What do you think?
Rate this book
Fallout
Sadie Jones, the award winning, bestselling author of The Uninvited Guests and The Outcast, explores the theater of love, the politics of theater, and the love of writing in this deeply romantic story about a young playwright in 1970s London.
Leaving behind an emotionally disastrous childhood in a provincial northern town, budding playwright Luke Kanowski begins a new life in London that includes Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer who will become his best friend, and Leigh Radley, Paul's girlfriend. Talented and ambitious, the trio found a small theater company that enjoys unexpected early success. Then, one fateful evening, Luke meets Nina Jacobs, a dynamic and emotionally damaged actress he cannot forget, even after she drifts into a marriage with a manipulative theater producer.
As Luke becomes a highly sought after playwright, he stumbles in love, caught in two triangles where love requited and unrequited, friendship, and art will clash with terrible consequences for all involved.
Fallout is an elegantly crafted novel whose characters struggle to escape the various cataclysms of their respective pasts. Falling in love convinces us we are the pawns of the gods; Fallout brings us firmly into the psyche of romantic love—its sickness and its ecstasy.
Leaving behind an emotionally disastrous childhood in a provincial northern town, budding playwright Luke Kanowski begins a new life in London that includes Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer who will become his best friend, and Leigh Radley, Paul's girlfriend. Talented and ambitious, the trio found a small theater company that enjoys unexpected early success. Then, one fateful evening, Luke meets Nina Jacobs, a dynamic and emotionally damaged actress he cannot forget, even after she drifts into a marriage with a manipulative theater producer.
As Luke becomes a highly sought after playwright, he stumbles in love, caught in two triangles where love requited and unrequited, friendship, and art will clash with terrible consequences for all involved.
Fallout is an elegantly crafted novel whose characters struggle to escape the various cataclysms of their respective pasts. Falling in love convinces us we are the pawns of the gods; Fallout brings us firmly into the psyche of romantic love—its sickness and its ecstasy.
414 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 29, 2014
57 people are currently reading
1809 people want to read
About the author
Sadie Jones
19 books379 followers was born in London, the daughter of a poet and an actress. Her father, Evan Jones, was born in Portland, Jamaica in 1927. He grew up on a banana farm, eventually moving to the United States, and from there to England in the 1950s. His most widely acclaimed work is "The Song of the Banana Man". Sadie's mother, Joanna Jones, was featured as an extra in various television series, including "The Avengers."
As a young woman, Sadie opted out of attending university, preferring instead to work an assortment of odd jobs (video production, temping, waiting tables) and to travel. After visiting America, the Caribbean and Mexico, Sadie settled in Paris, where she taught English and wrote her first screenplay. She eventually moved to London, where she currently resides with her husband, architect Tim Boyd, and their two children.
Sadie wrote screenplays for fourteen years before producing THE OUTCAST, her first novel. Her writing credits are an eclectic mix, everything from episodes of BBC-TV shows to a feature film in 2004. Her current project is a pilot for the BBC series DISORDER.
As a young woman, Sadie opted out of attending university, preferring instead to work an assortment of odd jobs (video production, temping, waiting tables) and to travel. After visiting America, the Caribbean and Mexico, Sadie settled in Paris, where she taught English and wrote her first screenplay. She eventually moved to London, where she currently resides with her husband, architect Tim Boyd, and their two children.
Sadie wrote screenplays for fourteen years before producing THE OUTCAST, her first novel. Her writing credits are an eclectic mix, everything from episodes of BBC-TV shows to a feature film in 2004. Her current project is a pilot for the BBC series DISORDER.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
May 23, 2014
The reviews are divisive on this latest novel by Sadie Jones, and I can understand that. It is a very British book with a Hollywood ending, although, in her defense, the author created a plot that had a natural and organic conclusion. The ending was inevitable, so it wasn’t hamstrung. But, I agree that it could have been arranged in a less predictable outcome. The plot itself wasn’t the aim, though; it was the authentic and gimlet eye that Jones possesses when it comes to all things theater, and the romantic complications and stickiness that ensue—the theater as an incestuous and cloistered space.
I was very involved in theater in my twenties, particularly one playhouse that performed cutting-edge productions, and what they called New Theater. I performed in plays that were written by local, regional, or other innovative playwrights that were just getting started. It was exciting, full of discoveries. And, it all came back to me when I read FALLOUT.
The novel is an ensemble piece, focusing as it does on several different characters involved in theater, primarily in 1970s London. Luke Kanowski is from the poorer provinces, with a sad past. His mother is contained in a hospital for the mentally ill, and his father tries to overlook it, mostly with his head in the sand. Luke has talent, is writing plays, and is eager to test his ambitions in London. He meets Paul Driscoll, who is a talented producer, and Leigh Radley, a student. Eventually they bond together and start a theater company on a shoestring.
The company they form is a passionate start-up, and a prelude to later buying space for a theater. The members are jacks-of-all-trades, doing everything they can to get it off the ground. Financial matters, building renovation, set design, and play production is done democratically, while Luke continues to write plays on the side (that he isn’t ready to share). As the three become closer, love and romance walk a tightrope. These triangulations were so common, in my experience, especially as theater becomes your life 24/7. However, in this case, Paul and Leigh clearly become a solid couple.
Intertwined with this narrative is the story of Nina Jacobs, an aspiring actress with a domineering, meddling mother, who eventually introduces her to a theater producer, Tony Moore, who has lots of posh connections. Tony is a chilling, enigmatic figure, and Jones’s development of him was unnerving and formidable. Although feminism stakes a claim in the 70’s, Nina is subsumed in in a passive role, a second to the man who controls her. She is beautiful, damaged, and starving for the spotlight. She has a fragile but alluring presence on stage, which captures Luke’s hungry heart.
Jones has a gift for dialogue, which is good, as this book has a considerable amount of it, and she keeps the pace and intimacy sharp and vibrating. Her characters are supple, fully dimensional, so if you are a lover of character-driven books, you'll be delighted. Moreover, the author conveys the contradictory ambiance of the theater métier, the alternating lather and lassitude. I wouldn't recommend this book for a mass audience--it is going to appeal more to readers with some insider experience of theater. I am not speaking of commercial theater, either, but rather the more incipient art houses that are both fertile and hopeful, but also vulnerable to fallout.
“Paul, Luke, Leigh…text-cut and set-built in a frenzy of broken deadlines, late nights, and long mornings…Its successes inspired him, its failures provided counterpoints. In any gap, with any opportunity, he wrote, controlling his own work as he could not control his collaboration.”
I was very involved in theater in my twenties, particularly one playhouse that performed cutting-edge productions, and what they called New Theater. I performed in plays that were written by local, regional, or other innovative playwrights that were just getting started. It was exciting, full of discoveries. And, it all came back to me when I read FALLOUT.
The novel is an ensemble piece, focusing as it does on several different characters involved in theater, primarily in 1970s London. Luke Kanowski is from the poorer provinces, with a sad past. His mother is contained in a hospital for the mentally ill, and his father tries to overlook it, mostly with his head in the sand. Luke has talent, is writing plays, and is eager to test his ambitions in London. He meets Paul Driscoll, who is a talented producer, and Leigh Radley, a student. Eventually they bond together and start a theater company on a shoestring.
The company they form is a passionate start-up, and a prelude to later buying space for a theater. The members are jacks-of-all-trades, doing everything they can to get it off the ground. Financial matters, building renovation, set design, and play production is done democratically, while Luke continues to write plays on the side (that he isn’t ready to share). As the three become closer, love and romance walk a tightrope. These triangulations were so common, in my experience, especially as theater becomes your life 24/7. However, in this case, Paul and Leigh clearly become a solid couple.
Intertwined with this narrative is the story of Nina Jacobs, an aspiring actress with a domineering, meddling mother, who eventually introduces her to a theater producer, Tony Moore, who has lots of posh connections. Tony is a chilling, enigmatic figure, and Jones’s development of him was unnerving and formidable. Although feminism stakes a claim in the 70’s, Nina is subsumed in in a passive role, a second to the man who controls her. She is beautiful, damaged, and starving for the spotlight. She has a fragile but alluring presence on stage, which captures Luke’s hungry heart.
Jones has a gift for dialogue, which is good, as this book has a considerable amount of it, and she keeps the pace and intimacy sharp and vibrating. Her characters are supple, fully dimensional, so if you are a lover of character-driven books, you'll be delighted. Moreover, the author conveys the contradictory ambiance of the theater métier, the alternating lather and lassitude. I wouldn't recommend this book for a mass audience--it is going to appeal more to readers with some insider experience of theater. I am not speaking of commercial theater, either, but rather the more incipient art houses that are both fertile and hopeful, but also vulnerable to fallout.
“Paul, Luke, Leigh…text-cut and set-built in a frenzy of broken deadlines, late nights, and long mornings…Its successes inspired him, its failures provided counterpoints. In any gap, with any opportunity, he wrote, controlling his own work as he could not control his collaboration.”
May 18, 2014
BABT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042zg79Description: Hayley Atwell reads Sadie Jones' acclaimed new novel set during the birth of radical theatre in 1970s London; a world in which the four central characters swirl, ambitious, eager yet all facing their own demons.
Luke aspires to be a playwright and, after meeting would-be producer Paul and the feisty Leigh, the three end up flatmates in London. There, they plan to revolutionise the face of theatre, but when they encounter Nina, a damaged young actress, emotions get in the way.
Reader: Hayley Atwell is an acclaimed stage and screen actor, who has been nominated for Olivier Awards for her roles in A View from the Bridge, and most recently for Pride at the Trafalgar Studios in London. Her screen roles include Cassandra's Dream, The Duchess, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Pillars of the Earth.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Written by Sadie Jones' whose debut, The Outcast, the story of a broken young man set in the repressed 50s, won a Costa Book Award and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2008. This is her fourth novel.
Episode 1: From different ends of the country, Luke and Nina are both looking for a way out. Episode 2: Luke aspires to be a playwright and, after meeting would-be producer Paul and the feisty Leigh, the three end up flatmates in London. There, they plan to revolutionise the face of theatre, but when they encounter Nina, a damaged young actress, emotions get in the way. Episode 3: Episode 4: Episode 5: Episode 6: Episode 7: Episode 8: Episode 9: Episode 10: Oh, I have no interest in this at all. NEXT
May 31, 2014
In 1971, Luke Kanowski leaves the small town of Seston for London with a few bags of his possessions, including his record player and notebooks. A long-time theatre appreciator who's never seen a play, it takes a chance encounter with two people about his own age, Paul Driscoll and Leigh Radley, to motivate him into quitting his clerk job and leaving his parents behind to embark on his own life. His mother has been locked up in the mental asylum in Seston since Luke was five; he visits her often and resents his father, a Polish migrant who once flew fighter planes in World War II, for never seeing her or talking to her. He takes the train to London and calls the one person he knows there: Paul.
Paul is not much past twenty but doesn't want to be the engineer his father pushed him to be. He wants to be a producer. Now with Luke on side, a plan begins to take shape and a fledgling theatre company arises. With several others, they form Graft, a small, artsy theatre above a pub. When handsome, charming Luke sleeps with the stage manager and then doesn't talk to her again, she leaves and they hire Leigh. The same spark of familiarity, connection and desire that was there when they first met is still alive, but Luke is taking the admonishment of not sleeping with the stage manager to heart, and steps back. Paul fills the gap, and after a while of dating him Leigh moves in to their flat and the three settle into a comfortable rhythm.
Also in London is Nina, a young actress trying to break in. Raised mostly by her absent (and unknown) father's sister, her mother has been the dominant presence in her life. An actress who didn't want the burden of raising a child she didn't want, Marianne is selfish and egotistical. All Nina has ever wanted is her mother's love and approval; she'll do anything and become anything to make her mother happy. That's how she finds herself going to drama school, even though she's so shy, and how she became a shell of a person easily sculpted by anyone dominant and confident enough to take on the task. Which is what happens when she meets Tony Moore, a producer and one of her mother's young ex-lovers. Tony arranges her, dresses her and trains her like something between a doll and a pet. Nina hides so deeply behind a blank - appeasing and pleasing - mask that it's not long before any vestige of an individual person able to break free and create a life for herself is gone.
It's at the performance of In Custody, a heavy play in which Nina stars, that Luke first really sees her. Barefoot, blind-folded and gagged, she comes onto the stage after an intense, dark opening in which the sounds of heavy doors opening and slamming shut can be heard. The experienced is terrifying for Luke, whose mother has been locked up for so long; when he sees vulnerable Nina, when her face is bared to him, he sees a frightened young woman who needs to be freed.
It is Luke's all-consuming love for Nina, and the affair they embark upon, that ruins old friendships and nearly scuttles his just-blooming career as a playwright. Fallout is a coming-of-age novel for both Luke and Nina, a vividly-real, intimate look into what drives us, what shapes us and what love can cost us.
This might very well be my favourite Sadie Jones novel to date, although I can't really say that because I really do like all her novels quite a lot and the ones I've read so far have all been quite different (I haven't yet read Small Wars; really must!). There is something holding me back from full-out loving her books, but for the first half-ish of Fallout I was definitely in the "love" zone. My copy is an uncorrected proof (an ARC), which meant it had lots of typos, nothing major, but it did also have a slightly unpolished feel to it. The prose was, at times, a bit awkward or unclear, the punctuation so technically incorrect that the emphasis or meaning of a sentence was distorted or lost, rendering some parts unnecessarily clumsy, like you've stumbled on an uneven floor. Again, hard to know if the punctuation was going to be fixed or whether this is the style she's developed, but the control over commas versus semicolons or even periods was sloppy. The comma isn't the "new" semicolon; they affect a sentence quite differently. Misuse either one and you ruin the rhythm of your words and disrupt the flow. You can be "experimental" with punctuation, but you can also create an annoyingly disjointed mess if you don't do it well.
This is a story about people, about Luke and Nina, Paul and Leigh, about relationships, love, the battle scars in our relationships and the mistakes we make - and sometimes learn from. The characters are real, believable, familiar. The most interesting and confronting of them all was Nina, someone you pity and feel infinitely sorry for, but whom you can't respect. She lacks will, she lacks grit, she lacks perspective. She is a product of her mother's critique and Tony's homoerotic desires (for instance, her mother keeps her skinny because chunky girls don't get hired; Tony keeps her skinny because he likes her to look like a boy). The arrival of Luke in her life, someone she feels instantly drawn and attracted to in the same way he does with her, presents an opportunity: a chance to take control of her life, figure out who she is and what she wants, and be fulfilled and happy.
But Nina has a diseased soul. Theirs is a love affair that begins with such hope and promise - you truly, truly want them both to be happy, and free, and together - that soon becomes something poisonous and even destructive. I sometimes hear, in movies maybe, people say that they're with the right person for the wrong reasons, or the wrong person for the right reasons, or some variation on that theme. There was a touch of that here. What I loved about it was how truthful, honest and messy it all was. Jones has a real knack for capturing ordinary, middle-class people in all their glorious strengths and flaws, and letting events play out naturally. While I did find that there was a slight sense of an author-creator (god-figure) manoeuvring pieces into place (it's the way she writes), once there the characters took over, their personalities guiding events and their ultimate fallout.
The star of the story was the setting and era itself: the backdrop for the fallout of relationships. London in the late 60s and early 70s is a place on the cusp, a place discovering love and life and excitement. A place still being held back by the tight grip of tradition and society but increasingly stretching its wings. Theatre is prominent, and popular. New bands and music rock the airwaves - which people actually listen to. It incorporates women's lib but nothing overtly political or radical. This is a story set in the hearts of its characters, rather than their heads. While there, I felt like I was there. I could picture things quite well thanks to all the British telly I've watched over my lifetime, and the flavour of their speech really helps catapult you there. Eminently readable but not exactly pleasurable, Fallout had me wrapped up in the characters so that I was going to bed thinking about them, however disquieting and somehow off the story and the writing was at times.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via TLC Book Tours.
Paul is not much past twenty but doesn't want to be the engineer his father pushed him to be. He wants to be a producer. Now with Luke on side, a plan begins to take shape and a fledgling theatre company arises. With several others, they form Graft, a small, artsy theatre above a pub. When handsome, charming Luke sleeps with the stage manager and then doesn't talk to her again, she leaves and they hire Leigh. The same spark of familiarity, connection and desire that was there when they first met is still alive, but Luke is taking the admonishment of not sleeping with the stage manager to heart, and steps back. Paul fills the gap, and after a while of dating him Leigh moves in to their flat and the three settle into a comfortable rhythm.
Also in London is Nina, a young actress trying to break in. Raised mostly by her absent (and unknown) father's sister, her mother has been the dominant presence in her life. An actress who didn't want the burden of raising a child she didn't want, Marianne is selfish and egotistical. All Nina has ever wanted is her mother's love and approval; she'll do anything and become anything to make her mother happy. That's how she finds herself going to drama school, even though she's so shy, and how she became a shell of a person easily sculpted by anyone dominant and confident enough to take on the task. Which is what happens when she meets Tony Moore, a producer and one of her mother's young ex-lovers. Tony arranges her, dresses her and trains her like something between a doll and a pet. Nina hides so deeply behind a blank - appeasing and pleasing - mask that it's not long before any vestige of an individual person able to break free and create a life for herself is gone.
It's at the performance of In Custody, a heavy play in which Nina stars, that Luke first really sees her. Barefoot, blind-folded and gagged, she comes onto the stage after an intense, dark opening in which the sounds of heavy doors opening and slamming shut can be heard. The experienced is terrifying for Luke, whose mother has been locked up for so long; when he sees vulnerable Nina, when her face is bared to him, he sees a frightened young woman who needs to be freed.
It is Luke's all-consuming love for Nina, and the affair they embark upon, that ruins old friendships and nearly scuttles his just-blooming career as a playwright. Fallout is a coming-of-age novel for both Luke and Nina, a vividly-real, intimate look into what drives us, what shapes us and what love can cost us.
This might very well be my favourite Sadie Jones novel to date, although I can't really say that because I really do like all her novels quite a lot and the ones I've read so far have all been quite different (I haven't yet read Small Wars; really must!). There is something holding me back from full-out loving her books, but for the first half-ish of Fallout I was definitely in the "love" zone. My copy is an uncorrected proof (an ARC), which meant it had lots of typos, nothing major, but it did also have a slightly unpolished feel to it. The prose was, at times, a bit awkward or unclear, the punctuation so technically incorrect that the emphasis or meaning of a sentence was distorted or lost, rendering some parts unnecessarily clumsy, like you've stumbled on an uneven floor. Again, hard to know if the punctuation was going to be fixed or whether this is the style she's developed, but the control over commas versus semicolons or even periods was sloppy. The comma isn't the "new" semicolon; they affect a sentence quite differently. Misuse either one and you ruin the rhythm of your words and disrupt the flow. You can be "experimental" with punctuation, but you can also create an annoyingly disjointed mess if you don't do it well.
This is a story about people, about Luke and Nina, Paul and Leigh, about relationships, love, the battle scars in our relationships and the mistakes we make - and sometimes learn from. The characters are real, believable, familiar. The most interesting and confronting of them all was Nina, someone you pity and feel infinitely sorry for, but whom you can't respect. She lacks will, she lacks grit, she lacks perspective. She is a product of her mother's critique and Tony's homoerotic desires (for instance, her mother keeps her skinny because chunky girls don't get hired; Tony keeps her skinny because he likes her to look like a boy). The arrival of Luke in her life, someone she feels instantly drawn and attracted to in the same way he does with her, presents an opportunity: a chance to take control of her life, figure out who she is and what she wants, and be fulfilled and happy.
But Nina has a diseased soul. Theirs is a love affair that begins with such hope and promise - you truly, truly want them both to be happy, and free, and together - that soon becomes something poisonous and even destructive. I sometimes hear, in movies maybe, people say that they're with the right person for the wrong reasons, or the wrong person for the right reasons, or some variation on that theme. There was a touch of that here. What I loved about it was how truthful, honest and messy it all was. Jones has a real knack for capturing ordinary, middle-class people in all their glorious strengths and flaws, and letting events play out naturally. While I did find that there was a slight sense of an author-creator (god-figure) manoeuvring pieces into place (it's the way she writes), once there the characters took over, their personalities guiding events and their ultimate fallout.
The star of the story was the setting and era itself: the backdrop for the fallout of relationships. London in the late 60s and early 70s is a place on the cusp, a place discovering love and life and excitement. A place still being held back by the tight grip of tradition and society but increasingly stretching its wings. Theatre is prominent, and popular. New bands and music rock the airwaves - which people actually listen to. It incorporates women's lib but nothing overtly political or radical. This is a story set in the hearts of its characters, rather than their heads. While there, I felt like I was there. I could picture things quite well thanks to all the British telly I've watched over my lifetime, and the flavour of their speech really helps catapult you there. Eminently readable but not exactly pleasurable, Fallout had me wrapped up in the characters so that I was going to bed thinking about them, however disquieting and somehow off the story and the writing was at times.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via TLC Book Tours.
May 4, 2020
(read in german translation) loved everything about it! excellent storytelling - very interesting subject - four young people: luke, a future author, paul a future producer, his girlfriend leigh, and nina - a very unstable young actress - trying to find their way in the london theatrescape of 1972. great, multilayered characters, interesting, complex relationships - all told in beautifully carved prose and inspired scenes. looking forward to reading in again in the original! highly recommended.
February 23, 2025
Päällimmäisenä mielessä: pidin tästä paljon enemmän kuin odotin. Aivan alku oli vangitseva: nuori Luke-poika auttaa äitiään pakenemaan mielisairaalasta, jotta he pääsevät yhdessä taidenäyttelyyn. Tämän jälkeen siirrytään kymmenisen vuotta eteenpäin ja seurataan saman Luken elämää nuorena aikuisena. Tässä vaiheessa kirja meinasi jäädä kesken, koska jännittävä alku ja sitä seuraavat sivut eivät tuntuneet keskustelevan keskenään. Onneksi jatkoin, sillä tästä kirjasta muodostui kiehtova matka keskelle 1970-luvun Britannian näytelmäpiirejä.
Nautin kirjan viipyilevästä ja episodimaisesta tunnelmasta ja tavallisen mutta silti poikkeuksellisen elämän kuvaamisesta. Vuodet vierivät, näytelmiä käsikirjoitetaan ja ohjataan, mutta ihmissuhteet määrittelevät lopulta kaiken. Tämä on kirja, jonka parissa oli mukava ajelehtia ja miettiä samalla omaa elämää ja sen ihmissuhteita. Luke saavuttaa jonkinlaista menestystä näytelmäkirjailijana, mutta hän ei löydä todellisesta rauhaa, koska kaipaa elämään jotain erityistä ihmistä. Ja sitten kun sen erityisen ihmisen löytää... sitten vasta draama alkaakin.
Kirja kysyy kysymyksen siitä, mistä todellinen elämän merkitys lopulta muodostuu. Me etsimme taloudellista menestystä ja nousukiitoista uraa, mutta onko se oikeasti sitä mitä haluamme?
Nautin kirjan viipyilevästä ja episodimaisesta tunnelmasta ja tavallisen mutta silti poikkeuksellisen elämän kuvaamisesta. Vuodet vierivät, näytelmiä käsikirjoitetaan ja ohjataan, mutta ihmissuhteet määrittelevät lopulta kaiken. Tämä on kirja, jonka parissa oli mukava ajelehtia ja miettiä samalla omaa elämää ja sen ihmissuhteita. Luke saavuttaa jonkinlaista menestystä näytelmäkirjailijana, mutta hän ei löydä todellisesta rauhaa, koska kaipaa elämään jotain erityistä ihmistä. Ja sitten kun sen erityisen ihmisen löytää... sitten vasta draama alkaakin.
Kirja kysyy kysymyksen siitä, mistä todellinen elämän merkitys lopulta muodostuu. Me etsimme taloudellista menestystä ja nousukiitoista uraa, mutta onko se oikeasti sitä mitä haluamme?
July 21, 2015
The last book I read from Sadie Jones - 'Small Wars' - was terrific, so I was looking forward to this one. It all started off well, with some fine, thoughtful writing and intriguing characters. The underlying themes of love and deceit against the backdrop of the theatre in 70s London promised a novel to really get stuck into. But, somehow, my attention got waylaid around the middle of the book. I can't put my finger on what was wrong - the atmosphere was superbly portrayed, so that you could taste the Gitanes and cheap red wine. The conflicts in love and inspiration of the main characters were intelligently described. However, something just failed to grab me and I found my interest petering out. Maybe there were too many walk-on parts, or too many details about the theatre, of interest only to insiders. Or perhaps characters were introduced who faded too soon into the background. Somehow I got the impression that the 60s stopped swinging, and so did this novel - or was that the point?
However, it hasn't put me off Sadie Jones as a writer, and I did appreciate the interviews and other extras at the end of the Kindle edition. A small note to the editors - I spotted a couple of little details you might want to look at - Sterling (sic) Moss and 'Hurricane bombers' - I am pretty sure they were fighters, but if there was a Hurricane bomber too, then I stand corrected.
However, it hasn't put me off Sadie Jones as a writer, and I did appreciate the interviews and other extras at the end of the Kindle edition. A small note to the editors - I spotted a couple of little details you might want to look at - Sterling (sic) Moss and 'Hurricane bombers' - I am pretty sure they were fighters, but if there was a Hurricane bomber too, then I stand corrected.
March 27, 2016
Tähän kirjaan voi helposti yhdistää sanat laadukas, suuri, britti, eurooppalainen, klassikohtava. Siinä on paljon sellaista, mitä suurissa eurooppalaisissa romaaneissa on. Tunteita meinaan. Ja ajankuvaa. Rakkautta. Unelmia. Vastenmielisiä päähenkilöitä. Jahkailua. Perhetraumoja. Ja lisäksi kulissina, ah, teatterimaailma. Voisin siis lisätä adjektiivirimpsuuni tsehovmaisen, ja lisäänkin.
Paikoin rakastin tätä romaania, sen kielikuvia ja havaintoja, sitä tsehovmaisuutta. Ja paikoin taas tylsistyin liian moniin tarinoihin ja henkilöihin, jotka, noh, vain kipuilevat. Paikoin jopa inhosin kirjaa, sen henkilöitä ja alun pitkää käynnistelyä. Loppu ei myöskään palkinnut minua lukijana.
Suomennoksessa ei ole mitään vikaa, mutta epäilen että tämä kannattaa lukea englanniksi, jos vain suinkin jaksaa.
Paikoin rakastin tätä romaania, sen kielikuvia ja havaintoja, sitä tsehovmaisuutta. Ja paikoin taas tylsistyin liian moniin tarinoihin ja henkilöihin, jotka, noh, vain kipuilevat. Paikoin jopa inhosin kirjaa, sen henkilöitä ja alun pitkää käynnistelyä. Loppu ei myöskään palkinnut minua lukijana.
Suomennoksessa ei ole mitään vikaa, mutta epäilen että tämä kannattaa lukea englanniksi, jos vain suinkin jaksaa.
June 30, 2016
3,5 tähteä. Tässä jälleen kirja josta on kohistu aika tavalla, mutta en oikein löytänyt tarttumapintaa tapahtumista, enkä henkilöistä. Kirjan päähenkilö Luke oli hurmuri, mutta kyllä ne hurmuritkin voivat rakastua. Kirjan päätapahtumat olivat aika ennalta-arvattavia ihmissuhdekiemuroita. Teatterimaailma toi tuulahduksen taiteilijaelämää ja sitä, että jos haluaa pinnalle ja menestyä voi jotkut ihmissuhteet kestää, mutta jotkut hajoavat hetkessä. Se, että kirjan pari, joka kulki toisiaan kohti lapsuudesta asti ja lopulta sai toisensa, mutta mitä sitten tapahtui, se olikin yllätys yllätys lukijoille. Kirjasta löytyy useampi kolmiodraama, joten lukijoille on yllin kyllin juonenkäänteitä. Kirjailijan esikoisteos Kotiinpaluu on mielestäni mennen tullen ja palatessa parempi kirja kuin tämä ihmissuhdepasianssi.
February 5, 2016
Ehkä rakkaus on totta on kehunsa ansainnut. Suomennos on laatutyötä, teksti soljuu kuin itsestään ja teatterimaailmaan sijoittuva tarinakin on kiinnostava. Rakkauteen ja rakkaudettomuuteen nojaava tunnelma oli kuitenkin itselleni sen verran surutahmainen, että lukeminen oli välillä vaikeaa ja kirjan pariin palaaminen venyi ja vanui. Väärä lukuhetki kenties. Lukemisen arvoinen tämä oli kuitenkin ja loppu onnistui hieman hälventämään ahdistusta.
May 23, 2020
Por fin pude terminar este libro. Al principio se me hizo bastante interesante, pero un poco antes de la mitad perdí gran parte de mi interés en la historia.
August 31, 2021
Rakkauskertomus, joka onnistui välttämään romanttisesta rakkaudesta kertomisen sudenkuopat ja kliseet. Iso, traaginen, tunteikas, todenmukainen. Nautin tämän lukemisesta, oli helppo upota 1970-luvun Lontooseen ja hahmoihin, vaikka osa heistä olikin aika sietämättömiä — ehkä siinä juuri piilikin yksi kirjan viehätys ja realistisuus, ihmisissä joissa on useita puolia, helppoja pitää ja mahdottomia sietää.
Kirjan nimi on muuten aivan kauhea suomeksi. Meinasi sen takia jäädä hyllyyn. Onneksi ei jäänyt!
Kirjan nimi on muuten aivan kauhea suomeksi. Meinasi sen takia jäädä hyllyyn. Onneksi ei jäänyt!
January 17, 2025
Britti-kirjailijan Sadie Jonesin Ehkä rakkaus oli totta teoksesta sanotaan, että se oli hänen läpimurtoteoksensa.
70- luvulla Paul ja Luke perustivat yhteisen teatterin Lontooseen. Leigh, jonka miehet tunsivat ennestään, tuli töihin teatterille. Paul halusi seurustella Leighin kanssa, mutta Leigh oli Paulin kanssa, jotta sai olla lähempänä Lukea. Luke oli naistenmies, ja hän oli aina tuntenut jotakin Leighiä kohtaan. Kuulostaa sekopäiseltä. Kun kyseessä on teatterialan ihmiset, kaikki saa ollakin farssia. Farssi muuttui tragediaksi, kun Luke kohtasi Ninan ja rakastui, sillä Nina oli jo naimisissa.
Ehkä rakkaus oli totta teoksen päähenkilöt toivat tunteensa esille, mutta eivät kertoneet oikeista tunteiden kohteistaan. Sadie Jones on punonut päähenkilöilleen tarinoita, jotka ovat valmiiksi lohduttomia. Luke vietteli naistenmiehenä jokaisen naisen, mutta ei muistellut heitä sen jälkeen, kohtasi Ninassa kylmän haasteen, mutta Nina antautui vain vähän, sen verran, että se teki Lukesta sekopäisen. Leigh piti vuosia Paulia talutushihnassaan, mutta lopulta Paul ymmärsi kaiken. Sadie Jones on toiminut 15 vuotta tv-käsikirjoittajana ja uskoisin, että tästä kirjasta saisi hyvän tv-sarjan. Näen mielessäni kirjan kohtaukset ja henkilöt. Kirjan loppu kruunaa kaiken, haluaisin nähdä sen joko elokuvana tai sarjana. Oliko tämä kirja vai käsikirjoitus vai molempia, nähdään varmaan myöhemmin.
70- luvulla Paul ja Luke perustivat yhteisen teatterin Lontooseen. Leigh, jonka miehet tunsivat ennestään, tuli töihin teatterille. Paul halusi seurustella Leighin kanssa, mutta Leigh oli Paulin kanssa, jotta sai olla lähempänä Lukea. Luke oli naistenmies, ja hän oli aina tuntenut jotakin Leighiä kohtaan. Kuulostaa sekopäiseltä. Kun kyseessä on teatterialan ihmiset, kaikki saa ollakin farssia. Farssi muuttui tragediaksi, kun Luke kohtasi Ninan ja rakastui, sillä Nina oli jo naimisissa.
Ehkä rakkaus oli totta teoksen päähenkilöt toivat tunteensa esille, mutta eivät kertoneet oikeista tunteiden kohteistaan. Sadie Jones on punonut päähenkilöilleen tarinoita, jotka ovat valmiiksi lohduttomia. Luke vietteli naistenmiehenä jokaisen naisen, mutta ei muistellut heitä sen jälkeen, kohtasi Ninassa kylmän haasteen, mutta Nina antautui vain vähän, sen verran, että se teki Lukesta sekopäisen. Leigh piti vuosia Paulia talutushihnassaan, mutta lopulta Paul ymmärsi kaiken. Sadie Jones on toiminut 15 vuotta tv-käsikirjoittajana ja uskoisin, että tästä kirjasta saisi hyvän tv-sarjan. Näen mielessäni kirjan kohtaukset ja henkilöt. Kirjan loppu kruunaa kaiken, haluaisin nähdä sen joko elokuvana tai sarjana. Oliko tämä kirja vai käsikirjoitus vai molempia, nähdään varmaan myöhemmin.
October 17, 2014
Fallout is the story of four young people trying to make it in the world of experimental theatre in 1970s London. In a chance meeting in his Lincolnshire village, Luke Kanowski meets the fiery Leigh Radley and Paul Driscoll on their way to meet a playwright. Its the impetus that Luke needs to escape his dull life in an office job and run away to London and immerse himself in the theatre world. He's leaving behind a mother who has been in an asylum nearly all his life, and a father who is slowly drinking himself to death. Luke and Paul set up their own theatre company called Graft, while Luke secretly writes plays at night and Leigh works as a stage manager to pay the bills.
Luke and Paul are strongly attracted to Leigh, but its Paul she chooses when Luke rebuffs her.
Running parallel is the story of Nina Jacobs, a budding actress whose life will intersect with the other three in a dramatic way. She's grown up with a mother who is a monster - a fading narcissistic actress who is now pinning her hopes on her daughter. A critical step is marrying her off to the successful and influential but cruel Tony Moore.
When Luke's first play is critically acclaimed, its seems natural that Paul and his new theatre company will produce his second offering. But Luke has become entangled with Nina and the liaison will have huge ramifications for all of them.
There are so many things to love about this book. The characterisation is brilliant. Luke, Nina, Leigh and Paul are all convincingly portrayed and always consistent. Luke is emotionally stunted as a result of his neglected upbringing and the way he clings to Paul and Leigh in the flat they share as his replacement family is touching and believable. He beds lots of women but is unable to have a fulfilling relationship and the reader's sympathy is with him all the way.
I read an interview with Sadie Jones talking about the character of Nina and how she created in Nina the kind of woman she really hates. But I felt sorry for Nina because her mother was so dreadful and even at her worst, I could not help but see what a tortured soul she is.
The period is brilliantly evoked, from the walks through dark streets during the power cuts, to the fears that the bomb has been dropped, the grimness of 1970s London is painted very subtly. Jones does well to drop in these details without straining, which I find a problem in some historical fiction. You can almost smell the beer wafting up the stairs of the pub theatre.
And there's some outstanding writing - Luke seducing the au pair at a party, 'and his thoughts were reduced gratefully to the heated maths of getting inside her clothes, taking up all of him in blessed focus' and overcome with desire 'burning and aching within and without from her imprint'.
The plot is not complex but evolves from the distinct failings of the characters and their obsessions. The climax and ending are really satisfying for this reason.
And that reminds me of an article I read recently on writing tips from Booker Prize winners. The one that stayed in my mind was from Arundhati Roy, the winner in 1997 for The God of Small Things.
She said “…the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets....They don’t deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don’t surprise you with the unforeseen...You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don’t."
This is the best book I've read this year and I've already added Sadie Jones' other books to my birthday wish list.
Luke and Paul are strongly attracted to Leigh, but its Paul she chooses when Luke rebuffs her.
Running parallel is the story of Nina Jacobs, a budding actress whose life will intersect with the other three in a dramatic way. She's grown up with a mother who is a monster - a fading narcissistic actress who is now pinning her hopes on her daughter. A critical step is marrying her off to the successful and influential but cruel Tony Moore.
When Luke's first play is critically acclaimed, its seems natural that Paul and his new theatre company will produce his second offering. But Luke has become entangled with Nina and the liaison will have huge ramifications for all of them.
There are so many things to love about this book. The characterisation is brilliant. Luke, Nina, Leigh and Paul are all convincingly portrayed and always consistent. Luke is emotionally stunted as a result of his neglected upbringing and the way he clings to Paul and Leigh in the flat they share as his replacement family is touching and believable. He beds lots of women but is unable to have a fulfilling relationship and the reader's sympathy is with him all the way.
I read an interview with Sadie Jones talking about the character of Nina and how she created in Nina the kind of woman she really hates. But I felt sorry for Nina because her mother was so dreadful and even at her worst, I could not help but see what a tortured soul she is.
The period is brilliantly evoked, from the walks through dark streets during the power cuts, to the fears that the bomb has been dropped, the grimness of 1970s London is painted very subtly. Jones does well to drop in these details without straining, which I find a problem in some historical fiction. You can almost smell the beer wafting up the stairs of the pub theatre.
And there's some outstanding writing - Luke seducing the au pair at a party, 'and his thoughts were reduced gratefully to the heated maths of getting inside her clothes, taking up all of him in blessed focus' and overcome with desire 'burning and aching within and without from her imprint'.
The plot is not complex but evolves from the distinct failings of the characters and their obsessions. The climax and ending are really satisfying for this reason.
And that reminds me of an article I read recently on writing tips from Booker Prize winners. The one that stayed in my mind was from Arundhati Roy, the winner in 1997 for The God of Small Things.
She said “…the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets....They don’t deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don’t surprise you with the unforeseen...You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don’t."
This is the best book I've read this year and I've already added Sadie Jones' other books to my birthday wish list.
August 3, 2014
I'm surprised this book has not been rated higher. My ratings tend to be lower than the rest of the goodreads group, and I very much enjoyed reading "Fallout." To me, it had the readable style and good storytelling of JoJo Moyes, with some of the strong writing and eye for detail one finds in Jane Gardam's books.
For the most part, "Fallout" has vivid characters and unusually natural dialogue. I found Luke an appealing protagonist, and many other characters (for example, Tony Moore) were memorable. The marriage between Nina Jacobs and Moore is painfully etched and compelling reading, despite the sadness.
Sometimes I get annoyed by excessive detail, though probably more in non-fiction than in novels. That's not the case with "Fallout," which reads as if one were watching a film. London and the theatre industry are almost additional personages in the story. It's a well-constructed setting for a story and it worked well for me.
The only significant problem I had with the plot is it's difficult to understand how the friendship between Paul and Luke began, and to some extent hard to understand why it continues. I keep thinking I should be disappointed that much of the plot, especially the ending, is predictable. But to me the story was not really the plot, but the relationships within it, and they were very human and very real. Love is terrific, and love hurts. No creativity there, maybe, but it's still poignant and I found a lot to like in this book.
For the most part, "Fallout" has vivid characters and unusually natural dialogue. I found Luke an appealing protagonist, and many other characters (for example, Tony Moore) were memorable. The marriage between Nina Jacobs and Moore is painfully etched and compelling reading, despite the sadness.
Sometimes I get annoyed by excessive detail, though probably more in non-fiction than in novels. That's not the case with "Fallout," which reads as if one were watching a film. London and the theatre industry are almost additional personages in the story. It's a well-constructed setting for a story and it worked well for me.
The only significant problem I had with the plot is it's difficult to understand how the friendship between Paul and Luke began, and to some extent hard to understand why it continues. I keep thinking I should be disappointed that much of the plot, especially the ending, is predictable. But to me the story was not really the plot, but the relationships within it, and they were very human and very real. Love is terrific, and love hurts. No creativity there, maybe, but it's still poignant and I found a lot to like in this book.
March 15, 2014
This is a book about a theater group and unrequited loves. It is poorly written and very predictable.
Luke is brought up by a cold father and a mother who is very mentally ill. She has been institutionalized for most of Luke's life. Despite this, he loves her very much and feels very close to her. He tries to go to her hospital as often as he can to see her. He decides, however, to emigrate to England where he hopes to make his way as a playwright. There he meets Paul, Leigh, and Nina.
Luke and Paul are two of the main founder of The Graft, a theater group that is on shaky ground at the beginning. Leigh loves Luke but marries Paul. Luke loves Nina but she is married to someone else. It is a comedy of errors except it is not funny. The preface lets the reader know that Luke has become a well-known playwright and he is waiting for someone special to come and see his play.
I trudged through the book hoping it would get better but it did not. To say I was disappointed would be accurate. I found no characters that I could identify with or who were deep enough for me to have strong feelings about. I cannot recommend this book.
Luke is brought up by a cold father and a mother who is very mentally ill. She has been institutionalized for most of Luke's life. Despite this, he loves her very much and feels very close to her. He tries to go to her hospital as often as he can to see her. He decides, however, to emigrate to England where he hopes to make his way as a playwright. There he meets Paul, Leigh, and Nina.
Luke and Paul are two of the main founder of The Graft, a theater group that is on shaky ground at the beginning. Leigh loves Luke but marries Paul. Luke loves Nina but she is married to someone else. It is a comedy of errors except it is not funny. The preface lets the reader know that Luke has become a well-known playwright and he is waiting for someone special to come and see his play.
I trudged through the book hoping it would get better but it did not. To say I was disappointed would be accurate. I found no characters that I could identify with or who were deep enough for me to have strong feelings about. I cannot recommend this book.
July 22, 2015
Luulin tarttuneeni kepeään kesäkirjaan, vaan mitä vielä. Näennäisesti Ehkä rakkaus oli totta on kevyen kupliva ja pehmeää. Nuoruus, rakkaus ja teatteri. Suloista viattomuutta ja naiiviutta. Mutta pinnan alla on synkkyyttä ja kipeitä kohtia. Traumoja lapsuudesta, surullisia kohtaloita ja likaista realismia.
Silti kirja on enemmän lämmin kuin karu. Kirja hymyilyttää ja valvottaa. Se koskettaa ja välillä aika terävästi. Silti lopulta jää ihan hyvä fiilis ja tunne, että jo pian tarina huuhtoutuu mielestä tai sekoittuu muihin. Kirja ei muuta maailmoja, mutta sen lukee mielellään.
3-4 tähteä, täytyy vielä sulatella.
Silti kirja on enemmän lämmin kuin karu. Kirja hymyilyttää ja valvottaa. Se koskettaa ja välillä aika terävästi. Silti lopulta jää ihan hyvä fiilis ja tunne, että jo pian tarina huuhtoutuu mielestä tai sekoittuu muihin. Kirja ei muuta maailmoja, mutta sen lukee mielellään.
3-4 tähteä, täytyy vielä sulatella.
September 30, 2019
Several years ago I read the novel which preceded this one--The Uninvited Guests, and I gave it five stars, completely won over by its kind-hearted and strange whimsy. This one almost seemed as if it were by a completely different author. It's the story of four very young theater-folk in London in the early 1970s, with backstory and and a small jump into the future in the closing pages. Mostly I didn't particularly like or believe the characters, didn't understand or identify with their emotions, and didn't really care what happened to them. But I had faith in the author of The Uninvited Guests, and in the last 100 pages (it's over 400 pages long) I was somewhat rewarded. The story became more interesting--almost a classic tragedy with a characteristic mistake on the part of one character having devastating repercussions on all four. Amazingly, they all come out on the other side, perhaps understanding themselves a little better and becoming healthier adults.
March 15, 2019
I loved this novel, the characters particularly were refreshingly transgressive and not the usual tropes found in women's fiction. This author is so emotionally accurate about the troubles of each of her characters that they feel real. The setting really spoke to me, having spent my younger years involved with the theatre and being a Londoner too. I can imagine some people not getting this book for the exact same reasons why I loved it.
The only downside would be the final third of the novel felt rushed and a little raggedy in places. But sill looking forward to reading her new one, The Snakes.
The only downside would be the final third of the novel felt rushed and a little raggedy in places. But sill looking forward to reading her new one, The Snakes.
March 31, 2019
Very cool book about a man searching for what he really wants to do in the world of theater. His clumsy way in life makes him suddenly end up in London with people he hardly knows and he trails after them trying to make a life for himself and follow this passion he has for plays and writing and the drama world. Sympathetic character ,as we all at some time wander looking for where we fit in and how we can follow our dreams.
July 15, 2019
Probably 3.5 stars. There were parts that I really liked. Luke was an interesting character. The descriptions of theatre land were enjoyable. However I found that I wasn't rushing to pick it up though once I did I was engrossed particularly in the first third and the last third though I did think the ending relied on too big a coincidence.
January 24, 2019
Lättsmält och bra levererat!
June 20, 2020
3.5 en realidad porque me atrapó hasta la mitad del libro.
January 17, 2024
Mä oon hämmentynyt
September 14, 2022
Ich war sehr enttäuscht von diesem Buch. Vielleicht liegt es teils auch an der Übersetzung, aber der Plot hat keinen Tiefgang, Sätze meist inhaltslos und bedeutungsschwer.
Die plumpe Beschreibung von vergewaltigungs Szenen rundet das ganz ab zu einem nicht lesbaren Buch.
Die plumpe Beschreibung von vergewaltigungs Szenen rundet das ganz ab zu einem nicht lesbaren Buch.
March 15, 2024
Oh I loved this book! I couldn’t put it down! A story of star crossed lovers set in 1970s London. Everything was spot on, the music, fashion, the big hair. My only issue was one of the main characters Nina! I didn’t enjoy her choices.
June 19, 2016
Close Encounters
The novel opens in 1975, with an Englishman in New York. We learn that he is not wanted at rehearsal, so he has something to do with the theater. We also learn that his is thinking about a woman, wondering if she will show up. Who is he? Who is she? And will they indeed meet? The track record of the book makes this unlikely, since it is constructed around a series of near misses.
It immediately goes back to 1961, showing parallel glimpses from the lives of two pre-teen children. Lucasz Kanowski, son of a former Polish pilot with the RAF, springs his mother out of mental hospital for a trip to the National Gallery in London. Nina Hollings also visits the gallery with her mother. She and Lucasz cross, but do not meet. There will be a number of other near misses in the next 80 pages, as Nina follows the example of her actress mother and goes to drama school, and Luke (now anglicized) takes various jobs, including a stint as garbage collector, to pursue his dream of becoming a playwright.
It is obvious that Luke is the man in New York. But is Nina the woman? That is more difficult, because Luke has known many women in his life, mostly in brief encounters. But just occasionally some woman affects him differently:
As a theater professional myself, and former Londoner, I admire Sadie Jones' grasp of the theatrical world, especially on the foothills of success. Almost all of this rang totally true; I say "almost" only because I had difficulty believing Nina's transition from shy ingenue of modest talent to major star, and thence to the woman she would eventually become, although she was completely real in each individual phase. Even more than that, I admire Jones' handling of romance. She seems to make a specialty of people who love Person A but nonetheless make a life with Person B: eternal triangles whose conflicts are mostly hidden. And she is so good at portraying a young man's infatuation with a married woman that I can't believe she has not been there herself.
So who, if anyone, does Luke see in New York? It matters, of course, but the real interest is in the journey, the combination of talent and crassness, ideals pursued and occasionally compromised, the moral underpinning that is palpable but by no means simplistic, love and the destruction of love, and Sadie Jones' constant ability to keep her readers on their toes.
The novel opens in 1975, with an Englishman in New York. We learn that he is not wanted at rehearsal, so he has something to do with the theater. We also learn that his is thinking about a woman, wondering if she will show up. Who is he? Who is she? And will they indeed meet? The track record of the book makes this unlikely, since it is constructed around a series of near misses.
It immediately goes back to 1961, showing parallel glimpses from the lives of two pre-teen children. Lucasz Kanowski, son of a former Polish pilot with the RAF, springs his mother out of mental hospital for a trip to the National Gallery in London. Nina Hollings also visits the gallery with her mother. She and Lucasz cross, but do not meet. There will be a number of other near misses in the next 80 pages, as Nina follows the example of her actress mother and goes to drama school, and Luke (now anglicized) takes various jobs, including a stint as garbage collector, to pursue his dream of becoming a playwright.
It is obvious that Luke is the man in New York. But is Nina the woman? That is more difficult, because Luke has known many women in his life, mostly in brief encounters. But just occasionally some woman affects him differently:
Luke needed the drug of sex, not that, not the tiny sharp thing he felt last night with [...], the prospect of raw, sweet kindness. He didn't recognize it; it couldn't draw him.And of course there are many other people who enter the story, principally a couple, Paul and Leigh, who stop him one rainy night in his hometown to ask directions and remain his friends for years. Before long, Paul and Luke will be roommates, working together on a fledgling theater company above a pub in the City of London. And, as their various careers expand, so do their circle of friends.
As a theater professional myself, and former Londoner, I admire Sadie Jones' grasp of the theatrical world, especially on the foothills of success. Almost all of this rang totally true; I say "almost" only because I had difficulty believing Nina's transition from shy ingenue of modest talent to major star, and thence to the woman she would eventually become, although she was completely real in each individual phase. Even more than that, I admire Jones' handling of romance. She seems to make a specialty of people who love Person A but nonetheless make a life with Person B: eternal triangles whose conflicts are mostly hidden. And she is so good at portraying a young man's infatuation with a married woman that I can't believe she has not been there herself.
So who, if anyone, does Luke see in New York? It matters, of course, but the real interest is in the journey, the combination of talent and crassness, ideals pursued and occasionally compromised, the moral underpinning that is palpable but by no means simplistic, love and the destruction of love, and Sadie Jones' constant ability to keep her readers on their toes.
February 14, 2014
I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.
Immersed in the theater world of London in the 1970s, Fallout focuses on playwright Luke Kanowski, who finds himself immersed in two love triangles just as his career begins to take off. A chance encounter while asking for directions leads Luke to a great friendship with Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer who becomes his best friend, and Leigh Radley, Paul's future girlfriend. "'Luke Kanowski,' said Luke and he had the impression, oddly, that someone was taking a photograph of them shaking hands, like Kennedy and Hoover, a flashbulb moment of a meeting" (42). The threesome form a comfortable team, especially after Leigh moves in with Paul, making the three all roommates.
It's clear early on that Leigh and Luke are drawn to each other, despite Leigh's decision to date Paul instead. Luke is comforted by Leigh's presence in his life, even if it's only there as his best friend's girl; "he realised with strange release that he felt happy that Leigh was there. It felt right to him that she should be there with them" (133). The three coexist quite happily until Nina comes onto the scene. Nina, an aspiring actress, is married to a seemingly bisexual man. Despite the instant connection Luke and Nina feel, Nina is trapped in the web of her marriage. While Luke is willing to sacrifice anything - his friendships, his career - for his love for Nina, she seems unwilling to do the same.
M0st of the characters seem to have had emotionally rocky childhoods. In particular, Luke's mother has been institutionalized since he was five. I wasn't sure what to make about this aspect of Luke's life. He seems to be a very devoted son, constantly visiting and writing his mother. Yet his past seems to make Luke feel as if he is damaged, and incapable of offering Leigh the love he feels she deserves. Yet otherwise this detail about Paul's life doesn't seem evident in any of his behaviors or choices.
This novel has numerous examples of lyrical writing; "sometimes he felt as though he were writing a postcard every day to everyone he had ever loved" (305). Additionally, I think it captures the complexity of human relationships and how choices happen not so much as a deliberate move, but rather the lack of one. However, the plot of this moved very slowly for me. I also am not a fan of thwarted love stories that only occurs because the two individuals hesitate and miss their chance.
Immersed in the theater world of London in the 1970s, Fallout focuses on playwright Luke Kanowski, who finds himself immersed in two love triangles just as his career begins to take off. A chance encounter while asking for directions leads Luke to a great friendship with Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer who becomes his best friend, and Leigh Radley, Paul's future girlfriend. "'Luke Kanowski,' said Luke and he had the impression, oddly, that someone was taking a photograph of them shaking hands, like Kennedy and Hoover, a flashbulb moment of a meeting" (42). The threesome form a comfortable team, especially after Leigh moves in with Paul, making the three all roommates.
It's clear early on that Leigh and Luke are drawn to each other, despite Leigh's decision to date Paul instead. Luke is comforted by Leigh's presence in his life, even if it's only there as his best friend's girl; "he realised with strange release that he felt happy that Leigh was there. It felt right to him that she should be there with them" (133). The three coexist quite happily until Nina comes onto the scene. Nina, an aspiring actress, is married to a seemingly bisexual man. Despite the instant connection Luke and Nina feel, Nina is trapped in the web of her marriage. While Luke is willing to sacrifice anything - his friendships, his career - for his love for Nina, she seems unwilling to do the same.
M0st of the characters seem to have had emotionally rocky childhoods. In particular, Luke's mother has been institutionalized since he was five. I wasn't sure what to make about this aspect of Luke's life. He seems to be a very devoted son, constantly visiting and writing his mother. Yet his past seems to make Luke feel as if he is damaged, and incapable of offering Leigh the love he feels she deserves. Yet otherwise this detail about Paul's life doesn't seem evident in any of his behaviors or choices.
This novel has numerous examples of lyrical writing; "sometimes he felt as though he were writing a postcard every day to everyone he had ever loved" (305). Additionally, I think it captures the complexity of human relationships and how choices happen not so much as a deliberate move, but rather the lack of one. However, the plot of this moved very slowly for me. I also am not a fan of thwarted love stories that only occurs because the two individuals hesitate and miss their chance.
September 27, 2014
I picked this book out mainly for the cover from my local library. I hadn't heard of it nor had I read any of the author's previous novels. I'm really glad that I took the chance since this was the best book of the three that I chose that day.
"Fallout" is a very well-written story about youth and the challenges of making your way in life. Three young people who met randomly wind up becoming roommates and business partners. They struggle to make their mark in the world of London theater in the 1970's. The background of each is as different as the individuals, and it all adds up to create give and take in their relationships with each other. Their successes come at a price with each suffering loss in some way. I found it to be a complex story and very pleasurable to read. I thought the workings of the writing and theater production were very interesting as was the time period. All together, it was a fascinating story that was a pleasant surprise.
"Fallout" is a very well-written story about youth and the challenges of making your way in life. Three young people who met randomly wind up becoming roommates and business partners. They struggle to make their mark in the world of London theater in the 1970's. The background of each is as different as the individuals, and it all adds up to create give and take in their relationships with each other. Their successes come at a price with each suffering loss in some way. I found it to be a complex story and very pleasurable to read. I thought the workings of the writing and theater production were very interesting as was the time period. All together, it was a fascinating story that was a pleasant surprise.
April 6, 2016
I can't remember what made me put this on my 'to read' list. Some good reviews, the popularity of the writer's previous novels? Most likely it was the setting in London's fringe theatres of the early 1970s. And Sadie Jones does a good job of bringing to life that particular time and place. The problem is that this is just not my type of book. I had very little interest in what seemed to be fairly shallow characters (I was unconvinced by their artistic creativity, especially Luke's supposedly ground-breaking plays) and found their intertwined sexual relationships interminable.
However, I wouldn't want to put off other potential readers of this basically well written book who might find it more their cup of tea.
However, I wouldn't want to put off other potential readers of this basically well written book who might find it more their cup of tea.
September 24, 2014
This is the story of four young people, Luke, Paul, Nina and Leigh, and is set mainly in the 1960s. Each of them is trying to make a success of life in the world of theatre, each trying to escape their own troubled upbringing. Leigh is attracted to Luke but ends up in a relationship with Paul while Luke pursues a string of brief 'flings' before becoming infatuated with struggling actress, Nina (who unfortunately is a married woman). Each of these realistic (and not always sympathetic) characters has his or her own troubles, both in the present day and in their past. Really enjoyed the book - another excellent tale from this author. 8.5/10.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews