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Caravan Thieves
Most of these vivid and unsettling stories are rooted in apparently everyday lives and situations, but suddenly become surreal or disturbing. Reading them feels as though you’re walking along in the real world and suddenly you step off an edge into a void, where rules of gravity and normality have disappeared but life carries on. Full of Woodward’s trademark mix of humour, pathos, dysfunctional families and disappointed lives, they contain also dazzling moments of illumination, perfect imagery and intimations of mortality.
The title comes from the story “Rape,” where a caravan (a nice Fleetwood Marauder) seems to have been lifted from its regular berth at Glenmore Caravan Park in the middle of the night to land with its occupants in a field in the middle of nowhere — which leads to unaccustomed and violent fantasies.
The title comes from the story “Rape,” where a caravan (a nice Fleetwood Marauder) seems to have been lifted from its regular berth at Glenmore Caravan Park in the middle of the night to land with its occupants in a field in the middle of nowhere — which leads to unaccustomed and violent fantasies.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2008
2 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Gerard Woodward
30 books69 followersGerard Woodward (born 1961) is a British novelist, poet and short story writer, best known for his trilogy of novels concerning the troubled Jones family, the second of which, I'll Go To Bed at Noon, was shortlisted for the 2004 Man-Booker Prize.[1] He was born in London and briefly studied painting at Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall. He later attended the London School of Economics, where he studied Social Anthropology, and Manchester University, where he studied for an MA in the same subject. In 1989 he won a major Eric Gregory Award for poets under thirty and his first collection of poetry, Householder, won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1991. His first novel, August, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award. In 2011 he was writer in residence at Columbia College, Chicago. He is currently Professor of Fiction at Bath Spa University.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 13, 2008
Gerard Woodward is one of my discoveries of the year his trilogy of stories; August, I'll Go To Bed at Noon and A Curious Earth have given a new twist to the family saga presenting this story of lower middle class Jones' family with a mixture of banality, surrealism, humour and social malfunction on a grand scale.
Some of which he brings to bear on this collection of short stories but what works sublimely in the long haul appears to be a little 'so what' in the short story context.
Touches such as; the man unexpectedly brought down by longbowmen in a suburban street, a rude hat at a party, the woman who dates the fireman who comes to put out her husband who has immolated himself on her lawn; are all wonderfully surreal.
Woodward always second guesses where you think the story is going such as in Stawberries where it looks like the disgraced professor is going to take revenge but he turns it into a story of personal revelation.
All in all I'm glad I read it. However if you're interested in this author I'd recommend August then the rest of the Jones' trilogy. If you find this collection in the library - then take a look.
Some of which he brings to bear on this collection of short stories but what works sublimely in the long haul appears to be a little 'so what' in the short story context.
Touches such as; the man unexpectedly brought down by longbowmen in a suburban street, a rude hat at a party, the woman who dates the fireman who comes to put out her husband who has immolated himself on her lawn; are all wonderfully surreal.
Woodward always second guesses where you think the story is going such as in Stawberries where it looks like the disgraced professor is going to take revenge but he turns it into a story of personal revelation.
All in all I'm glad I read it. However if you're interested in this author I'd recommend August then the rest of the Jones' trilogy. If you find this collection in the library - then take a look.
July 25, 2017
enjoyed these stories, although some seemed like extended anecdotes, and lacked depth (for me), others did resonate and stick around. Chicken Pox for example where something sinister may be going on with his girlfriend's sister and her Teddy Boy dad, or Fire Men which is a mix of dream, sex, and brute reality. Most are a mix like this, something surreal - a man shot with arrows by strangers who carries on with his walk home, arrows sticking out of him - something (possibly) nasty, all rooted in day to day suburbia. I was amused by most. I liked waking up and reading one before I got up, it seemed appropriate somehow and a good way to start my retirement.
Strangely started Mark Haddon's 'The Pier Falls' immediately on finishing and there is a story of a man so fat he can hardly get out of bed in both.
Strangely started Mark Haddon's 'The Pier Falls' immediately on finishing and there is a story of a man so fat he can hardly get out of bed in both.
November 4, 2025
There’s a variety in this set of stories as to be expected with any collection. Woodward writes with a childlike way of looking at the world and there’s more to some of the stories than to others. Some are so short, and so simple, that as good as the writing is, they will not stick in the memory or allow for any reflection on their content.
It’s those with a more surreal nature that take my interest most, their dark humour appeals.
In Firemen the protagonist reacts to the self- immolation of her ex-husband on her front lawn by embarking on an affair with the fireman who puts him out.
My favourite is the first story, Rape, in which a retired couple wake up in their caravan one morning to find that it has been somehow removed from the caravan park to the middle of a vast field of flowering rape. There’s no resolution, but that image, of the caravan in a vast sea of yellow, certainly does stick in the mind.
The Golden Boys is also very good. A man is interviewee for a job at a children's bookshop and is struck "by the odd and rather alarming thought that I hadn't passed water for two days". The interview itself is very amusing. He doesn’t get the job, and in the debrief the lead interviewer recognises him as a friend from primary school, with whom he used to have pissing contests.
Different readers will get different takeaways from this collection, but I enjoy Woodward describing farce, and enjoy his dry humour very much.
It’s those with a more surreal nature that take my interest most, their dark humour appeals.
In Firemen the protagonist reacts to the self- immolation of her ex-husband on her front lawn by embarking on an affair with the fireman who puts him out.
My favourite is the first story, Rape, in which a retired couple wake up in their caravan one morning to find that it has been somehow removed from the caravan park to the middle of a vast field of flowering rape. There’s no resolution, but that image, of the caravan in a vast sea of yellow, certainly does stick in the mind.
The Golden Boys is also very good. A man is interviewee for a job at a children's bookshop and is struck "by the odd and rather alarming thought that I hadn't passed water for two days". The interview itself is very amusing. He doesn’t get the job, and in the debrief the lead interviewer recognises him as a friend from primary school, with whom he used to have pissing contests.
Different readers will get different takeaways from this collection, but I enjoy Woodward describing farce, and enjoy his dry humour very much.
April 24, 2020
Really enjoyed discovering these short stories. This is pure pleasure for me - finding someone who writes in a way that makes me fall into the page and because these are short stories it seems to have been more rewarding to be able to spend 15 minute chunks of time dipping in and out. Definitely looking forward to discovering more collections of stories from a wider range of authors in the future.
July 13, 2020
Surreal yet based firmly within the realms of every day life. Each story in this collection leaves you with so many unresolved questions yet insists on you reading the next one to be yet again surprised that theres no end in sight!
I almost wanted to get bored of it just to stop being caught out, but the writing is joyful and humourous and the lack of closure really doesn't matter. If you'll excuse the pun, "You are here" probably stuck with me the most but all in all a fun read.
I almost wanted to get bored of it just to stop being caught out, but the writing is joyful and humourous and the lack of closure really doesn't matter. If you'll excuse the pun, "You are here" probably stuck with me the most but all in all a fun read.
May 3, 2021
Shockingly bad, boredom on every page, quite content not to finish it...yawn....
August 21, 2021
Quotidian lives punctuated by weird intrusions
January 25, 2012
Woodward has a unique way of looking at life. None of these stories have any real resolution which just leaves you wanting to read more. A highly recommended author and one I am glad to have stumbled upon.
September 11, 2013
Just amazing! I really like Woodward's style, he's smart, catchy and never boring!
October 12, 2020
Great short stories with a little twist. I love everything the man writes.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews