Rebuilding Coventry - Sue Townsend
Published: 31/01/13
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 207
Am I missing something? Both Sue Townsend books I have read have been pretty disappointing. I didn’t really like The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year and this one was just as unsatisfying.
I believe this is one of her first books as it was published in 1988. I picked it up in my local library because a) it looked pretty, b) I wanted to give Sue another go and c) it was the slimmest book on the shelf. It was ridiculously short, only 207 pages, which meant I finished it in one afternoon but I didn’t feel that I had spent my time wisely.
I don’t seem to get the humour in her writing which could be my fault as a reader but nothing in this book seemed to make me smile or laugh at all.
Coventry Dakin has just killed her neighbour with an action man toy (how she did this is never actually explained, how can you kill someone by hitting them with an action man?!) and is on the run from the police. She leaves behind her tortoise loving husband and two children who play a minor role in this book. She goes on an ‘adventure’ in London where she meets a cast of eccentric people, from a man with a naked wife to a woman who lives in cardboard boxes called Dodo(?).
I guess the redeeming feature of this book was that the premise was pretty unique, never have I read about a housewife killing her neighbour and running away from home with no money or clothes. It was interesting to see how Sue invented ways for Coventry to make/find money and find somewhere to stay although I don’t think it was particularly realistic. Maybe that’s my problem. I don’t like books that seem to take you out of reality, I very much like a book grounded securely in reality. So maybe someone else may be able to take far more from this book than I have. I don’t think I will be rushing to read any more of Sue’s books in a while. (Sorry Sue!)
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 207
Am I missing something? Both Sue Townsend books I have read have been pretty disappointing. I didn’t really like The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year and this one was just as unsatisfying.
I believe this is one of her first books as it was published in 1988. I picked it up in my local library because a) it looked pretty, b) I wanted to give Sue another go and c) it was the slimmest book on the shelf. It was ridiculously short, only 207 pages, which meant I finished it in one afternoon but I didn’t feel that I had spent my time wisely.
I don’t seem to get the humour in her writing which could be my fault as a reader but nothing in this book seemed to make me smile or laugh at all.
Coventry Dakin has just killed her neighbour with an action man toy (how she did this is never actually explained, how can you kill someone by hitting them with an action man?!) and is on the run from the police. She leaves behind her tortoise loving husband and two children who play a minor role in this book. She goes on an ‘adventure’ in London where she meets a cast of eccentric people, from a man with a naked wife to a woman who lives in cardboard boxes called Dodo(?).
I guess the redeeming feature of this book was that the premise was pretty unique, never have I read about a housewife killing her neighbour and running away from home with no money or clothes. It was interesting to see how Sue invented ways for Coventry to make/find money and find somewhere to stay although I don’t think it was particularly realistic. Maybe that’s my problem. I don’t like books that seem to take you out of reality, I very much like a book grounded securely in reality. So maybe someone else may be able to take far more from this book than I have. I don’t think I will be rushing to read any more of Sue’s books in a while. (Sorry Sue!)
Laura