Pop

by Kitty Aldridge

When Maggie is thirteen she goes to live with her grandfather, Pop, in Sutton Coldfield. Pop knows everything -- he's quiz champion of the Plough and Harrow and his ambition is to appear on Sale of the Century . Maggie knows about the great comedians -- Max Wall, Ken Dodd, Tommy Cooper, Eric and Ernie -- about country music, and about how her mother died. Pop sings with the poetry of the suburbs and aches with the poignancy of adolescence. Kitty Aldridge has a wonderfully distinctive voice and a deliciously sharp eye for the extraordinariness of ordinary lives.

376 pages, Hardcover

Published May 28, 2002

About the author

Kitty Aldridge is a British actress and writer.

Reviews

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este livro foi uma completa desilusão. A forma como a autora decidiu dividir o texto não foi certamente a mais correta, porque parece que a historia não se desenvolve naturalmente. A historia em si é interessante mas nada de extraordinário.


El livro fue una desilusión. La manera como la autora decidió dividir el texto no fue la mejor, porque nos da la idea que la historia no se desarrolla de modo natural. Se puede decir que la historia es interesante pero no es extraordinaria.



This book was a complete disappointment. The way the author decided to divide the text wasn't the best choice, because it seems that the story doesn't develop naturally. The story itself is interesting but nothing extraordinary.

[Louise Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

not to impressed although should be as did finish it wonder how many people actually do !! i am a football fan so quite enjoyed the footie bits but found the story very disjointed and really had no idea what was supposed to be getting from this !! apart from bad dose of depression!!! saying that you could at times feel the isolation of the young girl and of pop but on the whole best forgotton !!

[Dani H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite this being set in the town I live in, I just couldn't get into this book. The writing style didn't flow well enough for me and the dialect used by the characters wasn't accurate (I imagined it as being more of a Yorkshire accent from the way it had been written). Severely disappointed.

[Sara]

02 long liist-orange prize

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set 4 years before I was born, but in my hometown, a warm and wooly feeling of nostalgia. Love the Aston Villa ("A gift for life") chapter.

[Elliot Smoke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel which kicks off with some extraordinarily rich writing, which then flails and flags a little, but ends up delivering a satisfying whole. For the most part, this is an absorbing page turner, though it can feel as if plot points aren't resolved or somehow worked through to the kind of areas they may profitably be pushed into. Details of Midlands pub life are excellently sketched, though possibly distract from the more serious themes of loss and ambition. All in all, a cracking read.