Customer Reviews

Emotionally Weird

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I will admit, it was really hard to continue reading Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson. You're immediately thrown into several stories -- stories that are told within stories and stories that aren't. It's hard to figure out what's going on when, who is who, why you're even reading the book. But believe me, you must continue reading...it's worth it in every way.

I think the parts that I love the most are when Effie's "mother" Nora interrupts her story telling of her experience at the University. Nora's quips are perfect ("does this story have a plot?," "There are too many characters and I can't keep them straight," and "No! Don't kill of Olivia!") for how I felt as a reader. Effie's story (which is a huge chunk of the book) is really funny. Atkinson holds a dry wit that just continues to roll with each page.

And the end...yes, there is an ending, and yes, everything pulls together more coherently than you could ever imagine. I won't say anything more about the ending. If your fear is that you won't be able to get through Emotionally Weird, then just take heed that it will all make sense in the end and you should just keep plugging along.

To say this is a book in which on a deserted Scottish island Effie and her mother tell stories about their lives is to give a completely wrong impression of this book...

it's more like Italo Calvino in the way it plays with a bunch of different narratives. Most of the book is 20-year old Effie's story.. it's 1972, and she's an unmotivated student at the University of Dundee. Her chapters, "Chez Bob" (Bob is her Star Trek-obsessed boyfriend she's too lethargic to leave) are hilarious... the descriptions of her friends and the nonsensical situations and conversations will be familiar to anyone who's ever been to college, anywhere. The excerpts from tutorials (we'd call them seminars" she half-heartedly participates on are exact and funny. They also provide an excuse to show excerpts from the mystery novel she's writing, the fantasy a friend is writing and a mysterious novel that seems to have supernatural powers taht one of the professors is working on. Every time we get to an excerpt, the font changes, which is a clear and delightful device

For all that the book plays with reality, it still remains clear and not mystified and annoying. Every now and then we return to the remote Scottish island (the font is more stark there, too) and we get little glimpses of Nora's story as Effie tries to get the story of her birth... Nora is a Virgin and as the book goes on we realize Nora is not her mother... also in Effie's story she is being followed by a mysterious woman...

all of these threads are tied together brilliantly by the end in a conclusion that is logical and satisfying.

We also get a brief epilogue set in 1999, largely excerpts from the now-published writings of Effie and her friends, which is short and funny.

I laughed out loud at the description of one of the college parties. Atkinson has a brilliant ear for dialogue and her character descriptions are sharp and clear. I feel as if I've *been* to Dundee in 1972! (The student demonstrations and their escalations, and a feminist meeting attended by a doddering, gallant male professor, are particularly wonderful).

Don't be put off by some of the lukewarm reviews here-- this is one of the more original books I've read in a while!

When this book came out in the UK in May I was so excited, I even bought it in hardback. Kate Atkinson is that rare writer - one who knows as much about writing as how to write, and she shows this to advantage in an extremely clever book. She veers on the self-indulgent with her myriad storylines interweaving in and out of this book, but her charm and great good humour shine throughout; and I greatly regretted that we did not see more of her lead character's gloriously campy and wickedly parody-like detective novel. The word games and language play which characterise Atkinson are not so subtle as they were in "Human Croquet" (which still remains her best novel) but they still provide a source of much enjoyment and delight; amusing us as much as they entertain the brain and make the reader think. She is one of our greatest modern writers, and even if Emotionally Weird is not as good as her last two books (Human Croquet, and Behind The Scenes at the Museum, which latter is much praised by people and described as "The perfect novel") , and is, undeniably, flawed in some ways - The symbolism and development of Atkinson's storyline, with the private eye and the yellow dog, is not as clear cut as one would wish for. However - and this is the truly magical thing - with an Atkinson novel, you can re-read it and everything suddenly becomes different. Words dropped here and there become surprisingly important, dialogue leaps into focus, things you ignored suddenly force themselves into your consciousness a second time around. The book grips the brain as much as it thrills and mystifies, entertains and satisfies. Not only is it extremely funny, extremely baffling, and extremely intelligent, but it is extreme in its own right. The plot lays itself open to ridicule, but so strong is Atkinson's power and skill that we never think "Goodness, what a daft plot!". The portraits of the characters are marvellously precise, true to life and bitingly witty. Thankyou, Kate, for understanding that characters are very important in a novel. A mediocre plot can be pulled off with strong characters, a faintly weird plot is a success. Kate, you may not have quite parallelled the superlative wealth of your second book, but you're still a damn good authoress. And the exciting thing is - there is obviously room for improvement! This is not a bad thing when someone writes as well as she does. What I am saying to you is that Kate Atkinson will go on to write even better - though it hardly seems possible - than she does now. Her style will develop, and when she is at her most matured, she will be one of the literary greats of her day. I heartily recommend the purchase of this book, but would suggest strongly that you buy her other books as well, and start with Human Croquet - which is more accessible and immediately understandable. Having read that, you can then embark upon this book - and you will be all the better for it. I promise you.

Atkinson is the sort of writer I read in a blissful state. Her characters are many layered, her wordplay is fantastical, her plotline engrossing. I appreciate that her characters are, while not always exactly sane, intelligent. That's not something I can say about many novelists.

She is a new find for me, and I'm very happy to have found a writer I enjoy as much as Barbara Trapido. From me, this is a very high compliment.

I had never read anything by Kate Atkinson before this and was quite pleasantly surprised. What I hastily concluded from the jacket description was that this was going to be a play-like dialogue between a mother and daughter. This is, instead, a multilayered, multigenre piece of experimental fiction that is fun to read, thought-provoking and original. As much as anything else, Emotionally Weird is about writing and the creative process. Effie, the young woman who is the narrator, tells stories which may or may not be true to Nora, an older woman who may or may not be her mother. The two live on a secluded island off Scotland. The stories Effie tells are mainly whimsical character studies of bohemian college life in the 1970s. By contrast, the scenes that take place on the island beteen Effie and Nora are told in a somberly poetic, almost gothic (and very Celtic) style. To further complicate things, Effie is also herself writing a detective novel about yet another set of characters. If this sounds confusing, at times it is. Yet, you don't have to completely understand what's going on to enjoy this novel. After all, there is very little plot to worry about following. There are, appropriately enough, several references to Alice in Wonderland, though, compared to Emotionally Weird, Lewis Carroll's tale is almost conventional and straightforward. James Joyce is also mentioned, but despite her radical style, Atkinson is much, much easier to read. There is a very deliberate pointlessness to the book. When Effie is at college, for example, there are scenes that are little more than parades of absurd characters. Professors are portrayed as gibberish-speaking buffoons; some of my favorite scenes took place in the classroom, where the professors uttter meaningless jargon to apathetic students. Nora often interrupts the tales to deliver her quite valid criticisms, such as the fact that Effie creates too many characters. Some of the scenes could be considered more like writing exercises than actual scenes that propel a story. Some readers will find this novel tedious; it does take a suspension of your usual expectations regarding fiction. I enjoyed the contrasting styles and the existentialism of the characters that is alternately tragic and comical. Finally, I found it's labyrinthian stories within stories to be a fascinating exploration of creativity and of identity.

I have to say, this is one of my all-time favorites. I've read Atkinson's "Human Croquet" and "Behind the Scenes at the Museum," and they are every bit as good as everyone says they are.

But I adore the way she takes off here -- the hilarious academic parody, the deft weaving of two or three different texts into a whole and the compelling emotional story at the core. I giggle my way through this book every time I read it, but its far better than just straight comedy. I don't even think you necessarily need to be aware of the various literary styles and methods of criticism she skewers to find the humor in the book -- her slacker undergrads are funny enough to entertain all by themselves. (Bob, the brainless Trekkie who spouts bits of philosophy in his sleep, is my favorite.)

Please read it. I really think you'll like it, especially if are or ever were an English major.

And don't be put off by the title...far as I can tell, it was picked out of a hat. Just ignore it.

I had a hard time getting into this book - too many characters introduced all at once and so briefly that I couldn't keep them straight. I'm glad I stuck with it though because about halfway through, I got drawn into the story and the strange and quirkly happenings. Atkinson is a really funny writer and I laughed outloud several times throughout the book. Although I really enjoyed the second half of the book, I was disappointed in the ending - well not the ending itself but the way the last chapter gives you all the answers to everything instead of giving more hints along the way so the reader could figure it out.

Besides the fact that I laughed out loud too often to explain while reading this book (e.g. protagonist Effie's boyfriend Bob, with his silly slumbering Star Trek mumblings and collegiate torpor, is sheer hilarious classical material), it also surpassed all my wildest literary expectations: more sophisticated and smarter romantical/fanciful interweaving than Barbara Trapido; intelligent and interesting characters well worth knowing; inventive narrative (narratee?) line; creative format; and best of all, an anti-baloney perspective on academic philosopher/sophist/post -modern/deconstuctionist idiots but that still has an awesome sense of humor. Did I mention that I laughed out loud Very Often reading this book? That Never Happens to me!. I stayed up nights to finish this, and I cannot wait for more from Ms Atkinson. It really led me to understand that my experience in an American college (studying Classics) during the 80s was not at all too different from this account of life at University of Dundee, Scotland in the 70s. What a gas! Funny thing but - when I got to the final part and saw it was prefaced '1999' - I was surprised, until I remembered that the first part was prefaced '1972' or whatever - it all seems so perfectly au courant. Maybe that was because so many characters said "As if" and the author alludes to sheep cloning - was that done first at U of Dundee? Anyone?

This is a REALLY strange book...undoubtedly very clever but strange. A mother and daughter are temporarily trapped by bad weather on a remote island off the Scottish coast and, to fill in the time, decide to tell stories of their lives. At this stage I thought that they were recounting real happenings about real people but, as time went on, I was no longer sure. Some of the characters are just too flaky to be convincing and on face value appear to be the grubbiest people on earth and with such bad diets that it's a wonder that they're not all suffering from scurvy! I also do like to feel an empathy with some of the characters in any book and in this, the only one I liked was a slightly batty old professor at the university where the daughter was half heartedly studying for a degree. I'll try another of M/s Atkinsons' books to see if we're at all on the same wave length...doubtful!

This book succeeded for me on two levels. I read because I enjoy a good story and this book has several. It has stories within stories within stories. And I found that to be a fun concept. It is sort of like the old play within a play carried to extremes. I kept turning the pages to see how it would all turn out, and how the author was going to bring everything together. I enjoyed the multiple plots and the author's use of language. I found the descriptive narrative wonderful.

It also was a very funny picture of university life in the early seventies. The characters resonated for me - I think I met a version of most of them during my years at university. And I certainly attended the same philosophy classes. I kept assocciating the various characters with people I knew. It was great fun.

The first few pages are a bit confusing, but it is worth carrying on. It was a fun book.