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We All Fall Down
by
Peter Barry
We All Fall Down is a vivid and compelling narrative of middle class friends and families, relationships and the contemporary workplace. Kate and Hugh Drysdale, like many couples, buy a house that stretches them to the limits financially. Hugh looks at the soaring property market, the fact he’s earning a good salary, and all the signs of a booming economy and believes ever...more
Paperback, First, 336 pages
Published
2012
by Transit Lounge
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The interesting thing about this book is that it is not obvious whether it is a male or female author. Most books I am able to tell without looking up the author's name.
Although the protagonist, Hugh, is male, there is no bias in his favour in the story. It is a tale of woe without pathos. Hugh goes on a downward spiral from top marketing job with flash house, car, money, beautiful wife and son. He ends up with nothing but a realisation that he needs to maintain his moral standards and act with...more
Although the protagonist, Hugh, is male, there is no bias in his favour in the story. It is a tale of woe without pathos. Hugh goes on a downward spiral from top marketing job with flash house, car, money, beautiful wife and son. He ends up with nothing but a realisation that he needs to maintain his moral standards and act with...more
I really enjoyed Peter Barry’s quirky debut novel, I Hate Martin Amis et al, but its successor is a little more conventional. I think it may really resonate with the mortgage-stress generation…
In contemporary Australia, it’s this generation which is often seduced into buying an over-large home with a massive mortgage, which means that they are therefore stuck with working such long hours that they have no time to enjoy the home or each other’s company. (Australians apparently have the largest ho...more
In contemporary Australia, it’s this generation which is often seduced into buying an over-large home with a massive mortgage, which means that they are therefore stuck with working such long hours that they have no time to enjoy the home or each other’s company. (Australians apparently have the largest ho...more
If you think the corporate world is real life, then perhaps this book isn't for you.
Peter Barry explores the artificial light under which certain personality types and sets of behaviours grow unnaturally strong, whilst intelligence, talent and soul count for very little. I found his portrayal almost cathartic for all the toxins I've absorbed by watching idiocy thrive over the years.
But the other aspect is Peter Barry's writing. His fluency with imagery means a rich read, many moments of aptnes...more
Peter Barry explores the artificial light under which certain personality types and sets of behaviours grow unnaturally strong, whilst intelligence, talent and soul count for very little. I found his portrayal almost cathartic for all the toxins I've absorbed by watching idiocy thrive over the years.
But the other aspect is Peter Barry's writing. His fluency with imagery means a rich read, many moments of aptnes...more
Whilst the book is well written, I initially found the story shallow, empty and an uninspiring insight to the advertising industry or even life. The conclusion was a stark contrast packed with hard and fast insights into the authours philosophical examination of the consumer driven world we have come to live in. This book is worth reading not for the story itself, but for the examination of ethics, or lack of, in our modern life and what it really means to contribute to society.
Yesterday afternoon I felt angry with my husband and I couldn't remember why. Turns out this book had got inside my head and made me angry and anxious about everything. I guess that's a point in favour of it, right? But reading this isn't a hugely pleasurable experience. It looks into a lot of common suburban anxieties about work, and money, and paying the mortgage, and whether you're living in the right place, and how you never see your friends and you're wasting your life and you're probably a...more
Advertising exec in Sydney with dream house in the burbs has his life come tumbling down. Recession hits, friends are made redundant and, whilst fearing for his job and working round the clock - the campaigns are messed with and his wife leaves him. Pacey at first with great narrative but the last part seems to slump away into the inevitable. Shame!
Jun 27, 2012
Robyn Canny
added it
What was I thinking? A book about the advertising industry ..... so I made it about half way through before I was sick of reading about egotistical, self indulgent, badly behaved advertising agents ripping off clients. Don't even care if anyone redeemed themselves at the end!
So, now you know my feelings about agencies!!
So, now you know my feelings about agencies!!
Terrible - a truly depressing story that goes nowhere and is littered with unpleasant unlikeable characters. As for the 'hero' - never has a book character been more in need of a swift kick up the ass. Should have picked a Mills & Boon novel.....
Contemporary fiction set in the cut throat world of advertising. The book touches on many of the issues facing the young upwardly mobile generation. An enjoyable read.
None of the characters were likeable enough for me to keep reading. Didn't finish it.
Advertising can have an insidious effect on people.
I was a bit disappointed in this boked I liked the idea, but the characters were poorly developed an unlikeable. In particular, the female characters were very two dimensional. It id different to what I normally read which is a god thing, and we have a some good discussions at book club about it.
May 02, 2013
Anna
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