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6th out of 10 books
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The Man Who Wasn't There
by
Pat Barker
Twelve-year-old Colin knows little about his father except that he must have fought in the war. His mother, totally absorbed by the nightclub where she works, says nothing about him, and Colin turns to films for images of what his father might have been. Weaving in and out of Colin's real life, his imagined film explores issues of loyalty and betrayal and searches f...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
April 7th 2001
by Picador
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A short novel/longish novella that's in a way an extension of the Walter Mitty idea. Young Colin knows nothing of his father except that he must have fought -- and died? -- in Europe during World War II. His mother won't tell him anything; neither will any of the other adults around him. So, as he wanders around his postwar neighbourhood, Colin acts out some of what he believes his father's glorious adventures must have been -- and making of them a mental movie whose script Barkers offers ...more
I feel like I should have liked this book more than I did. The idea of it, an adolescent boy filtering his confused feelings and experiences through the movies he watches, is an appealing one but somehow I couldn’t get in sync with the rhythm of the story. By the time I got acclimated to it the book was already over. Maybe the fault is in me as the reader but this feels like a missed opportunity for a really interesting story.
Barker tells the story of a fatherless boy in 1950s Britain by weaving the boys imagination with reality. At issue is the boy's relationship with his mother, Viv, but also the boy's entrance into adolescence and his relationship with men. Barker explores the boy's uneasy relationships through movies, presenting his imagination as a script set among the French Resistance. The approach is interesting and works well.
I haven't read Barker before, but I was impressed by her spare writi...more
I haven't read Barker before, but I was impressed by her spare writi...more
Interesting book that will probably reveal more upon re-reading. It leaves plenty to the reader's imagination, and although that can be intriguing, it also makes the themes and main storyline hard to grasp at times.
While the actual story of this may not be the most gripping thing ever told, Barker's use of screenplay as a look into the mind of the protaganist is so damn interesting that I really couldn't put it down.
Not as gripping as the Regeneration Trilogy, but gives an intimate view into the stifled life of a young Brit.
Well, they can't ALL be winners.
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Pat Barker was born in Thornaby-on-Tees in 1943. She was educated at the London School of Economics and has been a teacher of history and politics.
Her books include the highly acclaimed Regeneration trilogy Regeneration; The Eye in the Door, winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize; and The Ghost Road, winner of the Booker Prize; as well as seven other novels. Pat Barker is married and li...more
More about Pat Barker...
Her books include the highly acclaimed Regeneration trilogy Regeneration; The Eye in the Door, winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize; and The Ghost Road, winner of the Booker Prize; as well as seven other novels. Pat Barker is married and li...more
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