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Shouting at the Ship Men
 
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Shouting at the Ship Men (Paperback)

by Tim Geary (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Phoenix; New edition edition (2 April 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0753809524
  • ISBN-13: 978-0753809525
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 225,072 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Tim Geary's third novel is a beautifully written and sensitively imagined portrait of a Canadian innocent trying to survive in contemporary London. Geary has also taken a big risk, creating a female protagonist who narrates her own story: an ambitious move that has tripped up many a talented male writer. But Geary succeeds brilliantly. His heroine, Portia Mills, is an utterly convincing female voice. A single 27-year-old still haunted by the death of her father 14 years previously, she comes over to England and gets embroiled, albeit willingly, in a kind of Chelsea set of semi-It girls and their well-heeled boyfriends. Jamie and Emma, Charlie, Camilla and Fee: Geary draws them deftly and with just the right amount of satire. Meanwhile Portia is adrift, involved in this world but not of it, and painfully conscious that she is simply getting old rather than getting on. When a relationship goes wrong, it all becomes too much for her and she begins to crack. Geary is not afraid to plunge the emotional depths as Portia falls apart, but even more importantly, he is not afraid to give us an ending full of realism, hope and reconciliation. -- Christopher Hart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Tired with life's routine, Portia Mills takes up the chance of a job in England. At first, Portia is entranced by London's green-parked dignity and poise and feels lucky to have Luke Bingham introducing her to a world of wealth, but his friends' rejection of her leads her to an obsessive affair.

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I'm so jealous, 24 Jun 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Shouting At The Ship Men (Hardcover)
I haven't even finished this book yet, but am enjoying it so completely that I couldn't wait to shout about it. I am a writer and my book is currently in the top twenty bestsellers, which is wonderful, but when I read a book like this, it makes me want to spit at the injustice of the publishing world. This book is a thousand times better than mine - this is the book that I always wanted to write and I couldn't because it's so difficult to write this well - Tim Geary makes it look so bloody easy! If I could write a book even half this good, I would die happy.

It's the little things that make this book so special - Portia storming out of a wedding because she couldn't cope with what was being expected of her socially, the competitiveness between Luke and his brother, the way he describes summer dying in a matter of hours one weekend, Portia not feeling like having sex first thing in the morning but doing it anyway. Nothing grates, there are no cliches, it's all so familiar yet there are descriptions of situations, places and emotions that I've never seen before in any novel. Geary also manages to make you really like Portia, who is, quite frankly, the type of girl I would steer clear of in real life, who I would be suspicious of, and that is such a clever thing to be able to do.

Although this is a stunningly well-written novel, it doesn't take itself at all seriously - it is literary with a small L. It is accessible and commercial. There is no reason why this book shouldn't appeal to the same sorts of people who have been buying my book its thousands. So why have I never heard of Geary and why is his book going to sell a tenth of mine?

It's all so unfair. Rectify this situation immediately by buying this book for all your friends and talking about it to strangers on the street!!

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a truly remarkable book, 20 Jun 2000
By A Customer
This was recommended to me by a good friend of mine whose judgement I trust implicitly so even though it was written by a man (I apologise for being sexist) and had an odd title, I bought it. It has to be one of the best literary surprises of my life. This book has that feature of all the best books - you start reading and by the end of the first page, you are captivated by the writing, by the pictures the author paints - you can smell the air and hear the voices. I won't go into the story - it's been described above. Suffice it to say that this is a story that will stay with me a lifetime, that I had to cancel a lunch engagement to finish it, that I cried (and laughed) while I was reading it and that I finished it only to start it again (I didn't feel I had given the early pages enough attention first time round). Read this book - recommend it to your friends. Tim Geary is a remarkable writer.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, insightful, excellent plot, 22 Jan 2002
By A Customer
Like some other readers, I discovered this book on the site and after the reviews decided to buy it. The book I read was different from what I expected, but even better. I expected it would be very literary and therefore at times a little "slow" but this was not the case. As it has been said before, when you read this book, you immediately feel like you are with the characters and Portia's thoughts become very familiar. The story is very moving yet contains some humour, the plot is very captivating but yet well written, in real sentences, not just 1 line dialogue. The characters are not one dimensional, they are real, close to home and thus full of contradictions. There is nothing else to say except it is one of the best book I have read in 2001 and I read about one a week so go and get it, you won't regret it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Unconvincing
This seemed to be a poor attempt at a literary novel. The prose was so over the top. Also, the characters and plot were verging on the ridiculous and at times I felt almost... Read more
Published on 21 April 2007 by gerty guinea

1.0 out of 5 stars Pop author goes upmarket....
I didn't realize until I'd attempted to read this book that Geary's previous efforts have been likened and marketed as like Jilly Cooper's. Read more
Published on 1 May 2003

1.0 out of 5 stars What a disaster.
I adored Mr Geary's Ego (read my review of it), so I was anticipating that Shouting At the Ship Men would be equally great despite the ominously pretentious title. Read more
Published on 24 Feb 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars ambitious but dissatisfying
I bought this book after reading Maggie O'Farrell's "after you'd gone", which was a beautifully written, calm but devastatingly emotional book which captured grief... Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!
After reading the glowing reviews here on Amazon I just had to buy this book and I am so glad I stumbled upon it. One of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. Read more
Published on 4 Jul 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful
A beautifully written book. I agree with all the other reviewers about the psychological depth etc - but what I loved most was simply the language. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars BRAVO GEARY!
Hurray for the author! - How wonderful and refreshing to read an original piece of 'fiction' as opposed to just another 'memoir'! Read more
Published on 3 May 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping,passionate,and impossible to put down!
One of the most intense, visceral reading experiences imaginable....The individual stories woven together in such a compelling and expert fashion, the narrative flows so... Read more
Published on 19 April 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book I've Enjoyed Most This Year
Even though this isn't the sort of book I'd normally read, I really enjoyed this. The writing is truly impressive. The plot effortlessly unfolds. Read more
Published on 15 April 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is unforgettable.
Shouting at the Shipmen is an unforgettable novel that tells the story of Portia Mills, a Canadian girl who falls for handsome Brit Luke Bingham and follows him to London. Read more
Published on 2 April 1999

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