Customer Reviews

Hunting Unicorns: A Novel

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I picked this book up for the title. Well, that and the fact that I'm a Brit. living in America and have a weakness for English writers. I love romance and comedy. But I love smart writing more. The three are not always compatible. In this book they are. I howled with laughter many, many time, and loved the author's use of language.

When I realized one of the narrators was dead I thought "oh,oh. A Lovely Bones wannabe?" But this novel is unique. Not like anything else I've read. And the narration is perfect. I loved the characters (American and English). I loved the plot (even though I know some of the 'urban' myths quite well!). I loved the details. I loved the linen cupboard. In fact, I loved everything. I'm off to check out Bella Pollen's other novels!

The reason I picked up Hunting Unicorns is that it reminded me of Ruth Ozeki, for some weird reason. Interestingly enough, inside the back cover is an ad for a Ruth Ozeki book. I have a fascination with contemporary British writing, looking at my list of favorite writers, the number of UK folks stand out. Bella Pollen's foray was a quick read for me. Two days of reading that would have been finished in one if I weren't hanging out with friends.

Culturally, I find myself best able to identify with books that crash cross-cultural and identity issues straight into each other. What can I say, I am fascinated by anything that may bring me closer to some internal revelation.

That is certainly ground covered here. The main characters are pushed into an awkward romance and the awkward terms of their own cultural identities. Some folks love celebrity gossip, but I eat this stuff up.

Without selling out the book too much, I'd like to point out my favorite writing device in this book. The story is revealed by two narrators, which is not strange, but one of those is dead. This is not some mythical sci-fi twist or even spiritual aspect of the plot, rather just a matter of fact. The post-mortem witticisms of tht extremely flawed narrator are spectacular.

In the end, it certainly gives me some new thoughts on the role of narrator in the story.

This book is excellent. Narrated in turns by two of the characters we get different perpectives of events. There are some cliche elements of life in a country estate - how to kill the pet rabbit and pee in the sink if you can't find the toilet, but the complete madness of the characters makes it seem normal. A good romantic comedy without the usual soppy traditions.

This cleverly written novel was written w/ two protagonists- a woman AND a man. It was fun to read the two different points of view. However, it dragged in the first half of the book. Stick w/it, though, because the second half picks up and you'll be glad you hung in there to the end!

I picked this up expecting a good English job of funny, witty writing, and was totally surprised. Although it is both of those things, it's also an unexpectantly touching story about family loyalty, what you'd give up for someone you love, and a reasonable defense of the value of the English artistocracy. An excellent read.

I totally loved this book. I bought it on the spur of the moment because i loved the cover and because my own family has had problems with alcholism. I'm not sure what i was expecting exactly but it turned out to be a real gem. An amazing insight into the wierd world of the brit aristocracy . Normally the aristocracy are portrayed as caricatures but bella pollen really seemed to get under the skin of these people.I found the relationships touched on , father and son, the two brothers to be incredibly touching and real. The world this book is set in might be archaic and insular as the author suggests, but their problems are certainly universal.

Bella Pollen's venture into the world of the batty English aristocracy is a funny, entrancing tale of family secrets, true love, and ancestral loyalty. The eccentric Alistair and Audrey, the Earl and Countess of Bevan, have for years lived in their own little world, clinging onto a tradition, even though it has driven them almost to bankruptcy.

The problem is that Alistair and Audrey both love to drink, and have even passed this gene onto their alcoholic older son Daniel. But Daniel's younger and more responsible brother Rory - angry, self-mocking, and strictly teetotal - "expends much energy fighting this gene." Lately, Rory has become increasingly concerned about his aging parents ability to cope with the vast Bevan Estate.

Bills remain unpaid, repairs are not attended to, with the verbs "jettison or to discard totally against their religion." In a fit of reckless behaviour, Rory conceives of Stately Locations, a business, which combines aristocrats who desperately need money to keep their homes, with interested moneyed parties who want to appreciate the history and beauty of some of England's great houses, not normally open to the public.

Enter American Maggie Monroe, a journalist for New York's hard-hitting current affairs show Newsline. She's independent, feisty, and fearless, the more cutting-edge the story, the happier she is.

Maggie's next assignment turns out to be an in-depth documentary on the decline of England's ruling classes, with a brief to "revisit Brideshead for the twenty-first century." At first, she's furious at being sent to cover a "tea party," but her ambitious boss tells her, "After one thousand years of aristocratic rule, it's an historically relevant end of an era."

Is the English aristocracy a dying breed, who after centuries of bad behaviour, are finally getting their comeuppance? Maggie, who shares the narrative with Daniel, is intent to find out, and she steadily becomes bemused and bewitched by these dotty, old English eccentrics.

Maggie throws herself into her new assignment with gusto, and is automatically drawn to the single-minded Rory, who, through Stately Locations, sets up a number of locations for her team. When she discovers that Rory is to be an uninvited chaperone on the first stop of her journey, the sparks really begin to fly and the couple clashes in unanticipated ways.

Maggie eventually finds herself torn between her journalist ideals - her need for a story, with a desire for a greater understanding of English country life. Whilst Rory becomes increasingly protective of Alistair and Audrey's propensity for foot in mouth, "their talent for causing embarrassment for simply, being themselves."

The transatlantic culture clash absolutely sparkles when Maggie interviews one Sir Lord Montague. Lord Montague is of the opinion that "we have culture, you have Star Trek. Tradition is the law we live by, whilst tradition in US is that revolting little children's habit of begging for sweets at Halloween."

Pollen successfully imbues her eccentric, unconventional characters with a remarkable amount of compassion: Rory's Nanny, is 95 years old and holds incredible scorn for older people and is "disgusted at younger generations taking to their beds;" she is of the attitude that "that bad breeding is cured by good upbringing." Readers can't help but love her and will probably empathize with her dotty, doddering old ways.

Although the plot is largely fuelled by slapstick and caricature, and at times reads more like a budding screenplay, the novel as a whole, is a surefire, and deftly written romantic comedy that paints an endearing and winning portrait of a family, which like so many others, manages to hold itself together despite its unmistakable frailties. Mike Leonard June 05.