Surveillance: Amazon.co.uk: Jonathan Raban: Books

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Product Description

Toby Litt, Guardian

'nothing else would come as close to distilling the particular
attitudes and anxieties of our time as Surveillance.'

James Urquhart, Independent

`Surveillance fairly hums with both mundane and more sinister
espionage'

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

Average Customer Review

2.5 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrifically enjoyable novel, 17 Jan 2007

By	R. Hollier (Guildford, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's perhaps asking for trouble to submit a sober-faced assessment of a book in which an Amazon reviewer appears as part of the plot. To cut a long story short, my only reason for sending these words down the ether is to tell you how damned good Surveillance is.

Among other delights, Surveillance offers a couple of pages of witty observations on the different styles of reviewers on amazon.co.uk versus those on amazon.com. These make you think, yes, here's a writer who's unashamedly plugged into the modern world.

I don't mean by this that Surveillance sets out to be trendy. Not at all - but Mr Raban is definitely a writer open to the experience of the new in a refreshingly fluid and open-minded sort of a way. There is an absence of dogma. Nothing is fusty.

In this novel Lucy Bengstrom makes for an engaging female protagonist - a freelance journalist in Seattle who picks up an assignment to interview the author of a memoir about experiences during and immediately after the Second World War. She then has to pick her way through a jumble of received wisdom, half-truths and distorted fictions in an effort to grasp the truth.

Surveillance has characters in common with Mr Raban's earlier Waxwings but you don't need to have read the earlier book to enjoy the new one. The broad theme of surveillance inspires anxiety and even neurosis, but I found this to be an optimistic and uplifting book.

In summary, Surveillance was one of my favourite couple of novels from 2006. Highly recommended (as, indeed, is Waxwings).

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A good book that failed, 7 Nov 2007

By	J. Fraser (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Surveillance: A Novel (Paperback)

This is not a book I would normally read, but my wife bought me this and she has a habit of buying me great books I would never otherwise of looked at. It starts brilliantly, with the aftermath of a terrorist attack, which after a couple of pages turns out to be an civil defence exercise. Thus one of the main themes of the book is underlined; nothing is exactly what it seems. In an America in the grip of paranoia, a journalist attempts to find out if an author really lived through the events he described. Unknown to her, the landlord of her building is watching her while her friend digs into the past of the landlord to see if he has stolen a dead man's identity. A car park attendant is forced to spy on his colleagues while a young girl tries to understand the algebra behind human behaviour. All the time the State watches it's citizens. Everyone spies and everyone is spied on. The trouble is none of these plot lines is fully developed and while the book is short and well written, it just doesn't go anywhere.

And the end! The end of the book left me feeling cheated. None of the plot lines are resolved and it just finishes as if the author lost interest. I feel that the author should go back and rewrite what promised to be a great book, but turned out to be a damp squib.

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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The book that even the author couldn't finish..., 1 Oct 2007

By	JJS (Devon, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surveillance: A Novel (Paperback)

I've never written a review before, but felt so cheated as I finished reading Surveillance that I was compelled to share my views.

Surveillance sells itself as a look at post-911 society and the paranoia that every move we make is scrutinised by the all-seeing government. This was obviously dreamt up by the publishers marketing department, attempting to cash in on that popular genre. The book itself is a big let down if you were hoping for something along those lines.

The worst thing is that just as the book is building to a climax, rather than resolving the various storylines, the author simply abruptly ends it. At first, I thought my copy had been misprinted without the final chapter. It's as though the author had been asked to turn in an x page manuscript, got to that and thought, "Oh, well, I'll pop that in the post and get my fee". I was left very irritated and annoyed that I'd bothered to spend my time reading it.

Mr Raban, please finish your book and let us know what happens to your characters...

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Sitting on the fence!
At two in the morning I read the final chapter of Surveillance... and like other reviewers was shocked at the end. But surely this is what we were meant to feel! Read more

Published 5 months ago by bookworm

2.0 out of 5 stars no plot resolution
being from seattle, i enjoyed this book and read it in 2 days. i could totally relate to tad's late night newsreading (but that's all). Read more

Published 6 months ago by J. Cohen

4.0 out of 5 stars One chaper too few
I've read and enjoyed all of Jonathan Raban's books. He is excellent at putting words onto paper in such a way that you cannot fail to want to read them. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Martin A. Chambers

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book - don't read the other reviews - they will ruin your enjoyment.
Another fantastic totally absorbing book from Raban, it follows on from Waxwings his previous book about Seattle. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Sarah Theodosiou

1.0 out of 5 stars Now, where did I put that ending?
Don't get sucked in by the (numerous) positive quotes on the cover/back/inside of this book as I don't think any of the reviewers actually read the novel to the end (if you can... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Larry Gaymaker

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother
The conceit here is that the author endeavours to build up various interwoven plotlines so as - I imagine - to instill a sense of paranoia in the reader, and then to bring it all... Read more

Published 22 months ago by S. ALLMAN

1.0 out of 5 stars Lazy author cheats his readers.
Just when it starts to get interesting, the author kills the story stone dead with an earthquake - end of story - end of review.

Published 23 months ago by Old Johnnie Walker

1.0 out of 5 stars Skip this one
I was influenced by the hyperbole on the cover and Raban's track record, but on reading this novel I found the story lacking and unresolved. Read more

Published on 3 Nov 2007 by Chris Pearson

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