Gold
by Dan Rhodes
published
May 31st 2007
by Canongate Books Ltd
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binding
Paperback, 198 pages
isbn
1841959537
(isbn13: 9781841959535)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 125)
Read in September, 2008
I often dislike books that try to be funny - and the covers of this are adorned with comments about how hilarious this novel is. But I really enjoyed my other Rhodes read so was keen to give this a go.
And I wasn't disappointed. It was the right sort of funny for me, more a case of keen observational humour. And it was very British with it which helped. A neat little story that allowed for a true feeling of warmth for the central character, Miyuki.
It almost makes me want to go to visi...more
And I wasn't disappointed. It was the right sort of funny for me, more a case of keen observational humour. And it was very British with it which helped. A neat little story that allowed for a true feeling of warmth for the central character, Miyuki.
It almost makes me want to go to visi...more
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Read in May, 2008
A fun, super-quick read with a great twist at the end. . .Gold takes place in a seaside Welsh village, where the reader meets the regulars at the local pub, as well as our story's heroine, Miyuki Woodward, a young lesbian interior designer who regularly holidays solo there. With small but telling details, Rhodes draws the reader into the daily rhythms of life in this sleepy town and slowly reveals the odd histories of its idiosyncratic residents who sport nicknames such as Septic Barry and Tall ...more
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Read in August, 2008
Hilarious! Rare is a novel that can carry comedic timing through its entirety to keep you laughing hard periodically throughout. Rhodes's excessive talent for building up to various punch lines for vignettes over and over is rare. He easily gets you giggling with a basic premise then repeatedly sideswipes the reader with something significantly funnier and most certainly unexpected. The story is the quaint sort that reminds me of a few movies rather than novels. Amelie, The Station Agent, and Wa...more
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it's one of my favourite books i've read in the last year, and i think it's rhodes best: touching and funny; absurd - well, actually make that, very, very funny - and, well, touching again. miyuki, the lesbian with the junk food addiction, is one of my favourite protagonists of all time.
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Read in July, 2008
My local bookstore recommended this and "let the Northern LIghst Erase My Name". Both books were quirky and a great read.
"Gold" by Dan Rhodes puts you into a bar on the coast of Wales and lets you sit. Unfortunately you are not drinking with the character. Would have been more fun. The story takes a wild
turn and I didn't want it to end. Septic Barry....a character
so weird, yet you start to like him, is just one of the many
odd balls that are sprinkled throughout the
"Gold" by Dan Rhodes puts you into a bar on the coast of Wales and lets you sit. Unfortunately you are not drinking with the character. Would have been more fun. The story takes a wild
turn and I didn't want it to end. Septic Barry....a character
so weird, yet you start to like him, is just one of the many
odd balls that are sprinkled throughout the
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Every summer, Miyuki takes a two-week vacation from her girlfriend in the same small Welsh town. She likes her privacy, but can't help engaging to some extent in the life of the village. At the end of each break, she goes home certain that things will be as she left them. A very quiet, absorbing, well-observed book, in which Miyuki finds that she is sometimes mistaken.
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
people who like quirkier tales
A quirky take on life. Miyuki is a half-Japanese lesbian who goes on a solo two-week vacation every year at the behest of her lover.
One day she decides to spray paint a rock she has spied on more than one occasion bright gold. Excitement ensues, the plot thickens.
Some of the best parts of of the book involve the names of characters and the way (what should be) dull routines are described.
Dan Rhodes is good. This is a lovely light read.
One day she decides to spray paint a rock she has spied on more than one occasion bright gold. Excitement ensues, the plot thickens.
Some of the best parts of of the book involve the names of characters and the way (what should be) dull routines are described.
Dan Rhodes is good. This is a lovely light read.
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Read in August, 2007
A lovely, quick read about a gal going off to a small Welsh town for her annual me-time. Oddness of characters and events not terribly twee or forced, they just are odd and the events are strange...like people and life are. The ending had me sad and puzzling and wishing things had gone otherwise. Am glad, though, the author ended it the way he did. It's not always wise for an author to do what's expected.
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Read in January, 2008
Most of the action takes place either on the cliffs of Wales, or inside one of its pubs. So funny that when I would try to read passages aloud to friends, I would be laughing so hard that I was crying and I could never actually get the sentences out. If you need a lovely book that is still a break from the super serious, check it out.
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Read in January, 2008
Does it warrant 'two stars' because it is really that bad? More justified in such low marks because it is really that boring. Talk about plodding along at an unassuming emotion-less amble. It's a shame, because there are a handful of quirky characters that are never really brought to life with all of their presented potential.
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Read in May, 2008
Bought this in London Heathrow airport and quite enjoyed it. Slim book, very English, quirky characters and funny. Set almost entirely in and around a Welsh pub--Rhodes touts a bunch of oddball locals who frequent the place while also getting us to be sympathetic to them. I'll have to seek more of his stuff out.
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Read in July, 2008
Some genuinely funny sections, which will mainly appeal to anyone who has been to a village pub, but in no way 'Flawless' or 'Immaculate', as quoted by the Guardian and Observer. Instead, it felt shallow and a bit pointless, making me wish I'd borrowed something else from the library instead.
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Read in March, 2008
Very quick read... finished it in a matter of hours over the course of a busy work day and into the evening. Funny, endearing, compelling characters that start out as caricatures. Nothing earth shattering, but quite enjoyable, and somehow very true-to-life in terms of the character quirks.
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