Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
An Experiment in Love
 
See larger image
 

An Experiment in Love (Paperback)

by Hilary Mantel (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


104 used from £0.01

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Counting the Stars

Counting the Stars

by Helen Dunmore
2.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £5.48
Rifling Paradise

Rifling Paradise

by Jem Poster
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £19.95
Vacant Possession

Vacant Possession

by Hilary Mantel
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £5.46
Fludd

Fludd

by Hilary Mantel
4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £4.99
Beyond Black

Beyond Black

by Hilary Mantel
3.3 out of 5 stars (49)  £5.59
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 250 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (30 May 1996)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140243755
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140243758
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 152,773 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #23 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > M > Mantel, Hilary

Product Description

Product Description

Follows on from "A Change of Climate". Carmel, Karina and Julianne are escaping the dreary north for a London University hall of residence in 1970. Awaiting them is a winter of new preoccupations - sex and politics, food and fertility - and a pointless grotesque tragedy of their own.

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(3)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?


 

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Leaves you wanting more, 14 May 2003
By A Customer
Like the starving heroine, I was left wanting more by this enigmatic but excellent book. In an antidote to the usual "take three girls" formula, we follow the school and university careers of Carmel, Karina and Julianne, three pupils from a northern convent who all end up in the same grim University residence in London. Without ever becoming friends or understanding each other, the girls are thrown together into a penny-pinching student existence in their all-female enclave, playing out an ultimately tragic tale of envy, competition, appetite and self-denial.

The author obviously feels there is great injustice in the lives of these girls, and this gives her always excellent writing a particular energy. The flashbacks to the girls' schooldays, and the relationships between Carmel and Karina and their mothers, are particularly well done.

More than just a story, this book explores the broader themes of girls' education and ambitions, and how they can be thwarted both by society and by nature. Although the ending is downright strange and I really wanted to know more about some of the characters' motivations, I found this to be a truly original and compelling book.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Food for Thought, 25 Jun 2003
By A Customer
This is my favourite among Hilary Mantel's books. It will strike a special chord with women brought up in the 60s and 70s in England. The themes of education versus hormones and indulgence versus repression are woven through the book in a very interesting way. It is not always an easy read, and I sometimes wish that we had more explicit information about the characters' motivations (particularly Karina's) - but I think it's that slightly mysterious quality that has made me re-read it several times.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars self-hating rubbish, 29 Jan 2000
By A Customer
What I learned from this book: thin girls are beautiful, fragile, and good; fat girls are ugly, and either stupid (Claire) or evil (Karina); all men are the same, cookie-cutter bastards; and anorexia is not an all-consuming compulsion, but the result of being too busy with your school work and embroidery (I kid you not) to remember to eat. Why read this, when there's so much else out there?
Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable
I was attracted to this book because it dealt with life at a (fictional) London University college during the 1970's. Read more
Published 5 months ago by C. K. Harrison

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Good comedy novels? 47 12 minutes ago
Help! Looking for book ?? please 4 21 minutes ago
Word of Mouth 16 49 minutes ago
Books that started well and finished disappointingly 33 1 hour ago
I want to read your self published book 27 1 hour ago
Atmosphere! 30 3 hours ago
Announcement
Amazon Rising Stars--Autumn 2009
31 3 hours ago
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.