The strange townsfolk were all very intriguing yet half the time I was thinking 'you cheeky bugger!'. I feel like there was an odd theme of manipulation and advantage taking. And at the same time I wanted the lovely narrator of the story to stop letting people walk all over him! Yet I couldn't be annoyed at him because he was just too lovely. The narrator winds up settling down there for the winter too, moving fron the temporary campground to a caravan of Parker's to a bothy. The narrator's odd mix of lethargy and willingness to go along with almost anything (and a certain eagerness to please) lead him ever deeper into a serf-life. morning, he had finally made his approach. I emerged from my tent, barefoot, and the conversation continued.

I've rarely come across an author who can so successfully create an atmosphere without ever showing a concrete reason for it. The book that was tugging at the edges of my memory the most was Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust. Parked next to the steel shed was a Morris van that didn't look as if it had been anywhere for years. Further along there were several stone outbuildings, including a hay-loft, as well as a small bothy, passes, but there was a limit to how much enjoyment could be derived from this, especially with all the cars travelling nose to tail everywhere I went. Admittedly the roads would be quieter now that the majority of tourists apparently unoccupied. The higher side of the yard was bounded by a dry wall, with a gateway through to another area of hard-standing where I could see a group of second-hand oil drums. This, presumably, was what Mr Parker Not that I had much time to examine my surroundings in detail. Within moments of my arrival he'd come down the steps to join me.

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All Quiet on the Orient Express begins with its nameless narrator camping in the Lake District as the summer season comes to an end. This new novel is definitely like his last: it is just as absorbing, darkly worrying and very, very funny. -- The Times, 18 September, 1999

I watched him go, then delved in my bag for a can of baked beans and set about preparing some breakfast. It was a simple affair, because all I had was a stove, a pan and these beans. I heated them up andThe structure and strength of both [his] novels comes from their dialogue, which is natural yet as stylised as Pinter... There is little in the way of story and less description. The atmosphere is powerful and lies somewhere between comedy and horror. -- The Observer, 12 September 1999 tedious day. The result is a fine and funny novel that says some provocative things about class and work in the British Isles. There are other strange things: Bryan Webb, who goes around wearing a crown; warnings about Parker's temper; and the occasional mention of the narrator's predecessor, Marco. at my watch. It was eight-thirty. I'd seen this girl go by every day last week, passing the field full of tents on her way to the front gate. Here she would stop and stand waiting with a school bag dangling at her Mills's style has been called "deceptively" simple. [8] His prose style is rhythmic, often repetitious, and his humour is deadpan. He favours short sentences, little description and a lot of dialogue. Mills has cited Primo Levi as a key influence. [9] Themes [ edit ]