Quiet Life ebook

by Beryl Bainbridge

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FREE shipping on qualifying offers. Book by Bainbridge, Beryl. Even when talking about himself.

Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge DBE (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. Bainbridge won the Whitbread Awards prize for best novel in 1977 and 1996; she was nominated five times for the Booker Prize. She was described in 2007 as "a national treasure". In 2008, The Times named Bainbridge on their list of "The 10 greatest British writers since 1945".

I’ve had mixed results with Beryl Bainbridge’s books in the past, and so I have left her for a long time in the box marked ‘undoubtedly an excellent author, but probably not for m. But there have been a number of things, over time, that have made me wonder whether Beryl should come out of the box. I realised when I read her obituaries a few years ago that I had come in part way through her writing career.

Beryl Bainbridge's classic early novel is a vintage story of English domestic life, laced with sadness, irony and wicked . Beryl Bainbridge (1932-2010) wrote eighteen novels, two travel books and five plays for stage and television.

Beryl Bainbridge's classic early novel is a vintage story of English domestic life, laced with sadness, irony and wicked black humour. Five of her novels were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Every Man for Himself and Injury Time won the Whitbread Prize, The Bottle Factory Outing won the Guardian Fiction Prize and Master Georgie won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Four of her novels including An Awfully Big Adventure were adapted for film.

Beryl Bainbridge is the author of seventeen novels, two travel books and five plays for stage and .

Beryl Bainbridge is the author of seventeen novels, two travel books and five plays for stage and television. The Dressmaker, The Bottle Factory Outing, An Awfully Big Adventure, Every Man for Himself and Master Georgie (which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize) were all shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Every Man for Himself was awarded the Whitbread Novel of the Year Prize. She won the Guardian Fiction Prize with The Dressmaker and the Whitbread Prize with Injury Time.

What the critics thought of Beryl Bainbridge: Love by All Sorts of Means by Brendan King; Donal . This vivid biography details Bainbridge’s complicated private life, out of which emerged some of the greatest works in English fiction. Published: 31 Aug 2016.

What the critics thought of Beryl Bainbridge: Love by All Sorts of Means by Brendan King; Donal Ryan’s All We Shall Know and The Wonder by Emma Donoghue. Published: 30 Sep 2016.

In the shabby, cluttered confines of their small house in an English seaside village just after World War II, a family of genteel poverty struggles daily

In the shabby, cluttered confines of their small house in an English seaside village just after World War II, a family of genteel poverty struggles daily, unremittingly, with itself. To escape the endless quarrel, the romantically disappointed mother spends half the night reading novels in the railway station, while the melancholy father weeps in front of the radio.

First published in 1976, this is a reissue of a Beryl Bainbridge novel. Format Paperback 160 pages. Dimensions 137 x 215mm 236g. Publication date 25 Jun 1999. Publisher Duckworth Overlook. Imprint Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd.

Late in her career, Beryl Bainbridge won acclaim for historical novels such as. .A Quiet Life (1976), reissued by Virago, is a case in point.

Late in her career, Beryl Bainbridge won acclaim for historical novels such as Every Man for Himself (1996), which depicted the sinking of the Titanic, and Master Georgie (1998), a tale of the Crimean War. But her earlier, l work is perhaps more interesting: in her books of the 1970s she transformed youthful experiences into bleakly comic fiction.

People thought nothing could disturb the even tenor of Alan's family life. But they didn't know about his sister Madge's forbidden passion or his mother's disappearances. This novel was first published in 1976.

Tenius

Kenzaburo Oe is easily one of my favorite writers. This book is probably the most sentimental and tender that I've read by him. For something brutal read, "The Silent Cry."

I thought the amazon editorial review summed up the book well enough without spoiling anything. It's kind of shocking how well Oe pulls off the narrative voice for, "Machan." As a fan of Oe's work I wanted to say that out of the several books I've read by him this is easily one of his best. I think it's his most accessible too so this would be great for both fans and newcomers alike. Although this book gives a lot of attention to the "handicapped son" as with quite a few of his novels, Machan is certainly the main character. Their relationship in this book is touching and inspirational. Highly recommended.

Goodman

Though dark, and often-times bleak, this story carried me along because of the beautiful writing. I could see the cramped house that this family, each in their own way, tried to escape. A story very close to the bone. The ending was a cracker.

Zicelik

I am not one to write reviews. Normally I leave this to other readers and tend to just enjoy the book without spoiling it in any way for other readers. Books should be your own discovery.
'A Quiet LIfe' is a good book by Kenzaburo Oe and quite in line with the others he was written about his idiot, but (musically) capable, son. Like another reviewer here I had some problems with truly believing it was voiced by Ma-chan, Oe's daughter, because it's still clearly Oe doing the talking. Even when talking about himself. But all in all it's a very good Oe book, if not the best starting point.
However, beware of buying the kindle edition. Besides randomly inserted points within sentences, words are often misspelled. In more than one instance there's the word 'me' instead of 'he' and the other way around as well. Sometimes it says 'me' instead of 'I'. At one point Christmas is spelled as Christinas. And the list goes on and on.
So in a nutshell: good book, but a disturbingly faulty and unedited translation/kindle edition.

Nto

A brilliant depiction of lower middle-class home life in post-war Britain. The cramped, frustrating house, the self-centered, self-deluding members of this family of four are portrayed with wicked, unsentimental precision. Real life is like this; arbitrary, inconsequent, quietly tragic.

uspeh

Yes, a very very quiet life. Set in post WW II England. Interesting, well written but not a lot happening. Worth reading, I guess just for the exposure to the genre.

Bukus

Found this book confusing.

Chi

Simply put, to open this novel is to enter a world of doubt and self doubt where singularity and mundanity co-exist easily.

Ma-Chan a young woman of 20 is our narrator in this slim novel. While Ma-Chan's older brother has a handicap, he has a recognised gift for musical composition. Ma-Chan's younger brother is cramming for his examinations. Ma-Chan's mother's life revolves around caring for her oldest son and supporting her husband who is a famous novelist. Ma-Chan's father accepts a visiting professorship in America and his wife accompanies him. This sudden change to the dynamics of the family finds Ma-Chan accepting new responsibility and each one of the siblings finding different dimensions to their lives. The narration covers a period of 6 or 7 months. Sparse, well chosen prose brings this novel to life.

This is a novel which invites the reader to think: to look beyond the obvious and to accept that perspectives are relative. To do all of this so beautifully within 240 pages is a precious gift indeed.

I have not previously read any work by Kenzaburo Oe: a situation I will now address thanks to the recommendations of an Amazon friend. I understand that there are echoes of Kenzaburo's own life in this novel and I hope that the thread of hope and the blossoming of these characters is a reflection of that.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The book has a slow start and proceeds at a similar pace for most of its length. As the title suggests the lives of the two principal characters are quiet and have little impact on the world beyond their family. One of the six chapters is devoted to an analysis of a Russian art house movie. A French novelist with fascist leanings is discussed at similar length - and in sympathetic terms!
This description might sound dull, but for readers not put off by the paragraph above, this is a great novel, a stroll through the mind of one of the best novelists of the latter half of the twentieth century. The self-effacing narrator Ma-Chan and her handicapped musician brother Eeeyore are the main focus for the book's little dramas, but we learn as much, perhaps more, about the absent father (presumably a thinly disguised portrait of the Oe) - and many readers may feel that he is the principal character, albeit one who is observed from afar.
The meditations on Celine and Tarkovsky do not slow the book down: they are intriguing and drove me straight to the nearest bookshop selling the neglected French writer. The diversions to the family's home village; Ma-Chan's introspection and Eeeyore's piano lessons at the home of the Shigetos are all beautifully rendered by Oe. There are echoes of Shusaku Endo's novels and the gentle poetic films of Ozu. The villian is too crudely sketched, but this one of the few weaknesses in a great novel.