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Atlantic
trade fine (as new) paperback
238 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
1 person is currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Luke Jennings
28 books662 followersLuke Jennings is an author and the dance critic of The Observer. He trained at the Rambert School and was a dancer for ten years before turning to writing.
As a journalist he has written for Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time, as well as for numerous British titles. He is the author of Blood Knots, a memoir, short-listed for the 2010 Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of three novels: Breach Candy, Beauty Story, and the Booker Prize-nominated Atlantic. With Deborah Bull, he wrote The Faber Guide to Ballet, and with his daughter Laura, the Stars fiction series for Puffin Books, about teenagers at a stage-school.
He is currently writing a follow-up to his 2017 thriller Codename Villanelle (John Murray). The Villanelle titles are the basis for BBC America's upcoming TV series Killing Eve, airing in 2018 and starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.
As a journalist he has written for Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time, as well as for numerous British titles. He is the author of Blood Knots, a memoir, short-listed for the 2010 Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of three novels: Breach Candy, Beauty Story, and the Booker Prize-nominated Atlantic. With Deborah Bull, he wrote The Faber Guide to Ballet, and with his daughter Laura, the Stars fiction series for Puffin Books, about teenagers at a stage-school.
He is currently writing a follow-up to his 2017 thriller Codename Villanelle (John Murray). The Villanelle titles are the basis for BBC America's upcoming TV series Killing Eve, airing in 2018 and starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 31, 2020
Atlantic, a novel by Luke Jennings, was published in March 1995. Recommended for the Booker prize presumably by publisher Hutchinson (the actual longlist was habitually kept secret and only revealed from 2001), it is now out of print and not available on Kindle.
Written in the third person from the point of view of sixteen year old Cato Parkes, an unhealthy child seeking lifesaving medical treatment in New York, the book tells the story of a single crossing on R.M.S. Carmelia. The author carefully builds and teases out the characters leaving the reader in the dark until granted sudden bursts of information as Cato discovers, or is informed of, their strengths, weaknesses and foibles. This construction is typical of Jennings’ writing being found especially in the Villanelle thriller series.
The book is set just 25 months after the second world war and the dialogue reflects the words and phrases that would have been typical of that time. Typical also are the attitudes of class, social status and ethics. Cato, as a young teenager, is included by the passengers and boat crew as an equal and member of their group allowing the story to be revealed from multiple directions, also a characteristic of Jennings’ writing.
The realism of the dialogue and setting contrasts with the unlikely plot although some portions are waiting and not unexpected. The descriptions are vivid and realistic and the pace is as gentle as the passing sea. It is a book of its time and deserves a greater audience.
I myself crossed the Atlantic as a child in June of 1960 on the R.M.S. Carinthia, a voyage also lasting just over 5 days during which I suffered motion sickness, there was a fire in one of the cabins and I remember watching icebergs pass safely albeit narrowly by.
Written in the third person from the point of view of sixteen year old Cato Parkes, an unhealthy child seeking lifesaving medical treatment in New York, the book tells the story of a single crossing on R.M.S. Carmelia. The author carefully builds and teases out the characters leaving the reader in the dark until granted sudden bursts of information as Cato discovers, or is informed of, their strengths, weaknesses and foibles. This construction is typical of Jennings’ writing being found especially in the Villanelle thriller series.
The book is set just 25 months after the second world war and the dialogue reflects the words and phrases that would have been typical of that time. Typical also are the attitudes of class, social status and ethics. Cato, as a young teenager, is included by the passengers and boat crew as an equal and member of their group allowing the story to be revealed from multiple directions, also a characteristic of Jennings’ writing.
The realism of the dialogue and setting contrasts with the unlikely plot although some portions are waiting and not unexpected. The descriptions are vivid and realistic and the pace is as gentle as the passing sea. It is a book of its time and deserves a greater audience.
I myself crossed the Atlantic as a child in June of 1960 on the R.M.S. Carinthia, a voyage also lasting just over 5 days during which I suffered motion sickness, there was a fire in one of the cabins and I remember watching icebergs pass safely albeit narrowly by.
December 16, 2020
I read this book because I enjoyed Codename Villanelle. At the end of that book there was a reference to this novel; long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. I thought it was terrible. A long boring story about a sickly teenager and his Father on a luxury-liner crossing from England to NYC. Almost ended up in the #dnf pile, but I pushed through. I gave it two-stars for the few enjoyable parts.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews