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 Engleby November 21, 2008
Sebastian Faulks has taken a daring step with his latest novel, taking the reader deeper then his previous novels. Faulks opens the door into the mind of the eccentric and aloof Mike Engleby, forcing you to step into a world which often leaves you feeling uneasy and perplexed. Full of satirical humour and psychological undertones, this is a raw representation of a traditional English education, and its effects on one man.
Engleby begins his story in the 1970s whilst studying at Cambridge University, where we are given an account of his early school days. Growing up in a traditional English boarding school, Engleby coldly describes the bullying he was often subjected to and his only escape: stealing. This soon leads to an obsession and his fragile mental state begins to unravel.
Throughout the novel Engleby neglects to tell us he is at Cambridge, and we are left to guess from his highly detailed accounts of places and streets. This definitely leaves the reader questioning this man's motives, which only increases when Engleby begins to take an unhealthy interest in Jennifer Arkland, a happy, intelligent and attractive girl who pays him little attention.
When his latest obsession mysteriously disappears and he is left holding her diary, we become abruptly aware of the power of the narrators manipulation on us and events begin to take on a dark twist. Up until this point the reader can almost sympathise with this harmless loner. Cracks begin to show when Engleby confesses to frequent memory loss, and the memory of picking her up on the night of her disappearance returns to him. The question left to the reader is, is this man capable of such atrocities, or is he as much of a victim as Jennifer Arkland?
Having previously read `Human Traces' I was expecting something pretty dark and clever, and that's exactly what I got. Although it was often an intense read it was also an amusing one. My only criticism is that it was quite a flaky read in places, and was in danger of being a little too subtle.
 A Masterpiece of Modern Literature November 19, 2008
Sebastian Faulks has produced a stunning work here. It is an autobiographical account of a highly intelligent but deeply troubled young man. The author shows amazing skill in getting inside Engleby's head and showing his disdainful view of the world. At times it is funny, philosophical, mysterious and challenging. The attention to period detail from the 1970s and 1980s is terrific. At the same time there is a dark plot - what was his involvement in the disappearance of a young woman undergraduate? This book is disturbing but so well written that it will grip you. Highly recommended.
Astounding study of personality and memory November 9, 2008
This is an engaging, knowledgeable piece of fiction which studies and explores the vicissitudes of memory and the nature of a disordered personality and how it views the world. Like Faulks' Human Traces, the authenticity of the psychiatric material in this book is astonishing and yet it is presented lucidly and directly.
Don't read the other reviews until you've read the book! November 5, 2008
I know many people (me included) like to read Amazon reviews before deciding whether or not to read a book.
In this case, due to the fact that saying almost ANYTHING about it is a "spoiler" I would urge you not to. Go and read it (I didn't much like Faulks' other books, but I recommend this one unreservedly) and then come back to see if you agree with the reviewers.
ALL I will say is that this is a classic "unreliable narrator" book that has echoes of Ruth Rendell, "American Psycho" (but not in terms of gratuitous violence), the "Adrian Mole" books (really!) and the TV series "Life on Mars".
That's all I'm going to say, beyond the fact that I think it's brilliant.
A book with a 70's Soundtrack November 4, 2008
The ultimate accolade - reading this on a twelve hour flight, I felt dismayed when we were coming in to land.
The plot is very basic: Engleby is a Cambridge university student in the early 70's who has a massive crush on a fellow student who mysteriously disappears.
Anyone who was at university in the 70's is going to love this. There should be an Engleby soundtrack, with every single one of the tracks he mentions so nostalgically. For him, music ended with Don't you Want Me in 1981...he pines for Focus and Cream, Amen Corner and Yes. (If only there could be a CD of the book). And anyone who knows Cambridge and London is going to relate to the detailed geography of the book as well - as well as the pubs and politics of the 70s and 80s.
It's an intelligent, thought provoking look at life, what it entails, whether one truly engages with it fully, or is "conscious but not aware" - and especially what "being normal" entails. It is full of lines like "one of the hardest things about being alive is being with other people" and asides such as "her voice was gentle and low, and excellent thing in woman" - I got this one but probably missed many more, Sebastian Faulks being highly erudite as well as getting in a few sly digs about modern education, including the fact his protagonist despairs at someone he is teaching (who he knows is bad at maths) getting an A* for his GCSE.
We should not like Engleby the man; but strangely we do. We get inside his head, and inside the head of the missing Jennifer through the pages of her diary, which leaves us feeling so uplifted and optimistic about life. But it is Engleby who really understands her love of life - though he himself could not be more detached from it.
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