The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

A murdered boy, a runaway husband, a family spinning out of control-- Suzanne Berne's A Crime in the Neighbourhood is no ordinary coming-of-age novel. The narrator of this dark tale of 1970s suburbia is 10-year-old Marsha, who lives with her mother and older twin siblings in a suburb of Washington, D.C. In the spring of 1972, a young boy is molested, murdered and then dumped behind a shopping mall. That the child was not particularly likeable is just one of Berne's deviations from the expected, as clear-eyed Marsha recalls the boy's many character flaws, even as she relates the details of an undeniably horrifying crime. Though murder is the most visible crime in Marsha's neighbourhood, it is by no means the only one; when Marsha's father and aunt run off together, their enormous betrayal sends Marsha's mother into a tailspin and Marsha into a strange dalliance with Mr. Green, the neighbour next door.

A Crime in the Neighbourhood is a deft and provocative first novel that turns many of the coming-of-age conventions on their heads. There is nothing sepia tinted about Marsha's recollections of her childhood--the lives of 10-year-olds are mired in the mistakes of adults and the cruelties of other children. The pitiless eye Marsha brings to bear on the friends family, and acquaintances of her youth makes A Crime in the Neighbourhood an unusual and worthwhile read.

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

A Crime In The Neighbourhood, 14 Jul 2008
I didn't particularly enjoy this book. All the characters came across as unpleasant, and the book just meandered along without really going anywhere. It certainly didn't live up to the blurb on the back of the book, and I don't know how it won the Orange Prize!

Beautiful prose, evocative mystery and strange enough to make it stand out from the crowd, 24 Feb 2008
This is a strange little story - little in several ways: it's short, has a narrow range of characters and, despite its disturbing themes of wasted lives and irretrivable mistakes, it manages to maintain a narrow take on their development. Marsha is nine. Her father leaves the family home after an ill-advised dalliance with his wife's sister and against the heat of a Washington summer and the backdrop of a vicious and sexually motivated murder, the reader is taken gently by the hand to watch as Marsha's pain at the loss of her father is transformed into bitter and spiteful obsessions with the murder of a ill-known local boy and with the deeply average man who moves in next door. These obsessions pervert and distort Marsha's otherwise natural progression from infant to teenager, and drive her to actions for which she will feel the responsibility for the rest of her life. She is old enough to understand what she is doing is wrong yet too immature to exercise the self-control required to save herself - and her neighbours - from compounding the local community's pain and grief triggered by the murder. Ultimately, Marsha's only redeeming feature is the guilt she subsequently feels and the motto by which she has come to live - in the end we cannot avoid pain in life, the best we can hope for is not to be the cause of pain for others. A rather sad novel of fatalism and hopelessness.

Easy, light and great, 16 Nov 2005
When I read the synopsis on the back cover I thought I was in for a terrific, chilling and gripping tale. I didn't feel I got that but what I did get was still a gripping, gentle, easy read which I thoroughly enjoyed. This book still has dark and painful moments and is narrated by a child. If you want something that is dark and chilling then this is probably not what you are looking for, however, it is still a gem.

I persevered with this book but wish I hadn't, 08 May 2005
I had high expectations of this book from the fly cover and indeed, it started off well, with pace and a good feeling of time and place but as each chapter progressed I kept thinking, OK, now let the story begin and it never did. At the end I felt cheated of a good book and cross that I had wasted my time. The potential for a good thriller was never reached and I simply felt I had witnessed a few sad and boring months in a pre-pubescent child's life.

a very rewarding read, 19 Feb 2003
very well written and a breeze to read through as it is very intersted. The main character is depicted extremely well and there is a close afinity created between her and the reader, that is why this novel works so well.

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

A Crime In The Neighbourhood, 14 Jul 2008
I didn't particularly enjoy this book. All the characters came across as unpleasant, and the book just meandered along without really going anywhere. It certainly didn't live up to the blurb on the back of the book, and I don't know how it won the Orange Prize!

Beautiful prose, evocative mystery and strange enough to make it stand out from the crowd, 24 Feb 2008
This is a strange little story - little in several ways: it's short, has a narrow range of characters and, despite its disturbing themes of wasted lives and irretrivable mistakes, it manages to maintain a narrow take on their development. Marsha is nine. Her father leaves the family home after an ill-advised dalliance with his wife's sister and against the heat of a Washington summer and the backdrop of a vicious and sexually motivated murder, the reader is taken gently by the hand to watch as Marsha's pain at the loss of her father is transformed into bitter and spiteful obsessions with the murder of a ill-known local boy and with the deeply average man who moves in next door. These obsessions pervert and distort Marsha's otherwise natural progression from infant to teenager, and drive her to actions for which she will feel the responsibility for the rest of her life. She is old enough to understand what she is doing is wrong yet too immature to exercise the self-control required to save herself - and her neighbours - from compounding the local community's pain and grief triggered by the murder. Ultimately, Marsha's only redeeming feature is the guilt she subsequently feels and the motto by which she has come to live - in the end we cannot avoid pain in life, the best we can hope for is not to be the cause of pain for others. A rather sad novel of fatalism and hopelessness.

Easy, light and great, 16 Nov 2005
When I read the synopsis on the back cover I thought I was in for a terrific, chilling and gripping tale. I didn't feel I got that but what I did get was still a gripping, gentle, easy read which I thoroughly enjoyed. This book still has dark and painful moments and is narrated by a child. If you want something that is dark and chilling then this is probably not what you are looking for, however, it is still a gem.

I persevered with this book but wish I hadn't, 08 May 2005
I had high expectations of this book from the fly cover and indeed, it started off well, with pace and a good feeling of time and place but as each chapter progressed I kept thinking, OK, now let the story begin and it never did. At the end I felt cheated of a good book and cross that I had wasted my time. The potential for a good thriller was never reached and I simply felt I had witnessed a few sad and boring months in a pre-pubescent child's life.

a very rewarding read, 19 Feb 2003
very well written and a breeze to read through as it is very intersted. The main character is depicted extremely well and there is a close afinity created between her and the reader, that is why this novel works so well.

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

A Crime In The Neighbourhood, 14 Jul 2008
I didn't particularly enjoy this book. All the characters came across as unpleasant, and the book just meandered along without really going anywhere. It certainly didn't live up to the blurb on the back of the book, and I don't know how it won the Orange Prize!

Beautiful prose, evocative mystery and strange enough to make it stand out from the crowd, 24 Feb 2008
This is a strange little story - little in several ways: it's short, has a narrow range of characters and, despite its disturbing themes of wasted lives and irretrivable mistakes, it manages to maintain a narrow take on their development. Marsha is nine. Her father leaves the family home after an ill-advised dalliance with his wife's sister and against the heat of a Washington summer and the backdrop of a vicious and sexually motivated murder, the reader is taken gently by the hand to watch as Marsha's pain at the loss of her father is transformed into bitter and spiteful obsessions with the murder of a ill-known local boy and with the deeply average man who moves in next door. These obsessions pervert and distort Marsha's otherwise natural progression from infant to teenager, and drive her to actions for which she will feel the responsibility for the rest of her life. She is old enough to understand what she is doing is wrong yet too immature to exercise the self-control required to save herself - and her neighbours - from compounding the local community's pain and grief triggered by the murder. Ultimately, Marsha's only redeeming feature is the guilt she subsequently feels and the motto by which she has come to live - in the end we cannot avoid pain in life, the best we can hope for is not to be the cause of pain for others. A rather sad novel of fatalism and hopelessness.

Easy, light and great, 16 Nov 2005
When I read the synopsis on the back cover I thought I was in for a terrific, chilling and gripping tale. I didn't feel I got that but what I did get was still a gripping, gentle, easy read which I thoroughly enjoyed. This book still has dark and painful moments and is narrated by a child. If you want something that is dark and chilling then this is probably not what you are looking for, however, it is still a gem.

I persevered with this book but wish I hadn't, 08 May 2005
I had high expectations of this book from the fly cover and indeed, it started off well, with pace and a good feeling of time and place but as each chapter progressed I kept thinking, OK, now let the story begin and it never did. At the end I felt cheated of a good book and cross that I had wasted my time. The potential for a good thriller was never reached and I simply felt I had witnessed a few sad and boring months in a pre-pubescent child's life.

a very rewarding read, 19 Feb 2003
very well written and a breeze to read through as it is very intersted. The main character is depicted extremely well and there is a close afinity created between her and the reader, that is why this novel works so well.

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

A Crime In The Neighbourhood, 14 Jul 2008
I didn't particularly enjoy this book. All the characters came across as unpleasant, and the book just meandered along without really going anywhere. It certainly didn't live up to the blurb on the back of the book, and I don't know how it won the Orange Prize!

Beautiful prose, evocative mystery and strange enough to make it stand out from the crowd, 24 Feb 2008
This is a strange little story - little in several ways: it's short, has a narrow range of characters and, despite its disturbing themes of wasted lives and irretrivable mistakes, it manages to maintain a narrow take on their development. Marsha is nine. Her father leaves the family home after an ill-advised dalliance with his wife's sister and against the heat of a Washington summer and the backdrop of a vicious and sexually motivated murder, the reader is taken gently by the hand to watch as Marsha's pain at the loss of her father is transformed into bitter and spiteful obsessions with the murder of a ill-known local boy and with the deeply average man who moves in next door. These obsessions pervert and distort Marsha's otherwise natural progression from infant to teenager, and drive her to actions for which she will feel the responsibility for the rest of her life. She is old enough to understand what she is doing is wrong yet too immature to exercise the self-control required to save herself - and her neighbours - from compounding the local community's pain and grief triggered by the murder. Ultimately, Marsha's only redeeming feature is the guilt she subsequently feels and the motto by which she has come to live - in the end we cannot avoid pain in life, the best we can hope for is not to be the cause of pain for others. A rather sad novel of fatalism and hopelessness.

Easy, light and great, 16 Nov 2005
When I read the synopsis on the back cover I thought I was in for a terrific, chilling and gripping tale. I didn't feel I got that but what I did get was still a gripping, gentle, easy read which I thoroughly enjoyed. This book still has dark and painful moments and is narrated by a child. If you want something that is dark and chilling then this is probably not what you are looking for, however, it is still a gem.

I persevered with this book but wish I hadn't, 08 May 2005
I had high expectations of this book from the fly cover and indeed, it started off well, with pace and a good feeling of time and place but as each chapter progressed I kept thinking, OK, now let the story begin and it never did. At the end I felt cheated of a good book and cross that I had wasted my time. The potential for a good thriller was never reached and I simply felt I had witnessed a few sad and boring months in a pre-pubescent child's life.

a very rewarding read, 19 Feb 2003
very well written and a breeze to read through as it is very intersted. The main character is depicted extremely well and there is a close afinity created between her and the reader, that is why this novel works so well.

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...

The Ghost At The Table, 14 Jul 2008
This was OK. I liked the setting, but thought A Perfect Arrangement by the same author was slightly better in this respect. The book has some humorous moments and some good characters but overall seems to lack something. I felt the Mark Twain issue was a bit overdone, and the ending wasn't great. Overall, not bad - but not great either.

Who do you believe ?, 04 Nov 2006
This is a completely gripping and often very funny read, by a really marvellous writer, whose plain elegant style belies her sophistication: set in the suburbs in New England, it's about family. Two sisters and their aged father gather over one Thanksgiving and all sorts of family history and myths are revisited. Unsettling and filled with menace this is an extraordinary account of how we all re-tell family history and remember things in different ways. The unreliable narrator is not necessarily unreliable...