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
10 of 10 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.
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4.1 out of 5 stars
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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 7 days 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 21 days 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 2 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 2 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 3 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 4 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 4 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 5 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 8 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 8 months ago by elaine
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