- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books (1 Sep 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1416522794
- ISBN-13: 978-1416522799
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 358,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Natural History
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Product Description
THE TIMES
'There are moments during Neil Cross's fifth novel when the sense of foreboding is so strong that you half-expect to find cobwebs between the pages . . . The expertly delivered shocks may stay with you for a few days, but there's something meatier and more fetid hidden that will walk behind you for considerably longer'
Arena, September 2007
'Blurring the line between human and animal sympathies, this is written with such authenticity you can practically smell the chimp excrement'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Natural History is an unusual and disturbing book. Much like it's predecessor Always the Sun, Natural History is not a straight forward narrative, instead the reader is treated to a series of inter-connected, but varied, vignettes. The story gradually unfolds with increasing menace, until the novel reaches a apocalyptic conclusion; a conclusion that is the literary equivalent of being punched hard in the stomach.
The novel is set variously, in a desolate Monkey Park, A seaside B&B and the Congolese jungle, and covers a range of themes. Throughout 'Natural History', Cross muses on the nature of love, and the meaning of family. As in 'Always the Sun', he analyses the strength of the parent-child bond with devastating acuity. 'Natural History' also scrutinises the power of myth and the uncomfortable similarities between humans and animals.
'Natural History' is full of powerful writing, and is marred only by its disjointed structure. Cross's prose is sparse and direct but the novel often jumps about in time and location, which I found a little frustrating. This gripe aside, 'Natural History' is an excellent novel that offers much to consider, delivers an ending that will take your breath away and is full of subtleties that will stay with you for days after completion: Read it!
The novel is set variously, in a desolate Monkey Park, A seaside B&B and the Congolese jungle, and covers a range of themes. Throughout 'Natural History', Cross muses on the nature of love, and the meaning of family. As in 'Always the Sun', he analyses the strength of the parent-child bond with devastating acuity. 'Natural History' also scrutinises the power of myth and the uncomfortable similarities between humans and animals.
'Natural History' is full of powerful writing, and is marred only by its disjointed structure. Cross's prose is sparse and direct but the novel often jumps about in time and location, which I found a little frustrating. This gripe aside, 'Natural History' is an excellent novel that offers much to consider, delivers an ending that will take your breath away and is full of subtleties that will stay with you for days after completion: Read it!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The name Neil Cross came new to me whilst browsing in a bookshop. I have, as yet, read none of his other books. This then, to my surprise, was the most enjoyable and interesting novel that I have read this year.
Beautifully written, the offbeat storyline was fascinating and it was amazing the amount of angst that was built up in such a low-key way. The red herrings that were woven into the tale were subtle and the climax came as a complete surprise. What more can one ask from an author, except for his next book?
Beautifully written, the offbeat storyline was fascinating and it was amazing the amount of angst that was built up in such a low-key way. The red herrings that were woven into the tale were subtle and the climax came as a complete surprise. What more can one ask from an author, except for his next book?
Format:Paperback
This is a compulsive read from the beginning, when Patrick walks out of his rambling Devon house on the edge of Exmoor into the Ape and Monkey sanctuary he manages with his wife Jane, and finds Rue, the oldest female chimp, dead in her enclosure - she has been poisoned. Jane is famous - she makes wildlife documentaries for the BBC, which she narrates along with her on-screen partner, Richard. Currently however, she and Patrick are concentrating on making their sanctuary, Monkeyland, a going concern. Jane and Patrick spent the early years of their marriage in Kenya, and it was there that their two children, Charlie and Jo, were born. Now Charlie is a strapping 18 year-old, and Jo, tall and gangly and a maths wizard, is 13.
This is the kind of book that you don't want to finish - the warmth and tenderness of feeling it encompasses is beautifully done, but at the same time the plot is a masterpiece of tension and suspense, all the more throat-clenching because it takes place in the context of a close and loving family. Jane has a stalker, who sends vile letters and photographs - an accident of her celebrity perhaps. But when she goes back to Africa to make another documentary, Patrick glimpses something in the woodlands around the sanctuary that leads him into a different kind of danger.
Read this book - it cleverly builds to a horrendous climax that will genuinely shock you to your core.
This is the kind of book that you don't want to finish - the warmth and tenderness of feeling it encompasses is beautifully done, but at the same time the plot is a masterpiece of tension and suspense, all the more throat-clenching because it takes place in the context of a close and loving family. Jane has a stalker, who sends vile letters and photographs - an accident of her celebrity perhaps. But when she goes back to Africa to make another documentary, Patrick glimpses something in the woodlands around the sanctuary that leads him into a different kind of danger.
Read this book - it cleverly builds to a horrendous climax that will genuinely shock you to your core.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Disappointing
Having been highly impressed with Cross's 'Burial', I quickly turned to this book in the hope that I would feel the same sort of chill and menace which pervades Cross's latest... Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2009 by I. Shepherd
Dreary and unpleasant
The 'shocking' conclusion doesn't ring true in any way - the character responsible was just as miserable as the others, and there was no hint of what he was going to do. Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2009 by Paul Latham
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