. As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.
Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to [his] work". The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters. As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in The Guardian which concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry." Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater, Radley College, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was. Carol Ann Duffy succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.
Andrew Motion nació en 1952. Estudió en el University College de Oxford y empezó su carrera enseñando inglés en la Universidad de Hull. También ha sido director de Poetry Review, director editorial de Chatto & Windus, y Poeta Laureado; asimismo, fue cofundador del Poetry Archive, y en 2009 se le concedió el título de Sir por su obra literaria. En la actualidad es profesor de escritura creativa en el Royal Holloway, de la Universidad de Londres. Es miembro de la Royal Society of Literature y vive en Londres. Con un elenco de nobles marineros y crueles piratas, y llena de historias de amor y de valentía, Regreso a la isla del tesoro es una trepidante continuación de La isla del tesoro, escrita con extraordinaria autenticidad y fuerza imaginativa por uno de los grandes escritores ingleses actuales.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 17, 2014
A brief and very clever novella that occupies that interesting space between fact and fiction. Andrew Motion is better known as a poet, poet laureate and writer of biographies (especially Keats and Larkin; both on my tbr list), rather than a novelist. But this foray into the novel form is interesting and is set in the mid to late 1840s. Motion draws on his knowledge of English Romantic poetry to weave an interesting tale about the afterlife of poets by posing a conundrum and musing out loud in a “what if?” sort of way.
The two main protagonists of the novella are two doctors. Dr William Tabor is a physician in London who studies the conditions of the rural poor and their diseases and lifestyle. In his studies he comes across the work of Dr John Cake, a physician living in rural obscurity in Essex. Tabor was a minor poet in the Wordsworth style in his youth. He travels to Essex to meet with Dr Cake and discuss his work only to discover he is dying of consumption. Cake is in his late 40s at the time (born 1795). They only meet twice and the bulk of the novel is the record of those two meetings. They discuss poetry in depth and the afterlife of poets; Motion suggest as they grow older they lose something of their power and initially uses Wordsworth as an example. It is well written and as you would expect very poetic. The descriptions of the Essex countryside are straight out of Constable with the blurred edges of Turner and are luscious and brilliant.
At some point in the proceedings the reader realises what Motion is suggesting and the sheer outrageousness of it is breathtaking. The clues are there. At Dr Cake’s funeral Tabor notices that the nameplate on the coffin is blank. Who was Dr Cake? It’s almost like through the keyhole; who lives in a house like this? There is the study, its furnishings and the books in it, the bird in the cage, the garden and flowers, the housekeeper (especially the housekeeper) and then there is the conversation between the two men. The clues are there and laid out at the end. The descriptions of how the disease takes hold are very effective and work well in the context of the conversation about the nature of poetry.
The pace is gentle, there is a touch of gothic about it and it is well written. There are flaws and a few bumpy bits of phrasing; but its well worth the effort and the clues along the way are great fun and should take you back to the originals. If you like a bit of mystery and speculation, but don’t want a traditional detective novel, this may be for you. It’s clever and inventive and great fun.
The two main protagonists of the novella are two doctors. Dr William Tabor is a physician in London who studies the conditions of the rural poor and their diseases and lifestyle. In his studies he comes across the work of Dr John Cake, a physician living in rural obscurity in Essex. Tabor was a minor poet in the Wordsworth style in his youth. He travels to Essex to meet with Dr Cake and discuss his work only to discover he is dying of consumption. Cake is in his late 40s at the time (born 1795). They only meet twice and the bulk of the novel is the record of those two meetings. They discuss poetry in depth and the afterlife of poets; Motion suggest as they grow older they lose something of their power and initially uses Wordsworth as an example. It is well written and as you would expect very poetic. The descriptions of the Essex countryside are straight out of Constable with the blurred edges of Turner and are luscious and brilliant.
At some point in the proceedings the reader realises what Motion is suggesting and the sheer outrageousness of it is breathtaking. The clues are there. At Dr Cake’s funeral Tabor notices that the nameplate on the coffin is blank. Who was Dr Cake? It’s almost like through the keyhole; who lives in a house like this? There is the study, its furnishings and the books in it, the bird in the cage, the garden and flowers, the housekeeper (especially the housekeeper) and then there is the conversation between the two men. The clues are there and laid out at the end. The descriptions of how the disease takes hold are very effective and work well in the context of the conversation about the nature of poetry.
The pace is gentle, there is a touch of gothic about it and it is well written. There are flaws and a few bumpy bits of phrasing; but its well worth the effort and the clues along the way are great fun and should take you back to the originals. If you like a bit of mystery and speculation, but don’t want a traditional detective novel, this may be for you. It’s clever and inventive and great fun.
Want to Read
October 25, 2014Just can't get into this. I started reading it in March, put it down and haven't felt inclined to try again. So I'm going to give up for the time being, and if I come across the book again in the future, I may give it a second chance, starting from the beginning.
May 19, 2013
Not sure if I think this is clever... or if the plot twist overestimates itself. A nice read, though.
January 26, 2025
A very good imitation of mid-Victorian style, a completely obvious yet quite entertaining twist, but a little too much padding. Probably a 3.5* rather than a 4.
September 3, 2019
I really enjoyed this. I have to confess that, having encountered Motion mainly through a few of his Laureate poems, I had never taken him seriously as a writer. This slim novel makes me entirely reassess him - the writing here is consistently excellent. A comic description of a local church organist, and a striking description of an orchid, were powerful enough for me to read them aloud to my companions. And the overall conceit is interesting and effective. The historical stuff is convincingly done, and while it plays with fact and fiction, it's well-enough executed that I had to google some stuff afterwards (confession, involving possible spoilers: while I knew that the Dr Cake strand was fictional, I did catch myself wondering whether Tabor himself might have been a real poet).
Oddly enough I found myself reminded a lot of Austerlitz (Sebald). The basic idea (a fictional [sort of] figure being described at length by his interlocutor, with a lovely attention to detail and a gentle, unrushed pace) is similar, and this novella had, at times, a similarly mesmeric effect on me.
I had no particular interest in the Romantic poets, or in Keats in particular, but rather than reducing my interest in this book, instead it left me wanting to revisit the Romantics and read them again. It's a slight book, but beautifully done and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it (in fact, 2 of my travelling companions on a holiday also read it and had the same experience). Will now dig out some other of Motion's prose books as a result, because his writing is exceptionally good.
Oddly enough I found myself reminded a lot of Austerlitz (Sebald). The basic idea (a fictional [sort of] figure being described at length by his interlocutor, with a lovely attention to detail and a gentle, unrushed pace) is similar, and this novella had, at times, a similarly mesmeric effect on me.
I had no particular interest in the Romantic poets, or in Keats in particular, but rather than reducing my interest in this book, instead it left me wanting to revisit the Romantics and read them again. It's a slight book, but beautifully done and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it (in fact, 2 of my travelling companions on a holiday also read it and had the same experience). Will now dig out some other of Motion's prose books as a result, because his writing is exceptionally good.
March 22, 2014
Liefdevol en precies geschreven. Niet altijd kon ik het volgen maar het is vaak genoeg gebleken dat een lang leven niet garant staat voor een herhaling van het imposante, geniale werk waarmee het leven begon. Van Keats zullen wij het nooit weten.
November 28, 2016
otion, Andrew. The Invention of Dr Cake.
This is a spoof story about a spoof person. Dr Cake doesn’t exist in the real world and neither does his ardent friend Dr Tabor, although there are various place names, such as mountains and volcanos that bear the name ‘Tabor.’ Once the reader has accepted this presumed fact, Motion’s book can be seen for what it is - a fiction, a somewhat meandering one, but an annoying one too, in that it plays with real people and their reputations, like the dead Wordsworth and Keats. True, in fiction one is bound to accept the virtual reality as fact, for the purposes of the imaginative experience, for example that Thomas Gradgrind is a real person, that Captain Ahab is an unstable revenge-filled hunter bent on an impossible task. But these characters spring into life from the page. This never, in my view, happens here.
Whether the reader accepts for the purposes of the story that Dr Cake is a dying man, an articulate, thoughtful tubercular old man living in early Victoran England, one who is a respected physician who had a follower, one Dr Tabor, likewise a doctor, likewise a failed or an unpublished poet who is obsessed by the life and work of John Keats is the point. The abiding question is - is Cake Keats or not? Is he deluded? Do we at least ‘believe’ in him? Some Amazon readers do, others do not. Either way the story is, as the title says, only the Invention of Dr Cake, as told to us by his devoted friend Dr Tabor.
Whatever onr thinks of the story and its protracted telling, various moral and aesthetic questions are raised and discussed, somewhat tediously in my view, in this very brief book. It took me three attempts to get into and complete the book, being more interested in these questions than in the characters of Doctors Tabor and Cake.
This is a spoof story about a spoof person. Dr Cake doesn’t exist in the real world and neither does his ardent friend Dr Tabor, although there are various place names, such as mountains and volcanos that bear the name ‘Tabor.’ Once the reader has accepted this presumed fact, Motion’s book can be seen for what it is - a fiction, a somewhat meandering one, but an annoying one too, in that it plays with real people and their reputations, like the dead Wordsworth and Keats. True, in fiction one is bound to accept the virtual reality as fact, for the purposes of the imaginative experience, for example that Thomas Gradgrind is a real person, that Captain Ahab is an unstable revenge-filled hunter bent on an impossible task. But these characters spring into life from the page. This never, in my view, happens here.
Whether the reader accepts for the purposes of the story that Dr Cake is a dying man, an articulate, thoughtful tubercular old man living in early Victoran England, one who is a respected physician who had a follower, one Dr Tabor, likewise a doctor, likewise a failed or an unpublished poet who is obsessed by the life and work of John Keats is the point. The abiding question is - is Cake Keats or not? Is he deluded? Do we at least ‘believe’ in him? Some Amazon readers do, others do not. Either way the story is, as the title says, only the Invention of Dr Cake, as told to us by his devoted friend Dr Tabor.
Whatever onr thinks of the story and its protracted telling, various moral and aesthetic questions are raised and discussed, somewhat tediously in my view, in this very brief book. It took me three attempts to get into and complete the book, being more interested in these questions than in the characters of Doctors Tabor and Cake.
April 27, 2026
One of the dullest books I have ever read. Even at just 135 pages, it's a slog. In convoluted pastiche-Victorian prose a doctor with poetical ambitions writes of the funeral of a dead doctor with poetical ambitions and of his two prior visits to the now-dead man. They talk dully about the Romantic poets, Keats in particular, and we are invited to speculate whether the dead doctor is the dead poet. Unlikely.
August 30, 2021
Beautiful prose and concept. I was expecting something a bit like Woman in Black during the first chapter though it evolved into something else entirely.
Recommended if you like poetry and medicine.
Recommended if you like poetry and medicine.
Read
August 4, 2020Prachtig verhaal.
January 13, 2023
Not knowing very much about Keats put me at a disadvantage but the ending, if you get to it, leaves lots of food for thought.
February 7, 2023
A deceptively simple, moving, evocative story.
July 12, 2023
I found the whole conceit of this novella intriguing.
June 26, 2012
This book leaves me feeling both satisfied and dissatisfied... but then I wonder if that isn't the point - or at least one of the many points. This slim novel (142 pages) with its straightforward style is deceptive in that it is crammed full of thought-provoking ideas.
The story begins well-grounded in reality with Motion reflecting on the nature of biography, and specifically what truths the discipline can tell and what truths it leaves out, as well as what is known and what is unknowable about a life. 'Recently', Motion declares, 'I've cast around for new ways of doing things.'
Within a couple of paragraphs we are matter-of-factly introduced to Dr William Tabor (1802-1851), who is an invention of Motion's, though so perfectly grounded in his life and times that one wonders for a while why one hasn't heard mention of him before in other scholarly works. In turn, Dr Tabor introduces us to Dr John Cake, likewise an invention.
Motion explores the notion that Keats survived a crisis of health in Rome, but let it be thought that he has died, and took the opportunity to reinvent himself. When he eventually returned to England, it was to live and work as Dr Cake, in a village in Essex. His friends and family were left in ignorance to grieve for Keats.
Motion doubles Keats' lifespan, and we are assured - if we needed any assurance - that Keats had years of happy fulfilment, that he was 'more vigorous ... more remarkable ... more wonderful ... more passionate' than other men. However we only meet him again as he is finally dying, and that shades our view of him, as it shades Tabor's. Was the deception worth all the pain and grief it caused? Cake is loved and respected by the people he served, both high born and low, and he knows that he has done much good in this 'second' life. But in the end he also feels deeply what he has lost.
There is something to be said here about choices made, and how they create some opportunities while closing the possibility of others. Motion says it less baldly and more wisely than I.
While this is fiction, it is written as if 'real' - perhaps the biographer travelling down a byway that is too speculative to be included in a scholarly tome. An appendix, if you like, to Motion's masterly 'Keats'. It allows Motion, via Keats himself, to speculate about who Keats was and who he might have been. It also explores the question of whether creative talents can ever last a full lifetime.
In summary: Highly recommended. I would love for other biographers to also explore 'new ways of doing things', if this is the kind of richness that results.
The story begins well-grounded in reality with Motion reflecting on the nature of biography, and specifically what truths the discipline can tell and what truths it leaves out, as well as what is known and what is unknowable about a life. 'Recently', Motion declares, 'I've cast around for new ways of doing things.'
Within a couple of paragraphs we are matter-of-factly introduced to Dr William Tabor (1802-1851), who is an invention of Motion's, though so perfectly grounded in his life and times that one wonders for a while why one hasn't heard mention of him before in other scholarly works. In turn, Dr Tabor introduces us to Dr John Cake, likewise an invention.
Motion explores the notion that Keats survived a crisis of health in Rome, but let it be thought that he has died, and took the opportunity to reinvent himself. When he eventually returned to England, it was to live and work as Dr Cake, in a village in Essex. His friends and family were left in ignorance to grieve for Keats.
Motion doubles Keats' lifespan, and we are assured - if we needed any assurance - that Keats had years of happy fulfilment, that he was 'more vigorous ... more remarkable ... more wonderful ... more passionate' than other men. However we only meet him again as he is finally dying, and that shades our view of him, as it shades Tabor's. Was the deception worth all the pain and grief it caused? Cake is loved and respected by the people he served, both high born and low, and he knows that he has done much good in this 'second' life. But in the end he also feels deeply what he has lost.
There is something to be said here about choices made, and how they create some opportunities while closing the possibility of others. Motion says it less baldly and more wisely than I.
While this is fiction, it is written as if 'real' - perhaps the biographer travelling down a byway that is too speculative to be included in a scholarly tome. An appendix, if you like, to Motion's masterly 'Keats'. It allows Motion, via Keats himself, to speculate about who Keats was and who he might have been. It also explores the question of whether creative talents can ever last a full lifetime.
In summary: Highly recommended. I would love for other biographers to also explore 'new ways of doing things', if this is the kind of richness that results.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2013
The last time I enjoyed the story of an agony was whne I read 'la Muerte de Artemio Cruz' and that's a long time ago, actually 'enjoyed' is not the best description of the feelings you can experience when you read either La Muerte...' or this one (they have very little in common but for the 'action'). This book is a little wonder lost in-between facts and fiction, truth and invention, in a misty land well worth a painting by Friedrich (Overall the book has a very fine graphic quality,as well). The best thing is that the very fine and refined prose of Andrew Motion carries that 'tour de force' admirably. So this is a text (not a novel!) describing the death of Dr Cake, but who is that very mysterious person whose coffin bears a blank name plate? The book is riddled with clues (some fake some not so much) and Dr Cake's confession to Dr Tabor builds the tension, it's an intimate cluedo game with no murder and after all a great opportunity on a reflexion on poetry poets and achievement, inspiration, youth etc... Which poet could build tension and make a page turner on those themes? Well A. Motion is the only one I think.
May 21, 2013
I knew on page 53.
This was a very interesting little book. At times, however, I really had to remind myself that Tabor is not Motion and that the whole story might be a complete fiction. I must say I am still not sure where this book stands in terms of historical accuracy. Regardless, I enjoyed the suspense and Tabor's description of Cake. The awe Tabor obviously feels in witnessing Cake's grand personality added a certain enchantment to his retellings that influenced my reading for the better.
I do not think of this as a book that I will read over and over again, but I am very glad to have read it (not least for the questions it asks of biography and fiction as larger concepts). I recommend this short read to anyone with an interest in biography, the Romantic poets or any interest in language at all.
This was a very interesting little book. At times, however, I really had to remind myself that Tabor is not Motion and that the whole story might be a complete fiction. I must say I am still not sure where this book stands in terms of historical accuracy. Regardless, I enjoyed the suspense and Tabor's description of Cake. The awe Tabor obviously feels in witnessing Cake's grand personality added a certain enchantment to his retellings that influenced my reading for the better.
I do not think of this as a book that I will read over and over again, but I am very glad to have read it (not least for the questions it asks of biography and fiction as larger concepts). I recommend this short read to anyone with an interest in biography, the Romantic poets or any interest in language at all.
March 14, 2016
I like this sort of thing - and I can't be more explicit about what sort of thing this is without spoilers, which you'll find on many of the other GR reviews if you're curious - nonetheless, I'm compelled to ask what was the point? It was an interesting idea, though not a new one, and provided the author with a number of opportunities for Deep Thought as well as a bit of target-shooting at the later Wordsworth (harrumph!). It was elegantly written and had the usual unsympathetic protagonist whose merits were lost on the reader if not on Dr Cake. Beyond that it was a slender but obvious-from-the-start thread on which to hang not much at all. Two stars because I'm sentimental.
August 19, 2015
De Engelse dichter Andrew Motion heeft een biografie geschreven over Keats. Hij vroeg zich echter af wat er gebeurd zou zijn als Keats nog had voortgeleefd. Hij publiceerde hierover in 2003: The Invention of Dr Cake (vertaald als Het verdichtsel van dokter Cake), In dit werk is Keats hersteld van zijn tbc en teruggekeerd naar Engeland om de rest van zijn leven als plattelandsarts door te brengen, Een collega ontdekt zijn ware identiteit. Maar Keats heeft zijn leven als dichter ver achter zich gelaten.
January 5, 2012
I loved this book.
It is gentle because it is set in a time when life was slow paced and people were polite and spent their time drawing botanical pictures.
It is interesting because of the slowly evolving realisation that Dr Cake might be someone else.
It is easy to read and well written.
I have just bought myself a copy (after reading it twice) and intend to read it again when it turns up in the post (from abebooks).
It is gentle because it is set in a time when life was slow paced and people were polite and spent their time drawing botanical pictures.
It is interesting because of the slowly evolving realisation that Dr Cake might be someone else.
It is easy to read and well written.
I have just bought myself a copy (after reading it twice) and intend to read it again when it turns up in the post (from abebooks).
December 22, 2012
I picked this up in a charity shop and didn't really look at what it was properly; therefore I did enjoy the vast majority of the book, although I did get a little borded in places with so much poetry talk (I refer you to my first comment). Anyone with an interest in poetry, especially Keats should enjoy this; it's a well written interesting book.
May 22, 2013
So our teacher kind of spoiled the crux of the story before I started reading. This significantly lessened my interest in the book, and I mosly read on because of a sense of duty rather than excitement. However, the idea is fascinating, but the story could have been much more in my opinion.
May 19, 2008
I wasn't sure what to make of this. I did enjoy it, but I'm not sure I would read it again. The idea was an interesting one, perhaps a little self-indulgent but quite a neat little plot.
July 31, 2010
Finely written, but not my cup of tea.
August 4, 2011
I am sure that this book is full of excellent things which set the literary world on fire. Unfortunately I didn't get any of these and just found myself mildly bored. Just not to my taste.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews