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Product Description
Review
Very funny (Spectator )
Delightfully quirky (Financial Times )
Slyly parodies the cliches of most first novels (Guardian )
Delightfully quirky (Financial Times )
Slyly parodies the cliches of most first novels (Guardian )
Product Description
For Maria, nothing is certain. Her life is a chain of accidents. Friendship passes her by, and she's unimpressed by the devoted Ronny and his endless propsals of marriage. Maria lives in a world of her own - yet not of her own making. Stumbling through university, work, marriage and motherhood, she finds it hard to see what all the fuss is about.
Will she ever be able to control the direction of her life? Or will it end, as it began, by accident? What does chance have in store for the accidental woman?
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The accidental woman, by Jonathan Coe
A novel about suffering, possibly about a suffering woman. Or, rather, the suffering of the author in dealing with the Maria (or the Marias) of his life. Because this is all about it: dealing with an "accidental person", trying to establish an impossible relationship with someone who simply is out of reach. The writing is tormented, but it gets more and more easy-going while the story proceeds, reaching towards the end a sort of identification of the author with the main character of his story. What's amazing is that there is eventually no recipe for a good way to relate to the Marias of our lives, if not simply to recognise them and to accept their diversity, their unhappiness, their misery. Which also is our misery.
If you like this book you might want to read two other very good novels about suffering: "The farewell symphony" by Edmund White, and "The woman who walked into doors" by Roddy Doyle.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am a big fan of this author. Like another reviewer I relish his narrative style; something which is seen in this book but is far more effective and less affected in later books.
In a lot of Coe's books you find characters that are difficult to like. "What a carve-up" is full of some of the most odious characters in English literature since Dickens. And you laugh out loud at how truly awful they are.
The problem with the central character in this book is that there really is nothing to like or dislike about her. It is as if someone has written a book of the life of the most boring person you have ever met. You know the one.....the person you see in the street and pretend you are too busy to talk to....because they truly have nothing to say. Perhaps the author picked the most neutral subject matter available to show what a wonderfully clever writer he is; and he really is very good.
This was the author's first novel and the gratifying news is that he gets much, much better. Coe is at his best when he is not trying to be too clever because he is, first and foremost, a consumate tale teller.
In a lot of Coe's books you find characters that are difficult to like. "What a carve-up" is full of some of the most odious characters in English literature since Dickens. And you laugh out loud at how truly awful they are.
The problem with the central character in this book is that there really is nothing to like or dislike about her. It is as if someone has written a book of the life of the most boring person you have ever met. You know the one.....the person you see in the street and pretend you are too busy to talk to....because they truly have nothing to say. Perhaps the author picked the most neutral subject matter available to show what a wonderfully clever writer he is; and he really is very good.
This was the author's first novel and the gratifying news is that he gets much, much better. Coe is at his best when he is not trying to be too clever because he is, first and foremost, a consumate tale teller.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A quirky, delightful read. At first I found the style almost deliberately teasing and provocative, Jonathan Coe playing around with the reader quite mercilessly, but by the end of the book I was thoroughly enjoying the strange self-conscious narrative. A friend told me this is what they call post-modern. Good stuff whatever it is.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Quirky and clever
I loved this book, mainly because of the style. The writer makes himself very central to the book and talks directly to us in private asides. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Sue
Truly awful
I love the work of Jonathan Coe, but this early, slim novel outstays its welcome and is a real clunker of a read. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jl Adcock
Accidental or Aspergers
I seem to have read Jonathan Coe's books in reverse order and have just finished The Accidental Woman. I find him a riveting author but was puzzled by this book. Read more
Published 18 months ago by R. Briant
A woman's tale of disjointed misery
There were some powerful narrative moments in this story illustrating the true misery in this womans wasted life. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by Thelma
A bit of an accident
This is one of Jonathan Coe's early novels and, I'm afraid, it looks like one. This is a wonderful writer before he really hit his form. Read more
Published on 8 July 2009 by Mrs
What a disappointment!
I had been looking forward to reading the skinny, first book by Jonathan Coe as I have loved the other books of his I have read. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2009 by Manda Moo
Good but not his best
The central character in this book is odd, nothing really special about her, Coe often makes his characters fairly interesting but I'm guessing this is his first novel.. Read more
Published on 25 April 2008 by V. Clark
Sent To Coventry
Oh for the anguish of inexpressible emotions. Oh for the ineluctable compulsion to write them down. Oh for the beautiful strangeness of a strange and beautiful world. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2004 by Mr. M. G. Page
Another great book by Jonathan Coe!
Despite its subject matter, the real star of this book is the narrator. With Maria's story veering from one vagary to the next, and essentially not providing many interesting plot... Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2004 by Pedantic Prudence
A confident, dark debut
This is Coe's debut novel, and is remarkable for the confidence it displays. To parody the occasionally appalling writing that one finds in debuts is one thing, but to do it in... Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2003 by Dave Briggs
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