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Review
‘Patrick Gale, on the strength of this modern, excellent and sympathetic novel, seems to be bound for greatness.’ Stephen Fry
‘Patrick Gale is an elegant, witty writer, with an engagingly bizarre imagination.’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Gale’s blend of artifice and realism is not quite like anybody else’s.’ Observer
Review
'Patrick Gale, on the strength of this modern, excellent and sympathetic novel, seems to be bound for greatness.' Stephen Fry 'Patrick Gale is an elegant, witty writer, with an engagingly bizarre imagination.' Sunday Telegraph 'Gale's blend of artifice and realism is not quite like anybody else's.' Observer
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm as corny as Kansas in August, a lyric taken from South Pacific, is about Hilary and Henry, bother and sister, English teacher/aspiring musical actor and psychiatric Doctor. The former finds an abandoned baby, the latter finds a lover and the story is about the impact all this has on their lives.
Hilary was a likeable character and you could feel sympathies with his frustration at being a teacher when he really wanted to be an actor but I became irritated by Henry and didn't really like her, just as I found the lead female character in Areodynamics Of Pork unlikable, this had a slight impact on my enjoyment of the story. That said there were enough twists and humor to keep me page turning and the infatuation Hilary's landlord's daughter had with him was quite amusing.
All in all an unlikely story but fun nevertheless.
Hilary was a likeable character and you could feel sympathies with his frustration at being a teacher when he really wanted to be an actor but I became irritated by Henry and didn't really like her, just as I found the lead female character in Areodynamics Of Pork unlikable, this had a slight impact on my enjoyment of the story. That said there were enough twists and humor to keep me page turning and the infatuation Hilary's landlord's daughter had with him was quite amusing.
All in all an unlikely story but fun nevertheless.
Format:Paperback
Patrick Gale's novel Kansas In August was an interesting, if never a very engaging read. It features some rather strange people. There is a man called Hilary and a woman called Henry. They are brother and sister. They share a lover, a bisexual guy called Rufus, but neither brother nor sister is aware of the situation because certain parties have used false names. (It seems that these people always want to be someone else.
Henry is the stronger character. She is a successful medic specialising in often threatening psychiatric cases. Hilary teaches music peripatetically. Some of the children he meets might benefit from the attentions of his sister. Rufus is a partially credible amalgam of a macho man, gay pride, anything, perhaps, that he can think of today. But it is the word "think" that seems to provide the greatest challenge for these people.
They are presented as contemporary Brits rattling around west London. It is apparently always snowing. There are constant strikes and various other social challenges that result in piles of rubbish permanently half-hiding the urban decay that lines the streets. There is much alcohol consumption and occasional drug abuse, probably conceived as recreational, despite the fact that no-one ever seems to have any money.
Hilary finds a baby - yes, a real baby - abandoned in a cot. He seems to think that finders can be keepers and sets about being its foster parent. He seems to be under a personal impression that he can keep his find, as if he had discovered a stray dog or a dropped wallet. He sets about occasional feeding and watering, and takes it out once in a while to provide diversion. A young Asian girl befriends him and develops a crush. And this character, remember, we have been told is au fait with teaching, schooling and other things related to youngsters. As I mentioned earlier, "thinking" seems to challenge these people.
I admit to becoming rather confused as I read Patrick Gale's novel. I found these people quite incredible and not very likeable. I did not understand and definitely did not empathise with any of their opinions or actions. They all seemed completely self-obsessed, rather crass and, crucially, unable to imaging anything beyond the end of the nose. Even immediate reality seemed to pass them by. But then, perhaps, that is contemporary Britain, something of a dross heap of selfishness. But, given west London and snow, why "Kansas" and why "August" remain two questions that still utterly defeat me.
Henry is the stronger character. She is a successful medic specialising in often threatening psychiatric cases. Hilary teaches music peripatetically. Some of the children he meets might benefit from the attentions of his sister. Rufus is a partially credible amalgam of a macho man, gay pride, anything, perhaps, that he can think of today. But it is the word "think" that seems to provide the greatest challenge for these people.
They are presented as contemporary Brits rattling around west London. It is apparently always snowing. There are constant strikes and various other social challenges that result in piles of rubbish permanently half-hiding the urban decay that lines the streets. There is much alcohol consumption and occasional drug abuse, probably conceived as recreational, despite the fact that no-one ever seems to have any money.
Hilary finds a baby - yes, a real baby - abandoned in a cot. He seems to think that finders can be keepers and sets about being its foster parent. He seems to be under a personal impression that he can keep his find, as if he had discovered a stray dog or a dropped wallet. He sets about occasional feeding and watering, and takes it out once in a while to provide diversion. A young Asian girl befriends him and develops a crush. And this character, remember, we have been told is au fait with teaching, schooling and other things related to youngsters. As I mentioned earlier, "thinking" seems to challenge these people.
I admit to becoming rather confused as I read Patrick Gale's novel. I found these people quite incredible and not very likeable. I did not understand and definitely did not empathise with any of their opinions or actions. They all seemed completely self-obsessed, rather crass and, crucially, unable to imaging anything beyond the end of the nose. Even immediate reality seemed to pass them by. But then, perhaps, that is contemporary Britain, something of a dross heap of selfishness. But, given west London and snow, why "Kansas" and why "August" remain two questions that still utterly defeat me.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Synopsis from Amazon:
In this first novel, Dr Henry (Henrietta) Metcalfe falls for a hitch-hiker, Rufus. A psychiatrist and a teacher, both are intent on concealing their true identities. To complicate this comedy of sexual role reversal, Rufus is having an affair with Henry's brother, Hilary, who wants to be a father.
I don't really know what to make of Kansas in August. This is certaintly not the best Gale book I have read. The book seemed disjoined, with random characters flitting in and out of the story. There seemed no definite storyline, we just seemed to follow three character, Hilary, Henrietta and Rufus through odd events which distantly relate the characters to each other. I didn't like the ending, which I honestly was begging to come. I don't feel the story is ended and I'm left feeling completely unsatisfied. All revelations could have come a lot earlier in the story. That I think would have made the book improve vastly. It was not a long book, 158 pages, but one I did consider putting down a few times. I didn't really connect with the characters, there was nothing about any of them that I could relate too. I'm left disappointed really.
4/10
In this first novel, Dr Henry (Henrietta) Metcalfe falls for a hitch-hiker, Rufus. A psychiatrist and a teacher, both are intent on concealing their true identities. To complicate this comedy of sexual role reversal, Rufus is having an affair with Henry's brother, Hilary, who wants to be a father.
I don't really know what to make of Kansas in August. This is certaintly not the best Gale book I have read. The book seemed disjoined, with random characters flitting in and out of the story. There seemed no definite storyline, we just seemed to follow three character, Hilary, Henrietta and Rufus through odd events which distantly relate the characters to each other. I didn't like the ending, which I honestly was begging to come. I don't feel the story is ended and I'm left feeling completely unsatisfied. All revelations could have come a lot earlier in the story. That I think would have made the book improve vastly. It was not a long book, 158 pages, but one I did consider putting down a few times. I didn't really connect with the characters, there was nothing about any of them that I could relate too. I'm left disappointed really.
4/10
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