- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books; Vintage Intl edition (Jan 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679754059
- ISBN-13: 978-0679754053
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 2.9 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,382,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
If Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie had ever managed to collaborate, they might have produced this shamelessly entertaining novel, which introduces readers to what may be the most powerful family in England--and is certainly the vilest. A tour de force of menace, malicious comedy, and torrential social bile, this book marks the American debut of an extraordinary writer.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first read this book upon hearing it read by Tim Burgess of the Charlatans or some other Britpop band singer. It was on the now defunct Mark and Lard Radio 1 show. I was captivated by the description of a child's view of a trip to the seaside. The format of the book is also highly original but perhaps I haven't read enough books to make a judgement like that.The author manages to take sideswipes at everything from the tabloid press,modern farming methods and the art world to give a impressive summage of what lurks beneath the surface if you bother to look. I highly recommend that you read it.
Format:Hardcover
The shifting fortunes of England between WWII and the early 1990s is the subject of this broad, complex, genre-blending, scathing, and hilarious satire from one of Britain's best contemporary writers. The framework for this is a fictitious Yorkshire family, whose tentacles extend deeply into politics, media, and the corporate world. The Winshaws include: Arms dealer Mark, MP Henry, widely-read columnist Hilary, investment banker Thomas, art dealer Roddy, industrial poultry executive Dorothy, and institutionalized Tabitha. Struggling novelist Michael Owen is commissioned by Tabitha to write the family history, and in the course of his research, Owen comes to realize that the Winshaws are "wretched, lying, thieving, self-advancing" elites whose actions embody the decline of the country.
In a dizzying feat of narrative, we learn of the Winshaws' private and public lives, how they all intersect, and especially how intellectually and morally shallow they each are. For example, via Hilary, we see the rise of Murdoch-style tabloid journalism, via Thomas the insider trading scandals, and via Henry, the trainwreck of Tory/Thatcherite economic policies. But as if this wasn't enough to keep the reader's attention, the story also works in a mystery involving two mysterious deaths, and a strange running congruence to the 1961 comedy film What A Carve Up! The result is a whirlwind of genres, including old-fashioned Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, P.G. Wodehouse-style comic novel, Evelyn Waugh-style social satire, and Christopher Hitchens-style political polemic, all of which combine for a thoroughly entertaining read.
Some may find fault in Coe's ripe and vivid portrayal of this family of scoundrels, but it's entirely in keeping with the satiric and farcical tone of the work. More importantly, it's entirely in keeping with the political nature of the story, for this is that rarest of beasts, a thoroughly entertaining political novel. Coe unabashedly lays the blame for social woes at the feet of the businessmen (and women), politicians, and pundits who profited throughout the "greed is good" '80 and '90s as the poor grew poorer. And if anything, the twelve plus years since its publication only vindicate his selection of targets as -- at least in America -- we have experienced war based on politically-based lies, ever-increasing consolidation and dumbing down of the media, corporate fraud on a massive scale, bioengineering of food -- all of which are directly attacked in the novel. A wonderful novel, one well worth rereading every few years.
Note: Originally titled "What a Carve Up!" in the UK, the book was retitled as "The Winshaw Legacy" for the US.
In a dizzying feat of narrative, we learn of the Winshaws' private and public lives, how they all intersect, and especially how intellectually and morally shallow they each are. For example, via Hilary, we see the rise of Murdoch-style tabloid journalism, via Thomas the insider trading scandals, and via Henry, the trainwreck of Tory/Thatcherite economic policies. But as if this wasn't enough to keep the reader's attention, the story also works in a mystery involving two mysterious deaths, and a strange running congruence to the 1961 comedy film What A Carve Up! The result is a whirlwind of genres, including old-fashioned Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, P.G. Wodehouse-style comic novel, Evelyn Waugh-style social satire, and Christopher Hitchens-style political polemic, all of which combine for a thoroughly entertaining read.
Some may find fault in Coe's ripe and vivid portrayal of this family of scoundrels, but it's entirely in keeping with the satiric and farcical tone of the work. More importantly, it's entirely in keeping with the political nature of the story, for this is that rarest of beasts, a thoroughly entertaining political novel. Coe unabashedly lays the blame for social woes at the feet of the businessmen (and women), politicians, and pundits who profited throughout the "greed is good" '80 and '90s as the poor grew poorer. And if anything, the twelve plus years since its publication only vindicate his selection of targets as -- at least in America -- we have experienced war based on politically-based lies, ever-increasing consolidation and dumbing down of the media, corporate fraud on a massive scale, bioengineering of food -- all of which are directly attacked in the novel. A wonderful novel, one well worth rereading every few years.
Note: Originally titled "What a Carve Up!" in the UK, the book was retitled as "The Winshaw Legacy" for the US.
Format:Hardcover
'What A Carve Up!' by Jonathan Coe is, in my opinion, an excellently written, marvelously funny, dramatic and even suspenseful send up of our way of life. If you enjoy this book, you might well enjoy 'The Vicar of Sorrows' by A.N. Wilson.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Average
The title of my review is, perhaps, misleading.
Although the social commentary and literary attacks on all greed-inspired persons in the country are wonderfully executed, I can't... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2004
A great novel
Henry Green read a novel every day. Given that, one wonders when the not especially prolific but productive-enough (and wonderful) Green actually wrote *his* novels. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 1999
A stunning carve up of British society
Rarely does an author strike a note in their work which successfully slices and dissects the society they live in. Orwells 'Keep the Aspidistra Flying' is one. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 1999
Do you remember the 80's?
Once again Coe writes a book where things are so incredible that you are surprised they should be real, and so they are: by the way... do you remember the 80's?.
Published on 8 Jan 1999
Read this book!
It has been more than a year since I read this book so I am sure there is much that I have forgotten. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 1998
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