| Author | Message | ||
     Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
Has anyone here read The Resurrectionist? This novel earned a great many negative reviews on Amazon (and to be fair, it is a very disjointed book) but some of the writing is quite beautiful. I'm beginning to think that I'm the only reader who likes it.  The opening chapter, dealing with the cleansing of the dead (which is done in silence, with great reverence) is truly poignant. | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
No-one else read ^this^? | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.118.49 |
Not me, Steve... | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
It's available on Amazon for just 1p, Mick...1p!  | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.210.209.169 |
Steve, I bought this, but the negative reviews meant that it's languishing somewhere near the foot of my TBR pile, which is currently at Everest-like proportions. I might be inclined to give it a go in the next few weeks though... | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
I wish I could recommend the book unreservedly, Steve, but I guess it's not for everyone. From an Amazon review of Bradley's first novel, titled 'Wrack': 'James Bradley is a published poet and it shows in the rich and startling use of language.' The trouble with this is that sometimes the story gets lost amongst the elegant writing. Still, I like it very much.  | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Steve, I picked this up in the airport one day while waiting to collect a friend and I absolutely loved it. The book was good too.  Seriously, yeah, it's disjointed and I do agree with what the reviews say about the unsatisfying ending, but it didn't really hinder my enjoyment of the writing, which is lovely. I have my favourite quote scrawled on a bit of parchment (in something that to the untrained eye might actually be ink) on the collage that lowers over my desk: "It is a strange thing, tenderness, how near to pain it is, as if it were itself a sort of loss, a longing for a closeness we can never know." | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
'They are such thin things, these lives of ours; cheap got, cheap lost, mere flickers against the ever dark, brief shadows on a wall. This life no more substantial than breath, a light which fills the chambers of our bodies, and is gone...' | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
I think I'll write about The Resurrectionist for The Black Glove issue 3; it's high time this book received a positive review... ______________________________ http://stevejensen.eu/ | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.210.209.169 |
You see, I like that kind of prose. I enjoy the feel of the words in my head, the beauty of the language. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 62.31.153.8 |
Well I've got this book. The cover made it look like it might be fun but from the sound of those sentences above and the fact there's lots of flowery writing getting in the way of the story it's going to stay on the shelf. Or possibly even go to the charity shop. JLP (P for Philistine, someone will now probably say.) | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
It's philosophical without being preachy, Mr P. Having said that, the story is rather 'dry', dry as a bleached bone on an arid shore, as soulless and...oh Christ, I'm doing it now! | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
JLP (P for Philistine, someone will now probably say.) No need.  | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.210.209.169 |
John, if you're a philistine, I dread to think what people make of me... | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 62.31.153.8 |
JLP (P for Philistine, someone will now probably say.) No need. Oh but someone just had to go and say it anyway didn't they? | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
Kudos to John Bradley for not giving the public what they want & expect; authors often use Nineteenth-century London as a ready-made atmospheric backdrop in lieu of creating their own gripping atmosphere, through the 'strength' of their writing. Similarly, romance writers often cast their love stories against the backdrop of war, a lazy metaphor for the fragility, turbulence and uncertainty of love's progress. Bradley refuses to play this cheap game, and instead gently encourages his readers to look inside themselves - casual readers, hoping for the stereotypical, hackneyed trappings of Georgian/Victorian London (the overuse of fog akin to the 'dry ice' surrounding our pop stars, the stock characters with ludicrous, Dickensian names), come away disappointed, feeling cheated somehow...These are not the readers John Bradley seeks; the loss is theirs... | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
That's...James, not John, Bradley...doh. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 62.31.153.8 |
I can see I'm going to have to read this bloody thing... | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
I've reviewed the book now, in my usual schizophrenic fashion: http://stevejensen.eu/reviews | ||
| Steve Jensen (Stevej) Username: Stevej Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233 |
Yes, I know I keep banging on about this book. And yes, there's a fair chance that most readers would dislike it anyway. But it's a thing of beauty (in my humble opinion), even if the structure of the novel is faulty... Anyway, I was absolutely thrilled to receive a mail yesterday from the author himself, as he'd read my review of The Resurrectionist. How very kind of him to notice my blog, which is normally read only by my mum and my cat. Seriously though, Mr Bradley's kind words only cemented my opinion of him as an artist, and I wish him every success in future. Here's the review, folks, if you're at all interested: http://stevejensen.eu/reviews |