- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (22 Feb 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140294562
- ISBN-13: 978-0140294569
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 10.8 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 81,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
What a Carve Up!
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
'Big, hilarious, intricate, furious, moving' - Guardian Telling the stories of the wealthy Winshaw family, WHAT A CARVE UP! is a riveting social satire on the chattering and all-powerful upper classes.
About the Author
Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. His other novels include A TOUCH OF LOVE and THE HOUSE OF SLEEP. THE ROTTER'S CLUB is forthcoming from Viking.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It ROCKS,
By A Customer
This review is from: What a Carve Up! (Paperback)
You simply HAVE to read it. It re-affirms that the novel is not dead as an art form (the structure is simply astounding), it proves that you can write a novel that is both politically astute and personally relevant - and it is further proof that an intelligent, sophisticated book can be funny enough to make you cry with laughter. It is an absolute masterpiece that I have bought for more than ten people, each one of whom has agreed that it is one of the best novels of the last ten years. Buy it and see why - you will not be disappointed
54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was moved, amused and enraged,
By Backdrifter (London, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What a Carve Up! (Paperback)
A real broad canvas of a novel that examines life under the Thatcher government in 1980s Britain, but it's not just a piece of political tub-thumping. The story plants its roots in the 1940s and uses the shenanigans of a particular influential family to illustrate the gradual dismantling and restructuring of British society and, above all, how the whims of this one group of people have far-reaching and devastating consequences for the average person on the street.But I don't want to make it sound like a grim sociopolitical tract. At times, it's incredibly funny, and occasionally very touching. It's bookended by World War II and the Gulf War, but its examination of society probes like a laser beam into the minutiae of everyday things that affect us all, like public transport, healthcare, what we eat, how we think. Ultimately, it's a very human novel, superbly constructed and deserving of high praise. And while I kind of see what previous reviewers mean about it not appealing to Tories or illustrating a class war, I should try to look beyond those issues because this isn't just a book about politics, it's about people - it's about us, and what we have allowed to happen to our society.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great British writer,
This review is from: What a Carve Up! (Essential Penguin) (Paperback)
Jonathon Coe lives and works outside the London media scene - as such he is free to write his own stories, to his own agenda, without having to concern himself with the petty struggles that often upset the London publishing circles. With 'What a Carve Up!' he has managed to avoid the contemporary pitfalls that so engage Martin Amis and Julian Barnes and has instead created one of the most fascinatingly constructed books I have ever read. Coe has not agonised in print over his love of great writers, or publicised his literary angst over the direction literature should be taking. Instead he has got on with the craftsmanship of writing a truly great novel. With a Dickensian approach to morality and integrity Coe sends up the perverse class system and corrupt establishment that he sees controlling Britain. He is never po-faced, and instead manages to suit the weapon to the danger, and unlike other passionate writers he never over-reacts, which means that the reader will appreciate his points without ever questioning their motives. With elements of Magical Realism as well as clear British canonical influences Coe has quite possibly written the best novel of the last ten years. I look forward to his next.
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