Sap Rising

by A.A. Gill

Buchan Gardens is a sedate square in West London. Charles Goodwin, the garden committee president, would like the garden to stay just the way it is. Lord Vernon of Barnstable, the appalling life peer, has plans for the garden. Bryony Mullins, the gusset-mouthed harridan, doesn't give a flying knicker elastic what happens to the garden as long as it's not what Vernon wants. Angel Tenby, the sexually organic gardener, wants the garden to run free. Mrs Kotzen, the neighbour, wants the garden to be chic. The vicar wants the garden to be accessible and relevant. Lily Ng, the teenage daily, would probably think the garden silly if she thought about it at all; she wants to offer sex in lieu of ironing. Mona Corinth, the Hollywood legend, is dead and may be about to become part of the garden. Iona Wallace is the obligatory love interest. She would like to be a laid, forked, plucked, seeded, mulched, vigorously pollarded, bedded and admired for her natural beauty. The garden wants absolutely nothing at all. Sap Rising may well be a story about dark dank nature both human and vegetable and our uneasy relationship with the mystic natural forces that move the earth. It may be a parable on the fragile consensus that maintains and tends green England. On the other hand, it might just be a farcical love story set in a garden about nothing of any consequence performed by comic grotesques with a lot of swearing and unnatural sex.

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 1996

About the author

Adrian Anthony Gill was an English journalist. He was the author of 9 books, including The Angry Island. He was the TV and restaurant critic and a regular features writer for The Sunday Times, a columnist for Esquire, and a contributor to Vanity Fair. He lived in London.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. I first read this when I was in my early teens so didn't really get the adult content but that didn't detract from the characters.

Please don't read it if you're easily shocked! If you do then please don't write reviews that give this brilliantly funny novel 1 star, that's not fair. The books is good, very well written, the detail and the prose are spot on... it's not the book's fault that it's not to your taste. Save the 1-stars for the mass of unreadable self-published novels that aren't even spell checked.

Sorry, deviated a little there... this is a weird book and contains things that most people will be utterly shocked by, but it's still a good read!

The message is that life goes on no matter what, that nature finds a way or at least a balance in the end, and that whatever you think of someone or what they do, perhaps from their perspective their actions make sense.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A previous reviewer has summed this up perfectly: "appalling; hilarious; wonderful." Couldn't have said it better myself. Do not read if you're shockable.

[Dawn Folley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to steady my nerves a little through this book, due to gratuitous and entirely hilarious sex scenes
that are like a cross between Tom Sharp and Jilly Cooper. However, A, A Gill writer and restaurant critic, now sadly., permanently, away is a profoundly satisfying and humane writer. His prose is beautiful, flushed with feeling and contempt for cowardice and pretension. It reminds me of a Midsummer Nights Dream.

[Kate Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big fan of AA Gill. I’ve given it 4 for expanding my knowledge of English language. It’s like learn a new word a day. Story wise a 3. What a vivid imagination he had! Miss his musings though not sure this filled the gap

[Johnantony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh some people are easily shocked ! Or maybe it's just that I'm easily amused or I never grew up, after all I still think farting is funny. This is appallingly, disgustingly funny .... Just like real people.... I read this the first time on the train to work, it took me weeks to get through it as it kept me convulsing with suppressed giggling and watering eyes so much so I couldn't read the lines. Don't read this whilst eating lunch at your desk you'll only end up spraying all the stuff that you've spread out to make it look like your busy. Don't read this in public if you have a stuffy cold, an upset tummy or a full bladder either for that matter. If your think you are sensible and of morally superior stock you won't like this at all....

[Paul Handley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly my favourite book ever. I love the characters, the real life shenanigans and the OMG moments.
A proven wordsmith delivered a wonderful jaunt in a London garden, is so so good, shocking and funny.
Easily offended people with no love of language, story telling or humour should avoid. Every other normal person should take this on and then put it in your top ten... would love to see this adapted on screen!

[Thijs Mostert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this book up from a charity shop. Glad I did not pay much for it. Enjoyed it but it is a very strange story with strange sexual references in it. Found out afterwards that AA Gill now writes for the times? as a food critic. Hhhm.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

appalling, hilarious, wonderful

[James Kellar · Rating 1 out of 5]

a real shocker. Genuinely bad and depraved, and not in a good way.

[Julia Wherlock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes amusing, but then quite unpleasant with the old dear & her dog. A friend recommended the author, but was unaware of the content of the book, I think

[Ester Hunter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't enjoy this book one bit! Can't understand why any one would. Maybe I just didn't get the humour in it or maybe I'm just too easily shocked. Wouldn't recommend it to any one. Too vulgar for me.