Set in post-WWII suburban London, this superb debut novel charts the downward spiral and tortured redemption of a young man shattered by loss. The ...
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Mar 31, 2011
The only thing that sustained me through the 440 some pages of this piece of literary TRIPE was the thought of the chance to REAM it in a review. I swear that if my book group makes me read ONE MORE MEDIOCRE ORANGE PRIZE NOMINATION I will have to slit my wrists. I shoulda guessed… it does have a sticker on the cover touting it as a "Richard and Judy Summer Read." (If you want a very depressing summer read.)
This book is a sort of an Atonement wanna-be… Plot, characters, s More...
This book is a sort of an Atonement wanna-be… Plot, characters, s More...
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Aug 18, 2008
Victoria
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Every now and again you come across a book that really appeals to you. After reading the blurb on the back, looking at the cover (judge a book by its cover? Me? Erm… yes, quite often) and reading a few well-chosen reviews, I decided that The Outcast was definitely going to be a book I would enjoy. It ticked all the boxes: Lots of praise from literary sources? Yep. Setting some time in the British past? Uh-huh. Dysfunctional families? Hell, yeah. So why, upon finishing, did I award it only two st
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(5 people liked it)
Jun 15, 2008
I though The Outcast was a tremendous book. The writing style was lean and evocative at the same time. You'd never know it was a first novel. I found the characters believable and came to really care what happened to them even as they sometimes exasperated me. The plot dragged a tiny bit in the middle but persisting is worth the effort. I read the last few chapters while on the exercise bike and cried the whole time. Moving but definitely not sappy or sentimental.
Lewis, the main character More...
Lewis, the main character More...
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Apr 16, 2008
Jeanne
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Lewis Aldridge has been released after 2 years in prison. It is 1957, and he is coming home. But for some reason, nobody's really keen on seeing Lewis again. Why?
Rewind to 1945. His father has just returned from the war and somewhat dismayed to see that young Lewis has become quite attached to his mother. For his part, Lewis barely remembers his father. A few years later, in a tragic accident, Lewis's drunken mother drowns in the river, and nothing is ever the same again. For More...
Rewind to 1945. His father has just returned from the war and somewhat dismayed to see that young Lewis has become quite attached to his mother. For his part, Lewis barely remembers his father. A few years later, in a tragic accident, Lewis's drunken mother drowns in the river, and nothing is ever the same again. For More...
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Apr 24, 2008
Jenny
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This was an interesting book for me...I quickly got into it and devoured the first 100 pages and then all of a sudden the narrative just seemed to come to a halt for me. I put the book down and didn't really have any motivation to pick it up again for several days. Then I found out the book was due back to the library and I couldn't renew it because it was on hold for someone else. So I decided I was going to keep it and try to finish as quickly as possible. After another 10 or 15 slow pages
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(1 person liked it)
Oct 13, 2008
Fredsky
rated it:
I'm rating this a 3.7. Why can't we rate decimally?
It's a good book. Depressing, most reviews say, and I disagree. Depressing would have been if Lewis STAYed home! Or if he'd worked for Dicky FOREVER! Sadie Jones is a fine writer. I'm sorry I can't reach for her next book tomorrow. Some scenes were a bit over-the-top for me, mostly Lewis going berserk at home. I think Ms. Jones depicted these family lives perfectly, as well as the village cruelty. She did avoid life in Brixt More...
It's a good book. Depressing, most reviews say, and I disagree. Depressing would have been if Lewis STAYed home! Or if he'd worked for Dicky FOREVER! Sadie Jones is a fine writer. I'm sorry I can't reach for her next book tomorrow. Some scenes were a bit over-the-top for me, mostly Lewis going berserk at home. I think Ms. Jones depicted these family lives perfectly, as well as the village cruelty. She did avoid life in Brixt More...
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Aug 02, 2011
This book begins with the release of a young man, Lewis Aldridge, from Brixton prison in 1957. He is the privileged son of a Surrey stockbroker: but how has he come to be a blight on his family and on his community? Even the maid will not be alone in a room with him.
Sadie Jones paints a sad picture of a hypocritical surburban post-war society in her debut novel, ‘The Outcast’. The themes covered within it are self-harm, domestic violence, loss, alcoholism and family breakdowns; heavy themes inde More...
Sadie Jones paints a sad picture of a hypocritical surburban post-war society in her debut novel, ‘The Outcast’. The themes covered within it are self-harm, domestic violence, loss, alcoholism and family breakdowns; heavy themes inde More...
Feb 27, 2009
Djrmel
rated it:
If Ian McEwen had ever been a sixteen year old girl, this is the book he would have written. A young boy loses his mother, and no one around him has the tools or the heart to help him recover. Instead, they all have their own levels of disfunction to travel through - all except one, who fanfic readers will recognize as a Mary Sue of the highest calibre. That's not to say this isn't a good read, if you enjoy a pretty good gothic mixed with a heavy dose of romantic idealism. My complaint is that
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Jan 30, 2009
Diane
rated it:
This story takes places in the 1950's in England, though much of the angst portrayed is just as common place today, no matter where you live.
We meet Lewis Aldridge at the beginning of the story, he is 19 years old and just out of prison for setting fire to a church. He is hoping for a new chance at life, a new beginning, but things are off to a rocky start with his father, right from the beginning.
The story then reverts back to Lewis' childhood. He is a happy though qui More...
We meet Lewis Aldridge at the beginning of the story, he is 19 years old and just out of prison for setting fire to a church. He is hoping for a new chance at life, a new beginning, but things are off to a rocky start with his father, right from the beginning.
The story then reverts back to Lewis' childhood. He is a happy though qui More...
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Feb 03, 2012
Ian
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Sep 29, 2011
dubh
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Ein sehr trauriges, wenngleich auch wunderbares Buch!
Lewis Aldridge lernt seinen Vater erst mit 7 Jahren richtig kennen, als dieser aus dem II. Weltkrieg nach England zurückkehrt. Zu seiner Mutter allerdings hat er eine sehr liebevolle und starke Beziehung und so streift er als Kind oft mit ihr durch die Wälder nahe seines Zuhauses während sein Vater in London arbeitet. Eines Tages passiert ein Unglück: Lewis' Mutter ertrinkt unglücklich bei einem Badeausflug im Fluß - ihr 10jähriger More...
Lewis Aldridge lernt seinen Vater erst mit 7 Jahren richtig kennen, als dieser aus dem II. Weltkrieg nach England zurückkehrt. Zu seiner Mutter allerdings hat er eine sehr liebevolle und starke Beziehung und so streift er als Kind oft mit ihr durch die Wälder nahe seines Zuhauses während sein Vater in London arbeitet. Eines Tages passiert ein Unglück: Lewis' Mutter ertrinkt unglücklich bei einem Badeausflug im Fluß - ihr 10jähriger More...
Aug 27, 2011
Deb
rated it:
The outcast of the title is a young man who returns home to his small, smug English village after serving two years in prison for arson. Poor Lewis Aldridge watches his mother drown when he is 10, and then lives under his father's silent blame and near-hatred. As he enters his teens, he starts cutting himself, drinking, and acting out violently. Nothing much changes when he is released from prison, and his only solace comes from his relationship with two girls next door, one of whom is routinely
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Jun 03, 2011
Sheila
rated it:
Here’s another book read on my trip to England and I’ve finally worked out why all the English books I’ve enjoyed recently seem to different from American ones—they’re all written in third person omniscient. I could quickly become accustomed to this—they do it so very well it seems completely natural, just vaguely foreign to my ex-pat reading style. The voice is perfectly suited to Sadie Jones’ quintessentially English tale of repressed emotion, unspoken care and secret pain in The Outcast. The
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Mar 05, 2011
rebellyell666
rated it:
Inhalt:
Lewis Alridge kommt aus einer privilegierten Familie. Als er eines Tages einen Ausflug mit seiner Mutter Elizabeth zum Fluss macht, ertrinkt diese. Der kleine Lewis steht so sehr unter Schock, dass er beinahe keinen Ton heraus bekommt. Sein Vater Gilbert ist wie gelähmt und hält sich von dem Tag an von seinem Sohn fern. Lewis wird von dort an zum Außenseiter…
Schreib-/Erzählstil:
Jones fiel mir zu manchen Teilen etwas schwer, da ich in ihrer charakterlichen Ums More...
Lewis Alridge kommt aus einer privilegierten Familie. Als er eines Tages einen Ausflug mit seiner Mutter Elizabeth zum Fluss macht, ertrinkt diese. Der kleine Lewis steht so sehr unter Schock, dass er beinahe keinen Ton heraus bekommt. Sein Vater Gilbert ist wie gelähmt und hält sich von dem Tag an von seinem Sohn fern. Lewis wird von dort an zum Außenseiter…
Schreib-/Erzählstil:
Jones fiel mir zu manchen Teilen etwas schwer, da ich in ihrer charakterlichen Ums More...
Dec 21, 2010
Lilian
rated it:
This novel won the Costa Award for a first novel and was short-listed for the 2008 Orange Prize, deservedly so. The first 2/3 of the novel is brilliant.
This is a coming of age story, not my favourite genre, but I couldn’t put it down and finished it in 2 days. Somehow I managed to help my children with their homework while completely absorbed in 1950′s Britain, where post-war repression, denial, and dissociation are a practised art in the village where Lewis Aldridge grows up.
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This is a coming of age story, not my favourite genre, but I couldn’t put it down and finished it in 2 days. Somehow I managed to help my children with their homework while completely absorbed in 1950′s Britain, where post-war repression, denial, and dissociation are a practised art in the village where Lewis Aldridge grows up.
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Jul 07, 2010
From Musings: 4.5 stars
When he was only 10 years old, Lewis Aldridge witnessed a terrible tragedy. Unable to express his feelings and shunned by his father, Lewis grew up a troubled young man. The Outcast opens with a prologue set in 1957, when 19-year-old Lewis is returning home after two years in prison. Sadie Jones then takes her readers back in time to recount Lewis’ childhood and the events that led him to commit a crime.
Lewis’ father Gilbert served in World War I More...
When he was only 10 years old, Lewis Aldridge witnessed a terrible tragedy. Unable to express his feelings and shunned by his father, Lewis grew up a troubled young man. The Outcast opens with a prologue set in 1957, when 19-year-old Lewis is returning home after two years in prison. Sadie Jones then takes her readers back in time to recount Lewis’ childhood and the events that led him to commit a crime.
Lewis’ father Gilbert served in World War I More...
Mar 15, 2010
Kiwiflora
rated it: 
THE OUTCAST by Sadie Jones
What a depressing, sad and sorry bag of bones this book is. I understand it was originally conceived as a screenplay, maybe that should have told everyone something that it didn't get further than that. But I also see that it is to become a movie directed by the guy who directed Shakespeare in Love. I really can't visualise how that will turn out, although movies have been made of much less. And that reminds me, even though the blurb on the back sounded a bit More...
What a depressing, sad and sorry bag of bones this book is. I understand it was originally conceived as a screenplay, maybe that should have told everyone something that it didn't get further than that. But I also see that it is to become a movie directed by the guy who directed Shakespeare in Love. I really can't visualise how that will turn out, although movies have been made of much less. And that reminds me, even though the blurb on the back sounded a bit More...
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Jul 19, 2008
Deb
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Who exactly decides when a person is an outcast? Has society really changed that much since 1950? Don't people still only want to hang with the "right" people? This book brings up a lot of questions that could lead to great discussions in a reading club. And Dickie....I loathe Dickie in this book. When you read it, you'll understand why. You are not stuck with your history. At any time in life you can chose a new direction and create your own new beginning. Thank God for new beg
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Jun 18, 2011
Mrsgaskell
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Sep 14, 2009
Lisa
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Feb 12, 2010
LindyLouMac
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An absorbing read in which it is I think impossible not to feel tremendously sympathetic towards the protagonist Lewis Aldridge who although only nineteen has already had an awful lot to cope with in his young life. What an unhappy young man although nobody seems to notice, or if they do they certainly do not offer to help him.
It was the 1950’s stiff upper lip era and this angry and deeply troubled young man was just labelled as a trouble maker.
The early years of hi More...
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Aug 07, 2011
Lisa
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An emotionally painful portrayal of the violent consequences that arise when a child grows up deprived of love and affection, as well as the hypocrisy and cruelty of small village life in the 50's, where a bereaved child is viewed as a problem to be ignored or sent away so that cocktails aren't interrupted, rather than comforted and loved.
Judging by the fury this book managed to inspire in me (I had to keep putting it down every five seconds so I could scream abuse at all but two of More...
Judging by the fury this book managed to inspire in me (I had to keep putting it down every five seconds so I could scream abuse at all but two of More...
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Apr 26, 2009
Jacquelynn
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Jun 10, 2009
Janell
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I read this book literally in three sittings. I read over half of it in the first sitting. Reading about "the outcast" was like watching an artist paint an interesting scene, slowly but with a good pace. This scene was post-WW2 era England where families with plenty of money and a lack of feeling for their children create plenty of melodrama just below the surface. A surface, for all intents and purposes, which should not be disturbed.
Fortunately for the reader, the out More...
Fortunately for the reader, the out More...
May 01, 2008
Stephanie
rated it:
Okay. This is grim. But having read to the end now, I can say that the writing is sufficiently beautiful and the author is in such tight and absolute control of her material, that it's worth it. It's a pleasure to read and the ending redeems much of the grimness. The young man we root for finds his way. A young girl we fear for is terribly brave. Together, they provide an uplifting and very believable resolution. It's really a lovely book.
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Jun 13, 2009
Nightfalltwen
rated it:
I can see now why the little blurbs on the front of my copy that say things like "Riveting", "Addictive" and "Mesmerizing" were put there. Out of the list of words I would choose to describe this book, those three are at the very top.
The story is heart-wrenching. As a child, Lewis Alderidge suffers through one of the most traumatic things a child can ever go through. A full out witnessing of his mother's death by drowning. It affects him on so many multi More...
The story is heart-wrenching. As a child, Lewis Alderidge suffers through one of the most traumatic things a child can ever go through. A full out witnessing of his mother's death by drowning. It affects him on so many multi More...
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Jul 31, 2011
Frances
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What a wonderful novel, and a first novel at that. The author's depiction of the British "stiff upper lip" and "keeping up appearances," so important to the generations preceding the 1960s, is sadly accurate. Mental health was never discussed in "good" families. Anything "improper" is kept secret within each family.
The main character, Lewis, is a broken boy, and we don't know until the end of the story whether there is any hope of his ever findin More...
The main character, Lewis, is a broken boy, and we don't know until the end of the story whether there is any hope of his ever findin More...
Dec 25, 2008
Linda
rated it:
I will not forget this one and will be looking forward to more books by Sadie Jones.
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Dec 29, 2010
Kirsty
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This book got off to a bad start with me. It hooks you into the story by showing what happens way later on. In this case we see nineteen year old Lewis Aldridge being released from prison in the 1950s. Then we go right back in time to see the events of his childhood starting with when his dad returns from fighting the second world war. I don't like the 'flash forward' device in fiction and rarely think it adds to the story, and I didn't feel it was needed here. This tale is all about how an ord
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Jan 20, 2010
Louise
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