- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd (3 April 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0241142458
- ISBN-13: 978-0241142455
- Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 13.6 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,871,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Number 5
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The brilliant and unusual story of one house, five families, and the way ordinary lives are affected by an extraordinary town - Belfast. In this compelling, engaging and deeply moving novel, the successive occupants of a three-bedroomed terraced house go about the complicated business of keeping themselves and a home together in a place that the rest of the world knows as Belfast, but to them is just "the town". Things happen that might happen anywhere, and things happen that could happen nowhere else, sometimes as noises off, and sometimes on the front doorstep. Birth, death, infidelity, loft conversions: this is the world as most of us see it - from the inside of the house out.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Glenn Patterson lives in Belfast. His four previous books are BURNING YOUR OWN, FAT LAD, BLACK NIGHT AT BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN and THE INTERNATIONAL.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book, set in Belfast from then 1950s til the present is an interesting view on changing social attitutes, and problems which everyday people face. Never getting caught up in the Troubles, although mentioning them, it focuses on 5 different groups of people who inhabit Number 5, and is accordingly split into 5 sections. These are diverse - a married couple with a young child in the 50s, an Asian family, right up to a thirtysomething unmarried couple in the present day. Each section is narrated by a central character, in some cases male, female, child, adult and there are some good insights here by the author. The interaction between the occupants of the street is detailed to good effect, and the dialogue is well written.
The book is nicely tied up at the end, perhaps making the last short section what I felt was the most powerful in the book, although perhaps it could have been more comprehensive.
An enjoyable read, finished it quite quickly.
The book is nicely tied up at the end, perhaps making the last short section what I felt was the most powerful in the book, although perhaps it could have been more comprehensive.
An enjoyable read, finished it quite quickly.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a beautifully paced novel,steadily revealing the story of a house built in Belfast in the early 60s and those who live there through to the 90s. In Patterson's usual, effortless style, the story inevitably plots the social history of Belfast, but without a hint of labouring over the Troubles and a steady focus on the individuals who inhabit the house. A fantastic novel which makes you wonder what secrets lie beneath your own wallpaper. A gem.
3 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This story revolves around five families who through the years, buy andsell the house. Even though very different people live in this house, thememory of the previous owners still lives in the house.
To be totally honest, not an awful lot happens in the book. It's justabout the every day lives of each family and at the end, you sort of findout what happened to a few of them.
Don't get me wrong, the author is a very good writer and it's a veryreadable book but there isn't enough is here to pull you into the story.
When I finished the book, I didn't get any satifaction from reading it, Ididn't know much more about the five families than I had when I startedreading it. On the back of the book it says that it is a humorous book, Ididn't really find any line in the book to make me laugh.
This is a nice enough book to dip in and out of every now and then, but ifyou want a book that really makes you turn the pages, look else where.
To be totally honest, not an awful lot happens in the book. It's justabout the every day lives of each family and at the end, you sort of findout what happened to a few of them.
Don't get me wrong, the author is a very good writer and it's a veryreadable book but there isn't enough is here to pull you into the story.
When I finished the book, I didn't get any satifaction from reading it, Ididn't know much more about the five families than I had when I startedreading it. On the back of the book it says that it is a humorous book, Ididn't really find any line in the book to make me laugh.
This is a nice enough book to dip in and out of every now and then, but ifyou want a book that really makes you turn the pages, look else where.
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