Small World

by Matt Beaumont

Friends, family, workmates. The woman you see at the bus stop every morning; the man who reaches for the last newspaper just before you get to it. Everyone you meet, and some you nearly meet, will have an impact on the way your day goes.

Small World is the story of a group of men and women, living and working in a city, who are connected through love, work, friendship, or simply by virtue of proximity. We connect with the hearts and minds of characters including an all-coping housewife, a stressed out working mother, a put-upon nanny, a long-suffering journalist, an Indian waiter who dreams of stardom, a grieving shop assistant, a stand-up comic and a psychotic policeman - all of whom speak directly to us about their innermost thoughts, fears and desires in a series of interwoven first-person narratives.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Monica]

A completely different book than all the "e" books from Matt Beaumont. In other circumstances I would reject it as melodramatic, because there is literally nothing funny in this book. Still, reading it right after the crazy "e"s, it somehow blends with them. I did not dislike it but I doubt I will ever re-read it.

[Heidi]

I love those stories where all the characters are interlinked somewhere in a small way.
Reminded me of Robert Allan’s Short Cut.
I wanted it to carry on with more and more links till everyone was eventually linked to most people.

[Hatty]

Really enjoyed this and devoured it in a few days. Enjoyable, quick paced and lively. Loved how all the lives were interwoven into each other and really makes you think about your own life and how you might be connected to all the people you see every day.

[Manguins]

Quotes
She always tries too hard. (41)

Thank heaven for Google...Though I did feel bad for prying. Damn Google to hell. It's turned us all into snoopers. (66)

Everyone do gym this country. In Chez Republic gym just for rich. Sexy one look like he do weightlift. Other one look like he just look at friend do weightlift. (183)

I believe in Him all right, but I'm not sure I like Him any more. (280)


I borrowed this from a friend. ISBN13 978-0-552-77456-7

[Rebecca]

Sometimes I wish I worked at a library, so I could just grab all the new books and read them first. Maybe someday eventually. For some reason, library work is more appealing to me then bookstore work, as I don’t mind filing and putting books back o the shelves would be fulfilling to me. I am such a dork. ANYWAY. This book was about a bunch of different people whose lives keep overlapping. The first person kept switching back and forth between everyone. I read the bio of the author first on the flap of the book and for some reason, he mentions his car. And then within the book for certain characters, he specifically mentions what kind of cars they drive, which I thought was so so so lame. But it just says what is important to the author, which is always sort of interesting. If you didn’t read the author bio, you could tell that this book was written by a man, if just for the reason that he writes about what kind of cars certain, always male characters, drive. It’s like, who cares?! Otherwise, this book was okay. If you were board of one character, it didn’t matter, because their first person perspective was over quickly.

Grade: C

[Brian]

The only reason why I am giving this book two stars instead of one is simply because I liked the first person narrative from person to person. Aside from that there is not much going for it. The plot in the words of Roger Daltrey of the Who you 'can see for miles and miles.' Charles Dickens would even baulk at the amount of coincidences in the book between the characters. As for the characters some are downright repulsive or stereotypical. Incidentally that's without including the copper who in one day rapes his wife, beats up a traffic warden in a racist attack, & to top it off kills one of the characters in a hit and run. And you thought you sometimes had a bad day! In short if you liked Cold feet you may like this book. Personally I was disappointed as I liked the idea of it but fell way short of what it could have been.

[Jonesy_laaa]

This novel was extremely lucky to get 3 stars. Beaumont throughout the novel focuses on a group of characters and their stories but are all connected in some way, shape or form.

However, Beaumont fails to deliver on this. Throughout the novel, the amount of coincidences is ridiculous and the overlapping just gets to the point where you actually question the plot and the direction it is going.

The characters for me are the biggest niggle in this book. They are absolutely unbelievable to the point where I actually felt physically sick with their actions especially the copper and how he behaves.

But overall, the novel is easy to follow despite it's flaws but nothing seemed to be solved plot wise. A disappointment

[Snoakes]

This is a nice easy read - a good one for taking on holiday. That sounds like it's damning it with faint praise, but it's actually quite cleverly constructed. The story is told from multiple viewpoints as a series of internal monologues with the character sometimes changing mid-scene. I imagine this is pretty difficult to get right, but each person has a clearly different voice and personality. OK there are a couple of slightly stereotypical characters and the plot is a little far-fetched in places, but it's a novel, not a documentary. It's an entertaining take on the six degrees of separation idea - everybody is connected to everyone else by a series of little steps. It is indeed a Small World!

[Christiana]

I'd seen this on Amazon before and thought it sounded like a good read. Ended up buying it @ the airport, on my way to Crete, since I'd forgotten to take my current book out of my luggage before check-in & needed something to read on the plane. It accompanied me throughout the holidays and had me frequently laughing out loud -to the curious looks of those around me. An original, fresh & highly recommended read!

[Natacake]

I liked it. I liked how you get to know the different characters and their stories very quickly and its pretty easy to follow each individual story. It annoyed me a little that one of the main story lines didn't seem to be solved at the end but all in all a good book. I also did some research and went on Matt Beaumont's website which he shares with his wife who turns out to have written books under the alias of 'Jessie Jones' who I remember reading a book by and wondering who she actually was!

[Lauren B]

Even though this book had many different characters and stories, the author did an awesome job of delivering them to you without adding confusion. He also managed to connect all the stories at the end easily and managed to shock and excite me.
I'm definitely planning on reading the rest of Matt Beaumont's novels.

[Dan Freeman]

Slow starter, continues at the same pace but then fires Into life about 3 quarters through. Bit of a disappointing ending but there is no doubt that the author is great at knitting together multiple characters, storylines and relationships. It's kinda like the anti-Love Actually, which can only be a good thing.

[Habibi]

I loved this book. I thought that the author spent just enough time on each character to leave you wanting more. I couldn't put it down the whole way through. I also liked the way the killer was revealed- not obviously, but through a comment someone said about them. I've read a few of Matt Beaumont's books and will definitely read more of them.

[Kiki Fitria]

I expected E, but I guess even authors grow up and expand their wings.

[Nikki]

Actually I give this 4 1/2 stars only because there are so many characters and I got a little confused at the start but I loved the way it was written and how all the stories were linked. Brilliant.