I would have got around to this eventually, but half-price at WHSmith's was just too good an offer to ignore. I'm intrigued at the ridiculous over-the-top blurb comments, comparing this to Dickens & Thackeray, a work that, '...fictionalise(s) the state of the nation'. Well, let me be the judge of that!

(28/12/10) Well, i'm not sure Faulks can be compared to the esteemed C19th writers, but he has written a complex and fascinating novel of its time...maybe in 50 to 100 years 'A Week in December' can be judged? I must admit this was a slow-burn for me, I struggled to see the point of the interlinked stories, until about 3/4 of the way through when some of the threads began to come together at a hospital (a metaphor for a sick society?), not on a train or the dinner party that I had earlier thought. As for the individual characters, there was a mixture of the likable (solicitor Gabriel, train driver Jenni), unlikable (hedge fund manager John Veals and his son, and reviewer R.Tranter), and the more complex (Farooq & Hassan), and a too-large cast of others. In the end I liked that Faulks created a couple of happy endings, and not too many loose ends. No doubt, there are a number of more sophisticated allegories about our modern world; the obsession with money and short-term fame, the breakdown of families, the undercurrents of detachment, cynicism and religious fundamentalism etc. etc. But in the end, the writer has to engage the reader with 'real' people, whether they are nice (empathetic) or nasty ('hissable' but understandable) - Faulks didn't always get it right, but 7*'s for the effort :)

Passed on to my DD to read - on its way up to Lancaster Uni...I may never see it again!

A belated release to my DD, studying in Lancaster...but meeting up in Birmingham. Here's hoping you will let this go after a few bookcrossing false starts!

I'm taking this along to today's Ipswich meet-up, to share and stock up the various Ipswich bookshelves. If you find this, enjoy, and welcome to bookcrossing :)

Recently read my first ever Faulks and enjoyed it enough to pick this up yesterday. Having read BookGroupMan's review I'm wondering if I made a mistake. We'll see.

Several of the individual story lines were quite engaging, in fact I would have liked to have known more about Gabriel and Jenni in particular. Perhaps that would have strayed into Mills and Boon territory and so may not be Faulks' style. I suppose I just have to accept that it is a testament to the quality of the writing that I found sme of the characters genuinely engaging. On the other hand I found much of the John Veals story line confusing and, frankly, boring; and I thought I had a reasonable grasp of economics for a layman.

Sadly there was one particular feature of the book which I found quite infuriating. Namely the references to 'Myplace' (I think - it was a couple of weeks ago and I can't find any references now as I flick through the book before releasing it) a fictional version of Facebook/Myspace. I was simply irritated by the incongruity and would have been much happier if one or other of those platforms had been used in the book. Perhaps there were legal issues. Elsewhere there was a reference to 'rectangular chocolate biscuits with a soft chocolate filling'. They are so obviously bourbons I really don't understand why they can't be named. I suppose it is petty but it got under my skin. Maybe I am being R Tranter-ish.

Left on the shelf opposite the piano.