Amazon.com: An Awfully Big Adventure: Beryl Bainbridge: Books

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, February 28, 2000

By

Irina Rozenberg - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Awfully Big Adventure (Bainbridge, Beryl) (Paperback)

Very honestly, I only read the book because the movie had struck me with its great directing, talented acting and a terrific unusual plot, and I must say I am not at all sorry I did so. I found the book refreshing and incredibly well-written.

An elaborate variation on Barrie's children's book in a grown-up-too-soon world, the novel combines with seeming effortlessness the youth's innocence and the wisdom and power of love of experience.

A young girl, accepted into the theatrical troupe of a small English town, finds herself enamoured of the stern mysterious director, unaware of the fact that his affections lie in the direction of his own sex and whose major characteristic is making everyone around him as miserable as he feels, trapped in unrequited love. She is indifferent to a great actor, who returns to his home town after becoming world-renowned and who, despite the great difference in their age, feels very close to her. She leaves him only to lead his investigation of her prior life to a tragic secret...

Read the book. You'll be surprised and, as variations on children's books are supposed to do, it'll make you older...

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, January 23, 2002

By

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Awfully Big Adventure (Bainbridge, Beryl) (Paperback)

This spare little (205 pages) novel doesn't waste a word, yet signifies volumes. The highly honored Ms. Bainbridge, winner of the prestigious Whitbread Prize and short-listed (six times!) for the Booker Prize amply displays what all the fuss is about. She is that good.

The book is hard to categorize. It isn't a coming-of-age, a psychological thriller, a dazzling Peter Pan parable; it is all these things and more.

Stella raised in blue-collar, post WWII Liverpool is a troubled and troubling 15-year old who determinedly washed out of school and has been fixed up as a "student" (read gofer) at a provincial repertory company. She has no particular acting ambitions, but is certain she would be very good at it. We get a many-sided view of Stella; as she sees herself and as she is perceived by the people around her. Every scene and every word of dialogue interlocks like a jeweled timepiece. The reader is almost unaware of the ever-increasing momentum until it crashes upon you in a chilling finale. You think Ms. Bainbridge is through with you, but not quite. Just when you think you are utterly and completely emotionally drained, Ms. Bainbridge delivers a final twist, and now you know you are. I was left stunned.

An excellent example of fine prose. Highly recommended.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Bainbridge's Best, December 9, 2001

By

Zack Handlen (Lewiston, ME United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Awfully Big Adventure (Bainbridge, Beryl) (Paperback)

This is a phenomenal book- but it is crucial to approach it with the right mindset. This is not a light comedy, or a fantasy about the joys and agonies of growing up. The laughs to be found here are dark, and the story is painful and disturbing. It is also deeply powerful and moving, full of richly created characters and brilliantly subtle parrallels to J.M. Barrie's classic play, "Peter Pan." Do not open this one expecting anything easy, but do expect to be moved if you are willing to lose yourself inside. Highest possible recommendation.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 11 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Addled teen girl stirs up trouble at a theater in post-war England.

I've read half a dozen of Bainbridge's novels now. Read more

Published on April 26, 2007 by Reader

2.0 out of 5 stars Not really worth it
yes, this is a Very Good Book. it fulfills all the requirements of a Very Good Book, being tastefully short, having several flawed characters and one slightly ridiculous and sad... Read more

Published on September 7, 2005 by Sheila Margerine

4.0 out of 5 stars This has a really chilling ending and there's a lot about
Stella that I could relate to. It's a quick read and definitely worth picking up. It's a very secretive book, much like its heroine. She's a strange one.

Published on October 30, 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, disturbing, and fascinating
Fair warning: Do not start reading *An Awfully Big Adventure* on a day when you've got a lot to do, because you will not be able to put this book down for even a second. Read more

Published on January 30, 2002 by saraannette

2.0 out of 5 stars An Awfully Awful Adventure
This dark and dreary book set in post war Liverpool(mid-50s) is really drawn out and confusing. The story is that of Stella, a sixteen year old actress, as she learns the hard... Read more

Published on December 11, 2000 by lissa320

3.0 out of 5 stars An Awfully Sad Story..
I read this book expecting something more lighthearted,perhaps,But jeeze,this was depressing! The author obviously is down on the theatrical world(I read on the jacket cover she... Read more

Published on August 23, 2000 by Robyn Lee Markow

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Character Novel from Beryl Bainbridge
"An Awfully Big Adventure" was a sheer pleasure to read. With her ability to make mundane life seem utterly unique and interesting, Bainbridge creates characters that... Read more

Published on August 18, 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars A great prose stylist
I'm kind of a stagestruck person, so I wanted to read this book because it was about a second-rate English repertory theater company in the nineteen-forties (or was it the... Read more

Published on October 15, 1997

› See all 11 customer reviews...

Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.

First Sentence:
WHEN THE FIRE CURTAIN HAD BEEN LOWERED and the doors were at last closed, Meredith thought he heard a child crying. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
prompt corner, prop room, telephone box

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Uncle Vernon, Babs Osborne, Dawn Allenby, Desmond Fairchild, John Harbour, Grace Bird, Mary Deare, Rose Lipman, Dotty Blundell, Oyster Bar, Freddie Reynalde, Commercial Hotel, Richard St Ives, Miss Lipman, Peter Pan, Aber House Hotel, Captain Hook, Dangerous Corner, Miss Blundell, Act Four, Act Two, Christmas Eve, Crane Hall, Father Dooley, Golden Dragon

New!
Concordance | Text Stats

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!