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Capital

3.68 of 5 stars 3.68 · rating details · 2,505 ratings · 543 reviews

Celebrated novelist John Lanchester (“an elegant and wonderfully witty writer”—New York Times) returns with an epic novel that captures the obsessions of our time.

It’s 2008 and things are falling apart: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers are going under, and the residents of Pepys Road, London—a banker and his shopaholic wife, an old woman dying of a brain tumor and her gra...more

Hardcover, 528 pages

Published June 11th 2012 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published 2012)

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Feb 05, 2013 Larraine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although it's early in the year, this novel is a finalist in my "favorite book of the year" contest. I hadn't read anything by John Lanchester before so I was unprepared for the elegance, humor and irony in the language. The book takes place in London, just before the economic collapse. We meet a wide range of characters centering around a street called Pepys Street that has recently become gentrified. The homes are bought by the up and coming who then pour lavish amounts of money to make the ho...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Jürgen Zeller rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Die Pepys Road in London hat sich zu einem Mikrokosmos unterschiedlichster Menschen entwickelt. Früher eine Strasse eines Viertels in dem die Angestellten der Mittelschicht wohnten, mit einem Einkommen das es ihnen erlaubte mit ihrer Familie in ein robust gebautes zwei- oder dreistöckiges Haus mit Garten zu ziehen. Gewiss keine spektakuläre aber durchaus eine wohnliche Gegend. Das viele Geld das es ab Mitte der neunziger Jahre an der Börse zu verdienen gab, besonderes in einer Finanzmetropole wi...more Die Pepys Road in London hat sich zu einem Mikrokosmos unterschiedlichster Menschen entwickelt. Früher eine Strasse eines Viertels in dem die Angestellten der Mittelschicht wohnten, mit einem Einkommen das es ihnen erlaubte mit ihrer Familie in ein robust gebautes zwei- oder dreistöckiges Haus mit Garten zu ziehen. Gewiss keine spektakuläre aber durchaus eine wohnliche Gegend. Das viele Geld das es ab Mitte der neunziger Jahre an der Börse zu verdienen gab, besonderes in einer Finanzmetropole wie London, spülte eine neue Gesellschaftsschicht von Leuten hervor die schnell sehr viel Geld verdienten und sich problemlos ein gediegenes Haus leisten konnten. Das Phänomen das gewisse Stadtteile von einem Jahr auf andere plötzlich als hipp gelten und diese In-Quartiere reiche Menschen wie Motten das Licht anziehen gilt auch für die Pepys Road. Die alteingesessenen Bewohner wurden plötzlich vermögend, nicht in Form von Bargeld sondern weil der Wert ihrer Häuser innert kürzester Zeit in schwindelerregende Höhen stieg und immer mehr konnten den Verlockungen des schnöden Mammons nicht widerstehen und verkauften ihr Anwesen zu einem Höchstpreis von mehreren Millionen Pfund. Die neuen Bewohner der Strasse verändern das Gesellschaftsbild nach und nach aber auch ihr Leben ist nicht frei von Sorgen obwohl sie dieses Gefühl durch eine strahlende Fassade gerne vermitteln möchten.

Der rote Handlungsfaden durch die Geschichten sind die mysteriösen Karten mit Fotos der Haustüren oder Häusern der Pepys Road und der Nachricht "Wir wollen was ihr habt" die allen Bewohnern anonym zugestellt werden. Was hat es damit auf sich? Seltsam! Die Karten gehen sowohl an eine alte Witwe wie auch an ihre Nachbarn gegenüber die Familie eines smarten Bankers, das hoffnungsvolle Fussballtalent aus dem Senegal und seinen umtriebiger Manager, die Besitzer des Kiosks/kleinen Lebensmittelladens der Strasse und einen Künstler. Eine Asylbewerberin aus Afrika die als Politesse ihren Dienst tut und polnische Handwerker die Bau- und Umbauarbeiten vornehmen sowie ein Kindermädchen spielen, zwar nicht als direkte Bewohner aber als regelmässig Anwesende, eine zentrale Rolle. Mit jedem Kapitel wechseln sich die Schauplätze ab und manche beginnen sich zu verbinden. Zu Beginn war alles rund um den Banker der interessanteste Handlungsstrang aber nach und nach treten die anderen in den Vordergrund und weckten mein Interesse mehr und mehr.

Der Stil wie alles geschrieben und erzählt ist vermag mich zu überzeugen. An und für sich recht leicht und flüssig lesbar entwickelte sich in mir ein Bedürfnis stets weiterlesen zu wollen und die rund 680 Seiten waren in kurzer Zeit weggeschmökert. Der Autor streut laufend eine Prise Ironie und feinen Spott mit ein aber insgesamt geht er doch recht human um nicht zu sagen sanft mit seinen Figuren um. Dieses Buch ist nicht der grosse englische Gesellschaftsroman der Land und Leute porträtiert und eine sinngebende Moral und eine konkrete Aussage ist nicht zu erkennen ausser das Geld allein nicht glücklich macht. Zu bunt zusammengewürfelt sind die Figuren und es wirkt manchmal etwas gewollt und sie bedienen das ein oder andere Vorurteil aber schlussendlich dient und erhöht es den Unterhaltungswert.

Geht doch mal spazieren und betrachtet die vielen unterschiedlichen Eingangtüren an den Häusern an denen ihr vorbeilauft und sinniert darüber wer wohl dahinter wohnen könnte, was für ein Leben sie führen und welche Freuden oder auch Sorgen sie im Moment bewegen. Für mich ein gutes bis sehr gutes Buch dessen Geschichten einen enorm hohen Lesespass bereiten.(less)

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Apr 02, 2013 Jules rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beach-reading, britain, british-fiction, contemporary-fiction, fiction, london, modern-day-fiction

I must say, first and foremost, that I loved this book and, as a reader and lover of contemporary fiction, this book played straight into my hands. I know that many a reviewer on here has compared the book to Sebastian Faulks ‘A Week in December’ (a book I also love!) and I can most definitely see the parallels. This though, by my own reckoning, is even more intelligent, deeper and proved an even more substantial read for me.

‘Capital’ deals with London lives (hence the title as a centre point of...more I must say, first and foremost, that I loved this book and, as a reader and lover of contemporary fiction, this book played straight into my hands. I know that many a reviewer on here has compared the book to Sebastian Faulks ‘A Week in December’ (a book I also love!) and I can most definitely see the parallels. This though, by my own reckoning, is even more intelligent, deeper and proved an even more substantial read for me.

‘Capital’ deals with London lives (hence the title as a centre point of Britain) but the book is also about money, meaning, the trite and the trivial – eventually a common ground of explanation is found between these main themes. The main characters in ‘Capital’ are also residents in Pepys Road but although these people are neighbours sharing similarities (whether they like it or not!) their lives hardly ever cross apart from them sharing a postcode and a few resident issues. This is an implicit issue and problem in the book and with his deliberate omission of ‘community’, the author Lanchester implies that many things can be wrong with our modern idea of society. Surely it’s wrong that an elderly resident’s death by a brain tumour is not lamented by other residents? Surely it’s sad that an Asian family don’t receive any reported human support when one of their sons is (falsely) suspected of planning a terrorist plot? Surely it’s sad that a Polish immigrant enjoys being an outsider rather than ingratiating himself fully with British life? To the same ends, I found it less sad when an investment banker suffered a job loss due to a paranoid industry banking structure, feeling a sense of joy when the robot-human banker-man Roger experienced a chance to re-think his life and eventually escape to the country.

The characterisation in this book is very clever and lends itself to clearly contrasted chapters where different sets of characters are dealt with in isolation. In a near-on 600 page book, this proved an organisational godsend for me!

Lanchester’s writing style and turn of phrase impressed me greatly. As a writer, he demonstrates a good understanding of modern characters and of how our modern society is made up of angelic and demonic personalities with fifty-five shades of grey between. His critiques of modern life, modern Britain and even a microcosm of a London street all ring very true for me and I cannot fault what he has tried to do with the story by presenting these many slices of life via many layers.

Put simply, it’s an easy five star review for me here. If I am honest, the long length of the read could have compromised the fifth star if the quality of the read had not been so darn good. It was and the stars lucked out – every shining one of them.

Impressive, compulsive, highly-readable and very highly-recommended!
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Apr 01, 2013 JS Found rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

We are in modern London, in one street with many houses where many types and classes of people live and/or work. We hunker down to get to know these people--a rich banker, an old widow, a Pakistani shop keeping family, a Polish contractor, and others. Through their representative but quotidian lives, a portrait of not only modern London but of the modern, busy, capitalist and political world emerges.The time is the beginning of the year of the Great Recession.

Let me be subjective for a moment, a...more We are in modern London, in one street with many houses where many types and classes of people live and/or work. We hunker down to get to know these people--a rich banker, an old widow, a Pakistani shop keeping family, a Polish contractor, and others. Through their representative but quotidian lives, a portrait of not only modern London but of the modern, busy, capitalist and political world emerges.The time is the beginning of the year of the Great Recession.

Let me be subjective for a moment, and remark that the social realist novel is my favorite form of the novel as art. Because there are no genre conventions and tropes to tick of, characters in such novels act organically--they do not have to be molded into pre-existing types. They can be free to make good or bad choices, depending on who they are and what they want. The social realist novel itself isn't meant to be entertainment. It is that, of course, but it's more: it sets itself lofty goals to capture a time and place in the real world. It wants to comment on our world and how we live. So that not only do we get a true portrait of such but also that we can recognize our problems and work to alleviate them. The social novel isn't didactic and doesn't give away answers. It merely represents us as we are, so that in our rush of lives, the slow time spent reading it, reading anything will deliver a shock to our collective system--is this truly how I am? I had no idea--that can in the end and with our own intensive labor we can become better humans and create better societies.

So if they care to pick this book up--the very rich man will see himself in the role of the crass, alpha male banker; the unemotional sex seeker will recognize all the tricks he uses to not get tangled up in serious relationships; the shopaholic will know herself to be frivolous; the happy-go-lucky guy will who abstains from responsibility will see himself for who he is. It's not that this novel is a teaching manual. No, it's highly entertaining and very well written from the vantage point of prose. It's rather minute in how all of these characters think and observe, but that is in the best sense: these are fully alive people who have many many thoughts during a single day or hour or event, and we are privy to all of them. And by book's end, some of them change while some of them don"t. But modern life in a modern city never ceases to march on. No, it's just that when you are writing about real life and trying to invent characters as close to real people as you can, the book will hit some readers hard. It's easy to ignore genre fiction and stock characters as something other and not related to you. But it's harder when the people and the events, situations described can actually happen. Such is the effect of the social realist novel--it aims to bare the world in its beauty and ugliness, so that people can change it. (less)

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Jun 23, 2012 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-british-fiction

This book is almost a pure delight. Sprawling in scope (the City, property, money, the upper-middle classes, the immigrant classes, sport, sport as business, work, love, and did I say property?), deeply insightful, and thoroughly engaging. It's set largely on the (fictionalized) Pepys Road (an inspired name), which affords Lanchester a view that is both microscopic and macroscopic:

"Over its history, almost everything that could have happened in the street had happened. Many, many people had fall...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Cities are big places. Great cities have two other qualities alongside their size: they are also sophisticated and cosmopolitan. If thus applied, these three criteria deny the attachment of “great” to all but a handful of cities. But one the passes all the tests, and has done for centuries, is London. In his latest novel, Capital, John Lanchester celebrates London and its life via the sophistication and cosmopolitan identity of its inhabitants. Perhaps paradoxically, he largely ignores size by h...more Cities are big places. Great cities have two other qualities alongside their size: they are also sophisticated and cosmopolitan. If thus applied, these three criteria deny the attachment of “great” to all but a handful of cities. But one the passes all the tests, and has done for centuries, is London. In his latest novel, Capital, John Lanchester celebrates London and its life via the sophistication and cosmopolitan identity of its inhabitants. Perhaps paradoxically, he largely ignores size by housing all his characters on a single street in Clapham called Pepys Road. And of course the capital of the book’s title refers not only to London’s status, but also to the finance industry that enriches it and especially the asset value of the properties along that suburban street, values of which the occupiers and owners of the houses have become fully aware.

There is a plot in this novel, by the way, but not one that really need bother the reader unduly. It is eventually resolved, rather inconsequentially, but the person or persons who covet the real estate value of these properties and put cards bearing the words “We Want What You Have” through their letterboxes soon become less important that the characters’ relations to their own lives. It is this theme that truly enlivens Capital and makes it such a joy to read. It perhaps illustrates that lives are the only plots that fiction needs. Thus a book like John Lanchester’s Capital could have been written at almost any time in London’s history. Family pressures, financial dealings, relationships with power, snobbery, social class, profit and loss, and cultural clashes were present when Dickens wrote Bleak House a century and a half ago. In that era, however, the real money was still hidden under the country seat on the landed estates, decrepit though they may have become. Challenged by new money, the task was to hold on to what tradition might serve to stave off threat. In Capital, the houses are far from bleak, especially when done up by a competent and honest Polish builder like Zbigniew.

The Younts provide Zbigniew with a good deal of work. Roger Yount is a manager in an investment bank. His office is actually in Docklands, though his work, he would claim, was still very much based in the City, since it claims the same kinds of bonuses to be found there. At least that is what he hopes when the annual review comes round. Arabella, his wife, is a compulsive consumer who values nothing and ignores all prices. She regularly has her walls repainted because she doesn’t like the colour, but, like most consumers, she operates with no apparent working understanding of the word “like”. Zbigniew, whom she calls Bogdan, for some reason, services her needs, as does her maid and nanny, her close friend and her husband, as the world rotates around her whims. Her two children were probably picked from a catalogue because they fit the colour scheme. Petunia at number 42 has lived her life in the street. Her house has not seen a lick of paint in a generation and is in much need of renovation. But she has reached the age when the holes in the kitchen lino are not even visible. She has other concerns, such as her daughter, Mary, who lives with her husband Alan in Essex and a son called Geoff who does things out east. Oh, and there is the matter of her health as well…

Michael, who regularly parks his expensive car in Pepys Road, has other kinds of concern. He is an agent for a professional footballer, an apparently clumsy young lad called Freddy who hails from Francophone Africa. He has arrived with his dad, Patrick, to play for a Premiership club. Pepys Road is as good a place to live as anywhere, especially now that property prices have risen so much. Quentina is from Zimbabwe. She is a refugee working illegally as a traffic warden. She likes to hang tickets on Michael’s expensive car and then stand back to photograph the evidence.

The Kamals have links with Pakistan. They have the shop along the street that never seems to close. They too have two young children, but there are brothers in the family with differing interests, some of which have led in the past to an excursion to Chechnya aimed at helping fellow Muslims resist the violence to which they are being subjected. Mrs Kamal the elder makes a visit of her own to south London from Lahore. She stays with her daughter in law in Pepys Road. Sparks will surely fly.

So this street in Clapham is pretty much like most others in this great city. The inhabitants are sophisticated and cosmopolitan, the properties they live in have values that have shot through their roofs, and much of daily life is an oft-repeated, but sometimes vicious farce. Capital thus presents an impressionistic portrait of a metropolis in microcosm. And, as such, it offers a completely plausible and compellingly convincing picture of one slice of contemporary London life. Forget the plot, since most of the characters do. Just enjoy being in this great city, made great by those who live in it. The real joy, of course, is that the next street’s story would be just as good and probably different as well.
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Mar 06, 2013 Helen Woods rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Jan 09, 2012 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book details the events and past history of several families in Pepys Road, Lambeth from late 2007 to late 2008. I liked most of the characters, my favourite probably being Ahmed and Roger. There's a woman nursing a dying relative, a lost fortune found, the ubiquitious Eastern European builders and nannies, the crash of the banking system, Muslim terrorism, the lazy spoilt wife of a banker and the Asian family working all the hours that Allah sends in their newsagent/mini-mart shop plus a l...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Robert Blumenthal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It took me a little while to become wrapped up in this rather long (500+ pages) novel, which consists of quite brief chapters with multiple characters whose lives all intersect in one way or another on a rather posh road in London. But once I got into it, the book sailed along beautifully. There's a bit of Zadie Smith and David Lodge in the writing, a very assured and witty British account of the year 2008 in London, with such diverse characters as an international commodities trader and his sho...more

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Dec 17, 2011 Sharon Thomson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I received this book I was surprised at it’s size – 650 pages. I thought it would be a daunting task. However I was reluctant to finish it.

The short chapters; easy reading style and characterisations pull you in.
The hardworking Pakistani shopkeeper and his family, young and old.
The old dear, Petunia, down the road who lives on her own and family don’t visit very often. I smiled at the part where her daughter organised a Tesco delivery for her and she was so surprised and pleased when he to...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Cathy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have enjoyed reading Lanchester's previous books and especially liked his direct, exacting storytelling. So I was looking forward to this book and had it pre-ordered. Pleasing from the first chapter, I really did enjoy Capital and found myself mulling over characters whilst away from the book. Born and raised on the west-edge of London, I've always been fascinated by the ever-changing city and have often wondered how it would be to live in that house, or have that life.... What Lanchester does...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Alia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sweeping-and-delicious

This is one of those books that made look up every twenty minutes or so and say to my husband, "I really like this book!" CAPITAL is very smart and entertaining, well-plotted and beautiful written without ever coming across as "writerly." The novel moves across social classes and races in a gentrifying London neighborhood, but the feel is more George Eliot than Zadie Smith. Lanchester is a master of free indirect discourse (which I always enjoy and admire) and while we feel he really understands...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Jolene rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-literature

Really really enjoyed reading this. Some people may think that the book is too long and that it is drawn out, I didn't really want the stories of the characters to end (and I'm sure that their stories do not, which makes the book good because I continue to think about and care for the characters). John Lanchester has a feel for getting under the characters' skins and I thought that the voices of the characters are believable and had all the different dimensions I love discovering. I read some re...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This took me a while to get into but Once I did the characters became very real and very true to life. Its set in a part of London I know from Childhood, My mum was born in one of these typical West London Houses they used to have outside toilets and coal sheds and now fetch 3-4 Million once gentrified.
The characters are very believable and you follow their lives around a lose link of one street and a strange series of postcards.
The real star is the street itself changing and evolving like the c...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction

Of course I gave it 5 stars. I'm a total sucker for a big, neatly plotted, wry novel like this. In the years before the 2008 financial meltdown, an ordinary street in East London has suddenly become a fabulously gentrified neighborhood of working-class housing amped up on million-pound price tags. Now meet the neighbors, a combination of families who haved lived there for decades and the rich and famous newcomers. Throw in a disturbing, vaguely threatening prank a la guerrilla artist Banksy and...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

John Lanchester's Capital is an almost epic novel related to the current state of the world economy and to London in particular. It is a thoughtful, well-planned, elegantly written, and entirely absorbing novel. Moving between various families (and various members of those clans) who either live or work on Pepys Road in London, a formerly middle class but now aspiring to upper-class status road. Whether it is Roger, the imposing but empty (but still much nicer than his unbelievably insatiably gr...more

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May 03, 2013 Helen Moreton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Capital" by John Lanchester is set on a street in London, where the house prices have risen sharply, and the neighbours reflect the growing wealth and ethnic diversity of the city. We get to know each family intimately, what motivates them, and what their priorities are.We are encouraged to weigh up the true value of the homes and their owners.

Obviously 'Capital' has various meanings, referring to London and other capital cities, money, excellence and crimes, reflecting the many themes of the b...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Sally rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a great book about a street in London and how its occupants have changed over the years. The book follows a group of people whose lives are linked to the street and follows them through a period of time and what happens to them. The lives link well and it is an interesting look at relationships, consumerism and what drives people. There is a background story to the street which adds a mystery involves a group of postcards sent out to all the street addresses and progresses from there. I...more

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May 08, 2012 Vicky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am in a middle of this book and I am ready to give it much more than 5 stars. I read a lot of negative reviews about it and don't agree with them. This book is of the same quality as The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen or books by Lionel Shriver. It rips you apart, makes you suffer, makes you to recognise many familiar things from your own life. Lanchester affects his reader in a way that you want this book to stop; suddenly it is too painful to read, because you are so involved in the story....more

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Apr 07, 2013 Susan Francis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: set-in-london, book-group-reads, class-divides, five-star-reads, my-faves, read-in-2013, talking-books, will-read-again, books-reviewed

I would describe Capital as a literary version of a photo album of 21st century London living. I say this because it dips in and out of the lives of the characters, with their stories reading like you’re viewing snapshots. The characters include a middle-aged banker, his shopahlolic wife, their Hungarian nanny, a Polish builder, an elderly woman who discovers she is terminally ill, a young football player from Senegal who comes to London to play in the premiere league, a Pakistani family who own...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Joan Colby rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a pleasure to read an intelligent novel narrated in an authoritative and engaging voice. The various residents of Pepys Road include a banker and his family, an elderly woman dying of a brain tumor, a Pakistani family that runs a corner grocery, a teenage African soccer star and his father, as well as their connections, a Hungarian nanny, a Polish builder, a West African parking ticket officer, and so on. The residents are plagued by an anonymous note sender, and the Pakistani’s son is susp...more

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Mar 12, 2013 John Morse-Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A brilliant book! The best novel I have read for years. Superbly written, reads like a dream. As is te case with many novels with lots of characters, each chapter is often about a new character. But unlike other books, the author is not rigid about this - if the situation with one character is getting tense and exciting, he may spend 3 chapters on them. It makes you feel it's written with the reader in mind - he's not trying to get one up on the reader, making them wait just for the sake of it....more

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Aug 01, 2012 Doris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A wonderful book, interesting on so many levels. He writes wonderfully, easily, unpretentiously. If you consider the title, or hear the subject matter--the lives of various people in London prior and during the financial crash of the 2008-- you might be put off. Don't be. These are wonderful characters, mostly likable and engaging with few exceptions, but all real and memorable. Some wealthy, some poor, immigrants; all struggling in one way or another. There's a mystery here, too. Lanchester in...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Joanna (J.F.Penn) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. The multiple strands of the story are tied together by one street, Pepys Road, which was once a bad area but has improved over the years. This has led to a mixed group of people living there and we glimpse their lives and through them, London in all its variety. The rich banker, the dying widow, an immigrant Indian family, the Polish worker ... all the characters are richly drawn and a mystery ties the book together. It has echoes of One day In September by Sebastian...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Sarah Harkness rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I listened to this book as an unabridged audiobook and I absolutely loved it, didn't want it to end, I was so fascinated by the characters, I loved them all, even silly Arabella. It was so painfully true, beautifully observed, made me nostalgic for living in London, not because it any in any way glamorises the place, but it captures the complexity and connectivity, the buzz. The City scenes rang true to my memories, and the types of lives I knew less about, like Rahinka and Shahid, or 'Bogdan',...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Gary rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I hate London. it scares me. I love this book about the Capital and it's effects. The city and money are the underlying motivating forces in this novel. I liked the individual stories which were well drawn, especially Petunia and her daughter. Very moving depiction of age,death and coming face to face with mortality. The daughters mixed feelings surely are a wake up call to those who want legalised euthanasia. behind every motive capital is a major player.
I loved Roger,s final euphoric declarat...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Catherine Weller rated it 5 of 5 stars

Capital begins with the households of London's Pepys Road each receiving a card that states, "We want what you have." Those menacing and mysterious notes are the jumping off point for Lanchester's brilliant exploration of modern London. From the financial trader in the midst of a growing midlife and career crises, to the Pakistani family struggling with faith and family, to a dying woman and her street artist son, Lanchester effortlessly weaves myriad stories into brief chapters to create a writ...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Vivian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really loved this book. It's a big British novel that delves into the lives of a handful of residents of a tony street in London and explores, among other things, the value of a consumption-driven life around the time of the recent European economic collapse. There is a central storyline about some unnerving occurrences on the road which binds the residents' stories together, but otherwise we get a close look at an assortment of individual lives that intersect across class and cultural lines....more

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Nov 07, 2012 Zeit.punkt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Inhaltsangabe:

Auf den ersten Blick ist die Pepys Road im Londoner Süden eine Straße wie jede andere: Dort Leben alte Menschen, junge Familien, Hausfrauen, Bänker, dort gibt es einen kleinen Kiosk, dort gehen Handwerker und Lieferanten ein und aus und dort verrichten Politessen ihre Arbeit.

Auf dem zweiten Blick ist diese Straße doch nicht ganz so gewöhnlich: Die Häuser sind ein Vermögen wert, viele Bewohner gehören der gehobenen Mittelschicht an und jemand scheint sich genau daran zu stören, denn...more Inhaltsangabe:

Auf den ersten Blick ist die Pepys Road im Londoner Süden eine Straße wie jede andere: Dort Leben alte Menschen, junge Familien, Hausfrauen, Bänker, dort gibt es einen kleinen Kiosk, dort gehen Handwerker und Lieferanten ein und aus und dort verrichten Politessen ihre Arbeit.

Auf dem zweiten Blick ist diese Straße doch nicht ganz so gewöhnlich: Die Häuser sind ein Vermögen wert, viele Bewohner gehören der gehobenen Mittelschicht an und jemand scheint sich genau daran zu stören, denn den Bewohnern werden Postkarten mit Fotos ihrer Häuser zugeschickt, auf denen immer derselbe Satz vermerkt ist: “Wir wollen, was ihr habt.”

Bewertung:

John Lanchester beschreibt das Leben genau jener Bewohner, deren Schicksal unweigerlich mit der Pepys Road verbunden ist. Ein Jahr lang begleitet der Leser diese Menschen, lernt sie und ihr Leben kennen, lernt Menschen lieben und hassen, fühlt Kummer, Trauer und Mitleid, schmunzelt und lacht über die Bewohner, oder schüttelt den Kopf über so viel vorgefundener Ignoranz und Egoismus.

Diese Gefühlsregungen und viele mehr sind alle in der Pepys Road und damit in diesem wunderbaren Roman zu finden. Selten habe ich einen Roman gelesen, der so voller Gefühl, Charme und leiser Ironie ist. Dabei ist das Konzept Lanchesters ganz einfach: die Darstellung gewöhnlicher Menschen mit gewöhnlichen Problemen, die so überall auf der Welt zu finden sind. Und doch ist es ganz so einfach nicht. Dieses Feingefühl, mit dem Lanchester die Schicksale der Figuren beschreibt, ist der Schlüssel zu all der Emotionalität, die sich zwischen den Zeilen verbirgt.Dieser Roman ist zugleich eine Hommage und eine Kritik an das Leben und an unsere Gesellschaft. In Zeiten der Finanzkrise zeigen sich menschliche Abgründe, aber auch vergessene Traditionen.

Doch Kapital beinhaltet mehr. Die Bewohner der Pepys Road mögen zwar ihr eigenes Leben haben und sich über die anderen Bewohnern nur durch Tratsch und Klatsch oder durch zufällige Begegnungen ein Bild machen können, dennoch verbindet sie ein Element, welches zugleich den Rahmen für dieses Roman bietet: die zunächst harmlos erscheinenden und wenig beachtete Postkarten mit der Aufschrift “Wir wollen, was ihr habt” werden aufdringlicher, sodass sich die Polizei einschalten muss. Denn dem Übeltäter reichen diese fotographischen Postkarten bald nicht mehr aus. Und auch dieses Element binden Lanchester geschickt in seinen Roman ein, sodass es nicht nur einen Rahmenhandlung ist, sondern ein Bezugspunkt und ein roter Faden, an dem sich die Einzelschicksale entlangziehen.

Zu guter Letzt muss der angenehm geistvolle Sprachstil Lanchesters angesprochen werden. Die feine Ironie, die manchmal nur eine sanfte Stichelei ist, andererort aber durchaus sarkastische Züge annehmen kann, belebt den Roman. Durch sie wird der Facettenreichtum des Romans erst lebendig, sie trägt dazu bei, dass einzelne Figuren noch lange in Erinnerungen bleiben, sie ist es, die den Leser so manche (vielleicht sogar eigene) Verhaltensweise überdenken lässt, ohne dabei zu moralisieren oder ein unangeehmes Gefühl zu hinterlassen. Genau dieses macht Lanchesters Leistung aus: leise Kritik ohne gehobenen Zeigefinger.

Fazit:

Ein emotionaler und lebendiger Roman über das Leben, die Gesellschaft und nicht zuletzt über London. Ein Roman, der von Menschen erzählt, die in Erinnerung bleiben, ein Roman, mit bemerkenswertem Feingefühl für Ironie, kurz: ein äußerst lesenswerter Roman!(less)

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Oct 06, 2012 Krenner1 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Had never read this author and I want to read more. His writing smoothly unravels a tale and pulls you in with wit and a keen ability to explain human nature. In this story, residents who live on an upscale street in London start getting odd postcards in the mail...odd, at first, then more sinister. So there is a mild who-done-it component, but more so, the author takes us into the homes and reveals the lives of each family living side-by-side, and how they each have their own dramas. Greatly en...more

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About John Lanchester

John Lanchester is the author four novels and two books of non-fiction. He was born in Germany and moved to Hong Kong. He studied in UK. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and was awarded the 2008 E.M. Forster Award. He lives in London.

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“The person doing the worrying experiences it as a form of love; the person being worried about experiences it as a form of control.” — 8 people liked it

“On the opposite wall was a Damien Hirst spot painting, bought by Arabella after a decent bonus season. Roger's considered view of the painting, looking at it from aesthetic, art-historical, interior-design, and psychological points of view, was that it had cost forty-seven thousand pounds, plus VAT.” — 4 people liked it

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