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If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things | Jon McGregor
9 posts | 18 read | 26 to read
Risky in conception, hip and yet soulful, this is a prose poem of a novelintense, lyrical, and highly evocativewith a mystery at its center, which keeps the reader in suspense until the final page. In a tour de force that could be described as Altmanesque, we are invited into the private lives of the residents of a quiet urban street in England over the course of a single day. In delicate, intricately observed closeup, we witness the hopes, fears, and unspoken despairs of a diverse community: the man with painfully scarred hands who tried in vain to save his wife from a burning house and who must now care for his young daughter alone; a group of young clubgoers just home from an all-night rave, sweetly high and mulling over vague dreams; the nervous young man at number 18 who collects weird urban junk and is haunted by the specter of unrequited love. The tranquillity of the street is shattered at day's end when a terrible accident occurs. This tragedy and an utterly surprising twist provide the momentum for the book. But it is the author's exquisite rendering of the ordinary, the everyday, that gives this novel its freshness, its sense of beauty, wonder, and hope. Rarely does a writer appear with so much music and poetryso much visionthat he can make the world seem new.
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review
TrishB
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Pickpick

Somewhere between a pick and a so-so. I loved Reservoir 13 and this is the one before. It‘s slow, not much happens and it‘s definitely not plot driven. But it‘s clever and draws you in.
Not for those looking for action.

squirrelbrain Glad you liked it, even if you didn‘t love it! 4y
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TrishB
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A late #weeklyforecast
Spurred on by @BarbaraBB and @squirrelbrain I‘m going to read the one on your left and for obvious reasons the one on the right!

Cathythoughts Tagged book sounds really good 👍🏻 4y
Cathythoughts As does the one on the left ❤️ 4y
BarbaraBB Fingers crossed for If Nobody Speaks 🤞🏽 4y
See All 6 Comments
KatieB I have If Nobody Speaks waiting for me on my shelves so I‘m interested to know what you think! 4y
squirrelbrain Fingers crossed you like it! 🤞 4y
Suet624 I stacked this one too when I read @BarbaraBB post. 4y
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jenniferheidi
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Pickpick

This book is wonderful in its careful observation and celebration of the ordinary and seeding of clues that unravel slowly and satisfyingly. It is also beautifully written and walks a tricky fine line between moving and sentimental. I think my only problem with it is the blurb, which I don‘t think the book delivers on and left me with a niggling disappointment but that‘s hardly the author‘s fault.

KateFulfordAuthor If you need another recommendation, may I point you to my People‘s Book Prize nominated debut? Sassy female narrative, laugh out dialogue and a pacy plot. Check the link in the bio for 2 free chapters, reviews and more. 6y
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andrew61
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#rocktober #wherethestreetshavenonames
I thought I'd try and and finally post on the thread just as the month comes to an end.
Reservoir 13 was a highlight of the booker longlist for me, so i recalled jon macgregor's excellent earlier story set in on an unnamed northern street where an incident has occurred and the reader gets to look behind the net curtains at all the lives of the individuals who live there.

saresmoore This sounds great! 7y
batsy This book and Reservoir 13 sound great. All the positive reviews of his books make it sound very intriguing. And I enjoyed this interview with him https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/10/18/time-marches-interview-jon-mcgreg... 7y
BarbaraBB I loved this book even better than Reservoir 13. So good! 7y
andrew61 @batsy thanks for that i will definitely look it up. 7y
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Moray_Reads
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Pickpick

A delicate balancing act of a novel as McGregor relates in poetic detail a dramatic event on a normal day, in a normal street in 1997. I'm the present day one of the characters struggles with a new crisis. The characters are largely unnamed and barely described but the vignettes of their lives slowly build a poignant picture of friends, neighbours and strangers. He falters occasionally into the over-mannered 👇

Moray_Reads and I felt that it would have been a stronger novel if the present-day narrative had been removed entirely but there's a delight with language and its power to move and create that is almost irresistible 7y
RohitSawant Fantastic review! 7y
mllemay That book resonated very strongly with me. Glad to find someone else who has read it and enjoyed it :) 7y
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Moray_Reads
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A masterclass in how to make the mundane beautiful in a simple, perfectly balanced sentence

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Beck_42
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Book haul from thrifting on Sunday. All this for under £10. 👍#thrifting #shelfie #preloved

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mllemay
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#FunFridayPhoto so it appears I have almost no books with animals on the cover...a bird counts, right? This is one of my favorite novels of all time. Very atmospheric, very heartbreaking, great cast of characters, and you're not quite sure what's happening until the very last page ❤️

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CAGirlReading
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Pickpick

This book is amazing! It primarily takes place one one street on one day from the viewpoints of different people living on that street and is such a moving story📚📚📚📚📚

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