Спасението на Хенингтън

by Patrick Ness, Патрик Нес, Златка Миронова (Translator)

Добре дошли в Хенингтън – слънчев метрополис от близкото бъдеще. Град, чиито нудистки плажове са обградени от акули, чиито голф игрища крият огнища на сексуална поквара.

Град, в който никой не обръща внимание на стадо носорози, бясно тичащи по улиците.

Град нуждаещ се от спасение.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, Science Fiction, LGBT, Young Adult, Adult

560 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Patrick Ness, an award-winning novelist, has written for Radio 4 and The Sunday Telegraph and is a literary critic for The Guardian. He has written many books, including the Chaos Walking Trilogy, The Crash of Hennington, Topics About Which I Know Nothing, and A Monster Calls.

He has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Born in Virginia, he currently lives in London.

Reviews

[Bea]

DNF AT 54% (p324)

I’m annoyed that I really didn’t like this book, the story didn’t grip me at all and although I liked the creative format, there were too many characters and I had no idea what was going on or what the point of nearly everything was. Patrick Ness is one of my favourite authors and I was hoping his first published novel was going to be interesting and fun like his later books but no. I’m glad his work has improved and he’s written some fantastic books since but this one is not for me.

[Diana Stoyanova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Прочела съм голяма част от творчеството на Нес и, при все че книгите му са доста разнообразни, във всяка една от тях има нещо магично, някакво очарование, в което съвсем отчетливо се проявява разказваческия талант на автора. Аз малко започнах отзад напред- първо се запознах с юношеската му литература, където той е избрал да се наложи, а чак сега отгръщам и дебютния му роман, който е насочен към зрялата аудитория. Всъщност, струва ми се, че и "Жената жерав" също спада към тази категория.
" Спасението на Хенингтън" е първия роман на Нес и е много по- различен от всичко негово, което съм чела досега. В него Нес сътворява един утопичен и фантасмагоричен град ( Хенингтън), в който броди стадо носорози. Главите са къси и първоначално във всяка една от тях Нес въвежда различни персонажи. Постепенно той започва да ги свързва помежду си и да гради цялостния сюжет. О, да, сюжет има, противно на първоначалните впечатления, но това се усеща впоследствие.
Тук имаме една отракана Кметица( Кора- любимият ми персонаж), която дълго време управлява успешно Хенингън, но вече иска да предаде щафетата на някой друг; един неуверен в себе си кандидат за Кмет, който е изцяло подкрепен и издигнат като потенциален водач на Хенингтън и то не от кой да е, а именно от настоящата Кметица ( каква чест); един богаташ, който притежава почти целия град и управлява своя бизнес възможно най- почтено, воден от уважение и любов към Кметицата, както и неговите синове- единият, биологичния син, който е безскрупулен и се движи по ръба на сивия сектор, дори е нагазил дълбоко в него, а другият- осиновения, който е пълна противоположност от морална гледна точка на "брат си" и който трябва да поеме семейния бизнес; една водачка на стадо носорози( о, да, тук тя също е една от главните героини), която се терзае за благосъстоянието на нейното семейство, заради нещо притеснително, което улавя във въздуха; един мистериозен и донякъде зловещ тъмен субект, който се връща в Хенингтън, за да си вземе своето- това, което си мисли, че му принадлежи...
В " Спасението на Хенингтън" Нес засяга много теми и го прави с мащабна перспектива- за секса, за любовта, за религията и фанатизма, за властта, за зависимостите, за семейството, за еднополовите отношения, за бизнеса и корупцията, за морала, за вътрешните стремежи и копнежи.... "Спасението на Хенингтън" е една многопластова творба, която не може да бъде причислена към точно определен жанр, защото съдържа в себе си много компоненти, включително фантастични, драматични и криминални. Това е комплексно произведение, на което не може да се сложи етикет. И ми харесва, много ми харесва. По един невероятен, типично по Нес-овски начин, авторът е съчетал доста дръзко своите идеи, и в крайна сметка му се е получило страхотно. Направил е коктейл, от който се замайваш, изтръпваш, ужасяваш, отвращаваш, опияняваш и наслаждаваш едновременно. Бих казала- "неочаквано добра комбинация".



=====

" Идеализъм без възможност да въплътиш мечтите в живо дело е равно на морална импотентност" - кметицата Кора- стр 124

" Желанието да не се изложиш е най- сигурният двигател на всяко милосърдие" - стр 130

" Илюзията за сигурност се поддържа по- лесно, ако човек си представя, че опасността е някъде далеч."- стр. 377

[Teodora Gocheva · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Спасението на Хенингтън" е дебютният роман на Патрик Нес и орепделено биих казала най-впечатляващия дебют, който съм чела досега.

Обичам творчеството на Нес. Без изключения. Влюбих се в "Часът на чудовището". После се влюбих в трилогията "Не пускай ножа", после в "Ние, останалите, просто живеем тук", в "Освен този живот", в "Жената-жерав", в "Освобождение"...

И макар да мога смело да заявя, че познавам творочеството му добре, едва сега си давам сметка колко малко знам. Започвам да се чудя, какво не му е наред, за да напише дебютен роман с такъв размах. Ако сте прочели "Хенингтън" вече, ще ме разберете. Защото няма как да отречете гения и риска, които се преплитат в "необработеното" перо на един млад, неизвестен никому писател през далечната 2003 г.

Впечатлена съм и от издателя, който е решил да издаде книгата му. "Хенингтън" е наистина диамант, но ако трябва да бъда честна, не съм сигурна, дали щях да й дам шанс, ако вече не познавах автора. Съгласете, особена е. Това е чара й, това е силата на тази книга. Но определено не е нещо, което просто, ей така, ще влезеш в книжарницата и ще си купиш.

Патрик Нес като че ли се чувства удобно в царството на магичния реализъм, от който ще намерите следа във всичките му книги. Изглежда всичко е започнало така, в това измерение.
Хенингтън е крайбрежно градче в една измислена или постапокалиптно измислена паралелна вселена на нашата. Хенингтън е идеалната метафора за съвременния свят. Жителите на това причудливо градче си имат всичко. Кметица, която от години изпълнява задълженията си съвестно и отдадено на града, работейки здраво в името на ценностите и профъфтяването на хенингтънци.
Имат си и богаташи и добри предприемачи - в добрия и лошия смисъл на думата. Както и клуб, за задоволяване на специфичните нужди и желания на гражданите (да знаете, че оттук идва онова содом-и-гоморско изречение на задната корица, което ще кара хората около вас да се съмняват какво точно четете).
Имат си за опора стабилността на бондулейската църква. Имат и подкрепата на пастора и бога.
Това, което обаче няма да срещнете, в който и да друг град, е Горхотът. Стадо носорози обикалящи Хенингтън и околните земи от много години. Стадото е част от пулса на града, част от потока на движение, част от сърцето на хенингтънци. Те не правят никому зло и никой не ги закача. Поне засега.
И както може да се очаква от Патрик Нес, читателят не остава изолиран и от съзнанието на носорозите. Наред с всички сюжетни линии, които постепенно се заплитат, тук-таме ще срещате по някоя и друга глава поветена на това как вижда събитията водачката на грохота.

И ако всичко от ерата на Пистолет насам, вече е започнало да върви в своето русло, без да излиза от релси, то доста обезпокойтелни събития са на път на де случат. Черният вятър вече е повял в Хенингтън и един човек е пристигнал. Човек, който ще се окаже катализатор на предстоящия въртоп.
И съвсем типично за Патрик Нес наред с глобалните промени, които вече настъпват и които задават посоката в действието, всъщност малките истории са тези, които движат и осмислят всичко - като например борбата на Жаки с форума, непреклонната любов между Лутър и Питър, силната връзка между Кора и Албърт, неопетнените лидерски умения на Макс Латъм, животът на Магърти около Грохота...
Давам си сметка, че всички тези имена не ви говорят нищо сега. Не е и нужно. Достатъчно е да да знаете за съществуването им, достатъчно е като четете просто да напаснете дребните пъзели, за да видите как големият сам се събира.

Каквото и да ви кажа за тази книга ще бъде вярно. Не знам дали това ви позволява да добиете представа с какъв размах действа Нес още в първия си роман. Тази история има елементи на драма, романтика, трилър, еротика, приключенски, екшън, криминале и хумор, така че в който и жанр да я сложите няма да сбъркате и няма да сте напълно прави.

През всичките над петстотин страници Нес борави с шепа хора в ръката си, но характерите им са стабилно развити, подплътени и подкрепени с последващите им действия. Първоначално може и да тръгва малко тромаво, защото е трудно, особено за човек като мен със слаба памет, да се ориентира сред тези шепа хора, да запомни имената, лицата им, миналото им, да направи междуличностните и сюжетни връзки между тях, за да изгради рамката на книгата. Но е и истина, че веднъж започнете ли, няма спиране.





http://readersense.blogspot.com/2019/...

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Patrick Ness is a god among YA writers, and I will hear no word to the contrary. But all gods have to start somewhere, and Ness apparently started by writing magical realism for adults. For a writer who's so varied in his style, it's hard to call that strange exactly. But most Patrick Ness books just somehow feel distinctly like Patrick Ness. They all reflect on morality similarly, even when covering wildly different topics. I can always recognize his writing.

That's not the case here, because Ness isn't reflecting on morality. In fact, after reading this book, I'm not totally convinced it was about anything in particular. This was my biggest problem with the book, and the primary reason I thought it was going to get a one-star rating for most of the first half: lack of coherency. There is no one story here. The characters are all intertwined, in some ways, but for most of the book, it appears to be several completely unrelated stories. Only in the last fifth of the book do they come together, and when it happens, it's a little sloppy. Thomas just completely doesn't care that Hennington is burning to the ground, in his final scene. No, he has much more important things on his mind: bribing one employee from his corporation with her favorite drug. I didn't buy it. I suppose all the characters could've been pretty cool, except that the result of the huge cast was that I had no idea what I was supposed to take away from this book. There was no one theme that drives all of them, or even any two of them. There's none of the philosophy and thematic exploration that makes Ness' work so unusual. This book was themeless, as far as I can tell, and for that, it has all the literary value of a grocery list.

I also failed to connect to most of the characters. Part of the problem was that, early on in the novel, the massive cast was too much to keep track of. The only people I really remembered where Mayor Cora, her husband, and her deputy mayor, and only because they had simple titles that I could remember them by in my head. None of the other characters made a large enough impression on me to be memorable, not because they were badly written, but because there was too much to remember anyone. All this kept me from making any sort of meaningful connection to these characters. I was too busy thinking, "Alright, who's this guy again?" to focus on their character arcs. In this way, Ness creates distance between the story and his readers. And I think it's because he was trying so hard to write something broad, something with a huge scope. (It's something he tries again, to much better effect, in Chaos Walking). His efforts to be evocative just left me distant.

Still, here and there, I saw some little bits of what makes Ness' YA so good. There are a lot of chapters that are nothing but dialogue, or with only a little direction. And while it was confusing at first, when I barely had any idea which character was which, it really brought out Ness' strengths later on. Ness' dialogue is excellent. His dialogue is the only thing that made me feel any sort of closeness to the characters - we saw a lot of subtle characterization, and while not every character had separate voices, they certainly had separate personalities. It's the kind of realism and subtlety that I expect from Ness. The other major positive was that the story, while meandering, was also extremely unpredictable. There were a number of twists at the end, and while Ness overused the cheap device of killing characters to avoid resolving their character arcs, there were also a lot of genuinely surprising twists and turns. Jacki killing Thomas was probably my favorite part about this book. It was unpredictable, fitting, and alive in a way that most of this novel wasn't.

I suppose I could recommend this to die-hard Ness fans. Don't get me wrong - it's confusing, frustrating, and boring. But if you love Ness unconditionally, you'll still enjoy it, and even if you don't, it's a little interesting to see where he started. But if you're just looking for a good book, then Chaos Walking, A Monster Calls, and More Than This are all far better options than this. Those books are some of the best YA there is, and it's why I love Ness, even in spite of this train wreck.

This review can also be found my blog.

[Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even Patrick Ness had to start somewhere. Fortunately, his writing got a lot better very quickly after this debut novel. There is not a lot to recommend in the book, but the quirky characters, bizzarre about-faces in the plot, and off-beat humour kept me interested enough to finish it. The writing is uneven, the cast of thousands too confusing, and it fizzles out at the end, a bit like this review.

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 5 out of 5]

But the herd was here, too. The herd would not divide. The herd would face this now, she knew that. If this was the end, they would not run from it. The air filled with explosions. The animals charged forwards, The battle was on.

Hennington is a seaside town in an unnamed country that lost its history in a Pol Pot-like regime nearly a century ago, so nobody knows why a crash of rhinoceros wanders the streets and parks of the town unmolested. The happily-married long-time mayor Cora Larsson is about to retire, but her chosen successor, Max Latham, seems strangely averse to starting his election campaign, so the reappearance of a man who has been obsessively in love with her for almost 40 years is a complication she could do without. As the election approaches the story becomes ever darker, as love, politics and religion collide, bringing havoc to Hennington.

There is a lot going on in Hennington over the few months before the election, and the story is told from multiple points of view, including the leader of the Crash. The only parts I didn't like were Max's tedious and interminable chats with his ten-year-old daughter Talon.

This is a fantastic book, and to think that I only picked it up at a library sale because the rhinoceros on the cover attracted my attention! I had vaguely heard of Patrick Ness but have never read anything else by him, but after reading "The Crash of Hennington", his other books are definitely going on my wish list.

[sophie ⚘ · Rating 1 out of 5]

i am obviously not one to burn books but this book could use some of that treatment. I don't understand why rhinos where ANY part of this and quite frankly, I don't care enough to try and find out.

and i say that having read a book about a pedo time traveler who lost his feet because he time traveled into snow while being barefoot (iykyk)

[Inna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чудя се как, при положение, че това е дебютният му роман, после е преминал към предимно тийн романите.
Много ми хареса! Още тук пише хубаво.
Не ми е точно за 5 звездички, но... 😊

[charlotte, · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rep: gay mcs, bi side character, polyamory

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy book. Starts so chill. Would be a amazing movie if done by Tarantino

[Alex S · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while for Ness to get to the point with this one, but the constant presence of a herd of rhinos wandering freely through the town as well as the drama and utter indifference it invokes for the characters kept things in check. Oddly enough amidst the satire, the rhinos helped to keep all the narratives in order as Ness hopped from storyline to storyline and creatively broke dialogue between the end of one chapter and beginning of the next. And ultimately, it was nice to have no idea where the story was headed.

[Miss Fluffykins · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This was Patrick Ness' debut novel. I'm glad it wasn't the first of his I read as I would never have picked up one of his books again.

This was such a bizarre story. I almost put it down a couple of times, but I just wanted to know how it was all going to end/come together. I did not like the frequent sections that were dialogue only.

[Moniek · Rating 5 out of 5]

In short, he was happy, which just couldn't last.

Jestem gotowa podążyć za Patrickiem Nessem w kierunku każdego małego końca świata i bardzo się cieszę, że wciąż mnie zaprasza.

"The Crash of Hennington" to debiutancka powieść Nessa, kierowana ku dorosłym czytelnikom; powiedziałabym, że to komediodramat z elementami fantasy. Akcja rozpoczyna się, kiedy do małego miasteczka Hennington przybywa tajemniczy Jon Noth, który podobno zna się dobrze z panią burmistrz. A Cora właśnie przygotowuje się do kolejnych wyborów, w których jednak tym razem po 20 latach zamiast samej startować będzie wspierać znajomego kandydata. Na początku Hennington sprawiło na mnie wrażenia miasteczka rodem z ukochanego przeze mnie "Big Little Lies", lecz z czasem, kiedy zaczynamy odkrywać sekrety tego miejsca oraz jego przedziwną populację, przypomina również "Midnight Mass".

- I wasn't aiming for him.
- I didn't think you were. I'd just never heard a gun fired before.
- Really?
- Where would I? I'm a minister.

"The Crash of Hennington" posiada mnóstwo wad typowych moim zdaniem dla powieści debiutanckich - chaotyczną akcję, niezrozumiałe dla mnie wybory stylistyczne (uprę się na nie, bo miałam teorię, która mogłaby je wytłumaczyć, i się nie spełniła 😔) oraz ogromną ilośc imion i nazwisk, przy których czujesz, że musisz je zapamiętać. Fabuła jest trochę zagmatwana. Ale, ale. Ostatnio minęło 20 lat od kiedy wydano tę powieść i z tej okazji Ness podzielił się pewną historią. Wydawnictwo HarperCollins spytało się go, czyją rekomendację chciałby najbardziej dostać. Podał nazwisko autora (nie podał nazwiska), którego ówczas był ogromnym fanem, który podziwiał. Autor ten całkowicie zdyskredytował "The Crash of Hennington"; nazwał powieść najgorszą rzeczą, jaką w życiu przeczytał.
Jestem w stanie zrozumieć negatywne recenzje tej książki, ale... mam wrażenie, że tym czytelnikom nie ukazała się naprawdę całościowo. Ja też byłam zagubiona, ale z czasem idealnie się w niej odnalazłam. Nie jest najlepszą, jaką w życiu czytałam, ale powiem całkowicie szczerze, że nie pamiętam, kiedy ostatnio aż tak wciągnęłam się w fikcję; pod koniec wręcz nie mogłam się oderwać od tej historii i stale gdzieś czekała na mnie w tyle mojej głowy. Ba, chyba też dawno żadnej książki tak żywo nie komentowałam. Poza tym najbardziej w powieściach Nessa pociąga mnie to, jak się przez nie czuję. A "The Crash of Hennington" sprawiło, że czułam żałobę.
Wiem, że tak powinna wyglądać praca każdego pisarza, ale u Nessa wyraźnie jest widać to, że on naprawdę w swoich powieściach pisze, o czego stworzeniu zawsze marzył. Nie hamuje swoich pomysłów, bierze fikcję garściami i spełnia swoje najgłębsze twórcze pragnienia, i to bardzo doceniam.
Ostatnie rozdziały są piękne, fantastyczne i bardzo mnie dotknęły.
Jeszcze warto wspomnieć, że choć to pierwsza powieść Nessa, to ma najbardziej złożone world-building z jego całej twórczości. Zazwyczaj daje nam kilka hintów i sami mamy rozwiązać jego świat, i tutaj też tak trochę było, ale z czasem dowiadywałam się coraz więcej i byłam pozytywnie zaskoczona, jak pod 20 latach ta wizja nadal jest tak aktualna i odpowiada naszym lękom.
Mini spoiler, ale Patrick Ness zajmujący się zbiorową histerią to niekoniecznie to, czego chciałam, ale okazało się, że tego potrzebowałam.
A co do samego Crashu... chętnie przemierzyłabym z nim kontynent.
Chciałabym jeszcze wyróżnić jedną scenę, która całkowicie podbiła moje serce i wywołała u mnie nieoczekiwanie uśmiech:

- He killed almost everyone over twenty in the Wars. - Very astute, Eugene. - And then he took nearly everyone else with him when he saw he was losing in the Six Years' War and did that Grand Immolation thing. - Excellent. I'm heartened that someone your age has such an immediate grasp on the issue. - I heard all about it from my grandparents. - Proving how the oral tradition has at last reasserted itself.

Patrick Ness świetnie się sprawdza w twórczości YA, ale po przeczytaniu jego dwóch powieści dla dorosłych... mam ochotę na o wiele więcej. Nie wiedziałam, że to możliwe, ale są o wiele bardziej abstrakcyjne i są ostrzejsze, i mega mi się to spodobało. Nawiązując do "The Crash of Hennington"... mam straszną chętkę na prequel o Recent Histories i Pistolecie, nawet jeśli wiem, jak się skończy.

This is not a fantasy story, Mr Banyon. The real world rarely ever agrees with the linear narrative that you seem to expect. People disappear. We do what we can do to find them, but sometimes they stay gone.

PS.

- He is. Just because he once knew you doesn't mean anything. Quit worrying.
- I wish there was some way I could just get him out of the city, out of my life.
- He's not in your life. He's a gnat that you've swatted away. He won't be back.

Dziękuję, Albercie.

The past couldn't be reclaimed, but maybe the present could.

Dziękuję, Jacki.

[Emily Wrayburn]

I thought that maybe 8 years after my first attempt at this book, I might have more appreciation for the style and get through it. Not the case. I'm DNFing again and from the looks of it, I actually read even less this time than on the first attempt. Love Patrick Ness, really do not love this book.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review to follow

[Cal McKinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Patrick Ness’ for a long time and this was the second last book of his that I needed to read. I picked it up at the Sydney Writers Festival a few weeks ago where he was giving a talk. I got the chance to meet him and he signed the book along with my copies of all his other books. When I said that I hadn’t read The Crash of Hennington yet he said that he was ‘a different man when he wrote that’ and in the inside cover of the book he wrote ‘read with eyes of affection!’ So that is what I did. This book isn’t spectacularly well written and the plot isn’t mind blowingly sophisticated but I love this book nonetheless.

I loved the complexities of all the characters and I loved watching them grow and change throughout the novel. So much of the 2018 political climate can be found in this 2003 novel about a fake futuristic city. This book felt comforting and familiar while simultaneously being so completely different to anything I’ve ever read before. I liked how the characters whose multiple perspectives the story was told from weren’t all ‘good’ people. And I like that I can now say that I have read a story at least partially narrated by a rhinoceros.

Thank you Patrick Ness for being so kind when I met you and for writing a nice little (though almost 500 page) book that made me feel lots of different things at once.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a reprinted Patrick Ness adult title that I had never heard of. I'm so glad that I found it. I loved it. I read it in tiny bits. The chapters are small and all connect. It wasn't confusing, and all the stories seem to have the same theme even though I didn't realise at first. This book is different from his others in the way that there are happy endings of sorts, but in a Patrick Ness kind of way. If you are a fan of Patrick Ness you I suggest you find this book.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 years later and I finally finished it. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

[Panderp · Rating 5 out of 5]

sometimes destiny demands things of you and you have to take it

Chaos.

The only word I have to describe this book is chaos. Every word was sheer chaos.

There were at least 17 different POVs. The chapters were only 3-5 pages long. It was hard to keep track of what was going on and I still have no clue whatsoever what actually just happened. The characters rarely, if ever, interacted or even mentioned each other. Until at least 60% through it felt like just a bunch of unconnected tidbits. I was both happy and sad when it started connecting the characters. I love how chaotic and confusing it was as the beginning but I'm grateful to finally understand what is happening. Some of the weirdest things I have ever read were read in this book. It was absolute chaos and I loved every word of it.

This is the 3rd book by Patrick Ness I have read. Release and The Rest of Us Just Live Here were so vastly different from each other I'm not surprised this one is completely different too. I think it is very interesting that every book has has such a completely different writing style. I'm very excited to read more books by Patrick Ness to see if he can come up with more writing styles.

[Kiera · Rating 3 out of 5]

“She smelled dawn even before the sun looked over the horizon. A low mist clung to the sleeping bodies surrounding her at intervals across the lea. Breath clouded up from her great nose on increasing puffs as wakefulness filled her body. She raised her head and glanced around the sloping green of the meadow.

The first one awake. Usual and expected. The way it should be and was.”

This book snuck up on me. The first part was difficult to read, mostly due to the sheer number of characters to keep track of, many of which had little in common and rarely seemed to interact or even mention each other. In fact, if it wasn’t for Ness’ Wodehouse-esque character descriptions and the amusing presence of a herd of wild rhinoceros roaming the city I wouldn’t have continued reading. However I’m very glad I did. The character development and the way Ness managed to tie together all of the various subplots into a dramatic (if somewhat sad) crescendo was admirable.

Despite being first published in 2003, this book somehow provides a stunning satire on current world politics, with a dash of magical realism thrown in towards the end for fun.

The crash of Hennington is definitely not the best book I’ve read this year, but is certainly the weirdest. 3 stars

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

First Patric Ness book that I haven’t absolutely loved and adored. This one was so ... strange ... I really did want to love it. I mean - a world where a rhino herd roams wild throughout the city? And the worlds Ness creates are fantastical and I usually enjoy exploring them through his words but....

But...I guess my reoccurring narrative through this book was what is this about?

What is exactly the plot?

Why can’t you just use quotation marks so it makes it easier to follow the dialogue and know who is actually speaking?????

There were moments that were good in this book. And I love how in the end “good” prevailed.

And holy cow could parallels be made to our current political state (even though this was published in 2003).

I really had to slog through this one to finish it, however.

[Ainsley Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm genuinely upset to give Patrick Ness this low of a rating as I adore everything he has ever written but every rule has an exception.
Plus points
This book is written in short chapters (like really short 4-5 pages) and each chapter is about a different character with a different story and they all intertwine somehow (kind of like Love Actually). So that was good for reading on the train.
Negatives points
I have no idea what the plot of this book was. There was also a lot of sexual references at the beginning which I found unnecessary.
I was generally just confused the whole time I read this.

[Leonie Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first review ever, because I feel I have to explain my lowest rating ever. To be honest, I haven’t even managed to reach the end of the book, and it is actually the third book ever that I didn’t finish. Nevertheless I will certainly keep reading books from Patrick Ness. I have loved basically every book I’ve read from Patrick Ness, and he is one of my favourite auhors. I didn’t realise this was his first book until later when I had already started the book. Though his sharpness in writing is already there, I found the writing style a bit crude sometimes, and the story appeared to be all over the place.

[Maddy Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pleasantly whacky!

I had no idea what I was I for when I started reading this gem. I’ve read many of Ness’ work and knew he wouldn’t disappoint but this exceeds all the expectations I didn’t realize I had.

The characters are so well developed and the way the plot unrolled to reveal how they are all connected is tentative but never boring! This was enhanced of course with One of Ness’ strong suits, which is the way he writes the inner monologues of his characters.

All in all, I loved this marvellously weird story and all it’s amazing characters. As per usual, Ness doesn’t disappoint making this another book to recommend to anyone!

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Изключително много харесвам писането на Патрик Нес, но не знам дали бих дала шанс на тази книга, ако беше първата негова, която ми е попаднала. Чудила съм се, преди да я прочета, какво толкова се превъзнасят всички относно книга за стадо носорози. Еми при Нес сюжетът е само маркирани граници, в които удобно се разполага един много мащабен, странен и същевременно много близък и разпознаваем свят. Има и това ненатрапчиво усещане от книгите на големите писатели за бекграунд- за хиляди смислени неща казани между другото, споделени, но ненатрапени възгледи, мисъл и смисъл.
Та това е една прекрасна книга за стадо носорози!

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant.

I'm not sure what to say about this book. It was all right. There was one character about whom I thought, "Well, this is timely," but this book was written well before the current astonishment; so either the author was prescient or this sort of stuff comes around more often than I hope.

This book has true love and new love; the resurrection of both life and hope; some dastardly characters and some who are sort of noble; dark deeds and heroism and redemption; and, of course, the crash.

[Richard Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure what I just read but I enjoyed the heck out of it. Set in an unnamed country which has had its history rewritten, this book is about...maybe the mayoral election? Or maybe the cult growing within their main church? Or a crash of rhinoceroses that wander the streets freely? I’m really not sure but it was well worth the read. Only minor bits I didn’t like were the tendency to do a couple of pages of dialogue without revealing which characters were speaking as there’s a big cast but this seemed to get better as the book progressed and my familiarity grew.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ness's first book, I believe - in terms of its plot, structure, dialogue, all good. In terms of the scope of the novel, good. In terms of its resonances with current affairs, startling! Not quite as magical and jaw-dropping as he is now, in my opinion, but for a first novel, pretty remarkable - not in a patronising way - what I mean is, I think, it would have been easy for someone with Ness's talent to have written a "safer" book, but he chose not to, and that has provided a platform for him to push boundaries since then.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird. Interesting. Worth reading.

Warning: The beginning has many chapters including drugs, sex and prostitution.

It was confusing at first with words capitalized and with new meanings. If you decide to read the book, this may be helpful...
Rumours - a culture/group of people, possibly a religion or a race ( I’m still unsure).
Bondulay - a religion
Forum - a drug, possibly heroine.
The Crash - the group of rhinos that roam around the city
There was another one too, but I’m forgetting it.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

First a rundown on the description from Amazon.CA:

The world of “The Crash of Hennington” is so strange that nobody pays much attention to the rhinoceros herd that occasionally rampages through town. Though ornery, the giant beasts – known collectively as The Crash – are more docile than the human citizens of Hennington, whose schemes ultimately cause much more wreckage than a few bent traffic signs. As a freewheeling mix of satire, social comedy, and science fiction, “The Crash of Hennington” recalls the wildest books of Tom Robbins and Kurt Vonnegut. In the colourful near-future scenario imagined by first-time author Patrick Ness, society is freshly rebuilt after an unspecified catastrophe. Hennington’s benevolent leaders – Cora the mayor and Archie the local multi-millionaire – are ready for retirement and have carefully prepared the way for their successors. Naturally, things don’t work out so smoothly, thanks in part to two men who do not have the town’s best interests in mind: Arthur’s son Thomas, who has amassed great power as pimp and drug dealer to Hennington’s elite; and Jon Noth, a Mephistophelean fellow who’s out to settle an old score nearly four decades after being dumped by Cora. As he tells his lackey, “I am not an average man, Eugene, and I don’t mean that in a boastful way. In fact, it has often worked to my detriment, but I do know a few things. I’m not prepared to share that destiny just yet but know this, I am not mistaken, misled or delusional.” But even these villains will get swept up in the madness that surges through Hennington like an angry rhino.

There are more characters involved. There is Luther, Arthur’s adopted son that is heir apparent to his business empire. There is Max Latham, the deputy mayor who is on the fence about running for mayor himself. There is Cora’s husband, Albert. There is also Jacki and Peter, both employees of Thomas’ at the golf club, and employees of his “entertainment” business. Also, Father Jarvis, the pastor of a local church, and Theophilius Velingtham, a rather zealous opponent of the pastor. Then Maggerty “The Rhinoherd”, a strange outcast that for many years has followed the crash where ever it goes. Then in minor roles, there is Eugene, who becomes Jon’s assistant, and Talon, would is Max’s daughter and great advocate of the crash.

As you can see, there is a huge cast of characters. They all play an important role at some point of the story. All the story lines come together or are effected by the events that unfold. For someone doing this with a debut novel, one would think the author was completely nuts. But Mr. Ness does a good job in keeping each character separate from all the others, deep enough to make them interesting and poignant to the story, and to make them more then just a vessel to play out parts of the plot. They aren’t the strongest bunch you will me in literature, and Ness does show some clumsiness at times, which made it hard from me at the beginning of the book to keep track of everyone. But the eventual outcome is positive.

The title of the book serves two purposes. Not only to focus on the herd of rhinos and the oddity of their situation, but as a metaphor of where the city is headed. This second doesn’t quite come into focus as quickly, but given the story and character, it shows Ness’ clever deftness as a writer. (For those, like me prior to reading this, that don’t know, the proper term for a herd of rhinoceros is crash.)

One other issue that was annoying at times was the lack of quotations. Like Charles Frazier, Ness uses a hyphen before someone says something. Fortunately if there was some explanation that followed, he started a new paragraph, unlike Frazier who would use a comma and leave you wondering what was being said by a character and what was narration. Ness also relied a lot on quick dialog in many chapters, and even when it was only two people conversing, it was hard to keep track of who was saying what. Sometimes though that worked to an advantage for art’s sake, as it was more important for the message to be gleaned, and the rest was performance and build-up.

One aspect that I found myself liking, and it was a surprise to me, was the lack of background information. Hennington is part of some country or some government that as the description above states, has gone through some “unspecified catastrophe.” There is talk of The Gentleman’s War and a fear former enemy. There is talk of the “recent histories” and how the old histories were destroyed. Normally I would want more information. I enjoy the world building and history of these great universes that some authors create. But with this story, with the great scope of plot and huge cast of characters, along with the well placed writing style and prose, this vagueness and brief snippets of the past works very, very well.

This can be a rather challenging read with all the things that Ness has pulled into it: sex, drugs, politics, religion, big business, family drama, romance, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and surrealism. But even with this boat load of possible tripping hazards, I found it rather rewarding in the end. Sure, it suffered a little bit from “debut novel blues” and for the author biting off just a bit more then he could chew. But he admirably put together a rather strange and inventive, and most importantly, entertaining novel.