Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Darkmans (Thames Gateway #3)

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 1,028 ratings · 206 reviews

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Darkmans is an exhilarating, extraordinary examination of the ways in which history can play jokes on us all... If History is just a sick joke which keeps on repeating itself, then who exactly might be telling it, and why? Could it be John Scogin, Edward IV's infamous court jester, whose favorite pastime was to burn people alive - for

...more

Hardcover, 838 pages

Published by Fourth Estate (GB) (first published 2007)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Best Books of the 21st Century

440th out of 3,588 books — 9,497 voters

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Best Books of 2007

97th out of 439 books — 514 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 2,287)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Apr 18, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was stunned. I was bored. I laughed. I sighed. I was disturbed. I was elated. I couldn't put it down. I dreaded having to pick it up. I chortled. I grunted. I embraced this tome's rogue's gallery. I was exasperated by them. I was moved. I was impatient. I was apprehensive. I was excited. I felt stirrings. I lengthened and shortened. I smiled. I frowned. I snorted. I rolled my eyes. I dug for nuggets. I backslid. I was propelled by its ebullience. I held my breath. I farted. I zoned right in. I...more I was stunned. I was bored. I laughed. I sighed. I was disturbed. I was elated. I couldn't put it down. I dreaded having to pick it up. I chortled. I grunted. I embraced this tome's rogue's gallery. I was exasperated by them. I was moved. I was impatient. I was apprehensive. I was excited. I felt stirrings. I lengthened and shortened. I smiled. I frowned. I snorted. I rolled my eyes. I dug for nuggets. I backslid. I was propelled by its ebullience. I held my breath. I farted. I zoned right in. I was fist-punched by history. I was rabbit-punched by melancholy. I consumed it by the light of day. I devoured it beneath the cold night glowering. It accompanied me to the bathroom. I marveled at the book's thickness. I inhaled its fragrant pages. I was bracketed by its sans-serif typography. I cradled it. I thumbed backwards and re-read at leisure. I was inspired. I book-dreamed. I was exhausted. I was entertained. I was impressed. Deeply impressed. All of this is to say that I loved Darkmans and I think Barker's one mightily talented glimmer gal.

This phone directory of effervescent fiction is a bit of a stumper, no question about it. Eight hundred and thirty-eight entertaining and mostly brilliant pages under the belt and several days to chew the whole shebang over, and I still cannot ascertain, with any degree of certainty, what exactly transpired to a select crew of the denizens of Ashford, a coastal town in Kent that is linked to, and given new life by, the Channel Tunnel. Ashford is a curious and, at times, alienating mix of the thoroughly modern surrounding a medieval core, the transient and ephemeral laid to drape over a foundation much more rooted within the pregnant past of England's well-watered history.

These denizens who comprise Barker's narrative core—the estranged father and son pairing of Beede and Kane; Beede's demi-German friend Isidore and his bewitching chiropodist wife Elen (whom said father and son simultaneously pine for) together with their borderline autistic five-year old son, Fleet; Kane's newly acquired personal assistant Gaffar, a transplanted Turkish Kurd with claims to a most sanctified lineage; and Kane's teenage ex-girlfriend Kelly Broad, a chav's chav, along with various relations from her locally notorious family—all appear to be afflicted by the baleful and mischievous spirit of one John Scogin, a rather errant and, at times, nasty individual who served as jester to the court of Edward IV back in the days of the War of the Roses. Scogin, the Darkman of the title, appears as a haunting presence with a proclivity for the invasion and possession of these intertwined individuals, who are all caught-up in their own intricately structured travails; but he also serves as a nominal representation of history, and the many ways that history, utterly permeated as it is within the physical world that surrounds us, has of overtaking us as we wend our way throughout daily life and springing all manner of unexpected, unwanted, and unpredictable traps.

Several people have described Darkmans as being plotless, but that's inaccurate and unwarranted; the plot consists of the interlinked pathways that each of the characters wanders during the course of the story's unfolding, beginning with a chance meeting between the prescription drug-dealing Kane and his austerely efficient and modernity-antipathetic father, Beede (in personality not unlike the Venerable forebear whose name, less one e, he shares). The impish spirit of Scogin appears to be inhabiting the body of Isidore, who has become prone to memory lapses and odd behaviors; but, as the story progresses, secondary characters are introduced and/or whisked away, and these Ashfordites become more involved in the affairs of each other, their linkages with the past—old guilts, grudges, betrayals, affairs, conquests, mistakes, and erroneous decisions—show themselves to share a commonality that none, alone, would have ever anticipated. And each of them in their turn—Elen, Fleet, Beede, Kane—come to exhibit the signs of being possessed by this Scogin for reasons that are beyond their ken.

So here's the skinny: I truly enjoyed Darkmans and all of the wonderful touches Barker provides throughout: effectively natural dialogue that parks the reader right within the conversational flow; absurd and comic antics abutting creepy and tense situations; splendid set-pieces that perfectly compliment each other, even when seeming superfluous to the story's progression; dips across time to flesh out personal histories; and the references to Scogin and his bounty of clever, but cruel, tricks and his connexions across the tenebrous strands of time with these twenty-first century inhabitants—indeed, a microcosm of modern England offering a window into a corner of Kent that wonderfully captures the present with all of its quirks and contradictions.

Barker cleverly allows room for differing interpretations of what each afflicted character is undergoing: is it possession by a mischievous, potentially malevolent ghost? Or is it perhaps a chemical reaction to widely spread prescription drugs? A shared hallucination? Eerie and intangible psychic linkages? Personal mental illness that flowers within a common genetic bed? Delusions given form and function by the suggestive powers of an artist's hand? Or is it History, in all of its juggernaut glory, crumbling individual lives like miniaturized bowling pins on its unending and unendable quest to resolve itself. I found it highly impressive how Barker tailored each possession to suit the invaded character's personality and past, and to display itself in a way that accommodated the future result each was (knowingly or not) setting themselves up, in both past and present actions, to realize. A book that undoubtedly will reward a second reading, Darkmans has left me hungry for more fiction from Nicola Barker.(less)

28 likes · like · see review

Nov 23, 2012 Paul rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

Such a great cover, too.

This is what Nicola Barker does. Here she's talking about what her character Elen does. She's a chiropodist.:

On a good day she was a Superman or a Wonderwoman,
doggedly fighting foot-crime and the causes of foot-crime (usually - when all was finally said and done - the ill-fitting shoe . . . Okay, so it was hardly The Riddler, or The Penguin, but in a serious head-to-head between a violent encounter with either one of these two comic-book baddies and an eight-hour, minimu...more Such a great cover, too.

This is what Nicola Barker does. Here she's talking about what her character Elen does. She's a chiropodist.:

On a good day she was a Superman or a Wonderwoman,
doggedly fighting foot-crime and the causes of foot-crime (usually - when all was finally said and done - the ill-fitting shoe . . . Okay, so it was hardly The Riddler, or The Penguin, but in a serious head-to-head between a violent encounter with either one of these two comic-book baddies and an eight-hour, minimum-wage shift behind the bar of a 'happening' Ashford night-spot with a corn the size of a quail's egg throbbing away under the strappy section of your brand-new, knock-off Manolo Blahniks . . . Well . . . it'd be a pretty close call).Elen firmly believed that she was making a difference. She was nothing less than an evangelist for the foot. She was a passionate devotee. She worshipped at the altar of the arch and the heel. Sometimes it wasn't easy. The foot was hardly the most glamorous of the appendages ('yer dogs', 'yer plates', 'yer hoofs'). No one really gave a damn about it (although - fair's fair - the acupuncturists had done a certain amount for the cause, and the reflexologists had sexed things up a little, but in Elen's view, the short-fall still fell . . . well, pretty damn short). The foot had sloppy PR; it mouldered, uncomplainingly, down at the bottom (the fundus, the depths, the nadir) of the physiological hegemony. It had none of the pizzazz of the hand or the heart. The lips! The eyes (the eyes had it all their own way). Even the neck, the belly ... the arse. Even the arse had a certain cachet. But not the foot. The foot had none (the foot had Fergie, with her lover, sprawled on a deckchair, in the Cote du Tawdry). The foot lived in purdah - in cold climes particularly. It was hidden away, crammed inside, squeezed.

Nicola Barker's middle name is ebullient. She hammers things into the ground, bulldozes, steamrollers, she overwhelms with a rich rash rush of verbiage, throws the kitchen sink in and the neighbour's - oh, now I'M doing it too! It's not that hard, evidently. The tone, as you see, is mildly humorous, almost mildly mocking, certainly not serious. Very occasionally she is funny, as opposed to mildly humorous. This book is so mild and desperate for a cuddle. So by page 200 she's invented a small cast of mildly caricatured oddballs set in the present day (they buy books over the internet and everything) and bathed them all in an unstoppable torrential gush of slightly, occasionally humorous commentary. Also, I have been peering through a powerful book-telescope but I have yet to distinguish anything which appears to be a plot, a story, a narrative, although a couple of Last Mimzy kids have now hoved into view so maybe it will turn into some kind of tepidly funny science fiction which is the very kind of science fiction I can't say I'm much of a fan of. Still, I'll give it another 200 pages.

One week later

No, I won't, and my week-ago self can't make me by jumping into a time machine and appearing in front of me with a haughty sneer. Nicola Barker finally made me give up by writing a 10 page skit about a dodgy builder which was as deeply unfunny as British comedy unfortunately frequently can be. It was dire, it was obvious, it was as lame as a three legged dog. So, in the words of many Samuel Beckett characters, I can't go on. (less)

9 likes · like · see review

Aug 17, 2012 Molly rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People with a lot of patience

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, women-writers

Darkmans is funny and interesting, though it doesn't become either until almost 300 pages into the 800+ page story. Barker's style of writing (which gives the grammar lover in me nightmares), is tough to follow until she tones it down a little and really lets the narrative take over. At that point, I was able to stop lamenting all the commas that could have been and start really paying attention to the story.

When I finished the book, though, I sat back and thought, "Hmm. Didn't know how to tie t...more

7 likes · like · see review

Feb 13, 2012 Drew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: boulder-public-library

This is going to sound strange, because I imagine most people would think the opposite, but I think if Darkmans were 500 pages shorter (aka the length of a normal book), I would very likely have hated it. The style is maddening in several ways:

1) Barker has a tendency to over-italicize. I know this because I worry that I italicize too much, and if someone else's italics are bothering me, it must be a serious problem. I'm not kidding; Darkmans is like that old newspaper comic Brenda Starr*, where...more

10 likes · like · see review

Jan 10, 2012 Kinga rated it 4 of 5 stars

Anytime I see a book this size I think: "What was that you had to say that you needed more than 800 pages to do it?". And I am intrigued, because, surely, it must be something magnificent to justify the magnificent size. On the other hand I know that I suffer from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and if I started this book I would just have to finish it no matter what. There is a possibility it could be 800 pages of blabbering, or worse yet, 800 pages of impenetrable ontological debates.

Luck...more Anytime I see a book this size I think: "What was that you had to say that you needed more than 800 pages to do it?". And I am intrigued, because, surely, it must be something magnificent to justify the magnificent size. On the other hand I know that I suffer from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and if I started this book I would just have to finish it no matter what. There is a possibility it could be 800 pages of blabbering, or worse yet, 800 pages of impenetrable ontological debates.

Luckily, you can just skate through 'Darkmans' and it is not all total blabbering, Paul!

I suppose I should tell you what it is actually about, although explaining it will not be easy.
'Darkmans' is about a group of characters living in Ashford, including some chavs, hospital employees, construction workers, drug dealers... basically, the sort of group that many British writers who set their books in small drab English towns write about. Now, the twist here is that all these characters (with the special mention of Isidore, German security guard) seem to be invaded by a ghost of Middle Ages in the form of John Scogin, wicked medieval jester. He muddles their minds, gets them confused, and makes them speak pre-Shakespeare English.

The scope of this book is impressive; the research, the linguistic finesse is quite something. Of course, you will be tempted to hope that everything will neatly come together in the end but it is a foolish hope. As one of the character says (and I can't give you the exact quote, because stupidly I have returned the book to the library - it was about 5 years overdue) we fool ourselves to believe that things happen for a reason, that there is some sort of grand design behind it all. No, only in art, apparently. Now, whether this book calls itself art or whether it tries to imitate real life is for you to decide.

That is not to say, that it leaves nothing but loose ends. It is indeed very clever. In the end, it's Barker's book and you have to play by her rules. If you are ok with that, you are rewarded with a brilliant, epic read. Someone said 'unhinged'. Yes but in the best possible sense.

And as promised: Paul knows nada about real literature. He is a philistine. This book kicks ass. (less)

18 likes · like · see review

Feb 10, 2009 Eva Mitnick rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was an intriguing but ultimately baffling book. A small group of disparate but interconnected people in a small town in England all seem, to varying degrees, to be obsessed or even possessed by the medieval past, and in particular a jester named John Scogin (presumably the "Darkmans" of the title). This part of the book is puzzling and spooky/weird and even unnecessary, as these folks are interesting enough without the supernatural/psychological weirdness. It took a while to get used to the...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 20, 2011 Kirstie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People interested in postmodern experimental fiction

It's about as challenging to describe Nicola Barker's writing style as it is to read it but picture Thomas Pynchon's twisty and chaotic words with an unreliable narrator in terms of depicting the true reality of every moment crossed with a bit of Flannery O'Connor and you'll have something close. Her vocabulary in and of itself is like a dense road to travel on but it's filled with some glorious wit and cultural references too, for those of us who enjoy sightseeing.

I don't use this term lightly...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 11, 2008 Joan rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 11, 2012 Nathan "N.R." Gaddis marked it as the-value-of-a-dollar

Recommended to Nathan "N.R." by: steven moore

Shelves: encyclopedic, women, too-big-to-knot

The obligatory Steven Moore review:

"'Tis the season of huge literary novels. Those of us for whom size matters welcome with holiday cheer Denis Johnson's "Tree of Smoke," James McCourt's "Now Voyagers," two new translations of Tolstoy's "War and Peace," Paul Verhaeghen's "Omega Minor," Alexander Theroux's "Laura Warholic" and the 992-page "Adventures of Amir Hamza," an old Urdu saga (by way of Arabia and Persia) newly translated for the Modern Library. Crashing this boys' club from England comes...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 14, 2008 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This was a really entertaining read. Despite the length (over 800 pgs) I cruised through it in about a week. Darkmans is written in a unique style that uses mostly dialog and inner narrative to move everything forward. The result is a fast pace that keeps the reader purposely on edge, slightly confused and constantly guessing. This pace really fits the plot well, which focuses on an ensemble cast of characters in a small English town who are all experiencing something strange, mystical and dange...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 11, 2010 Mary-anne rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Tarantino fans

Shelves: bookerlonglist2007

I'm 100 pages in and struggling. Nothing's coming together for me yet. Hopefully it won't ramble for the remaining 738 pages.

350 pages in and enjoying MUCH more. Very funny book.

Whew!! What a ride. This book reminded me very much of a Tarantino movie in that some of the situations are absolutely off the wall (the pillory scene, for example), it's fast-paced and you just have to go with it. I'm sure there are many levels on which you could take this book and it would take another couple of reads...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 15, 2013 Jo Case rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel, booker

Nicola Barker’s Darkmans was the ‘dark horse’ of this year’s Man Booker shortlist.

As we all know, it didn’t win, but in my humble opinion, Darkmans is a literary masterpiece – and one of the most endlessly fascinating books I have ever read.

Reading Darkmans is a bit like watching one of those nature documentaries where the camera lingers on an utterly ordinary, banal, patch of lawn, slowly drilling down to capture the intricate anthropological detail of the insect life buzzing among the blades....more

like · see review

Jan 06, 2013 Daniel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a wonderful book with which to begin the new year. "Darkmans" has been on my radar ever since the book's cover caught my eye four years ago (that tongue-wagging devil is creepy). The book's heft and weirdness intimidated me at first, and I filed it away in my mind as a "get to when it's time" book.

This year, it was time--and what a time I had with this book! The story, though small in actual scale, is peppered with so many warrens and boltholes and caches that captured me without warning an...more What a wonderful book with which to begin the new year. "Darkmans" has been on my radar ever since the book's cover caught my eye four years ago (that tongue-wagging devil is creepy). The book's heft and weirdness intimidated me at first, and I filed it away in my mind as a "get to when it's time" book.

This year, it was time--and what a time I had with this book! The story, though small in actual scale, is peppered with so many warrens and boltholes and caches that captured me without warning and pulled me into musings and conversations about history, language, love, memory, identity, lies, and the subjective nature of consciousness. I love fiction that peddles huge ideas amidst juggling the demands of the story, and Barker's novel fits this bill to a "T".

A standout in this novel is the way Barker highlights the subjectivity of the human experience through conflicting character perspectives. Many times throughout this novel, two characters discussing a similar event end up confusing one another in their differing accounts; sometimes they fess up to this muddle and share the subsequent frustration, leading to another intriguing conversation; and other times one or both characters cover up this confusions with obfuscation and tangential talk, which in turn adds yet another yet another issue to a growing pile of them. These frequent disconnects were at times funny (Gaffar and Beede in the supermarket--choice!) and at times quite sad (Elen's family outing is a terribly-apt example of a family trying to stick together while things go to shit).

Another gem in this novel is Gaffar, a Kurdish man who speaks limited English. When conversing with people in English, his dialog is written in normal text; when he speaks in Turkish, his dialog is written in bold type. Through this device, Barker demonstrates how difficult it is for an otherwise eloquent person to express themselves in a secondary language. The result is both comedic and insightful: Gaffar has cutting observations about the things that go on around him, yet most people view him as a simple-minded being, leading them to underestimate his understanding of what's going on. Again, the supermarket scene comes to mind for its brilliant comedy and word play.

This is a big book, and Barker tells her story well. I do wish that some of the characters had not stepped out of the story in the last third, such as Fleet (what about his crazy building projects?) and Gaffar (will he always suffer from salad-phobia?). I was also surprised by the increasing distance between the narrative and Elen's perspective; though she starts out as a viewpoint character who's thoughts contribute to the story, she later becomes more of a symbol of attraction for Beede and his son, Kane. Given how much she suffers in the middle of the story, I figured that she, too, might find some kind of resolution at the end.

This is one of those books that wrapped me up in its story and deposited a few ideas that will stick with me for a long time. I am so glad that I finally picked this up and gave Barker's work a go, and I have no doubt that I will read some of her other novels (in fact, Goodreads just informed me that this book is third in a "Thames Gateway" sequence of thematically-related books; methinks I need to go to the beginning!).(less)

7 likes · like · see review

Dec 20, 2012 Warwick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, kent, ashford

A strange book, which can be funny, moving, thought-provoking – as well as frustrating. But then it is set in Ashford, which is all of those things and less. The plot is hard to summarise, although as a reader you'll probably be more preoccupied with unpicking the Byzantine web of connections which links the cast. The nearest thing to a central character is Kane, a layabout and amiable drug-dealer; he has a strained relationship with his father Beede, who works at the local hospital. Both of the...more

like · see review

Feb 03, 2012 Ian Mapp rated it 1 of 5 stars

Oh dear. This is the worst kind of book - long (838 pages), doesnt go anywhere and leaves you wondering what the hell it was all about. And to top it all off, it doesnt even match the blurb on the back that says its to do with 20th century getting possessed by a medieveal spirit. I dont think that happens - but then again, I was so bored, it could have.

So why put up with it.... I dont really know. They was enough humour in the first 300 pages (that admitedly, due to the gaps, were rapidly despat...more

like · see review

Dec 01, 2011 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think it's damn clever, and I personally highly enjoyed the font-play and use of the space on the page to add another layer of experience in reading the book. But I felt it dabbled, danced around, lacked depth (and alliteration)...seriously, there was glorious darkness here, as anyone who has Google Book searched for "John Scogin" and found the original compendium of his "pranks" and "teases" can attest. There was also pathos aplenty---the Kurdish mobster, with his adroit and commanding langua...more

like · see review

Aug 10, 2011 Rula Zein-iddin added it · review of another edition

I am still reeling from Nicola's incredibly unique writing style. Her characters are so authentic & vivacious that after almost 900 pages Kelly & Gaffar now feel a part of my history!

I literally damaged my wrist holding this book in bed as I read it & was awakened on several occasions by it falling from my sleepy hands but you just cannot give-up on this crazy & hysterically funny (& tragic) adventure that Nicola takes you on - her writing is ALIVE in a way few authors can h...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 10, 2010 Kirsty Darbyshire rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book

When the Booker Prize longlist came out I ordered a couple of the 13 books from the library. I didn't really look very deeply into the details of the books, in fact I pretty much ordered them blind hoping that being on the longlist would be enough to give me something interesting to read.

I didn't bargain on the first book that turned up being an over 800 page doorstep. (No, not a doorstop, I do think you could use this as a doorstep!)

My first impressions weren't great and I struggled through par...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 09, 2007 Nigel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A sweeping sprawling doorstopper of a novel that irrites at first but soon propels you along with its restless energy, intelligence and intricacy. Even after 838 pages it still leaves feeling bereft and wanting more. The brash characters and naff setting in Ashford don't immediately appeal and the breathless writing style takes a bit of getting used, but the unravelling of the convoluted story with overtones of mysterious forces at work cleverly draws you in and never lets go.

1 like · like · see review

Apr 15, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, sassysassenachs, distaff

I want to review Darkmans but I should be researching UK agents so I can submit my own novel to snotty Islington ministers’ daughters—the sort who fall down drooling at The Kite Runner or some such oxplop—in the hope that one day I can write a tongue-in-cheek five-star review of my own novel on Goodreads then re-post a series of self-promoting updates every four minutes for everyone to ignore, then fight off a caustically withering slapdown from Mr. Bryant with four pages of unpunctuated vitriol...more

18 likes · like · see review

Jul 27, 2010 Clint rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a shot in the dark I took, never having heard of the book or the author, and I scored. The writing of this book isn't the kind of thing I usually go for, stream of consciousness, sound effects, etc., and there were way more pop culture references than I normally tolerate, but in the end, this book reminds me of a really simplified Thomas Pynchon, meant as a compliment. I knew by about page 5 or 6 hundred that when the book ended at page 838 I wasn't going to understand everything that w...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 25, 2011 Josh Ang rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Primarily about the estranged relationship between Beede and his drug-pusher layabout son, the layers of their relationship and back history are peeled away amidst the olde English spirit possession of Beede's Germanic friend Isidore.

And that's where the story spirals out of control as Barker tries to add too many ingredients into her mix. The supernatural elements didn't quite gel... After a while I got really irritated with the constant intrusion of the characters' thoughts even as they conve...more

like · see review

Jul 29, 2011 Catherine Woodman added it · review of another edition

I have a an undeniable affinity for the Man Booker Prize winners, and recently started to look a little deeper at the long list that is generated every year--the prize recently started a very well done web site that makes it easy to see what was long and then short listed every year, and since I loved THe White Tiger so much, I have been working my way through some of the long list over the last two years and this is one of them. I must say, this does have some of the characteristics that make t...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 28, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've had this on the shelf for a while and finally tackled it. Like all of her books that I've read, it isn't straightforward, and it took me awhile to figure out what the different fonts indicated. One font stands for thoughts, and one for speech in a foreign language. At the center of this story are Beede and his son Kane. Beede runs the laundry at the local hospital, but has been involved over the years in various civic activities. Kane deals in the black market for prescription drugs. The tw...more I've had this on the shelf for a while and finally tackled it. Like all of her books that I've read, it isn't straightforward, and it took me awhile to figure out what the different fonts indicated. One font stands for thoughts, and one for speech in a foreign language. At the center of this story are Beede and his son Kane. Beede runs the laundry at the local hospital, but has been involved over the years in various civic activities. Kane deals in the black market for prescription drugs. The two live in the same house, with separate living spaces. They've lived largely separate lives for years, but the actions here bring them together. Beede has been helping Elen deal with some issues around the health of her husband Dory. Elen is a bit of a mysterious woman, one of those women who seem to draw men of all types and she's been drawing Beede for a while. When she meets Kane by chance, he also finds himself interested in her despite himself.
Elen and Dory also have a child, a young boy named Fleet, who lives in his own world and shows signs of high intelligence in certain areas. I couldn't help but think that he is autistic.
Dory has insisted that they move into a new suburb and their house has had numerous problems. The builder they hired has been dragging his feet on getting any real work done, and things have been getting tense. Dory also seems prone to going into trance-like states where he does things that he doesn't remember later.
Another central character is Kane's ex-girlfriend, Kelly Broad. Kelly is a girl from a disreputable family, a girl who dresses flirtatiously, but is really pretty good underneath. Kelly thinks Beede is behind the disappearance of some of Kane's supply a while back, a disappearance that she was blamed for. She is trying to clear her name, and perhaps interested in Kane still.
A young Turkish Kurd who comes to Kelly's aid is an interesting touch, He understands more English than he speaks, and is quite well-spoken when talking his own language, and has an interesting background. And an interesting phobia, salad.
Also figuring in the story is John Scogin, a court-jester from the court of Edward IV, a man we mostly see traces of, like a ghost.
All these characters, and more, interact in interesting ways and reveal their own idiosyncrasies as they do. This is a book about fathers and sons, love and jealousy, past and present, a book about the way some things just get under your skin and never let you go. The book became more and more fascinating the further I read, and at 838 pages, that made it very interesting. Barker is never a disappointment.(less)

like · see review

Jan 24, 2008 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this through once, then immediately started over. It's the sort of book that takes a couple of readings to see its shape--like that low-budget sci-fi film Primer. I think Nicola Barker is one of the best contemporary writers--not least because she challenges herself with each book. This is nothing like her previous novels, but it is equally brilliant.

4 likes · like · see review

May 11, 2012 Jody rated it 5 of 5 stars

The best word I can think of to describe Darkmans is engaging. It's not a difficult book to read, but it's not one you can skim or coast through. It requires the reader to engage actively with what's going on; otherwise, she'll never keep up. Barker has an unconventional writing style that I loved, although it's probably not for everyone. (It took several pages to get into the rhythm of it.)

The characters are by far the novel's strong suit--Kelly Broad might be my new favorite character. Ever. U...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 22, 2008 Malini Sridharan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bestever

I think that every book that both Josie and I both give five stars to should go in a special list of guaranteed crowd pleasers.

The juxtaposition of this thoroughly modern setting and the force of history bubbling underneath it was fantastic.

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 25, 2011 Derek Baldwin rated it 4 of 5 stars

The inhabiting spirit of a long-dead court jester causes unrest (but also reconciliation) among citizens of Ashford... I think. Not much of a synopsis considering it took me several weeks to plow through 800+ pages!

I really like how Nicola Barker carefully introduces each of the characters and that they are fully-fleshed creations even if she does push them around like pawns some of the time. It's very skilful, sometimes very funny, and because the setting is a part of the world I know well tha...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 29, 2011 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: keeper, bought-new

After reading too many disposable novels I was desperate for something to sink my teeth into. Well, for a week, I neglected my children, ignored my e-mails, forgot my husband and literally curled up with this. Even on the rare occasions I wasn't reading it (one must periodically eat, sleep and wash) I was thinking about it. In fact, it felt like it was alive in my head, which wasn't altogether a pleasant sensation - found myself doubting my sanity sometimes. It was a rare beast: bizarre but not...more

like · see review

Feb 17, 2013 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars

As with much of worth, it is difficult to recommend this book to many because most people would simply hate it. Its mere nuances, engulfed in an 800+ page leviathan of a novel, would be troubling and difficult. The book centers on language and its development, is haunted by a long-dead English court jester who randomly possesses the main characters, and has nary a plot to speak of. Lots of stuff is hinted at, but coalescence is in the eye of the beholder. It is funny and weird and full of tricke...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 76 77 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (9)

More editions...

Genres

Fantasy

8 users

Literature

7 users

Contemporary

5 users

European Literature > British Literature

4 users

Literary Fiction

3 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

3 users

Novels

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Nicola Barker

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Nicola Barker is an English writer.
Nicola Barker’s eight previous novels include Darkmans (short-listed for the 2007 Man Booker and Ondaatje prizes, and winner of the Hawthornden Prize), Wide Open (winner of the 2000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), and Clear (long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2...more

More about Nicola Barker...

Books by Nicola Barker

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Darkmans

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Darkmans

“You think it's all rather too "New Age" to be taken seriously, eh?'
'Not at all.'
'But it's an ancient discipline...'
'New Age disciplines invariably are,' Beede said, disparagingly, 'but in the modern world they lack context - we just pick them up and then toss them back down again, we consume them. They have no moral claim on us. No moral value. And without that they're rendered meaningless, fatuous, even.” — 2 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Darkmans
avg rating	preview: Darkmans Goodreads rating: 3.60 (1028 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1139452.Darkmans?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356131015l/1139452.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1139452.Darkmans?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Darkmans by Nicola Barker[/url]

Darkmans (Thames Gateway #3)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website