Cherry: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Sam Thompson, TLS (3.9.04)
'The determoinded concision of the storytelling is admirable in itself, and successful...gripping.'

Review
'Underachieving 33-year old Steve meets the perfect woman. But she's just a little too perfect, causing Steve to wonder whether he's made a pact with the devil. Thorne has finally delivered a gem.' (Henry Sutton ESQUIRE (September 2004) )

'The determined concision of the storytelling is admirable in itself, and successful...gripping.' (Sam Thompson TLS (3.9.04) )

'CHERRY's real strength is in its incidental comedy and Steve's chatty narration, which teems with elliptical observations and asides.' (John O'Connell TIME OUT (7.9.04) )

'Reading CHERRY is like looking at a photograph of an everyday scene or identifiable face taken slightly out of focus. Everything in the picture maybe recognisable, but at the same time that slight loss of perfect definition renders everything altered or suspect or 'wrong'. It is that distance - the carefully calculated breadth between the normal or the known and the disconcerting or the unknowaable - that gives this novel its strength.' (Robert Edric THE SPECTATOR (11.9.04) )

'[a] stunning and shocking new novel, a masterpiece of menace and unease that will haunt you for days after turning the last page...Matt Thorne has produced the best piece of British noir that I've read in years...[a] fantastic, fraught, Kafka-esque fever dream of a novel...You'll read it in one drop-jaw sitting...CHERRY is that rare thing, a perfect novel.' (Stav Sherez ZEMBLA (September issue) )

'CHERRY is an utterly absorbing read: a hugely satisfying case of a writer finding a narrative perfectly suited to his sparse prose style. The less Thorne gives us, the more we question, until from his seemingly effortless prose there develops an elegant, noirish mystery story.' (Alex Heminsley DAILY MAIL (10.9.04) )

'the novel acquires that most wonderful and blessed quality unique to good books: it is hard to put down' (Nicholas Royle INDEPENDENT (13.9.04) )

'An intriguing and mysterious novel.' (Caroline Simms WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY )

'Intriguing love story.' **** (HEAT (18-24 September 2004) )

'the plot...is a mixture of noirish thriller and Borgesian fantasy.' (Simon Baker NEW STATESMAN (20.9.04) )

'Thorne's erotic writing is sometimes interrupted by musings on the dichotomy between writing about love and writing about sex, between the Hollywood version of a story and its messy reality. And at the heart of this slice of reality lies a mystery that turns it into something more complex and more satisfying.' (FINANCIAL TIMES (18.9.04) )

'compulsively readable, intelligent and satrirical...[Thorne's] quirkily poignent sixth novel explores the loss of innocence and idealism which provokes a desperate need for fantasy and illusion.' (Kate Ewart THE LIST (9.9.04) )

'Cherry...is a page-turning urban adventure with a strong cinematic feel.' (Natasha Tripney readysteadybook.com (11.10.04) )

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8 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (4) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.9 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   7 of 8 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars A man walks into a bar..., 11 May 2006 By  Snapdragon (London) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    This review is from: Cherry (Paperback) The basic idea behind the book is that a thouroughly unlikeable and unsympathetic 30-something English teacher has a 'strange encounter' with a strange man. Then some other stuff happens, then a man arrives and takes his specifications for his ideal woman, then she appears, then she goes again and he has to do some horrible things to get her back... (in a nutshell!) I imagine it's the fantasy of many men to be able to specify the exact requirements of your ideal woman, have someone make a list of them and then have her appear on your doorstep... so it might appeal for that reason The main problem I had with the book is that Steve, the central character, is so awful that I really didn't care what happened to him at all. An English teacher who doesn't like books and doesn't read?? I didn't get it. As a character Cherry was at least reasonable likeable, if a bit pathetic. Don't get me wrong, this book is worth a read, but perhaps beach reading rather than an attempt to improve yourself! Just a little warning...the bit with the bloodied cotton wool balls made me feel quite unwell... Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   7 of 8 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars Novel pretentions, 16 Feb 2006 By A Customer This review is from: Cherry (Paperback) What a seriously disappointing book. I bought and read it on the strength of the blurb - and other reviews - and it's a prosaic piece of work with pretensions. Take an average guy and set him down in the middle of a strange scheme to bring love into his life with the girl of his dreams and suddenly it all happens - girl, love, happiness. But there's a snag to the prize - a payback. It might have been more interesting if the first-person narrator had been more sympathetic, more attractive, but he's a dullard, with tedious sexual fantasies. The girl is little more than a cipher, and woven around the 'love-affair' is a plot that's all manipulation - you can see it coming a mile away and you hope the author has the imagination to twist everything unexpectedly, but alas he doesn't...genuinely dull piece of writing. Predictable, familiar, derivative. "Borgesian" one of the reviewers writes - but it isn't remotely, it doesn't have the sophistication, the learning, the skill. In fact it's got little to recommend it. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   2 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars seriously strange, 13 Jul 2007 By  Alistair Carrie "allymacd" (Kirriemuir, Scotland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: Cherry (Paperback) This is the perfect book for a wet weekend afternoon, which is great considering the summer we're having. Once you get into it, which took me about 6 or 7 pages, you won't stop till it's finished. The central character (Steve Ellis) is easily believable as a lonely, manipulable man desperate for some significance in his life. His small circle of friends and family are well described and enhance the plot by giving substance to his feeling of only partly living his own life, so rich are theirs by comparison. His apparently chance meeting with the sinister Harry Hollingsworth leads him into a love affair with a mysterious fantasy woman. An affair which is by turns obsessive and touching. It's such a strange and gripping story with a disturbing but inevitable twist. By which I mean it is a shock, but still something you kind of felt was in the pipeline. It still leaves questions hanging, however. Steve's motives for his actions are obvious, but Harry's are unexplained. I even pondered the possibility that Harry and his associates were imagined and Steve's skewed perceptions created a scenario in which he could justify his violent behaviour. Highly recommended!! Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 8 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been so much more... This novel concerns an English teacher named Steve, in his late thirties, who has been single for years, and has become deeply obsessed by that fact. Read more Published 18 months ago by J. Roberts 4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing, compelling.... This is the third Matt Thorne book I've read. Having previously read both Child Star and 8 Minutes Idle. Read more Published on 12 Sep 2006 by E. Wallace 5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic! This book took me only one day to read, as the chapters were quite short, the story was quick paced and it was an easy read. Read more Published on 18 Jul 2006 by L. Beeson 4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read - but a too abrupt ending! This was a fantastic page turner with an interesting & empathetic lead character who is clearly so desperate that the offer of an ideal mate - @ any "price" has blinded him... Read more Published on 13 Feb 2006 by Lulu 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read with twist in tale This is the first novel by Matt Thorne I have read. I found the book very easy and quick to read. I completely empathised with the main character of Steve so that I supported... Read more Published on 2 Oct 2004 by dali Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 8 customer reviews...

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