Start from here

by Sean French

Mark Foll is someone you might have spoken to, although you wouldnt necessarily know it; he might have called you in the middle of your favourite television programme to ask if you could take part in some market research, or you might even have called him to sort out your mobile phone contract or to find out where your airline tickets are. Mark has been drifting from terrible job to even worse job when he washes up at Wortley Insurance, working as claims adjuster. It is only when he is sent to Marson Greem, a Norfolk village, to investigate what might or might not be a cancer cluster caused by a waste management company insured by Wortley, that life beging to become something Mark might believe actually involves him. Start from Here is a social comedy, a love story, and a novel about patterns, randomness, and the patterns we see in randomness---in love, in life, and in insurance.Already a best selling author as one half of Nicci French. Name guaranteed to ensure widespread reviews and media coverage. A topical novel in current political and environmental climate.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Roman

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Half of the husband/wife writing team of Nicci French. He studied English Literature at Oxford University. He has been a film critic and biographer.

Nicci Gerrard and Sean French also write separately.

Reviews

[Xin Le Koh (Suhatā) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a breathless read LOL but if you look close enough, the book did give you something to ponder about your life.

I've rolled my eyes and laughed through the narration of Mark himself at the beginning of the book, hilarious and funny. But then he looks familiar. He could be anyone among us, a little odd, trying hard to struggle through different statuses, jobs, or even stages in life.

Guess I'll have to read through some of the others review, and see if I have anything missed out.

Anyway, when your author has done his Eng Lit at Oxford, I have to say that I admire his language - the language definitely outperformed much of the authors out there!

[Aashna Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

#popsugarreadingchallenge #abookicanfinishinaday instagram.com/p/BBj5EbcqHCs/

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75 sterren - Nederlandse paperback

Meestal lees ik de boeken van Nicci Gerrard of Nicci French, dit boek was het eerste van Sean French.

Dit is in een andere toon of beter gezegd stijl geschreven. Je moet er iets anders van verwachten, of gewoonweg een open blik hebben.

'Mark is een telefonische schadeontwikkelaar in het begin van het boek, later wordt hij een schade-expert, samen met z'n mentor Gilles.

Ze moeten samen claim onderzoeken in een dorp waar veel mensen kanker hebben, misschien door de aanwezigheid van een vuilverbrandingsoven.

Mark wordt dan ook nog verliefd op een alleenstaande moeder, die meedoet aan acties tegen de verbrandingsoven.' Om het lekker ingewikkeld te maken.

Hierin vindt je toch weer wat van Nicci Gérard terug vind ik.

[Nathan Chattaway · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found my copy of this book in a charity secondhand goods shop. It is one of few books written by this relatively obscure author. It is very funny at times, pitch perfect and, well, realistic. Life is usually confusing and full of nuance, rather than black and white. French captures that in this really enjoyable novel. After reading, I'm not sure why the author hasn't enjoyed more success or written more novels. Give it a try if you like Jonathan Franzen or Nick Hornby.

[Leon Sammartino · Rating 4 out of 5]

First some history. When I was a young uni student I would catch the train everyday, although I had a crappy old Sony Walkman sometimes the batteries died and in these moments of need I resorted to books to keep me entertained. It was in this environment that I stumbled upon a book called ‘The Imaginary Monkey’ also by Sean French. I loved this book. It became one of my favourites.

By my rough calculations this was 15 years ago, over those years I occasionally looked up ‘F’ in the library or the bookshop in the hope of picking up a follow up novel. But with no luck. If I’d bothered to research the internet I would have found that he released a follow-up in 1995 and then nothing until Start from Here in 2004, so my chances of finding anything were slim.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. I had been sucked in by those fantastic ‘Dirt Cheap Books’ ads on the TV and made the trip to my local warehouse in Collingwood.

It was a daunting experience. There were books everywhere. It reminded me that there are there thousands upon thousands of books produced every year, and most of them end up piled up in warehouses like this. It was in this environment that I looked down and saw the name ‘Sean French.’ I had a thought that this was the Sean French of Imaginary Monkey fame. I looked at the price – $1. It was worth a chance.

But what of the book itself? It’s good, really good. It’s not ground breaking brilliant literature or anything, but it doesn’t pretend to be. I’m not going to spoil the story for you but basically is about a slightly odd man who goes to investigate a potential cancer cluster for an insurance company. But what the book is about isn’t important either. What is important was that the main character, Mark Foll is someone we have all meet, he is slightly useless and awkward. Because of this we are instantly on his side.

So my tip, go to ‘Dirt Cheap Books’ in Collingwood and pick up a copy of this book (they only had about 600 copies of it left so you better get there before say 2015), it’ll be the best $1 you’ve ever spent.

[Connie53 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark is echt een beetje een nobody. Hij valt nergens door op, maar op een moment heeft hij daar genoeg van. Hij wil meer en hij wil vooral iets 'leuks' te doen hebben als baan. Dus neemt hij het besluit om naar de directie van de verzekeringsmaatschappij, waar hij bij werkt, te gaan. En hij vraagt om een nieuwe leuke functie. Iets waardoor hij meer mensen ziet en hij een verschil kan maken. Hij blijkt er een talent voor te hebben en gaat zich steeds beter voelen. Als hij, samen met zijn collega Giles, naar een dorpje wordt gestuurd om daar een mogelijke grote claim van het dorp te onderzoeken, kan hij zijn talent benutten en vind hij ook de liefde. Zijn besluit om de grote sprong te maken en niet klakkeloos te blijven zitten waar hij zat, is voor hem het begin van een nieuw leven.

[Hendrik Dejonckheere · Rating 3 out of 5]

Op vakantie Esther Verhoef uitgeruild tegen deze Sean French. Ik vond het een aardig verhaal met een hoofdpersoon van 26 die nog geen duidelijk omlijnd profiel heeft maar gaandeweg zichzelf aan het ontdekken is. Het samenspel met z'n mentor en de gesprekken gebaseerd op tegeltjeswijsheid psychologie zijn vermakelijk. De thematiek, hoe blijf je loyaal aan je werkgever, jouw gevoel voor wat rechtvaardig is en aan je geliefde is goed uitgewerkt, zonder het genre te ver op te rekken. De romantische escapades doen soms iets geforceerd aan. Dat geldt dan weer niet voor de lessen statistiek die op zijn mist interessant genoemd kunnen worden. Datzelfde vind ik van de wendingen in het verhaal. Kortom prima ontspanning in tram en vliegtuig terug naar huis.

[Annika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kurzweilige Geschichte, plätscherte etwas vor sich hin, war aber durchaus unterhaltsam. Habe eine geteilte Meinung zu dem Buch. Sprache war Recht vulgär und es vielen Rechtschreibfehler auf. Kann man durchaus Mal lesen.

[Ram · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://vramonline.wordpress.com/2022...

[Hans van der Ven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Geen aanrader

[Anke · Rating 2 out of 5]

2-2.5 star

‘Start from here’ but it not going anywhere… longwinded

[Anam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mike Foll is your average kinda guy: saying the wrong things in the day and philosopher at night. He has a shitty job at an insurance company as a call operator in claims when one day(or night, actually), his girlfriend Sonia(who he breaks up with because he said something stupid) asks him how he can manage at such a job. Mike realizes that this is not his calling and that he craves something fun. The next day, he goes to the head of his department and asks for more fun. He is immediately deployed to work with Giles Buckland, who visits the houses of the claimants. One day, Giles and Mike are asked to visit a village, Marston Green, and investigate, discreetly, the accusations of the inhabitants that Marshco, an industrial waste dumping company, on of the clients of Whortley Insurance where Mike works, has been releasing toxins in the air and that the level of toxins in very high and the waste flows into River Teel, and has subsequently caused cancer to many of Maston’s residents. The protesters have a fair point, there are a lot of cancer attacks in the area. Meanwhile, Giles suspects Marshco of illegal dumping and verbally threatens its chief. Mike then starts dating one of the protesters against Marshco. One night, Giles is attacked and injured badly by unknown persons. Mike then goes to Giles’ great aunt Frankie, who was an actuary, for her views on the spread of the cancer epidemic. The whole book turns into an anti-climax after that.

Frankly, I never thought I could find a book related to insurance interesting. i mean, yuck. But this was pretty much so, and provided valuable insight on the world of insurance and environmental causes and philosophy and patterns.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Foll will einen neuen Job. Sein Job ist zu langweilig. So er sucht was besseres. Er geht zum Headchef und fragte um was interessantes. Plötzlich findet er mit einem Mann der die Versicherung claims untersuchen muss. Da verliebt er sich und das gibt Probleme.

[Anne Lokhorst · Rating 2 out of 5]

The introduction is quite fascinating, yet as it progresses it loses its speed. The characters are shallow, especially the main character. The ending is rather abrupt.

[Pari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like it that much.

[Mick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an intriguing book. Not what one expects!