- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Picador USA (Mar 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312283105
- ISBN-13: 978-0312283100
- Product Dimensions: 20 x 13.5 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The eponymous crustaceans of Andrew Cowan's third novel are not only the hard-shelled sea creatures of sandy English shorelines, but the hard-lipped, reticent characters who believe that saying nothing is preferable to stirring up any kind of emotion. It begins with a stark cold melancholy--"December and one foot of snow." Paul, once married and a father, drives to the seaside in winter, sleeps "thinly" and talks constantly to his son, Euan. Except Euan is no longer there. On route, Paul remembers his own boyhood, his taciturn, self-absorbed father, whose "eyes flared out at me, his sculptor's eyes, as if I too were a piece of metal he could twist into shape". Paul's mothering was haphazard and inadequate, making him an over-concerned parent, obsessively detailing all aspects of Euan's life with the zeal that accompanies the firstborn: "I was always too keen to instruct you, and too conscious by far of the life you'd grow out of ... I treated you like history." Becoming his curator, the father collects hagstones, cowries and tellins for the son, and learns to emerge from his shell and love for the first time: "I'd never been happier, more at home in myself ... I was what you'd made me..." Paul tries to become everything his father failed to be but is haunted by his mother's mysterious illness and death, which the family refuses to explain. The absence of mother and son are delicately balanced with the reader experiencing some of Paul's frustration and bewilderment as the author withholds the reasons for Euan's absence until the novel's close. The intimate second person address makes Euan pressingly alive, "For you there was only ever what next", although Paul's relationship with his wife Ruth is less well drawn, making the character's isolation even more complete. Crustacean's understated power lies in its ability to show how rigorous self-preservation can inhibit one's capacity for love. --Cherry Smyth
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'A story written with much delicacy and the quality of the writing is superb. A truly heart-rending tale by a master craftsman' (Publishing News )
'The emotional fluency of Cowan's writing is compelling' (Observer )
'An elegantly written exploration of grief' (James Eve, The Times )
'Cowan's portrayal of a father's grief is heart-wrenchingly real' (Pam Barrett, Sunday Times ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
'The emotional fluency of Cowan's writing is compelling' (Observer )
'An elegantly written exploration of grief' (James Eve, The Times )
'Cowan's portrayal of a father's grief is heart-wrenchingly real' (Pam Barrett, Sunday Times ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This follow-up to Cowan's much talked about first novel, Pig, will not disappoint. It follows the same quietly disturbing style, which won't knock you off your seat but will linger in your mind a long time after your'e done reading. The basic story is of a man, Paul, recalling the life of his son Euan to him, which has, as it becomes all too apparant, tragically been cut short at the age of five. But what unfolds is also the story of his own life, his childhood, his relationship with the child's mother. Unlike many i have read recently this novel contains characters which are so real you care about them.It actually has the power to evoke emotions not only in the drama of the big events, but in the small everyday things which would normally be taken for granted.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is becomingly increasingly rare that one comes across a writer who is able to handle a difficult subject matter with a touch that is so adept, so understated, and yet so powerful in its ultimate execution, that when you do come across an author who is clearly an unheralded talent, you want to shout it from the rooftops.
This book is extremely powerful, and incredibly moving, and yet it is a tale of such simplicity and sparseness that you read it voraciously. In brief, it is a man's gentle lament for the death of his young son, the death of his marriage, and the death of his youthful ideals. But what makes the whole thing emotionally bearable is the assuredness with which Cowan weaves his tale. I've not read anything as good from a newish writer since Ronan Bennett's 'The Catastrophist', a book which is very similar stylistically, most particularly in the ability of the the writers to sustain an even and emotionally charged tone, without ever resorting to sentimentalism and cheap effect.
Most definitely the best book I have read this year, if not the best I've read since 1999, when The Catastrophist came out. Well recommended.
Format:Hardcover
Crustaceans is Andrew Cowan's third novel, and in writing it he has fulfilled the early promise shown in his first novel Pig. His particular skill is carefully crafted emotional tension and the story of the tragic loss of an only child is an ideal background for this kind of writing. The story of Euan's life and death is very gradually and tantalisingly revealed through his father's memories. Poignant and utterly convincing, the emotion of this book will grasp you by the throat and not let you go.
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