Motion movie fodder, 26 Nov 2008
It is alarming that this book is many peoples' first introduction to William Boyd.It is nothing more than up market Mills & Boon written with a screenplay in mind starring Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep.To read what Boyd can really do then look no further than "Any Human Heart". The two books are worlds apart.

The only book I have read twice, 26 Aug 2008
It is a year on from reading this book first time round.I could not put the book down and read it in a day.Which for me is a world record!! I was absolutely gripped with the suspense in this book.The parts of the book that were set in the 40's transported me back as if I was standing on an oppostie street corner watching events unfold. I loved this book.


Just good enough to keep you until the end, 25 Aug 2008
This is the first William Boyd I have read, other people have told me that they like his writing a lot but I can't see that he is anything very special on this showing. There is quite a nice and subtle WW2 spy/love story at the heart of the book which is pretty convincing and does actually make you want to turn the pages. Unfortunately this is hitched to a 1976 sub plot which is a little bit about life as a single mum and a bit about being politically and culturally aware and the changes in European society none of which goes anywhere or in truth has anything much to do with the main story. Eva, the hero of the WW2 spy bit, is now an old woman and decides in 1976 to rake up and revenge the past with the completely unnecessary help of her daughter. However this part of the action doesn't in fact help to unpick the mystery of what happened to Eva in the war and the explanation is left to an Oxford History Prof to provide in 10 mins flat once he has heard Eva's story - so it would have been easier if Eva had just been to see the prof in the first place. All in all a bit of a mess with just enough in the love/spy interest to keep you going.

Entertaining - but don't think about it too much, 19 Aug 2008
I have not previously read any books by William Boyd and enjoyed "Restless", which combines the unfolding story of a spy in World War II with the less-than-thrilling life of her daughter some thirty years later. It would be fair to say that the most exciting thing to have happened to the younger woman is finding out about her mother's past, but the rather self-absorbed character herself might not agree. Some reviewers seem to dislike the sections containing the daughter, Ruth, but I felt that these passages meant Boyd brings out the differences between mother and daughter, and gave a real sense of context to the espionage storyline. Ruth's mother has survived the Second World War as a secret agent with ingenuity and cunning, whereas Ruth struggles to hold her comparatively straightforward life together in peacetime 1970s.

It is easy to get caught up in the pace and danger of the scenes set in the 1940s and turn the pages quickly to see what happens; later reflection throws up some problems with the plot and how far we need to suspend disbelief to appreciate the story, and a close read suggests a few inconsistencies and plot holes that Boyd perhaps skipped over here and there. Some aspects of the book are a little far-fetched, and one twist in particular is easy to guess in advance. I did wonder whether Boyd was trying to make us question the mother's story and how far we should believe everything that we are told about her wartime experiences. Ruth to me is a more realistic and believable character than her mother - her dead-end teaching career, awkward single-parent situation and so on do all seem very true-to-life, and I felt including this character gave the book a realistic grounding that it does not seem to find elsewhere.

All-in-all, "Restless" is not a work of fiction that stands up to a great deal of scrutiny when analysed too closely or considered on reflection once the final page has been turned. However, it is a fun read while it lasts, with genuinely thrilling moments in the spy scenes and a likeable central heroine.

A real page turner for me, 04 Aug 2008
I've just finished this as a holiday book and picked it up after reading one that I had really not enjoyed. I've never read Boyd's work before but I loved it. His use of language is a treat. I really enjoyed the two plots (the past and the present) because, for me, part of the story was the rapprochement between mother and daughter, and Ruth's discovery of her mother's past was part of that. There were sub plots that seemed bizarre but in the end it just seemed to illustrate the sense of paranoia that Eva's story was full of and its impact on Ruth's interpretation of events in her own life. It had me gripped until the final paragraph because I wasn't sure how he was going to end it and I had 3 possible endings lined up.
I don't know about computers in 1976 but he was at Oxford so maybe he had access to things mere mortals didn't! Also, whilst Jochen is not your average pre-schooler, and he was rather irritating, I have met children like him, sadly.

Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, writer, was born in 1906, and died of a heart attack on October 5, 1991, aged 85. Any Human Heart is his disjointed autobiography, a massive tome chronicling "my personal rollercoaster"--or rather, "not so much a rollercoaster", but a yo-yo, "a jerking spinning toy in the hands of a maladroit child". From his early childhood in Montevideo, son of an English corned beef executive and his Uraguayan secretary, through his years at a Norfolk public school and Oxford, Mountstuart traces his haphazard development as a writer. Early and easy success is succeeded by a long half-century of mediocrity, disappointments and setbacks, both personal and professional, leading him to multiple failed marriages, internment, alcoholism and abject poverty.

Mountstuart's sorry tale is also the story of a British way of life in inexorable decline, as his journey takes in the Bloomsbury set, the General Strike, the Spanish Civil War, 1930s Americans in Paris, wartime espionage, New York avant garde art, even the Baader-Meinhof gang--all with a stellar supporting cast. The most sustained and best moment comes mid-book, as Mountstuart gets caught up in one of Britain's murkier wartime secrets, in the company of the here truly despicable Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Elsewhere author William Boyd occasionally misplaces his tongue too obviously in his cheek--the Wall Street Crash is trailed with truly crashing inelegance--but overall Any Human Heart is a witty, inventive and ultimately moving novel. Boyd succeeds in conjuring not only a compelling 20th century but also, in the hapless Logan Mountstuart, an anti-hero who achieves something approaching passive greatness. --Alan Stewart

Motion movie fodder, 26 Nov 2008
It is alarming that this book is many peoples' first introduction to William Boyd.It is nothing more than up market Mills & Boon written with a screenplay in mind starring Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep.To read what Boyd can really do then look no further than "Any Human Heart". The two books are worlds apart.

The only book I have read twice, 26 Aug 2008
It is a year on from reading this book first time round.I could not put the book down and read it in a day.Which for me is a world record!! I was absolutely gripped with the suspense in this book.The parts of the book that were set in the 40's transported me back as if I was standing on an oppostie street corner watching events unfold. I loved this book.


Just good enough to keep you until the end, 25 Aug 2008
This is the first William Boyd I have read, other people have told me that they like his writing a lot but I can't see that he is anything very special on this showing. There is quite a nice and subtle WW2 spy/love story at the heart of the book which is pretty convincing and does actually make you want to turn the pages. Unfortunately this is hitched to a 1976 sub plot which is a little bit about life as a single mum and a bit about being politically and culturally aware and the changes in European society none of which goes anywhere or in truth has anything much to do with the main story. Eva, the hero of the WW2 spy bit, is now an old woman and decides in 1976 to rake up and revenge the past with the completely unnecessary help of her daughter. However this part of the action doesn't in fact help to unpick the mystery of what happened to Eva in the war and the explanation is left to an Oxford History Prof to provide in 10 mins flat once he has heard Eva's story - so it would have been easier if Eva had just been to see the prof in the first place. All in all a bit of a mess with just enough in the love/spy interest to keep you going.

Entertaining - but don't think about it too much, 19 Aug 2008
I have not previously read any books by William Boyd and enjoyed "Restless", which combines the unfolding story of a spy in World War II with the less-than-thrilling life of her daughter some thirty years later. It would be fair to say that the most exciting thing to have happened to the younger woman is finding out about her mother's past, but the rather self-absorbed character herself might not agree. Some reviewers seem to dislike the sections containing the daughter, Ruth, but I felt that these passages meant Boyd brings out the differences between mother and daughter, and gave a real sense of context to the espionage storyline. Ruth's mother has survived the Second World War as a secret agent with ingenuity and cunning, whereas Ruth struggles to hold her comparatively straightforward life together in peacetime 1970s.

It is easy to get caught up in the pace and danger of the scenes set in the 1940s and turn the pages quickly to see what happens; later reflection throws up some problems with the plot and how far we need to suspend disbelief to appreciate the story, and a close read suggests a few inconsistencies and plot holes that Boyd perhaps skipped over here and there. Some aspects of the book are a little far-fetched, and one twist in particular is easy to guess in advance. I did wonder whether Boyd was trying to make us question the mother's story and how far we should believe everything that we are told about her wartime experiences. Ruth to me is a more realistic and believable character than her mother - her dead-end teaching career, awkward single-parent situation and so on do all seem very true-to-life, and I felt including this character gave the book a realistic grounding that it does not seem to find elsewhere.

All-in-all, "Restless" is not a work of fiction that stands up to a great deal of scrutiny when analysed too closely or considered on reflection once the final page has been turned. However, it is a fun read while it lasts, with genuinely thrilling moments in the spy scenes and a likeable central heroine.

A real page turner for me, 04 Aug 2008
I've just finished this as a holiday book and picked it up after reading one that I had really not enjoyed. I've never read Boyd's work before but I loved it. His use of language is a treat. I really enjoyed the two plots (the past and the present) because, for me, part of the story was the rapprochement between mother and daughter, and Ruth's discovery of her mother's past was part of that. There were sub plots that seemed bizarre but in the end it just seemed to illustrate the sense of paranoia that Eva's story was full of and its impact on Ruth's interpretation of events in her own life. It had me gripped until the final paragraph because I wasn't sure how he was going to end it and I had 3 possible endings lined up.
I don't know about computers in 1976 but he was at Oxford so maybe he had access to things mere mortals didn't! Also, whilst Jochen is not your average pre-schooler, and he was rather irritating, I have met children like him, sadly.

Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

Motion movie fodder, 26 Nov 2008
It is alarming that this book is many peoples' first introduction to William Boyd.It is nothing more than up market Mills & Boon written with a screenplay in mind starring Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep.To read what Boyd can really do then look no further than "Any Human Heart". The two books are worlds apart.

The only book I have read twice, 26 Aug 2008
It is a year on from reading this book first time round.I could not put the book down and read it in a day.Which for me is a world record!! I was absolutely gripped with the suspense in this book.The parts of the book that were set in the 40's transported me back as if I was standing on an oppostie street corner watching events unfold. I loved this book.


Just good enough to keep you until the end, 25 Aug 2008
This is the first William Boyd I have read, other people have told me that they like his writing a lot but I can't see that he is anything very special on this showing. There is quite a nice and subtle WW2 spy/love story at the heart of the book which is pretty convincing and does actually make you want to turn the pages. Unfortunately this is hitched to a 1976 sub plot which is a little bit about life as a single mum and a bit about being politically and culturally aware and the changes in European society none of which goes anywhere or in truth has anything much to do with the main story. Eva, the hero of the WW2 spy bit, is now an old woman and decides in 1976 to rake up and revenge the past with the completely unnecessary help of her daughter. However this part of the action doesn't in fact help to unpick the mystery of what happened to Eva in the war and the explanation is left to an Oxford History Prof to provide in 10 mins flat once he has heard Eva's story - so it would have been easier if Eva had just been to see the prof in the first place. All in all a bit of a mess with just enough in the love/spy interest to keep you going.

Entertaining - but don't think about it too much, 19 Aug 2008
I have not previously read any books by William Boyd and enjoyed "Restless", which combines the unfolding story of a spy in World War II with the less-than-thrilling life of her daughter some thirty years later. It would be fair to say that the most exciting thing to have happened to the younger woman is finding out about her mother's past, but the rather self-absorbed character herself might not agree. Some reviewers seem to dislike the sections containing the daughter, Ruth, but I felt that these passages meant Boyd brings out the differences between mother and daughter, and gave a real sense of context to the espionage storyline. Ruth's mother has survived the Second World War as a secret agent with ingenuity and cunning, whereas Ruth struggles to hold her comparatively straightforward life together in peacetime 1970s.

It is easy to get caught up in the pace and danger of the scenes set in the 1940s and turn the pages quickly to see what happens; later reflection throws up some problems with the plot and how far we need to suspend disbelief to appreciate the story, and a close read suggests a few inconsistencies and plot holes that Boyd perhaps skipped over here and there. Some aspects of the book are a little far-fetched, and one twist in particular is easy to guess in advance. I did wonder whether Boyd was trying to make us question the mother's story and how far we should believe everything that we are told about her wartime experiences. Ruth to me is a more realistic and believable character than her mother - her dead-end teaching career, awkward single-parent situation and so on do all seem very true-to-life, and I felt including this character gave the book a realistic grounding that it does not seem to find elsewhere.

All-in-all, "Restless" is not a work of fiction that stands up to a great deal of scrutiny when analysed too closely or considered on reflection once the final page has been turned. However, it is a fun read while it lasts, with genuinely thrilling moments in the spy scenes and a likeable central heroine.

A real page turner for me, 04 Aug 2008
I've just finished this as a holiday book and picked it up after reading one that I had really not enjoyed. I've never read Boyd's work before but I loved it. His use of language is a treat. I really enjoyed the two plots (the past and the present) because, for me, part of the story was the rapprochement between mother and daughter, and Ruth's discovery of her mother's past was part of that. There were sub plots that seemed bizarre but in the end it just seemed to illustrate the sense of paranoia that Eva's story was full of and its impact on Ruth's interpretation of events in her own life. It had me gripped until the final paragraph because I wasn't sure how he was going to end it and I had 3 possible endings lined up.
I don't know about computers in 1976 but he was at Oxford so maybe he had access to things mere mortals didn't! Also, whilst Jochen is not your average pre-schooler, and he was rather irritating, I have met children like him, sadly.

Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

Disappointing set book material, 03 Dec 2007
At times brilliant, at times maddening in its self-indulgent opacity, this felt too much like an exercise in literary virtuosity, likely to be more satisfying for the author and his literary peers, than a book for the general reader stoically soldiering on, trying to make sense of it.

The author acknowledges his debt to Kafka; I suspect there is not a little of Aldous Huxley in there as well. In turn, I am sure he has inspired the likes of David Mitchell. I read an article on A.L. Kennedy where she nominated this book as this one of her most influential reads.
I can see it as one of those books which would appear as prescribed reading on literature courses; fine, if that's your thing.

Not one I can see myself revisiting any time soon.

A truly immense book, 06 Sep 2007
My words can't even start to convey the enormity of this magnificent novel, one of the landmarks in twentieth century fiction. Just please read it and you'll then understand why Alasdair Gray has a growing legion of fans.

Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, writer, was born in 1906, and died of a heart attack on October 5, 1991, aged 85. Any Human Heart is his disjointed autobiography, a massive tome chronicling "my personal rollercoaster"--or rather, "not so much a rollercoaster", but a yo-yo, "a jerking spinning toy in the hands of a maladroit child". From his early childhood in Montevideo, son of an English corned beef executive and his Uraguayan secretary, through his years at a Norfolk public school and Oxford, Mountstuart traces his haphazard development as a writer. Early and easy success is succeeded by a long half-century of mediocrity, disappointments and setbacks, both personal and professional, leading him to multiple failed marriages, internment, alcoholism and abject poverty.

Mountstuart's sorry tale is also the story of a British way of life in inexorable decline, as his journey takes in the Bloomsbury set, the General Strike, the Spanish Civil War, 1930s Americans in Paris, wartime espionage, New York avant garde art, even the Baader-Meinhof gang--all with a stellar supporting cast. The most sustained and best moment comes mid-book, as Mountstuart gets caught up in one of Britain's murkier wartime secrets, in the company of the here truly despicable Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Elsewhere author William Boyd occasionally misplaces his tongue too obviously in his cheek--the Wall Street Crash is trailed with truly crashing inelegance--but overall Any Human Heart is a witty, inventive and ultimately moving novel. Boyd succeeds in conjuring not only a compelling 20th century but also, in the hapless Logan Mountstuart, an anti-hero who achieves something approaching passive greatness. --Alan Stewart

Motion movie fodder, 26 Nov 2008
It is alarming that this book is many peoples' first introduction to William Boyd.It is nothing more than up market Mills & Boon written with a screenplay in mind starring Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep.To read what Boyd can really do then look no further than "Any Human Heart". The two books are worlds apart.

The only book I have read twice, 26 Aug 2008
It is a year on from reading this book first time round.I could not put the book down and read it in a day.Which for me is a world record!! I was absolutely gripped with the suspense in this book.The parts of the book that were set in the 40's transported me back as if I was standing on an oppostie street corner watching events unfold. I loved this book.


Just good enough to keep you until the end, 25 Aug 2008
This is the first William Boyd I have read, other people have told me that they like his writing a lot but I can't see that he is anything very special on this showing. There is quite a nice and subtle WW2 spy/love story at the heart of the book which is pretty convincing and does actually make you want to turn the pages. Unfortunately this is hitched to a 1976 sub plot which is a little bit about life as a single mum and a bit about being politically and culturally aware and the changes in European society none of which goes anywhere or in truth has anything much to do with the main story. Eva, the hero of the WW2 spy bit, is now an old woman and decides in 1976 to rake up and revenge the past with the completely unnecessary help of her daughter. However this part of the action doesn't in fact help to unpick the mystery of what happened to Eva in the war and the explanation is left to an Oxford History Prof to provide in 10 mins flat once he has heard Eva's story - so it would have been easier if Eva had just been to see the prof in the first place. All in all a bit of a mess with just enough in the love/spy interest to keep you going.

Entertaining - but don't think about it too much, 19 Aug 2008
I have not previously read any books by William Boyd and enjoyed "Restless", which combines the unfolding story of a spy in World War II with the less-than-thrilling life of her daughter some thirty years later. It would be fair to say that the most exciting thing to have happened to the younger woman is finding out about her mother's past, but the rather self-absorbed character herself might not agree. Some reviewers seem to dislike the sections containing the daughter, Ruth, but I felt that these passages meant Boyd brings out the differences between mother and daughter, and gave a real sense of context to the espionage storyline. Ruth's mother has survived the Second World War as a secret agent with ingenuity and cunning, whereas Ruth struggles to hold her comparatively straightforward life together in peacetime 1970s.

It is easy to get caught up in the pace and danger of the scenes set in the 1940s and turn the pages quickly to see what happens; later reflection throws up some problems with the plot and how far we need to suspend disbelief to appreciate the story, and a close read suggests a few inconsistencies and plot holes that Boyd perhaps skipped over here and there. Some aspects of the book are a little far-fetched, and one twist in particular is easy to guess in advance. I did wonder whether Boyd was trying to make us question the mother's story and how far we should believe everything that we are told about her wartime experiences. Ruth to me is a more realistic and believable character than her mother - her dead-end teaching career, awkward single-parent situation and so on do all seem very true-to-life, and I felt including this character gave the book a realistic grounding that it does not seem to find elsewhere.

All-in-all, "Restless" is not a work of fiction that stands up to a great deal of scrutiny when analysed too closely or considered on reflection once the final page has been turned. However, it is a fun read while it lasts, with genuinely thrilling moments in the spy scenes and a likeable central heroine.

A real page turner for me, 04 Aug 2008
I've just finished this as a holiday book and picked it up after reading one that I had really not enjoyed. I've never read Boyd's work before but I loved it. His use of language is a treat. I really enjoyed the two plots (the past and the present) because, for me, part of the story was the rapprochement between mother and daughter, and Ruth's discovery of her mother's past was part of that. There were sub plots that seemed bizarre but in the end it just seemed to illustrate the sense of paranoia that Eva's story was full of and its impact on Ruth's interpretation of events in her own life. It had me gripped until the final paragraph because I wasn't sure how he was going to end it and I had 3 possible endings lined up.
I don't know about computers in 1976 but he was at Oxford so maybe he had access to things mere mortals didn't! Also, whilst Jochen is not your average pre-schooler, and he was rather irritating, I have met children like him, sadly.

Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

Disappointing set book material, 03 Dec 2007
At times brilliant, at times maddening in its self-indulgent opacity, this felt too much like an exercise in literary virtuosity, likely to be more satisfying for the author and his literary peers, than a book for the general reader stoically soldiering on, trying to make sense of it.

The author acknowledges his debt to Kafka; I suspect there is not a little of Aldous Huxley in there as well. In turn, I am sure he has inspired the likes of David Mitchell. I read an article on A.L. Kennedy where she nominated this book as this one of her most influential reads.
I can see it as one of those books which would appear as prescribed reading on literature courses; fine, if that's your thing.

Not one I can see myself revisiting any time soon.

A truly immense book, 06 Sep 2007
My words can't even start to convey the enormity of this magnificent novel, one of the landmarks in twentieth century fiction. Just please read it and you'll then understand why Alasdair Gray has a growing legion of fans.



Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

Motion movie fodder, 26 Nov 2008
It is alarming that this book is many peoples' first introduction to William Boyd.It is nothing more than up market Mills & Boon written with a screenplay in mind starring Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep.To read what Boyd can really do then look no further than "Any Human Heart". The two books are worlds apart.

The only book I have read twice, 26 Aug 2008
It is a year on from reading this book first time round.I could not put the book down and read it in a day.Which for me is a world record!! I was absolutely gripped with the suspense in this book.The parts of the book that were set in the 40's transported me back as if I was standing on an oppostie street corner watching events unfold. I loved this book.


Just good enough to keep you until the end, 25 Aug 2008
This is the first William Boyd I have read, other people have told me that they like his writing a lot but I can't see that he is anything very special on this showing. There is quite a nice and subtle WW2 spy/love story at the heart of the book which is pretty convincing and does actually make you want to turn the pages. Unfortunately this is hitched to a 1976 sub plot which is a little bit about life as a single mum and a bit about being politically and culturally aware and the changes in European society none of which goes anywhere or in truth has anything much to do with the main story. Eva, the hero of the WW2 spy bit, is now an old woman and decides in 1976 to rake up and revenge the past with the completely unnecessary help of her daughter. However this part of the action doesn't in fact help to unpick the mystery of what happened to Eva in the war and the explanation is left to an Oxford History Prof to provide in 10 mins flat once he has heard Eva's story - so it would have been easier if Eva had just been to see the prof in the first place. All in all a bit of a mess with just enough in the love/spy interest to keep you going.

Entertaining - but don't think about it too much, 19 Aug 2008
I have not previously read any books by William Boyd and enjoyed "Restless", which combines the unfolding story of a spy in World War II with the less-than-thrilling life of her daughter some thirty years later. It would be fair to say that the most exciting thing to have happened to the younger woman is finding out about her mother's past, but the rather self-absorbed character herself might not agree. Some reviewers seem to dislike the sections containing the daughter, Ruth, but I felt that these passages meant Boyd brings out the differences between mother and daughter, and gave a real sense of context to the espionage storyline. Ruth's mother has survived the Second World War as a secret agent with ingenuity and cunning, whereas Ruth struggles to hold her comparatively straightforward life together in peacetime 1970s.

It is easy to get caught up in the pace and danger of the scenes set in the 1940s and turn the pages quickly to see what happens; later reflection throws up some problems with the plot and how far we need to suspend disbelief to appreciate the story, and a close read suggests a few inconsistencies and plot holes that Boyd perhaps skipped over here and there. Some aspects of the book are a little far-fetched, and one twist in particular is easy to guess in advance. I did wonder whether Boyd was trying to make us question the mother's story and how far we should believe everything that we are told about her wartime experiences. Ruth to me is a more realistic and believable character than her mother - her dead-end teaching career, awkward single-parent situation and so on do all seem very true-to-life, and I felt including this character gave the book a realistic grounding that it does not seem to find elsewhere.

All-in-all, "Restless" is not a work of fiction that stands up to a great deal of scrutiny when analysed too closely or considered on reflection once the final page has been turned. However, it is a fun read while it lasts, with genuinely thrilling moments in the spy scenes and a likeable central heroine.

A real page turner for me, 04 Aug 2008
I've just finished this as a holiday book and picked it up after reading one that I had really not enjoyed. I've never read Boyd's work before but I loved it. His use of language is a treat. I really enjoyed the two plots (the past and the present) because, for me, part of the story was the rapprochement between mother and daughter, and Ruth's discovery of her mother's past was part of that. There were sub plots that seemed bizarre but in the end it just seemed to illustrate the sense of paranoia that Eva's story was full of and its impact on Ruth's interpretation of events in her own life. It had me gripped until the final paragraph because I wasn't sure how he was going to end it and I had 3 possible endings lined up.
I don't know about computers in 1976 but he was at Oxford so maybe he had access to things mere mortals didn't! Also, whilst Jochen is not your average pre-schooler, and he was rather irritating, I have met children like him, sadly.

Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

Disappointing set book material, 03 Dec 2007
At times brilliant, at times maddening in its self-indulgent opacity, this felt too much like an exercise in literary virtuosity, likely to be more satisfying for the author and his literary peers, than a book for the general reader stoically soldiering on, trying to make sense of it.

The author acknowledges his debt to Kafka; I suspect there is not a little of Aldous Huxley in there as well. In turn, I am sure he has inspired the likes of David Mitchell. I read an article on A.L. Kennedy where she nominated this book as this one of her most influential reads.
I can see it as one of those books which would appear as prescribed reading on literature courses; fine, if that's your thing.

Not one I can see myself revisiting any time soon.

A truly immense book, 06 Sep 2007
My words can't even start to convey the enormity of this magnificent novel, one of the landmarks in twentieth century fiction. Just please read it and you'll then understand why Alasdair Gray has a growing legion of fans.



Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

A great collection of essays, 23 Sep 2008
This is a collection of William Boyd's journalistic and occasional non-fiction writing. The big topics are Art, Film, Literature, and People and Places. The pieces often give an interesting angle on Boyd's novels, but what I really appreciated the most about them is that they show the author to be such a multi-faceted, interesting personality one would really like to have a chat with. (I had no idea about his wide-ranging interest in art for example, and on the other hand was horrified - only joking - by his enthusiastic love of samba music.) This collection really is a great read, stimulating,entertaining and varied. Pieces range from the deeply serious to the ephemeral (a hilarious article on the Great British Caff or an irreverent look at tranlations).

Adds fact to his fiction, 08 Jul 2008
This is a bumper collection of Boyd's journalism and is arranged in sections (Life, Film, People and Places, Literature, Art, Africa etc). Those who enjoy his fiction will get a lot out of the parts that refer to his other work and also his own life (schooldays and life in Africa).

His experiences of the film industry (he has written many screenplays as well as directed one full-length feature film, The Trench) are particularly interesting.

I'm not sure how relevant reviews of 20-year-old television programmes or books are but in a volume like this it's easy to pick and choose from the variety. Not a volume to read cover to cover but if you're a Boyd fan it would be silly to pass this up.

A good book to take on holiday if you're not a fiction fan, you'd be unlikely to get through this lot even on a sun lounger-based fortnight


A Writer, Essayist, and Critic of the Highest Order, 19 Mar 2008
Ever since I stumbled across Boyd's novel "The Blue Afternoon," he has been among my favorite writers. The mark of this is that I haven't actually read all of his books, but tend to "save" them as yearly treats for myself. I was delighted to see that this collection of his nonfiction work was finally available in the U.S., some two years after its British publication. However, I'm doubtful that it will find much of an audience, as American readers are unlikely to rush out to buy a 500+ page collection of essays and reviews mostly written for a British audience. That's a shame, because the book not only confirms Boyd's mastery of prose, but reveals him to be a thoughtful essayist of the highest order and an incredibly insightful critic. It should be noted that this book is not comprehensive, by Boyd's own estimation it only collects roughly 30% of his nonfiction output from the last 25 years. This is divided into six areas, of which, different readers will have their own favorites: 85 pages on his own life, 130 on literature, about 90 on art (primarily modern painters), 35 on Africa, 70 on film and television, and another 85 on "people and places."

I generally don't care for memoir or biography, but the essays on his childhood in Africa and subsequent years at Scottish boarding were completely compelling. Also notable in the opening section are pieces on World War I and an 11-year legal battle to get the royalties due him from an underhanded French publisher. I dipped in and out of the literature section and quite enjoyed pretty much every piece I read. Especially notable are: a piece on Raymond Carver in which he discusses the problem of a writer becoming wedded to a style, his introduction to a new edition of Frederic Manning's Her Privates We, his introduction to a new edition of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit, in which he does not hesitate to point out the novel's flaws and failures, an essay on journal-keeping, a taxonomy of short stories, a scathing review of the posthumous Hemmingway "novel" True at First Light, and a piece about the general deficiency of war in fiction.

I barely touched the art section, since the majority of it concerned modern painters (Boyd is an amateur painter himself), of which I knew nothing, and without supporting material such as color reproductions, would have little to connect with. However, there is a short gem in there about his creation of a fictional painter named Nat Tate at the request of the editor of Modern Painters. Also quite good is an essay titled "Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Photograph," which is his introduction to a book called "Anonymous: Enigmatic Images by Unknown Photographers." Africa is the next section, and I wish it had been bigger -- although to be fair, Africa figures a good deal in the first section of the book. About half the section is devoted to Boyd's friend, the Nigerian writer, publisher, and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by the Nigerian military after a sham show trial in 1995. After reading this section, I immediately added his novel Sozaboy to my wishlist.

A great deal of the pieces in the "Film and Television" concern Boyd's own experiences as a screenwriter. Again, most of his work, while critically well-received, has never done much business in America. Some of it, I wasn't even aware of, and am grateful to be able to add The Trench and Swords of Honor to my Netflix queue (now if only someone would release Armadillo on DVD...). His best writing in this section concerns the process of filmmaking, and he is especially cogent on the process of adaptation. The final section is a mish-mash of topics, ranging from particularly Londoncentric ones (minicabs, caffs, Newham), to profiles (Ian Fleming, Charlie Chaplin, The Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, the Duke & Duchess of Windsor), to places such as Montevideo. Most intriguing of all is an essay about the long-forgotten Galapagos Affair, which immediately had me seeking out further reading on the topic.

Overall, this is a fantastic collection with enough variety to meet all moods and for every reader to find something they can connect with. While it is helpful to be familiar with Boyd's fiction, since many of the essays touch upon aspects of its creation, it is not essential (although you're missing a treat if you haven't tried him). The only quibble I would have is that while each piece has the original publication date appended, I would have liked to know what publication each appeared in. It would have also been nice to have a complete bibliography of all his nonfiction as an appendix, so that those who wish to do so, could track down the 70% not represented here.

Beguiling Bamboo, 05 Mar 2007
William Boyd - Bamboo

William Boyd is well known for his fiction, but he has also been a prolific and perspicacious writer of non fiction in the form of book reviews, essays and think pieces. The topics covered have been varied, ranging from critiques of well known artists, novelists and filmmakers to more esoteric pieces on topics that ignite a particular passion in him.

Bamboo, first published in 2005, is a formidable collection of these musings. It is divided into seven themes - life, literature, art, Africa (where he was born and where he lived with his parents before being sent to boarding school in Scotland at the age of nine), Film, TV, and People and Places.

What is immediately obvious is the depth and breadth of Boyd's knowledge on the arts. Having planned to become an artist until his doctor father persuaded him to pursue a more reliable career, his insider's understanding of the work of twentieth century art is perhaps not surprising, and his vast knowledge of literature both old and new is impressive but to be expected from an award winning novelist and ex Oxford tutor, but he also exhibits an informed familiarity with photography, film and politics at home and abroad.

The book starts with a few essays on some aspects of his childhood, both in Africa and at boarding school. It is easy to become entraced by his vivid descriptions, especially because he exhibits a veracity that many writers shun when musing on their past - for instance, he is not afraid to admit that although he was popular and successful at school, he, like most other boys, did not befriend loners or try and reduce their misery at the hands of the bullies.

The essays on places such as New York and London are, by virtue of the necessity of a tight word count, doomed to being mere scratches on the surface of expansive subjects, but the way Boyd personalises them - for instance, incorporating his impressions of New York into a piece about his daily walk there - immerses the reader until they too are striding along Madison, glancing at the well-dressed yuppies as they march between designer shops, or meandering down Lexington, hypnotised by the bustle of life around delis and laundrettes.

In some pieces, Boyd adopts an A to Z approach in order to cover many disparate elements of a sprawling subject, writing a few paragraphs about one topic relevant to that essay beginning with each letter of the alphabet. This sometimes works better than other times - by committing himself to devoting roughly as much space to each letter and only using each once, an uneasy weight is placed on the piece so that where he might have expounded further on other apt topics beginning with some already used letters, he only tackles one, and the forced use of letters like X and Z is not as enlightening as more Boydisms on other areas might have been.

Boyd's articles on other writers were the part of the book I found most fascinating. He merges discussion of the writer with background information about their personality, life events, and so on, so that each work discussed becomes framed in the explanatory set in which it was conceived. This brings a whole new facet to the writer in question and their work slots into place in the jigsaw of their lives to create the whole picture. The chapters on Evelyn Waugh are particularly enlightening in this respect, as Boyd explains that the cold, cruel, unfaithful Brenda Last in A Handful of Dust, published in 1934, was almost certainly based partly on his first wife who had been unfaithful while he was away researching travel book. The bitterness and sourness of A Handful of Dust make more sense when considering how badly Waugh took the trauma of his divorce.

There is a moving and harrowing section on Boyd's Nigerian friend Ken Saro-Wiwa, a multi-talented man who achieved success as a film maker, novelist and businessman but was ultimately murdered by the brutal despotic regime.

The section on art is informative and intelligent, but the fact that the book has no plates is a drawback in any discussion of art. Still, for anyone unfamiliar with the stunning work of George Grosz, Otto Dix and Max Beckmann, the German painters who depicted harsh, nihilistic, black images of life in Weimar Germany, the chapter on Grosz certainly whets the appetite.

I borrowed this book from the library but it is definitely one to buy to dip into time and time again. In my view, it places Boyd firmly in the ranks of authors who can beguile consistently in myriad forms.

Bulky, but brilliant., 16 Mar 2006
Boyd's "Bamboo" - an absolute Aladdin's Cave of good things, any of which it would be invidious to spotlight. Open at random, dip and delve, or read from cover to cover: one is guaranteed entertainment, information, wit and wisdom. The catalogue of personalities and subjects seems endless, and - cast within the context of our own recent times - provides a commentary almost encyclopaedic, often idiosyncratic, always informed and literate.

Such a collection results in a bulky book of some 650 pages, and herein lies my only criticism: it is one of the most 'uncomfortable' books I have ever handled - not only bulky, heavy, but opens stiffly. No, definitely not a bedtime book, but one for your most comfortable armchair. That said, the physicalities are worth struggling with for the store of literary delights within.

Motion movie fodder, 26 Nov 2008
It is alarming that this book is many peoples' first introduction to William Boyd.It is nothing more than up market Mills & Boon written with a screenplay in mind starring Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep.To read what Boyd can really do then look no further than "Any Human Heart". The two books are worlds apart.

The only book I have read twice, 26 Aug 2008
It is a year on from reading this book first time round.I could not put the book down and read it in a day.Which for me is a world record!! I was absolutely gripped with the suspense in this book.The parts of the book that were set in the 40's transported me back as if I was standing on an oppostie street corner watching events unfold. I loved this book.


Just good enough to keep you until the end, 25 Aug 2008
This is the first William Boyd I have read, other people have told me that they like his writing a lot but I can't see that he is anything very special on this showing. There is quite a nice and subtle WW2 spy/love story at the heart of the book which is pretty convincing and does actually make you want to turn the pages. Unfortunately this is hitched to a 1976 sub plot which is a little bit about life as a single mum and a bit about being politically and culturally aware and the changes in European society none of which goes anywhere or in truth has anything much to do with the main story. Eva, the hero of the WW2 spy bit, is now an old woman and decides in 1976 to rake up and revenge the past with the completely unnecessary help of her daughter. However this part of the action doesn't in fact help to unpick the mystery of what happened to Eva in the war and the explanation is left to an Oxford History Prof to provide in 10 mins flat once he has heard Eva's story - so it would have been easier if Eva had just been to see the prof in the first place. All in all a bit of a mess with just enough in the love/spy interest to keep you going.

Entertaining - but don't think about it too much, 19 Aug 2008
I have not previously read any books by William Boyd and enjoyed "Restless", which combines the unfolding story of a spy in World War II with the less-than-thrilling life of her daughter some thirty years later. It would be fair to say that the most exciting thing to have happened to the younger woman is finding out about her mother's past, but the rather self-absorbed character herself might not agree. Some reviewers seem to dislike the sections containing the daughter, Ruth, but I felt that these passages meant Boyd brings out the differences between mother and daughter, and gave a real sense of context to the espionage storyline. Ruth's mother has survived the Second World War as a secret agent with ingenuity and cunning, whereas Ruth struggles to hold her comparatively straightforward life together in peacetime 1970s.

It is easy to get caught up in the pace and danger of the scenes set in the 1940s and turn the pages quickly to see what happens; later reflection throws up some problems with the plot and how far we need to suspend disbelief to appreciate the story, and a close read suggests a few inconsistencies and plot holes that Boyd perhaps skipped over here and there. Some aspects of the book are a little far-fetched, and one twist in particular is easy to guess in advance. I did wonder whether Boyd was trying to make us question the mother's story and how far we should believe everything that we are told about her wartime experiences. Ruth to me is a more realistic and believable character than her mother - her dead-end teaching career, awkward single-parent situation and so on do all seem very true-to-life, and I felt including this character gave the book a realistic grounding that it does not seem to find elsewhere.

All-in-all, "Restless" is not a work of fiction that stands up to a great deal of scrutiny when analysed too closely or considered on reflection once the final page has been turned. However, it is a fun read while it lasts, with genuinely thrilling moments in the spy scenes and a likeable central heroine.

A real page turner for me, 04 Aug 2008
I've just finished this as a holiday book and picked it up after reading one that I had really not enjoyed. I've never read Boyd's work before but I loved it. His use of language is a treat. I really enjoyed the two plots (the past and the present) because, for me, part of the story was the rapprochement between mother and daughter, and Ruth's discovery of her mother's past was part of that. There were sub plots that seemed bizarre but in the end it just seemed to illustrate the sense of paranoia that Eva's story was full of and its impact on Ruth's interpretation of events in her own life. It had me gripped until the final paragraph because I wasn't sure how he was going to end it and I had 3 possible endings lined up.
I don't know about computers in 1976 but he was at Oxford so maybe he had access to things mere mortals didn't! Also, whilst Jochen is not your average pre-schooler, and he was rather irritating, I have met children like him, sadly.

Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

Disappointing set book material, 03 Dec 2007
At times brilliant, at times maddening in its self-indulgent opacity, this felt too much like an exercise in literary virtuosity, likely to be more satisfying for the author and his literary peers, than a book for the general reader stoically soldiering on, trying to make sense of it.

The author acknowledges his debt to Kafka; I suspect there is not a little of Aldous Huxley in there as well. In turn, I am sure he has inspired the likes of David Mitchell. I read an article on A.L. Kennedy where she nominated this book as this one of her most influential reads.
I can see it as one of those books which would appear as prescribed reading on literature courses; fine, if that's your thing.

Not one I can see myself revisiting any time soon.

A truly immense book, 06 Sep 2007
My words can't even start to convey the enormity of this magnificent novel, one of the landmarks in twentieth century fiction. Just please read it and you'll then understand why Alasdair Gray has a growing legion of fans.



Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

A great collection of essays, 23 Sep 2008
This is a collection of William Boyd's journalistic and occasional non-fiction writing. The big topics are Art, Film, Literature, and People and Places. The pieces often give an interesting angle on Boyd's novels, but what I really appreciated the most about them is that they show the author to be such a multi-faceted, interesting personality one would really like to have a chat with. (I had no idea about his wide-ranging interest in art for example, and on the other hand was horrified - only joking - by his enthusiastic love of samba music.) This collection really is a great read, stimulating,entertaining and varied. Pieces range from the deeply serious to the ephemeral (a hilarious article on the Great British Caff or an irreverent look at tranlations).

Adds fact to his fiction, 08 Jul 2008
This is a bumper collection of Boyd's journalism and is arranged in sections (Life, Film, People and Places, Literature, Art, Africa etc). Those who enjoy his fiction will get a lot out of the parts that refer to his other work and also his own life (schooldays and life in Africa).

His experiences of the film industry (he has written many screenplays as well as directed one full-length feature film, The Trench) are particularly interesting.

I'm not sure how relevant reviews of 20-year-old television programmes or books are but in a volume like this it's easy to pick and choose from the variety. Not a volume to read cover to cover but if you're a Boyd fan it would be silly to pass this up.

A good book to take on holiday if you're not a fiction fan, you'd be unlikely to get through this lot even on a sun lounger-based fortnight


A Writer, Essayist, and Critic of the Highest Order, 19 Mar 2008
Ever since I stumbled across Boyd's novel "The Blue Afternoon," he has been among my favorite writers. The mark of this is that I haven't actually read all of his books, but tend to "save" them as yearly treats for myself. I was delighted to see that this collection of his nonfiction work was finally available in the U.S., some two years after its British publication. However, I'm doubtful that it will find much of an audience, as American readers are unlikely to rush out to buy a 500+ page collection of essays and reviews mostly written for a British audience. That's a shame, because the book not only confirms Boyd's mastery of prose, but reveals him to be a thoughtful essayist of the highest order and an incredibly insightful critic. It should be noted that this book is not comprehensive, by Boyd's own estimation it only collects roughly 30% of his nonfiction output from the last 25 years. This is divided into six areas, of which, different readers will have their own favorites: 85 pages on his own life, 130 on literature, about 90 on art (primarily modern painters), 35 on Africa, 70 on film and television, and another 85 on "people and places."

I generally don't care for memoir or biography, but the essays on his childhood in Africa and subsequent years at Scottish boarding were completely compelling. Also notable in the opening section are pieces on World War I and an 11-year legal battle to get the royalties due him from an underhanded French publisher. I dipped in and out of the literature section and quite enjoyed pretty much every piece I read. Especially notable are: a piece on Raymond Carver in which he discusses the problem of a writer becoming wedded to a style, his introduction to a new edition of Frederic Manning's Her Privates We, his introduction to a new edition of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit, in which he does not hesitate to point out the novel's flaws and failures, an essay on journal-keeping, a taxonomy of short stories, a scathing review of the posthumous Hemmingway "novel" True at First Light, and a piece about the general deficiency of war in fiction.

I barely touched the art section, since the majority of it concerned modern painters (Boyd is an amateur painter himself), of which I knew nothing, and without supporting material such as color reproductions, would have little to connect with. However, there is a short gem in there about his creation of a fictional painter named Nat Tate at the request of the editor of Modern Painters. Also quite good is an essay titled "Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Photograph," which is his introduction to a book called "Anonymous: Enigmatic Images by Unknown Photographers." Africa is the next section, and I wish it had been bigger -- although to be fair, Africa figures a good deal in the first section of the book. About half the section is devoted to Boyd's friend, the Nigerian writer, publisher, and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by the Nigerian military after a sham show trial in 1995. After reading this section, I immediately added his novel Sozaboy to my wishlist.

A great deal of the pieces in the "Film and Television" concern Boyd's own experiences as a screenwriter. Again, most of his work, while critically well-received, has never done much business in America. Some of it, I wasn't even aware of, and am grateful to be able to add The Trench and Swords of Honor to my Netflix queue (now if only someone would release Armadillo on DVD...). His best writing in this section concerns the process of filmmaking, and he is especially cogent on the process of adaptation. The final section is a mish-mash of topics, ranging from particularly Londoncentric ones (minicabs, caffs, Newham), to profiles (Ian Fleming, Charlie Chaplin, The Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, the Duke & Duchess of Windsor), to places such as Montevideo. Most intriguing of all is an essay about the long-forgotten Galapagos Affair, which immediately had me seeking out further reading on the topic.

Overall, this is a fantastic collection with enough variety to meet all moods and for every reader to find something they can connect with. While it is helpful to be familiar with Boyd's fiction, since many of the essays touch upon aspects of its creation, it is not essential (although you're missing a treat if you haven't tried him). The only quibble I would have is that while each piece has the original publication date appended, I would have liked to know what publication each appeared in. It would have also been nice to have a complete bibliography of all his nonfiction as an appendix, so that those who wish to do so, could track down the 70% not represented here.

Beguiling Bamboo, 05 Mar 2007
William Boyd - Bamboo

William Boyd is well known for his fiction, but he has also been a prolific and perspicacious writer of non fiction in the form of book reviews, essays and think pieces. The topics covered have been varied, ranging from critiques of well known artists, novelists and filmmakers to more esoteric pieces on topics that ignite a particular passion in him.

Bamboo, first published in 2005, is a formidable collection of these musings. It is divided into seven themes - life, literature, art, Africa (where he was born and where he lived with his parents before being sent to boarding school in Scotland at the age of nine), Film, TV, and People and Places.

What is immediately obvious is the depth and breadth of Boyd's knowledge on the arts. Having planned to become an artist until his doctor father persuaded him to pursue a more reliable career, his insider's understanding of the work of twentieth century art is perhaps not surprising, and his vast knowledge of literature both old and new is impressive but to be expected from an award winning novelist and ex Oxford tutor, but he also exhibits an informed familiarity with photography, film and politics at home and abroad.

The book starts with a few essays on some aspects of his childhood, both in Africa and at boarding school. It is easy to become entraced by his vivid descriptions, especially because he exhibits a veracity that many writers shun when musing on their past - for instance, he is not afraid to admit that although he was popular and successful at school, he, like most other boys, did not befriend loners or try and reduce their misery at the hands of the bullies.

The essays on places such as New York and London are, by virtue of the necessity of a tight word count, doomed to being mere scratches on the surface of expansive subjects, but the way Boyd personalises them - for instance, incorporating his impressions of New York into a piece about his daily walk there - immerses the reader until they too are striding along Madison, glancing at the well-dressed yuppies as they march between designer shops, or meandering down Lexington, hypnotised by the bustle of life around delis and laundrettes.

In some pieces, Boyd adopts an A to Z approach in order to cover many disparate elements of a sprawling subject, writing a few paragraphs about one topic relevant to that essay beginning with each letter of the alphabet. This sometimes works better than other times - by committing himself to devoting roughly as much space to each letter and only using each once, an uneasy weight is placed on the piece so that where he might have expounded further on other apt topics beginning with some already used letters, he only tackles one, and the forced use of letters like X and Z is not as enlightening as more Boydisms on other areas might have been.

Boyd's articles on other writers were the part of the book I found most fascinating. He merges discussion of the writer with background information about their personality, life events, and so on, so that each work discussed becomes framed in the explanatory set in which it was conceived. This brings a whole new facet to the writer in question and their work slots into place in the jigsaw of their lives to create the whole picture. The chapters on Evelyn Waugh are particularly enlightening in this respect, as Boyd explains that the cold, cruel, unfaithful Brenda Last in A Handful of Dust, published in 1934, was almost certainly based partly on his first wife who had been unfaithful while he was away researching travel book. The bitterness and sourness of A Handful of Dust make more sense when considering how badly Waugh took the trauma of his divorce.

There is a moving and harrowing section on Boyd's Nigerian friend Ken Saro-Wiwa, a multi-talented man who achieved success as a film maker, novelist and businessman but was ultimately murdered by the brutal despotic regime.

The section on art is informative and intelligent, but the fact that the book has no plates is a drawback in any discussion of art. Still, for anyone unfamiliar with the stunning work of George Grosz, Otto Dix and Max Beckmann, the German painters who depicted harsh, nihilistic, black images of life in Weimar Germany, the chapter on Grosz certainly whets the appetite.

I borrowed this book from the library but it is definitely one to buy to dip into time and time again. In my view, it places Boyd firmly in the ranks of authors who can beguile consistently in myriad forms.

Bulky, but brilliant., 16 Mar 2006
Boyd's "Bamboo" - an absolute Aladdin's Cave of good things, any of which it would be invidious to spotlight. Open at random, dip and delve, or read from cover to cover: one is guaranteed entertainment, information, wit and wisdom. The catalogue of personalities and subjects seems endless, and - cast within the context of our own recent times - provides a commentary almost encyclopaedic, often idiosyncratic, always informed and literate.

Such a collection results in a bulky book of some 650 pages, and herein lies my only criticism: it is one of the most 'uncomfortable' books I have ever handled - not only bulky, heavy, but opens stiffly. No, definitely not a bedtime book, but one for your most comfortable armchair. That said, the physicalities are worth struggling with for the store of literary delights within.

Just Great!, 02 Dec 2008
I found this book by accident, but it is now firmly on my list of modern classics. Quite simply (although it's far from a simple book!)it tells the story of a woman, Hope Clearwater, and explains by a series of stories from her past, how she has got where she is today. There is a large tranche of the story dealing with her primate studies in an un-named African country (Angola?)and her discovery of some surprising and disturbing behaviour by the Chimps. These bits are fascinating in themslves, but the allegorical and interwoven qualities of the plot as a whole allow for some fairly deep self-rflection if that is what you are after. I so highly recommend this book. If you don't like the sound of it from our reviews, it's because our reviews are rubbish!!!

out here on the perimeter we is imaculate, 09 May 2008
This came out when we worked in Nigeria in the late 80s early 90s. It got around the VSOs and the conservation people, we read it brown and furred. It was the description of the pilot who nicked the jets - I've met that guy. And the last page on Plato's unexamined life. That and the insights into the bitchy politics of the ape world - the monkey people found it was a bit too close to the bone and wondered which outfit he'd worked with. Gombe stream or Mahale? But it stuck - the name Hope Clearwater is wonderful and back in Sussex or Bedfordshire we knew what she faced. Sure he's been there, he has the sounds of Africa. This book is an old friend. It leans in and smiles, Ehhh and gives a funny handshake.

Do read it!, 03 May 2008
Brazzaville beach manages to be very clever and very accessible at the same time. It also reads like a thriller at times and the readers find themselves turning page after page, eager to reach the end and understand what is so wrong in monkeys' land.The part of the story that is set in England is more slowly-paced but doesn't slow the book down too much and is there for a reason. It is cleverly interwoven with the African part and the whole book makes great fiction.

Disjointed but entertaining, 14 Dec 2007
I picked this book up in great anticipation as a huge William Boyd fan. Whilst I did enjoy the book I did feel it was a little disjointed. The book looks at three periods of Hope Clearwater's life and they are handled quite separately. I did not like the fact that you knew where the character ended up right from the start but there were so many twists and turns that by the end of the novel it really didn't matter. I found the whole thing a little disjoined but the individual stories were compelling so though the whole was a little dissatisfying the book did keep me entertained. The book does have it disturbing moments but I would certainly recommend it to anyone.

Am I missing something?, 20 Jan 2007
I don't quite get it. This book was either way cleverer than me, or it was trying to be and missed. Don't get me wrong. Hope Clearwater's tale kept me turning the pages, but somewhere along the line I was expecting the parallels between the chimp and human kingdom, or the quest for the Holy Grail of Catastrophe and Chaos Theory to be writ large for us casual students to observe. For me, they weren't, but both tales contained within this book seemed to work, and I wanted to find out what happened to lead Hope to live a lonely exitence in a tropical locale. Boyd has created a character that is worth caring about - not without her faults and foibles, admittedly - but even her shock actions near the end of the tale are believable, if somewhat rushed. It just felt like Boyd had run out of steam and purpose 2/3 of the way through, but despite that, well worth a few hours in the company of our sister race.

Motion movie fodder, 26 Nov 2008
It is alarming that this book is many peoples' first introduction to William Boyd.It is nothing more than up market Mills & Boon written with a screenplay in mind starring Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep.To read what Boyd can really do then look no further than "Any Human Heart". The two books are worlds apart.

The only book I have read twice, 26 Aug 2008
It is a year on from reading this book first time round.I could not put the book down and read it in a day.Which for me is a world record!! I was absolutely gripped with the suspense in this book.The parts of the book that were set in the 40's transported me back as if I was standing on an oppostie street corner watching events unfold. I loved this book.


Just good enough to keep you until the end, 25 Aug 2008
This is the first William Boyd I have read, other people have told me that they like his writing a lot but I can't see that he is anything very special on this showing. There is quite a nice and subtle WW2 spy/love story at the heart of the book which is pretty convincing and does actually make you want to turn the pages. Unfortunately this is hitched to a 1976 sub plot which is a little bit about life as a single mum and a bit about being politically and culturally aware and the changes in European society none of which goes anywhere or in truth has anything much to do with the main story. Eva, the hero of the WW2 spy bit, is now an old woman and decides in 1976 to rake up and revenge the past with the completely unnecessary help of her daughter. However this part of the action doesn't in fact help to unpick the mystery of what happened to Eva in the war and the explanation is left to an Oxford History Prof to provide in 10 mins flat once he has heard Eva's story - so it would have been easier if Eva had just been to see the prof in the first place. All in all a bit of a mess with just enough in the love/spy interest to keep you going.

Entertaining - but don't think about it too much, 19 Aug 2008
I have not previously read any books by William Boyd and enjoyed "Restless", which combines the unfolding story of a spy in World War II with the less-than-thrilling life of her daughter some thirty years later. It would be fair to say that the most exciting thing to have happened to the younger woman is finding out about her mother's past, but the rather self-absorbed character herself might not agree. Some reviewers seem to dislike the sections containing the daughter, Ruth, but I felt that these passages meant Boyd brings out the differences between mother and daughter, and gave a real sense of context to the espionage storyline. Ruth's mother has survived the Second World War as a secret agent with ingenuity and cunning, whereas Ruth struggles to hold her comparatively straightforward life together in peacetime 1970s.

It is easy to get caught up in the pace and danger of the scenes set in the 1940s and turn the pages quickly to see what happens; later reflection throws up some problems with the plot and how far we need to suspend disbelief to appreciate the story, and a close read suggests a few inconsistencies and plot holes that Boyd perhaps skipped over here and there. Some aspects of the book are a little far-fetched, and one twist in particular is easy to guess in advance. I did wonder whether Boyd was trying to make us question the mother's story and how far we should believe everything that we are told about her wartime experiences. Ruth to me is a more realistic and believable character than her mother - her dead-end teaching career, awkward single-parent situation and so on do all seem very true-to-life, and I felt including this character gave the book a realistic grounding that it does not seem to find elsewhere.

All-in-all, "Restless" is not a work of fiction that stands up to a great deal of scrutiny when analysed too closely or considered on reflection once the final page has been turned. However, it is a fun read while it lasts, with genuinely thrilling moments in the spy scenes and a likeable central heroine.

A real page turner for me, 04 Aug 2008
I've just finished this as a holiday book and picked it up after reading one that I had really not enjoyed. I've never read Boyd's work before but I loved it. His use of language is a treat. I really enjoyed the two plots (the past and the present) because, for me, part of the story was the rapprochement between mother and daughter, and Ruth's discovery of her mother's past was part of that. There were sub plots that seemed bizarre but in the end it just seemed to illustrate the sense of paranoia that Eva's story was full of and its impact on Ruth's interpretation of events in her own life. It had me gripped until the final paragraph because I wasn't sure how he was going to end it and I had 3 possible endings lined up.
I don't know about computers in 1976 but he was at Oxford so maybe he had access to things mere mortals didn't! Also, whilst Jochen is not your average pre-schooler, and he was rather irritating, I have met children like him, sadly.

Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

Disappointing set book material, 03 Dec 2007
At times brilliant, at times maddening in its self-indulgent opacity, this felt too much like an exercise in literary virtuosity, likely to be more satisfying for the author and his literary peers, than a book for the general reader stoically soldiering on, trying to make sense of it.

The author acknowledges his debt to Kafka; I suspect there is not a little of Aldous Huxley in there as well. In turn, I am sure he has inspired the likes of David Mitchell. I read an article on A.L. Kennedy where she nominated this book as this one of her most influential reads.
I can see it as one of those books which would appear as prescribed reading on literature courses; fine, if that's your thing.

Not one I can see myself revisiting any time soon.

A truly immense book, 06 Sep 2007
My words can't even start to convey the enormity of this magnificent novel, one of the landmarks in twentieth century fiction. Just please read it and you'll then understand why Alasdair Gray has a growing legion of fans.



Great read, 23 Oct 2008
I really enjoyed this book, eventhough it took me a while to get into it. I found the middle and latter part of his life much more intesting. It was very intersting to observe the change in his character and in his fortunes from a successful, popular, weathly younger man into an eldery, more humble, caring person who died alone. I didn't particularly like him as a younger/middle aged man, but began to sympathise with him as he faced death. Very easy to read and based on this, I would definitely try another of this author's books.

A little in the style of Lees-Milne, 22 Aug 2008
A wonderful creation. William Boyd must have read some of James Lees-Milne's diaries for this imaginative novel contains the nuances of the various decades of the twentieth century evoked by the great diarist himself.

ANATOMY OF A LIFE SPANNING THE 20th CENTURY, 21 Jul 2008
Written in diary form, this novel describes the life and times of Logan Gonzago Mountstuart, born in 1906 in Montevideo to an English father and his Uruguayan wife, who later moves with his family to England just before the First World War, and takes the reader from the 1920s to the 1990s.

This is an incredible, thoroughly engaging novel which gives the reader entree into the ups and downs, the fullness of a man's life who travelled widely and knew many of the literary, social and artistic notables of the century (e.g. Picasso, Virginia Wolff, Hemingway, and Jackson Pollack). I enjoyed this book so much I almost hated for it to end!



The Funky Art Cafe Varkala Kerala India Babu, 26 May 2008
I had the misfortune of reading this book whilst sitting in this bar in India,the staff were busy spiking drinks and dragging semi conscious western women to the 'chill out room' for some non consensual fun,so I warn all who see this entry not to go there at any cost, there is an air of malevolent discontent that is disturbing and pungent,...... avoid,avoid avoid,......... you have been warned.

Truly a modern classic, 31 Mar 2008
A rare wordsmith at his best. Irresistible. Not least a gentle insight into 20th century history. Empathy to, and subtlety of human life is laid bare with remarkable skill. You will not be disappointed.

A great collection of essays, 23 Sep 2008
This is a collection of William Boyd's journalistic and occasional non-fiction writing. The big topics are Art, Film, Literature, and People and Places. The pieces often give an interesting angle on Boyd's novels, but what I really appreciated the most about them is that they show the author to be such a multi-faceted, interesting personality one would really like to have a chat with. (I had no idea about his wide-ranging interest in art for example, and on the other hand was horrified - only joking - by his enthusiastic love of samba music.) This collection really is a great read, stimulating,entertaining and varied. Pieces range from the deeply serious to the ephemeral (a hilarious article on the Great British Caff or an irreverent look at tranlations).

Adds fact to his fiction, 08 Jul 2008
This is a bumper collection of Boyd's journalism and is arranged in sections (Life, Film, People and Places, Literature, Art, Africa etc). Those who enjoy his fiction will get a lot out of the parts that refer to his other work and also his own life (scho