The Outcast
by Sadie Jones
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List Price: ££7.99
Our Price: ££2.96
Your Save: £ 0.00 ( % )
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780099513421
ISBN: 0099513420
Label: Vintage
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: 2008-06-16
Publisher: Vintage
Studio: Vintage
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Pulls apart the 1950s middle class society
Comment: I didn't like Lewis when I started to read but found that as he got older I became sympathethic towards his delicate mental state.
The loss of his mother and the way that was handled by his father and the rest of the society had a dramatic impact on his adult personality which developed throughout the book.
The 1950s society is shown in a very negative way with the stiff upper lip and no acknowledgement of any type of mental frailty.
All the way through the book I just wanted to hug Lewis but still felt that it wouldn't have made me like him any more. That said, his character was very believeable and totally real.
The book cleverly tackles many subjects which are talked about more openly in today's society but in the 50s were hidden and shameful. It is a scarey thought that the real criminals are often the ones hidden behind a veil of respectability.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Comment: Wonderful! I have not read such a funny novel since 'Cold Comfort Farm'. No-one could have written a more brilliant pastiche of 'The Atonement' Loved it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Comment: I bought this book after being bombarded with recommendations for it from various sources. However it did not deliver what it promised. It started off well, with an enjoyable and intriguing first half, but then the plot began to sag and become repetitive. In addition the unremitting cruelty and selfishness of almost all the characters, along with the continual batterings and other outbreaks of violence made the book a chore to read. Characters were poorly developed and often cliched, and the supposedly 'simple' prose often seemed merely flat. As for the ending - biggest cliche of all. Orange shortlist - how?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Didn't much like it
Comment: Well, it might be me but I failed to be moved by this book. I suppose it has to do with the fact that when I don't like the characters, or at least some of them, I find it impossible to cherish a book.Of course I pitied Lewis, or rather felt compassion for this damaged boy, left to grieve on his own aged 10 when his mother drowns, and left to deal with his own guilt, that of having failed to rescue her.But as for his father Gilbert,emotionnally stunted, his needy stepmother Alice, the shallow and manipulative Tamsin and her horrible bully of a father, reading about them was more of a chore than a pleasure. The one I felt for and could relate to was Kit, unloved and having to endure severe beatings from her father. yes, everybody is always damaged in some way but it seems that in that village of prosperous middle class people the proportion should be unusually large.As for the prose I found it languid and repetitive, not ineffective in some ways but lacking in depth.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Full of emotion
Comment: There is so much in this book in such a concise style.
It was also an excellent book for a Book Group with plenty to discuss.
Lewis Aldridge is just 10 when his mother drowns in the local river. He is the only one there and desperately tries to rescue her. He feels very responsible for her death and turns inside himself in his grief and guilt. The happy young lad becomes a confused, lost little soul.
Soon after this his father remarries and his new young wife doesn't know what to make of Lewis, in spite of her well meaning attempts to help him.
Term time at school seems to pass fairly uneventfully but holidays are a nightmare for Lewis as he cracks under the strain and falls further and further form normality. The friends from before start to avoid him, unable to help him or relate to his loss and he seems unable to interact with people.
The descriptions of life in 1950's Surrey are wonderful, the ritual of church followed by great social gatherings; the habit of showing only your best side, sweeping everything else under the carpet; the hierachy within village life - all of these things conspire against Lewis and his attempts to integrate.
This is a must-read book. Don't be put off by the rather symplistic language, which was my only complaint about it, otherwise it's great!
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