Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Doubleday (2007), Hardcover, 336 pages
Description
Mike Engleby says things that others dare not even think. When the novel opens in the 1970s, he is a university student, having survived a 'traditional' school. A man devoid of scruple or self-pity, Engleby provides a disarmingly frank account of English education. Yet beneath the disturbing surface of his observations lies an unfolding mystery of gripping power. One of his contemporaries unaccountably disappears, and as we follow Engleby's career, which brings us up to the present day, the reader has to ask: is Engleby capable of telling the whole truth? Engleby can be read as a lament for a generation and the country it failed. It is also a poignant account of the frailty of human consciousness. Sebastian Faulks's new novel is a bolt from the blue, unlike anything he has written before: contemporary, demotic, heart-wrenching - and funny, in the deepest shade of black.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
I read Sebastian Faulk's novel Charlotte Gray almost a decade ago. It is an historical novel of the best kind both for its historical accuracy and its dramatic characterization.
In reading Engleby I found a psychological novel where characterization is brought to the fore with the presentation in
"What is this present then? It's an illusion; it's not reality if it can't be held. What therefore is there to fear in it?"(p. 65)
This is early in the novel, he has later meditations on the nature of thinking itself, and you gradually wonder if these are not symptoms of his gradual loss of the ability to distinguish reality from imagination. His pathology includes a variant of voyeurism that allow the author to incorporate diaries and other documents into the narrative - perhaps to confirm Engleby's own views. The combinatorial effect of the narrative techniques made this an intriguing psychological novel and raised the author in my estimation. I look forward to reading more of his novels.
In reading Engleby I found a psychological novel where characterization is brought to the fore with the presentation in
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the first person. That person, Mike Engleby, gradually becomes several characters as the novel progresses. Much like Dickens, notably in David Copperfield and Great Expectations, Sebastian Faulks's protagonist adopts different names for his persona over the course of the novel. The reader gradually begins to doubt the reliability of Engleby as narrator of his life story and with good cause, as he develops psychological characteristics that one may only categorize as pathological. Where these lead him I will leave to those readers interested in finding our for themselves. I found his story suspenseful, even as it began to repulse me. My interest was also piqued by his recurrent meditations like this one on time:"What is this present then? It's an illusion; it's not reality if it can't be held. What therefore is there to fear in it?"(p. 65)
This is early in the novel, he has later meditations on the nature of thinking itself, and you gradually wonder if these are not symptoms of his gradual loss of the ability to distinguish reality from imagination. His pathology includes a variant of voyeurism that allow the author to incorporate diaries and other documents into the narrative - perhaps to confirm Engleby's own views. The combinatorial effect of the narrative techniques made this an intriguing psychological novel and raised the author in my estimation. I look forward to reading more of his novels.
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LibraryThing member jeniwren
This is a brilliant book and a perfect reading experience for me. The appeal is in its subtlety and how the author draws the reader in. The story probes the inner mind of a Cambridge University student , Engleby in the 70's who is a strange loner and very much on the fringe of society. He also has
Although Engelby is an unsettling and disturbing character his wry observations of those around him and the world in general are very funny and insightful.
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an unhealthy appetite for alcohol , prescription medication and petty theft. He has a fixation on a fellow female student and throughout the novel recites word for word from memory entries from her personal diary which he has stolen. In the meantime she has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Although Engelby is an unsettling and disturbing character his wry observations of those around him and the world in general are very funny and insightful.
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LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Couldn't get into this at all and quickly abandonned it. Found it rather pretentious, the author was clearly writing about Cambridge University in the early pages but avoided name-checking it.
LibraryThing member TimBazzett
ENGLEBY, by Sebastian Faulks.
Found this book at a library sale about five years ago and it's been sitting on my shelf since then. Bought it because I'd very much enjoyed his bestseller historical novel BIRDSONG some years back. But this book, ENGLEBY, is nothing at all like BIRDSONG. It is wholly
Found this book at a library sale about five years ago and it's been sitting on my shelf since then. Bought it because I'd very much enjoyed his bestseller historical novel BIRDSONG some years back. But this book, ENGLEBY, is nothing at all like BIRDSONG. It is wholly
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unique, different, compelling, shocking, disturbing, creepy - ALL those things. I could not put this book DOWN! Finished it in just a couple of days, neglecting other things I should have been doing. In Mike Engleby, Faulks has created a character that is darkly funny, yet chilling and horrifying all at the same time. The story follows Engleby from his time in university (Cambridge) in the early 70s on into the early years of the new century, with frequent flashbacks to his abusive and troubled childhood rooted in poverty. It paints a dark and frightening portrait of a very intelligent loner, disaffected and deeply disturbed. The era of the seventies is accurately reflected and plays a part too. A riveting character study and a murder mystery combined, ENGLEBY is a story that will remain with me for a long, long time. Sorry, but I'm not giving any more away. READ THIS BOOK! Very highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
This is the story of Mike Engleby, who, when we first encounter him, is a student at "an ancient university" (obviously Cambridge, although it's never named), where his main activities seem to be drinking, popping pills, keeping to himself, thinking detached thoughts about the lives around him, and
I have such mixed feelings about this one. For most of the first hundred pages or so, I felt highly disappointed. It was well-written, but everything about it, including the description on the front cover, had led me to expect a fascinatingly twisty main character, and I just wasn't finding him interesting at all. Some of his observations were somewhat insightful, some of his backstory depressing, and some of his behavior vaguely creepy, but none of it was particularly affecting or engaging. Mostly, he struck me as pretentious and prematurely world-weary in that way that's so common among students, and which can be so annoying to those of us who have been there and grown out of it. As I read on, though, both the character and the novel itself grew on me. I won't say too much about its central premise, in the interest of keeping things spoiler-free, but my feelings about that are very mixed, too. I think ultimately it works better than it seems like it ought to, but I do have several issues with it all. And then in the end, the book suddenly starts gazing into its own navel in a rather irritating way. Still, it left me with the feeling that I'd at least just read something interesting, which is a lot more than I expected fifty pages in.
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behaving in a rather stalker-ish fashion toward a girl he's interested in... and about whose later disappearance he may or may not know more than he's telling anyone.I have such mixed feelings about this one. For most of the first hundred pages or so, I felt highly disappointed. It was well-written, but everything about it, including the description on the front cover, had led me to expect a fascinatingly twisty main character, and I just wasn't finding him interesting at all. Some of his observations were somewhat insightful, some of his backstory depressing, and some of his behavior vaguely creepy, but none of it was particularly affecting or engaging. Mostly, he struck me as pretentious and prematurely world-weary in that way that's so common among students, and which can be so annoying to those of us who have been there and grown out of it. As I read on, though, both the character and the novel itself grew on me. I won't say too much about its central premise, in the interest of keeping things spoiler-free, but my feelings about that are very mixed, too. I think ultimately it works better than it seems like it ought to, but I do have several issues with it all. And then in the end, the book suddenly starts gazing into its own navel in a rather irritating way. Still, it left me with the feeling that I'd at least just read something interesting, which is a lot more than I expected fifty pages in.
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LibraryThing member aadyer
A clever premise, no doubt, and very readable, but this didn't really grab me here. It does exhibit Faulk's ability to produce easy to read prose, his interest in psychiatry and a story that is interesting rather that intriguing. This isn't a thriller, don't expect to be on the edge of your seat
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with it. The final third does get a lot better but I would say that those readers who are not familiar with British University life, those who do not have an interest in the minutiae of modern day psychiatry are going to struggle with this. Good, but no ciga Show Less
LibraryThing member Pandaros
This was one of the most brilliant books I've ever read.Mike Engleby is the most vile and disturbing person imaginable, but the way Faulks portrays his mind and his thought processes is genius - not to mention how he bridges the gap between love and its correlation with sex (or lack of). The most
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brilliant ending a book could ever have which makes you rethink relationships. Show Less
LibraryThing member lizchris
I found this story subtle and moving.
The book is almost solely told from the point of view of Mike Engleby, a clever working-class boy who never quite fits in, whether at school, university or work. You acclimatise yourself gradually to his world. I found it easy to identify with him at several
I think I felt more sympathy with him than many other reviewers.
But as the story unfolds, you realise how little interaction he has with other people and how much he lives in his own thoughts and depends on alcohol and drugs to cope with the world.
Gradually, cracks start to appear with losses of memory and vague allusions to difficult incidents in the past.
The book is almost solely told from the point of view of Mike Engleby, a clever working-class boy who never quite fits in, whether at school, university or work. You acclimatise yourself gradually to his world. I found it easy to identify with him at several
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points where he is bewildered by other people and truly wants to be on his own. (Not everyone enjoys dinner parties or office banter!) I think I felt more sympathy with him than many other reviewers.
But as the story unfolds, you realise how little interaction he has with other people and how much he lives in his own thoughts and depends on alcohol and drugs to cope with the world.
Gradually, cracks start to appear with losses of memory and vague allusions to difficult incidents in the past.
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LibraryThing member siri51
Why am I reading books about murderers? Didn't like this at all
LibraryThing member Bat
Hope I haven't given the story away with my tag! Not a normal plot - you only realise 3/4 through. My favourite Faulks, and that's saying summat...
LibraryThing member Alinea
The narrator is Mike Engleby, a fresher at Cambridge in 1973, and it's from his journal that we build a profile of his 'otherness' - his terrible dress sense, his Rabelaisian appetite for prescription drugs and alcohol, his zest for petty thievery (the novel is a Big Rock Candy Mountain of wallets
He's at the fringes, watching, being there - volunteering, fetching and carrying - but his airy assertions of 'friendships' are imaginary. He is, we come to realise, a weirdo, a gatecrasher, a 'loner' - and we all know what that means.
The character of Engleby's oddness, though, is harder to fathom. His prose has that flat, stilted quality familiar to the modern reader as a sign of moral vacuity, but does he have to be so uninteresting with it? Through the holes in his 'unreliable' memory flood accounts of random encounters in pubs or eventless jaunts in his Austin 1100, banal observations dressed up as insight. He has no sex life that we know of, though he is happy to share what seems an idiot savant's knowledge of contemporary prog rock and now-forgotten cigarette brands. He lacks empathy but Faulks wants us to know it too badly: 'I wonder if we can ever know what it's like to be someone else.'
Certainly, it's hard to imagine being like Engleby. When he's not being 'dim', he's being clever, though no less annoying, with grating cultural analyses, wine tips, ruminations on time and literary theory, sniffy asides about people who say 'I' when they mean 'me' and can't spell and ask for their steak well done. Everything is beneath him.
This isn't a book in which a great deal happens, so it comes almost as a relief when Jennifer vanishes, presumed dead, perhaps buried in the wall behind Engleby's drinks cabinet. And why not? We have learnt that the poor boy was bullied at public school and beaten by his father. If only the police knew he had Jennifer's diary hidden behind the cistern.
At the very least, you might be entitled to a bit of excitement now, but Faulks isn't going to let us on to any hook so easily. At times this has the feel of a McEwanesque tale but the central mystery - the presumed murder of Jennifer - is strung out too thinly, hanging across the years like forgotten laundry. We return to her intermittently but not with any palpable sense of progress, hoping for a twist or a turn but getting none. Instead - with Engleby in London now, working on a magazine - we are invited to speculate more on the dubiety of his recall, his narrative steadily filling up with commentary on punks, Rastas, Brixton riots and the corrupt, idle, boozing, expense-fiddlers that journalism is so famously full of. There is an obligatory cameo by Mrs Thatcher.
The eventual arrival of men in white coats - a welcome introduction of sane voices - heralds the most successful section of the book. Relieved of the burden of faux suspense, ideas kept at the fringe by passing ephemera are foregrounded, themes blossom. This, you sense, is what Faulks has been waiting for - the chance to engage more directly with his subject. His prose, freed from the shackles of a troubled mind, starts to shine too. The trouble is it shines too late.
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protruding from the pockets of unattended coats and dozy off-licence assistants looking the other way while Engleby plunders them for fags and gin). His memory, photographic and encyclopaedic one moment, hopelessly amnesiac the next, is enough to send anyone bonkers. But is he bonkers? He seems to have a social life; he attends history lectures with Jennifer, for whom he has a hankering; there are evenings at the folk club and university 'socs'. But you wait in vain for him to have a proper conversation.He's at the fringes, watching, being there - volunteering, fetching and carrying - but his airy assertions of 'friendships' are imaginary. He is, we come to realise, a weirdo, a gatecrasher, a 'loner' - and we all know what that means.
The character of Engleby's oddness, though, is harder to fathom. His prose has that flat, stilted quality familiar to the modern reader as a sign of moral vacuity, but does he have to be so uninteresting with it? Through the holes in his 'unreliable' memory flood accounts of random encounters in pubs or eventless jaunts in his Austin 1100, banal observations dressed up as insight. He has no sex life that we know of, though he is happy to share what seems an idiot savant's knowledge of contemporary prog rock and now-forgotten cigarette brands. He lacks empathy but Faulks wants us to know it too badly: 'I wonder if we can ever know what it's like to be someone else.'
Certainly, it's hard to imagine being like Engleby. When he's not being 'dim', he's being clever, though no less annoying, with grating cultural analyses, wine tips, ruminations on time and literary theory, sniffy asides about people who say 'I' when they mean 'me' and can't spell and ask for their steak well done. Everything is beneath him.
This isn't a book in which a great deal happens, so it comes almost as a relief when Jennifer vanishes, presumed dead, perhaps buried in the wall behind Engleby's drinks cabinet. And why not? We have learnt that the poor boy was bullied at public school and beaten by his father. If only the police knew he had Jennifer's diary hidden behind the cistern.
At the very least, you might be entitled to a bit of excitement now, but Faulks isn't going to let us on to any hook so easily. At times this has the feel of a McEwanesque tale but the central mystery - the presumed murder of Jennifer - is strung out too thinly, hanging across the years like forgotten laundry. We return to her intermittently but not with any palpable sense of progress, hoping for a twist or a turn but getting none. Instead - with Engleby in London now, working on a magazine - we are invited to speculate more on the dubiety of his recall, his narrative steadily filling up with commentary on punks, Rastas, Brixton riots and the corrupt, idle, boozing, expense-fiddlers that journalism is so famously full of. There is an obligatory cameo by Mrs Thatcher.
The eventual arrival of men in white coats - a welcome introduction of sane voices - heralds the most successful section of the book. Relieved of the burden of faux suspense, ideas kept at the fringe by passing ephemera are foregrounded, themes blossom. This, you sense, is what Faulks has been waiting for - the chance to engage more directly with his subject. His prose, freed from the shackles of a troubled mind, starts to shine too. The trouble is it shines too late.
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LibraryThing member wendyrey
One of the best ' get into the head of a madman/disturbed person/ eccentric' books I have ever read, maybe because some (I said some!) of his eccentricities are parallel to mine ( on a scale of one to ten mine are 5's his are 10's). A darkly funny, engaging book about an extreme social isolate ,
Excellent book.
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who finds understanding other people a challenge (sometimes I'm not even sure other people are real) whose obsessions end in tragedy and who also manages to hide the tragedy from everyone including himself.Excellent book.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
'If it's not me,' he said eventually, 'it'll be my successor. The files, the paperwork, the notes will all be left meticulous. Marked up, indexed, cross indexed. And you, Mr Engleby, are going into the file marked "Unhappy".'
'Tu quoque,' I said.
'What?'
'You're going in my unhappy file,
Starting during his second year at Cambridge, this is the life story of Mike Engleby. He is a working class boy who gets a scholarship to a minor public school where his life is made hell but he does well academically, and by the time he reaches university he is curiously uninvolved in real life, sitting on the edge looking in, with his only connections seeming to be with his little sister Julie and his university friend Stelling. When a student he has admired from afar goes missing, he is upset, but he graduates, moves to London and goes on to become a successful Fleet Street journalist.
The whole book is supposed to be Engleby's journal, but it doesn't read like a journal and I was surprised when the psychiatrist mentioned how Engleby's journal had helped him to understand him. I would have been more convinced by the journal if the book said that he had written it while in the special hospital, looking back on his life.
I had a problem believing in Jennifer's diary and letters to her parents. They seems excessively long for a student who had plenty of work, friends and societies to keep her busy. If it wasn't for the lack of mentions of Engleby I would have thought he had made them up himself.
'Tu quoque,' I said.
'What?'
'You're going in my unhappy file,
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too.';Starting during his second year at Cambridge, this is the life story of Mike Engleby. He is a working class boy who gets a scholarship to a minor public school where his life is made hell but he does well academically, and by the time he reaches university he is curiously uninvolved in real life, sitting on the edge looking in, with his only connections seeming to be with his little sister Julie and his university friend Stelling. When a student he has admired from afar goes missing, he is upset, but he graduates, moves to London and goes on to become a successful Fleet Street journalist.
The whole book is supposed to be Engleby's journal, but it doesn't read like a journal and I was surprised when the psychiatrist mentioned how Engleby's journal had helped him to understand him. I would have been more convinced by the journal if the book said that he had written it while in the special hospital, looking back on his life.
I had a problem believing in Jennifer's diary and letters to her parents. They seems excessively long for a student who had plenty of work, friends and societies to keep her busy. If it wasn't for the lack of mentions of Engleby I would have thought he had made them up himself.
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LibraryThing member PeskyLibrary
Sebastian Faulks' Engleby is a murder mystery of a different sort. Though you are pretty sure about who the murderer is early on you are still questioning your assumptions some way into the book. I loved this book because it is well-written, in a sophisticated style which is in keeping with the
Our main character, and narrator, Mike "Toilet" Engleby, is a fascinating individual, and one is never sure if one quite likes him as a person, which makes for interesting reading as I always feel more inclined to grab a book when I greatly sympathize with the protagonist. Mike is narrating his life story and refers back to his working class Reading childhood, his ugly private school days replete with sordid bullying, and his fascinating Cambridge days, with wonderful scene settings; then the storyline follows him for quite some time through his life. And, of course, I can't ruin the ending, suffice to say it is fitting.
It is a rather longish book at 319 pages, or perhaps I just felt that way because I was so anxious to see how it all turned out in the end. I am an anglophile and really enjoyed the place descriptions, the road trips taken, and the characterizations of individuals’ accents. There are a few passages that come across as somewhat pedantic, and slow down the narration, you know, the ole author showing off his own fluency on post Cold War England, or Trotsky-ite vs. Marxist thought etc. But, all in all a good read and a refreshing change from your run-of-the-mill mystery!
MAT 02/24/2010
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story itself, and is intellectually stimulating, both in vocabulary and context, of course it would have to be since the narrator is a 1970's , Cambridge University grad, and though that may be giving something away early anyone with their druthers about them should be able to figure that much out pretty quick.Our main character, and narrator, Mike "Toilet" Engleby, is a fascinating individual, and one is never sure if one quite likes him as a person, which makes for interesting reading as I always feel more inclined to grab a book when I greatly sympathize with the protagonist. Mike is narrating his life story and refers back to his working class Reading childhood, his ugly private school days replete with sordid bullying, and his fascinating Cambridge days, with wonderful scene settings; then the storyline follows him for quite some time through his life. And, of course, I can't ruin the ending, suffice to say it is fitting.
It is a rather longish book at 319 pages, or perhaps I just felt that way because I was so anxious to see how it all turned out in the end. I am an anglophile and really enjoyed the place descriptions, the road trips taken, and the characterizations of individuals’ accents. There are a few passages that come across as somewhat pedantic, and slow down the narration, you know, the ole author showing off his own fluency on post Cold War England, or Trotsky-ite vs. Marxist thought etc. But, all in all a good read and a refreshing change from your run-of-the-mill mystery!
MAT 02/24/2010
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LibraryThing member bowerbird
Although well written this is not an easy read. If this had been the first Faulks novel I'd read I would not be keen to try more. Towards the end I understood why this book is written in such a way. One is looking into a very dark soul so it cannot be less than bleak.
LibraryThing member canalrat
Possibly the best fiction I've read this year.
I began being prepared to like Engleby, but certain details began to jar. He's scornful of other's intellect by has very middle-of-the-road musical tastes, he seems to have no friends but an obsession with one classmate.
I ended up appalled but still
I don't want to say more - it risks giving away the plot. It is worth reading.
I began being prepared to like Engleby, but certain details began to jar. He's scornful of other's intellect by has very middle-of-the-road musical tastes, he seems to have no friends but an obsession with one classmate.
I ended up appalled but still
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sympathetic thanks to the rather brilliant writing.I don't want to say more - it risks giving away the plot. It is worth reading.
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LibraryThing member NeilDalley
A compelling and disturbing read, this book raises so many questions about truth and fiction and about our assumptions about other people. It is by far the best book by Sebastian Faulks that I have read. Having finished it my head is full of ideas about the issues raised. I should probably read it
I would have given it five stars but for some of the more turgid passages about half-way through that became a little boring.
Turning everything on its head, not least fact and fiction itself, is a very powerful skill for a writer to have.
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again. I would have given it five stars but for some of the more turgid passages about half-way through that became a little boring.
Turning everything on its head, not least fact and fiction itself, is a very powerful skill for a writer to have.
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LibraryThing member dsc73277
I agree with Jinster that this one loses its way somewhat towards the end, though for me this was less because of the bemoaning of modern Britain and more to do with the exploration pyschological science, something which Faulks is clearly far more interested in than I am. Don't misunderstand me
Am I mistaken or does the author make a cameo appearance in this book? When, during his journalistic career, Engleby considers joining the new national newspaper that became The Independent, one of the things that puts him off is an encounter with a bearded bloke when he goes for interview. Is this the bearded Sebastian Faulks who worked for that newspaper for several years?
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though, this is a good piece of literary fiction. It takes a good writer to create a thoroughly dislikeable character and yet make you sympathetic enough to stick with his story.Am I mistaken or does the author make a cameo appearance in this book? When, during his journalistic career, Engleby considers joining the new national newspaper that became The Independent, one of the things that puts him off is an encounter with a bearded bloke when he goes for interview. Is this the bearded Sebastian Faulks who worked for that newspaper for several years?
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LibraryThing member miyurose
Slight spoiler warning! This is one of those books that is difficult to discuss unless you give *some* indication of what’s going on.
When you meet Engleby, it doesn’t take long to realize that something is 'off' about him. To me, he appears more 'Asperger’s Syndrome' (especially because of
This was a decent read if you’re willing to make the investment. Sometimes Engleby’s train of thought is a little random, and I have to admit I found myself skimming several parts. And while I liked seeing the professionals’ assessments of Engleby (especially when followed up by his own narcissistic reactions to them), I could have done without 'the journal of Engleby after 18 years of treatment'. I think I would have rather left that to my imagination, though a sardonic wink to the reader at the end would have made it all worth it.
When you meet Engleby, it doesn’t take long to realize that something is 'off' about him. To me, he appears more 'Asperger’s Syndrome' (especially because of
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his memorization skills) than 'sociopath', but since you never get a definitive answer to the question, I suppose it could be either/or/both/somethingelse. And since Engleby is your narrator, you also aren’t sure what you should or shouldn’t believe. What isn’t said is sometimes more important than what is.This was a decent read if you’re willing to make the investment. Sometimes Engleby’s train of thought is a little random, and I have to admit I found myself skimming several parts. And while I liked seeing the professionals’ assessments of Engleby (especially when followed up by his own narcissistic reactions to them), I could have done without 'the journal of Engleby after 18 years of treatment'. I think I would have rather left that to my imagination, though a sardonic wink to the reader at the end would have made it all worth it.
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LibraryThing member RussBriz
I liked this book. It covers an era very similar to mine albeit in the antipodes. Public school, university, music . He covers a lot of ground with insights into Law, journalism, Mental Health, education theory ... which were well thought out and expressed. The tangled and disjointed narrative
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captures the schizoid personality well. Most enjoyable and well crafted. I will search out his other books now. Show Less
LibraryThing member whirled
It took me a long time to get on board with Engleby, mostly due to the ickiness of both the early boarding school scenes and Engleby himself. I was eventually won over by Faulks' assured tone and the occasional moments of dry humour, which were a necessary counterpoint to the darker elements of the
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story. I was never quite sure where fact finished and fiction began with Mike Engleby - I figured when he was chatting with Sir Ralph Richardson about motorbikes it was probably fantasy, but who knows? An entertaining (albeit somewhat frustrating) read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Fluffyblue
I was a little sceptical about reading this as there have been many mixed reviews.
The book started well and drew me in quite easily. I enjoyed learning about Engleby's life in Cambridge, and his early life at public school. When he moved to London, I found myself losing interest, and at one point
The book was well written - having never read a Faulks before I wasn't sure what to expect. I found it quite easy to take in and well set out. I will certainly be reading more of his work - although I'm led to believe that this particular book is quite different from some of his other books.
The book started well and drew me in quite easily. I enjoyed learning about Engleby's life in Cambridge, and his early life at public school. When he moved to London, I found myself losing interest, and at one point
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wondering whether to carry on. I'm so glad I did because the last third of the book was brilliant. I felt swept along by the story, and the character of Engleby. I found him to be quite believable. I'm not sure how I felt about him though - I think I liked him, but you never actually felt that you got to know him. I think that was part of his character.The book was well written - having never read a Faulks before I wasn't sure what to expect. I found it quite easy to take in and well set out. I will certainly be reading more of his work - although I'm led to believe that this particular book is quite different from some of his other books.
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LibraryThing member lucybrown
For some reason when I threw this in my bag at The Friends of the Library Book Sale, I thought it was about a rancher or cowboy of something. I think I was thinking of the movie Somersby, which I believe is about a cowboy. Anyhow, Engleby is not about a cowboy, unless cowboy's now herd cattle in
What Engleby is is a mesmerizing account of a man's hidden life, hidden even from himself at times. God knows you will find out enough about Engleby's life, but still much is a mystery. It isn't even clear if he is always telling the truth, so that even what you know is maybe not so. I have read reviews where reviewers have complained of the annoying arrogance of the protagonist's narration, his perpetual and insistent analysis of everything from cigarettes to his teachers, his seeming lack of humor. All I can say is that it has to be that way, but I can't say why. I would recommend bearing with what might seem to be his endless drone of didactic opinions. It seems for reviewers that the fist part of the novel in which Engleby is a student at Cambridge is the most stolid; however, I was utterly captivated as I tried to see what made this guy tick; obviously he was not your ordinary undergrad. On the other hand, during the time he was establishing his adult life in London, things began to drag. Because a puzzle had been established. I felt like something needed to happen soon to keep the narrative thread from being broken. I admit that I skipped some of his rants since I really felt that I had gotten the gist of Engleby's personality. That said, for the most part I found the story riveting and well-written.
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Cambridge and London. What Engleby is is a mesmerizing account of a man's hidden life, hidden even from himself at times. God knows you will find out enough about Engleby's life, but still much is a mystery. It isn't even clear if he is always telling the truth, so that even what you know is maybe not so. I have read reviews where reviewers have complained of the annoying arrogance of the protagonist's narration, his perpetual and insistent analysis of everything from cigarettes to his teachers, his seeming lack of humor. All I can say is that it has to be that way, but I can't say why. I would recommend bearing with what might seem to be his endless drone of didactic opinions. It seems for reviewers that the fist part of the novel in which Engleby is a student at Cambridge is the most stolid; however, I was utterly captivated as I tried to see what made this guy tick; obviously he was not your ordinary undergrad. On the other hand, during the time he was establishing his adult life in London, things began to drag. Because a puzzle had been established. I felt like something needed to happen soon to keep the narrative thread from being broken. I admit that I skipped some of his rants since I really felt that I had gotten the gist of Engleby's personality. That said, for the most part I found the story riveting and well-written.
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LibraryThing member chicjohn
Haunting, well written, sad and funny
LibraryThing member andersonden
A creepy little book.
Awards
Language
Original publication date
2007
Physical description
336 p.; 9.5 inches