Accidental

A question to you folks who've read this...did you think there was a clue as to Amber's identity when the woman with the church key referred to the Gypsies living nearby? I know it doesn't really matter what her identity was, but I wondered why they should be referred to if not to drop this hint? The cinema as a metaphor was a central theme...Alhambra...heaven on earth etc...somewhere where anything is possible...where you suspend your disbelief...as the family did when Amber turned up at their cottage...this linked in with Astrid's desire to capture things on film...then Amber destroyed the camera...and their house was gutted when they got home...this was the renewal, the fresh start...all this was terrific stuff, but I just feel that it could all have held together slightly better in order to feel more authentic and less contrived. Or perhaps the self-consciousness of the writing matches the self-consciousness of the characters?

In folklore, gypsies are often said to steal away children and loved ones. Perhaps it's a nod toward that.

Each of the family characterises Amber in the light of their own desires. This seems an awfully familiar notion, but being an old git I can't recall where I've come across it before.

I still think the problem with the novel is that the stylistic fireworks, though enjoyable in themselves, aren't really central to the story being told. They don't need to be there. To me, there's an element of showing off in the writing that somehow, as the book goes on, diminishes its resonance rather than enhancing it. We're made very aware of the cleverness and I found this emotionally distancing.

The writing is indeed very sharp...and I still feel the same about that second chapter...it's a gift to be able to use words to put the reader through such an intense experience. The Grand Canyon bit is probably the next best bit for me (I want to see that now)...I think I wish she'd used these same skills for a different setting, different characters (she's so good at description that Michael could have been an astronomist instead and Eve an archaeologist?)...but I suppose any setting/character is a legitimate vehicle for expression if you do it well enough? I may have just read too many books in which being a writer/poet is a feature and I am bored with the 'type' and want to learn more about other lives. May be I just need to read something completely different for a change...

I read this book last year and thought it was fantastic. As Tony said, the writing is fantastic - so sharp.

This gradually went down hill for me...agree with Tom...trying too be too clever? In the end I didn't care about any of the characters, except perhaps Magnus who I thought was the best drawn character. I also feel slightly uncomfortable with books whose characters are writers; it's as though the writer inside the book can't be a fully developed character because the irony of the fact that a writer is writing about a writer keeps bouncing back and forth in an irritating way for me...and likewise, the literature academic inside the book (Michael)...it just feels too cosy...using your 'knowledge' of literature to draw up a character...and writing the facts of your knowledge into the text of your fiction...I know it's been done an infinite number of times, but it seems like a bit of a contrivance and a bit of a disease of our times...over self-conscious perhaps? Different books feed you in different ways...but this sort (though not in all its parts) demands more of your intellect than your emotions (not inherently a totally bad thing - but the balance is delicate)...it was mostly ok, occasionally brilliantly insightful and moving. I could have cried for Magnus...I think I now want a book just for him...

Hotel world (one of her earlier books) is quite similar, broken narrative etc ... doesn't feel quite as polished as this though

I admired the writing very much, a lot of talent here in prospect, but I think the book out clevered itself somewhere along the line and consequently ended up rather tricksy and shallow.

good stuff, so good infact that I am just about to read another book by her ...

I really enjoyed this book - but I suspect it will take a second reading to get to the bottom of it. It's the story of a dysfunctional North London, liberal family who take a holiday cottage in Norfolk. A mysterious visitor named Amber arrives and their lives are all changed in dramatic ways. Is it all about the nature of Fate, that 'as ye sow so shall ye reap'? Or is it about how it's the unspoken that screws you up and that it's always better to get it out in the open?

The writing is sensational and I recommend it to you all.

I'm really enjoying this...but it reminds me of something else...I might pinpoint what later. The theme...someone mysterious coming and stirring things up...haven't I read another book with this technique?..Iris Murdoch comes to the top of my mind too...perhaps the kind of people...middle class...though Murdoch's are usually a bit further up the scale. I found the first chapter a bit hard to connect with, but then the second was such an intense experience I couldn't put it down...very well written. Will come back later with more comment.