- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (1 Sep 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099231212
- ISBN-13: 978-0099231219
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.6 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,119,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Determined to make a solo trip into the interior of Ethiopia in 1974, the young and naive narrator tells of her voyage of self-discovery, of unwanted companions, of a land facing revolution, and of a crime and its solution. By the author of "Bucket Nut" and the Anna Lee mysteries.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Eva Wylie is a wrestler with ambitions of becoming a World Champion. She lives in a trailer as a security guard in a spare parts yard with two vicious guard dogs. She has very definite ideas about all aspects of life and if you don’t agree with them, well, you can just sod off.
This was an extremely interesting book for a couple of reasons. The first is that the protagonist is not your usual likable character who wins us over despite a couple of flaws. She actually challenges us, time and again over decisions she’s made and thoughts she’s had. She’s abrasive, rude and continually “narked”, and for all of that you still feel yourself cheering for her. The second is her job, or jobs actually, a wrestler, a part-time security guard, a part-time courier for a shady character and a part-time bouncer. There’s never a dull moment when Eva’s around.
Bucket Nut is the first of only three books in the Eva Wylie series, a bittersweet fact. Only 3 books in the series will have me wishing there were more, but I’m pleased to have the other 2 books ahead of me. This is definitely one of those books that leave you wanting to read more.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I got really cross reading this book.
Really cross.
With myself.
It was first published in 1992 and I've only just got round to reading it - what a waste of a lot of years.
Worse still, the review I saw of it at the Drowning Machine was posted about a year ago - no excuses then (but thanks, Naomi, for the tip).
The tale is of a lady wrestler, Eva Wylie. She's had a tough life and she's a tough lady.
We meet her as she deals with her wimp of an opponent, once again playing out the villain in the pantomime ring.
She lives in a static van. I read the book in a static van in Grange, though it was a little more comfortable than Eva's scrapyard home - it would be hard for it not to be and the electricity remained connected.
The plot builds beautifully.
Eva is keen to get money. She wants to fix her teeth and to gather enough cash to help her appear to be a worthy human being when she eventually tracks down her sister.
To get said cash, she works for Mr Cheng, part muscle/part delivery girl. They pay, she asks no questions.
In an act of bad-fortune, she ends up doing a bouncer's shift at a club which is about to be attacked by Mr Cheng's turf-war enemies. Worse than that, she unwittingly helps out one of those enemies and adopts her like one might a bird with a broken wing.
It's kind of nice for her to have someone to live with other than her guard-dog mates, Ramses and Linekar.
I don't think I'm going to write more on the plot. Suffice it to say things get easily complicated and the solutions are never close to hand.
What I loved so much about the book was the depth of every character.
All of Eva's surrounding cast are brilliantly sketched. It's like she's a method actor who's been inside all of them to find out what makes them tick. I felt concern for the author at times due to the depth of her empathy.
That concern was stretched to the limits with Eva herself. She's big, tough and hard. She has a heart that's half-gold, half Mercury. She's as forgiving as anyone can be, yet she's an avenging angel. Cody expresses things through Eva (or maybe it's the other way around) that wouldn't be out of place in books of philosophy, social-science, language, poetry or joke books. In another age I think Cody might have been a revolutionary, a suffragette, a saboteur. In 1992 she was a bloody marvel.
While I read, I also felt a debt to her. Felt as if the book had been influencing my own writing over the past years. That might seem impossible given I've never read a novel by her before, but if Ray Banks, Allan Guthrie or Charlie Williams read this book (as I'm sure they did), the path of that influence makes sense.
It's such a big, powerful book this, a bit like Eva herself.
An absolute gem.
Really cross.
With myself.
It was first published in 1992 and I've only just got round to reading it - what a waste of a lot of years.
Worse still, the review I saw of it at the Drowning Machine was posted about a year ago - no excuses then (but thanks, Naomi, for the tip).
The tale is of a lady wrestler, Eva Wylie. She's had a tough life and she's a tough lady.
We meet her as she deals with her wimp of an opponent, once again playing out the villain in the pantomime ring.
She lives in a static van. I read the book in a static van in Grange, though it was a little more comfortable than Eva's scrapyard home - it would be hard for it not to be and the electricity remained connected.
The plot builds beautifully.
Eva is keen to get money. She wants to fix her teeth and to gather enough cash to help her appear to be a worthy human being when she eventually tracks down her sister.
To get said cash, she works for Mr Cheng, part muscle/part delivery girl. They pay, she asks no questions.
In an act of bad-fortune, she ends up doing a bouncer's shift at a club which is about to be attacked by Mr Cheng's turf-war enemies. Worse than that, she unwittingly helps out one of those enemies and adopts her like one might a bird with a broken wing.
It's kind of nice for her to have someone to live with other than her guard-dog mates, Ramses and Linekar.
I don't think I'm going to write more on the plot. Suffice it to say things get easily complicated and the solutions are never close to hand.
What I loved so much about the book was the depth of every character.
All of Eva's surrounding cast are brilliantly sketched. It's like she's a method actor who's been inside all of them to find out what makes them tick. I felt concern for the author at times due to the depth of her empathy.
That concern was stretched to the limits with Eva herself. She's big, tough and hard. She has a heart that's half-gold, half Mercury. She's as forgiving as anyone can be, yet she's an avenging angel. Cody expresses things through Eva (or maybe it's the other way around) that wouldn't be out of place in books of philosophy, social-science, language, poetry or joke books. In another age I think Cody might have been a revolutionary, a suffragette, a saboteur. In 1992 she was a bloody marvel.
While I read, I also felt a debt to her. Felt as if the book had been influencing my own writing over the past years. That might seem impossible given I've never read a novel by her before, but if Ray Banks, Allan Guthrie or Charlie Williams read this book (as I'm sure they did), the path of that influence makes sense.
It's such a big, powerful book this, a bit like Eva herself.
An absolute gem.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Eva Wylie, the heroine of Cody's Bucket Nut, the first novel in a series is gritty, breathtaking and unique. In her raw energy, toughness and lack of conventional morals, Eva is more an anti-hero than a role model for the average female reader. Eva is a junkyard night-watchwoman, and a wrestler who, as an amateur, is obviously less restricted than professional private investigators. Since Cody also uses first person narration, and Eva appeals constantly to the reader, 'I'll give you some advice for free. . . you have to admit' (Bucket Nut 3-4), we are involved both in Eva's thought processes and her actions. Eva steals cars, has never obtained a driver's license and has a police record. Although she is adamantly against drugs, she is willing to steal people's wallets from a club since, according to her, if they are stupid enough to leave them in their jackets or handbags unattended, then they deserve to have them stolen. Thus, Eva is by no means the typical 'good guy' private investigator. Cody has made, in Eva, a voice for all the women who feel themselves disadvantaged because of their looks, social class, or lack of education. As Eva comments in racy London slang and retaliates to all the slights, real or imagined that she receives from the people around her, she may make us smile, but she gives vent to the feelings of frustration we may all have felt because we did not have the nerve or ability to counter the insults or injuries we too may have experienced. The plot, too, of Bucket Nut is clever and different. In her role as gofer for a Chinese restaurant owner, Eva becomes involved in a vicious gang war which threatens her career as a wrestler, the London Lassassin. For those readers who enjoy Patricia Corwell or the horror genre, this novel is fast-paced action with an intensely appealing protagonist.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
