Loved every page - Rated 
The book is written how a soap opera should be with all the day to day minutiae of life - showing how people deal with the big issues and that they are usually swamped by the little issues. Often the characters in the story are unable to see the consequences of their actions today (like real life) but the annual updates throughout the story show the consequences effectively.
The social and political setting was used well and (being in my 20s at the time) it felt familiar and comfortable.
The stories are intriguing and complex, leading the reader in one direction then turning you around to face the real story.
All the way through there are clues about the characters meaning that you are continually wanting to know more.
I was hooked to this book right to the last page and thought it could have gone on for another 500 pages.
A river runs through it (8/10) - Rated 
`South of the River' is an insightful and often moving novel revolving around the lives and loves of several inter-connected, mostly South London-based characters. It looks specifically at the changing fortunes of these individuals against the backdrop of New Labour and Tony Blair, from the landslide election night to the post-9-11 period. While contemporaenous politics, particularly the fox-hunting ban, play a part in the novel, they are neither the focal point nor dipicted in an overtly impartial way. Rather, the novel deals in timeless themes of love, responsibility, family, professional success and failure, and class, in a way that Tony Parson's described (helpfully, on the front of the paperback edition) as "intimate and epic".
Despite a terribly flat start, the characters tend to ring quite true, even if they are not always especially likeable. For the first few chapters, as the characters are intially introduced, I didn't think I could make it through 500-plus pages of such aimless vacuity, but my perseverence rewarded. Each character has a first person voice in the novel and gradually gains colour and credibility through their self perception and the perception of them by others. Often brutally candid (particularly in its warts-and-all descriptions of sex) it spares few characters by making explicit their prejudices, pretentions and insecurities. But, in a way that recalls John Updike for me (and particularly his `Rabbit' series), there is something to like - or at least identify with - in all of them. Admittedly, a couple of the characters - particularly pro-hunting country conservative Jack and his failed playwrite nephew Nathan - often veer towards characateur, but Morrison tends to get away with it with cutting wit.
What is particularly interesting and unusual about `South of the River' is that it combines this well developed human drama with experimental tangents. The fox theme bubbles up in some highly unlikely places, and there are some short-story-within-a-novel devices that allow Morrison to break out of the first person formular and make playful digressions. He manages to pull this difficult trick off without - as these enterprises often do - seeming pretentious or sacrificing the overall mood of the novel. Funny, heartfelt and believable, `South of the River' restores your faith in modern Britain as an interesting literary landscape.
Disappointing - Rated 
I really found this book difficult to finish. In a word, it's boring. While the characters are interesting, the plot is slow and doesn't really lead anywhere. The ending, for example, was ridiculously abrupt and just left me confused as to what the book was really about.
Great Read - Rated
I really enjoyed this book and I also thought that it was very funny in parts. I was engaged in the stories of the five characters who are all inter connected in some way particularly Nat and Libbys story. Nat has absolutely no insight at all in respect of his selfish and narcisstic behaviour and I found him horrifyingly believable. I also liked the structure of the book which follows the characters over 5 years dropping in each year, it shows how their lifes and expectations change. The novel starts on election night 1997 and the initial surge of euphoria and optimism that followed New Labours coming into power. I would thoroughly recommend.
Left me cold - Rated
Rarely have I struggled as much to finish a book or been so indifferent to its main characters. The novel starts off promisingly but descends into a meandering plot (and I use the term loosely). I could not have cared less about Nat, Libby and Anthea; frankly they deserved one another. For me, Nat especially had no redeeeming qualities at all. The plot also jumps certain events and the reader only becomes aware they have happened sometimes a year later which did not help the continuity of the tale. It is as if the author is enjoying witholding the information and delighting in his own imagined cleverness. It simply does not ring true that a woman like Libby would put up with Nat without complaint and then move on to the even dodgier Damien who might as well have warning lights over his head. In my opinion, the rambling contributions by Nat's deceased father are an irritating distraction that add nothing to story and can be skipped. The only character that seemed half human was Uncle Jack. I could not understand what the author was trying to achieve with the underlying fox theme throughout. I thought Harry's character surplus to even the meagre requirements of the novel and found him a cliched racial stereoype. All in all, for me this book was an excercise in writer's smuggery and possibly anti-hunting propaganda. I cannot imagine who these characters or indeed this disjointed novel would appeal to.
|
