The Electric Michelangelo
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More About the Author
Product Description
Guardian
‘Here is a writer of heart-stopping genius.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"'Here is a writer of show-stopping genius' Guardian; 'Her prose is rich, clear, cold, full of images and immensely sensual.' The Times 'Hall is a writer to indulge, and her sensuous, poetic prose is every bit as evocative as and poured from a pocket at the end of a holiday.' Daily Mail; 'Her gorgeously embellished prose compels the narrative, along with the beguiling vignettes she conjures up... the effect is intoxicating' Financial Times"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Electric Michelangelo is the story and philosophies of Cy Parks, and both are well presented and very interesting.
Hall's characters are not exactly likeable, with the exception of Cy, but they are well constructed, entirely believable and she makes us feel a degree of symapthy for them, even Eliot Riley. Trawling through a life can be tedious at times, but Hall manages to engage her readers' attention throughout, and I was sorry when it finished. The ending was well done, and somehow entirely appropriate to the rest of the novel. There was not the selling out of the characters for a 'happy' ending as often happens in novels.
I think it is a crying shame that this did not win last year's Booker prize, because it stands head and shoulders above the rest of the short-list.
Hall's characters are not exactly likeable, with the exception of Cy, but they are well constructed, entirely believable and she makes us feel a degree of symapthy for them, even Eliot Riley. Trawling through a life can be tedious at times, but Hall manages to engage her readers' attention throughout, and I was sorry when it finished. The ending was well done, and somehow entirely appropriate to the rest of the novel. There was not the selling out of the characters for a 'happy' ending as often happens in novels.
I think it is a crying shame that this did not win last year's Booker prize, because it stands head and shoulders above the rest of the short-list.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed How to Paint a Dead Man and Haweswater so much I looked forward to reading this book. As with all her books It is well researched and Sarah Hall is a great writer but this book was a bit long, dark and in my view not as enjoyable as her others. I really enjoyed the first part then it got heavy and I found it dull and slow. I am not surprised that it was short listed for the Man booker it's just the sort of complicated, heavy to read and requires a lot of work by the reader. I am glad I finished it and I now know quite a bit about the tatooing. Don't read it on holiday its a wade rather than a paddle! The Electric Michelangelo
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Electric Michelangelo" is a view of the world as seen by Cy Parks, a natural loner and deep thinker, following him through childhood and adolescence in the seaside resort of Morecambe helping his stoic yet quietly rebellious mother run a unique B&B/invalid rest home hybrid business, and meets an eccentric tattoo artist who takes him roughly under his wing and introduces him to the trade.
Cy then takes us to the underworld of Coney Island, another seaside resort, very different and yet with surprising similarities to his native Morecambe.
Cy is a fascinating character and Hall invokes the atmosphere of his surroundings in both Morecambe and Coney Island with astonishing detail and a keenly observational eye, really bringing the spirit of each place alive, with the conflict between what the resorts need to provide to stay alive and what it does to the soul of the place beautifully explored.
Sadly, Cy's own character is not quite as deeply explored. He's an endlessly fascinating character but it is almost as if Hall is so in love with her own creation that she guards him rather jealously - for a story using tattooing as a metaphor for what people feel under their skin, we're not really allowed to get under Cy's - we feel his pain, but we are never allowed to truly explore it and the motives behind it - Cy teases out the feelings of others but Hall never allowed us to see the motives behind his own actions.
I felt at the end of the novel I understood Morecambe and Coney Island better than I understood what really made Cy tick, which is a shame as he's a fascinating character, but left too much as an enigma and the vague, inconclusive ending and sudden leap from his leaving Coney Island to his last days in Morecambe, with only vague hints at what happened to Cy in between, is frustrating in a novel so rich in detail for the periods it does describe.
Hall is good at invoking atmosphere but is sometimes a little too indulgent in her language, with brief bouts of very wordy and somewhat leaden prose where I found myself skipping over a few paragraphs to get back to the actual plot.
She does also have a slightly adolescent fondness for unnecessary sexual metaphor which does sometimes seem little more than an attempt to shock - if ever a female author could give credibility to the theory of penis envy I suspect Hall might, as the metaphorical phallus really does make an appearance more often than even this gay male mind found entirely necessary!
Still, this is a beautifully written if ultimately frustrating book - if Hall were as generous in letting us under the skin of her hero as she was in exploring the nature of the resorts, you'd have an incredible book. As it is, a well-written, astonishing book which falls just short of excellence.
Cy then takes us to the underworld of Coney Island, another seaside resort, very different and yet with surprising similarities to his native Morecambe.
Cy is a fascinating character and Hall invokes the atmosphere of his surroundings in both Morecambe and Coney Island with astonishing detail and a keenly observational eye, really bringing the spirit of each place alive, with the conflict between what the resorts need to provide to stay alive and what it does to the soul of the place beautifully explored.
Sadly, Cy's own character is not quite as deeply explored. He's an endlessly fascinating character but it is almost as if Hall is so in love with her own creation that she guards him rather jealously - for a story using tattooing as a metaphor for what people feel under their skin, we're not really allowed to get under Cy's - we feel his pain, but we are never allowed to truly explore it and the motives behind it - Cy teases out the feelings of others but Hall never allowed us to see the motives behind his own actions.
I felt at the end of the novel I understood Morecambe and Coney Island better than I understood what really made Cy tick, which is a shame as he's a fascinating character, but left too much as an enigma and the vague, inconclusive ending and sudden leap from his leaving Coney Island to his last days in Morecambe, with only vague hints at what happened to Cy in between, is frustrating in a novel so rich in detail for the periods it does describe.
Hall is good at invoking atmosphere but is sometimes a little too indulgent in her language, with brief bouts of very wordy and somewhat leaden prose where I found myself skipping over a few paragraphs to get back to the actual plot.
She does also have a slightly adolescent fondness for unnecessary sexual metaphor which does sometimes seem little more than an attempt to shock - if ever a female author could give credibility to the theory of penis envy I suspect Hall might, as the metaphorical phallus really does make an appearance more often than even this gay male mind found entirely necessary!
Still, this is a beautifully written if ultimately frustrating book - if Hall were as generous in letting us under the skin of her hero as she was in exploring the nature of the resorts, you'd have an incredible book. As it is, a well-written, astonishing book which falls just short of excellence.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unnecessarily descriptive and wordy.
It was very difficult to wade through this book and keep focused. The story-line was sparse but the descriptions certainly were not. Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. Walton
Vaguely unsatisfying
A brave choice of subject and setting. We follow Cy as his chosen career takes him from Morecambe to America and back. Read more
Published 3 months ago by JoTownhead
Beguiling
The Electric Michelangelo is a beguiling book with a fascinating plot and a wonderfully eccentric cast of characters . Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. A. C. Whiteley
Electric
Amazingly well written and descriptive, a little hard to put down at some points :)
Published on 6 Mar 2010 by A. Roebuck
Awful
I had to endure this book as it was part of a book club. This story starts with phlegm, and gets more offensive as it continues. Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2008 by Mrs. S. F. Di Milo
Small type
I have to confess I am writing this review without having read the book. I thought it would be a good read. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2006 by Jacque
Average
This book sets the atmosphere of Morcombe in the early 20th Century well. The characters come alive on the page, and Cy, the narrator, describes his upbringing and life as an... Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2006 by "lynetteandrichard"
Great start, but gets bogged down
It all starts so promisingly. The style of prose is good, if a little overbearing at times. The metaphors are good. The imagery is particularly good around Morecambe. Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2005 by Mark Owen
A captivating experience
Intensely detailed, precisely written, thoroughly absorbing, this is the story of Cyril Parks' journey through life and the 20th century, from childhood and apprenticeship in... Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2005 by Green Pixie
Stick to storytelling, Hall!
I have only just started reading women authors. Sure, I've had a Banana Yoshimoto here and there- who hasn't, but I normally go for the guys. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2005 by C. Lowing
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