When his fiancé breaks off their engagement, Patrick Oxtoby leaves home and moves into a boarding house in a remote seaside town. But in spite of his hopes and determination to build a better life, nothing goes to plan and Patrick is soon driven to take a desperate and chilling course of action. This is How is a mesmerising and meticulously drawn portrait of a man whose unease in the world leads to his tragic undoing. With breathtaking wisdom and an astute insight into the human mind, award-winning M.J. Hyland’s new book is a masterpiece that inspires horror and sympathy in equal measure.
This Is How
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'M.J. Hyland has a ferocious imagination, and an eerie way of squeezing the distance between author, character and reader, so that the atmosphere of the book soaks and penetrates the reader's mind. When you've been reading Hyland, other writers seem to lack integrity; they seem wedded to weak confabulations, whereas she aims straight for the truth and the heart.' Hilary Mantel
Book Description
The brilliant new novel from the author of the Man-Booker-shortlisted Carry Me Down
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. D. E. Calladine
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I bought this after reading MJ Hyland's interview with the 'Cat Bin Woman' in the Financial Times last year (search for it - well worth a read). Hyland was chosen on the strength of this book - essentially because she showed an understanding of how events could spiral out of control, and how people could feel lost in the centre of a storm.
I really enjoyed the book. I felt strong empathy with the main character, and I loved how events were piled on top of other events, creating a very claustrophobic tone. It's very, very sad, and the final pages will stay with you for a long time.
I really enjoyed the book. I felt strong empathy with the main character, and I loved how events were piled on top of other events, creating a very claustrophobic tone. It's very, very sad, and the final pages will stay with you for a long time.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Eddie
Format:Paperback
This author really knows how to write dialogue -- credible and spare. Some of the descriptions of characters and rooms were brutally vivid. You really get sucked into the mindset of the anti-hero, and I'd recommend this to anyone who likes a dark but page-turning read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By DJK
Format:Paperback
"This is How" quickly and craftily establishes an insidious grip on the reader. Once begun, it's hard to stop reading. One senses that something is going to happen, but it's hard to know what, or when. It is set in a drab, seaside town. There's a bed and breakfast, a cafe, a couple of pubs...all ordinary and very familiar, but described in a subtle style and language that skews and infects, leaving the reader unsettled: everything is as it should be, but something is very different and very wrong. The same is true for the characters that inhabit the novel. The boarders at the b and b, the landlady, the waitress, the concerned mother...you wouldn't look at them twice in the street, but here, in this world, every phrase and action is given a sinister alternative, while at the same time remaining perfectly normal. And at the centre of the story is a unique and everyday everyman, a nothing and very much a something.
I finished the novel in two or three sittings. Before I did finish it, however, I bought Hyland's other two novels.
I finished the novel in two or three sittings. Before I did finish it, however, I bought Hyland's other two novels.
29 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By Jonathan Birch
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
MJ Hyland has an unusual fondness for violent misfits. In her excellent novel Carry Me Down (2006), her pubescent protagonist John Egan learns the hard way that covering mummy's face with a pillow won't necessarily make her any happier. Now, in This Is How, Hyland presents the story of Patrick Oxtoby, a down-and-out mechanic in a seaside town who turns out to be a kind of Raskolnikov tribute act. In a drunken rage, poor anger-prone Patrick learns the hard way that clobbering someone with a wrench can have serious consequences.
The publisher seems oddly reluctant to tell you that this is a book about the aftermath of a violent crime, referring only to Patrick's "tragic undoing" and supplying a pretty little cover with a man and a dog. In reality, this misleadingly advertised novel is a compelling and macabre journey to the dark side of human existence.
Like Carry Me Down, This Is How is told through sparse, present-tense, first-person narration that rattles along at a crackling pace, capturing Patrick's shock and vulnerability as events spiral rapidly beyond his control. The result is a gripping, readable and surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of a memorable antihero.
Patrick protests his innocence on the grounds that he never "intended" to do anything wrong. "My mind played hardly any part," he tell us, "but my body acted and, as far as the law is concerned, my body may as well be all that I am". Is there some truth in this "don't blame me!" determinism? This is the central issue the novel explores.
Personally, I'm not convinced. Anger, loneliness, loss of control, ignorance, drunkenness... these are causes of violence, but not excuses.... Read more ›
The publisher seems oddly reluctant to tell you that this is a book about the aftermath of a violent crime, referring only to Patrick's "tragic undoing" and supplying a pretty little cover with a man and a dog. In reality, this misleadingly advertised novel is a compelling and macabre journey to the dark side of human existence.
Like Carry Me Down, This Is How is told through sparse, present-tense, first-person narration that rattles along at a crackling pace, capturing Patrick's shock and vulnerability as events spiral rapidly beyond his control. The result is a gripping, readable and surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of a memorable antihero.
Patrick protests his innocence on the grounds that he never "intended" to do anything wrong. "My mind played hardly any part," he tell us, "but my body acted and, as far as the law is concerned, my body may as well be all that I am". Is there some truth in this "don't blame me!" determinism? This is the central issue the novel explores.
Personally, I'm not convinced. Anger, loneliness, loss of control, ignorance, drunkenness... these are causes of violence, but not excuses.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Lou79
Format:Paperback
*SPOILERS*
Despite an apparent lack of action, this book moves along at a brisk pace and is never anything less than fascinating. For me, what makes it disturbing is that Patrick seems to be completely unable to accept that he is responsible for the death of the man he kills, even though he is fully aware of what he did. He keeps insisting that he didn't hit him all that hard, he doesn't understand how he could have died because of such a small thing, and so on. I think Hyland has successfully depicted the mental processes of a sociopath without having to resort to the type of disjointed internal monologue stuff that other authors use in similar situations (you know the type of thing... a separate chapter of ramblings written in italics, saying things like "walls are closing in on me... I keep seeing their faces and hearing their voices... soon it will be time to act").
If the other characters are hard to read, I think that is because we are seeing them from Patrick's point of view, and he obviously has problems with reading other people's body language and empathising with their reactions.
I will be seeking out other books by M J Hyland and I very much hope the rest of her writing is as good as this.
Despite an apparent lack of action, this book moves along at a brisk pace and is never anything less than fascinating. For me, what makes it disturbing is that Patrick seems to be completely unable to accept that he is responsible for the death of the man he kills, even though he is fully aware of what he did. He keeps insisting that he didn't hit him all that hard, he doesn't understand how he could have died because of such a small thing, and so on. I think Hyland has successfully depicted the mental processes of a sociopath without having to resort to the type of disjointed internal monologue stuff that other authors use in similar situations (you know the type of thing... a separate chapter of ramblings written in italics, saying things like "walls are closing in on me... I keep seeing their faces and hearing their voices... soon it will be time to act").
If the other characters are hard to read, I think that is because we are seeing them from Patrick's point of view, and he obviously has problems with reading other people's body language and empathising with their reactions.
I will be seeking out other books by M J Hyland and I very much hope the rest of her writing is as good as this.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. M. J. Hulme
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
MJ Hyland has written a disturbing and insightful novel which shows how one young man on the margins of society, with emotional and psychological issues, finds the boundaries of world narrowing further and further until it ends, as it must, in one room with one other person. The protagonist, Oxtoby, is flawed by his inability to develop meaningful relationships with other people - from the guest house where the novel begins, and through the institutions which follow, you always fear the worst for him. The first person perspective gives the book a claustrophobic feeling as he loses himself, his freedom and his relationships with others, but there is a great deal of dignity in his behaviour and the ending, at once shocking and inevitable, hints that he may yet find a kind of redemption.
A sensitive and thoughtful novel, sparely and fluently written, which suffers only a little from slowing down in the midsection.
A sensitive and thoughtful novel, sparely and fluently written, which suffers only a little from slowing down in the midsection.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Taut and moving
At first glance the taut style with minimal description took me outside my reading comfort zone, yet every word counted and I was dragged in. Read more
Published 1 month ago by R. Clarke
5.0 out of 5 stars
good read
I like reading these types of books. Patrick is wanting a fresh start after a broken engagment. I recommend reading this book. reviewd by ireadnovels wordpress
Published 1 month ago by bookmoviefanatic
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poignant, subtle, absorbing
It's very poignant, the narrator's character emerges with great subtlety, whilst the absence of any real explanation for his actions acts like an invisible glue. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Summersalt
5.0 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece
Maria Hyland is a superb writer, with a great prose style. Why this novel didn't make it to the Booker Prize defeats me! It is beautifully written and compelling. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Peter Kettle
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good read but howling anachronisms
This book was very readable and didn't take me long to finish. However, the characters had no depth at all, not even Patrick, the centre of the story. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Halandgabron
3.0 out of 5 stars
Different
A tragic tale of a lonely troubled young man. His life slowly unravels with alarming speed and then he must cope with the consequences of his actions.
Published 5 months ago by Crime bookworm
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chilling yet moving
Patrick moves to a small seaside town for a new start. He finds a room in a house with two other borders, starts seeing a girl & finds a job in a garage. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lorna
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, different, compelling, intriquing....
I became totally engrossed in this book. I miss it, now that I've finished it... If you want something a bit different, give it a go.
Published 6 months ago by Fiona S
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intense and dark
I found this an unsettling and intense read which was not always easy but which, for me at least, was worth the effort. Read more
Published 9 months ago by lmhh
1.0 out of 5 stars
Thought it was absolute rubbish
This book was one of the worst that I have ever read it did not make any sense what so ever. I gave up three quarter way through. very disappointing
Published 9 months ago by elaine
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