Customer Reviews

After January

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this book Nick Earls has done much to combat the notion that young love is immature love, that it is only for the bold or brash at heart, and most of all that it is based almost soley on physical contact. Earls' main character, Alex, is waiting for his High School grades to come out, waiting to see whether he's scored a university position. He's at the beach house trying to distract himself from the anxiety inherent in the wait, by bodysurfing and watching cricket on TV. Then comes F (we aren't told her full name until later in the book), who surfs into Alex's life and upsets all his plans for an uneventful couple of weeks. Not that he's complaining... Earls uses the first-person present tense device very well indeed, and the book left me feeling a little breathless by the end of it, just like when I first fell in love as a youngster. And if a book can rouse old emotions in that way, then the writer must have achieved something great.

i love earls style of writing. i love the way we see the main characters thoughts, feelings and anxieties. instead of everything being a happy ending, stuff actually goes wrong, which i love.
hes funny and creates an atmosphere which runs throughout his novels. rather than a story where soemthing has to happen non stop just to keep u interested, this book has the lulls and highs of life itself. its like seeing someone else's life, and how they deal with it.
admittedly seeing as this is his first book, it does ccentre a bit much upon mood and thoughts than events, but i happen to like this. his later books are even better.
a seriously aussie novel. the humour the people, the pastimes are all familiar to our country. its great.

The Novel After January by nick Earl's is set on Quuensland's sunshine coast and teells of a boy's wait till the end of january for his results of school,in order for him to contimplate his future (After January.The story begins with alex ,a boy spending much of his time body boarding at the local beach with little in his life,with a yearn for feminine interaction Alex then begins his quest to find love and finds in a girl with similar intrests in Fortuna who he falls in love with thus for creating the climax and most intresting part of the novel.This long drawn out climax eventually happens a long time into the book and it seems to take forever to happen.Earl's vast characteristaion eventaully does little to the atmosphere eventaully resulting in a poorly constructed book of which the plot has had not enough developement.Earls attempts to write in the proverbial 'thoughts on paper' genre has liitle impact and the talent is one that takes much more talent to perfect than what is illustrated thoughout the novel.Igive the book two stars only due to the fact that their is a climax even though it only lasts for perhaps two of the books very small chapters.I suggest that if youy can read this you must be very patient and enjoy reading novels of liitle substance or personality.To Nick Earls I suggest he spends more time at the drawing board when writing the next book,to avoid creating a book that is even more dismal that this effort.