false <![CDATA[The Rain Before It Falls]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256164460m/4786705.jpg 895807 15 Following The Rotters' Club and its sequel, The Closed Circle, Jonathan Coe now offers his first stand-alone novel in a decade, a story of three generations of women whose destinies reach from the English countryside in World War II to London, Toronto, and southern France at the turn of the new century. Evacuated to Shropshire during the Blitz, eight-year-old Rosamond forged a bond with her cousin Beatrix that augured the most treasured and devastating moments of her life. She recorded these memories sixty years later, just before her death, on cassettes she bequeathed to a woman she hadn’t seen in decades. When her beloved niece, Gill, plays the tapes in hopes of locating this unwitting heir, she instead hears a family saga swathed in promise and betrayal: the story of how Beatrix, starved of her mother’s affection, conceived a fraught bloodline that culminated in heart-stopping tragedy — its chief victim being her own granddaughter. And as Rosamond explores the ties that bound these generations together and shaped her experience all along, Gill grows increasingly haunted by how profoundly her own recollections — not to mention the love she feels for her grown daughters, listening alongside her — are linked to generations of women she never knew. A stirring, masterful portrait of motherhood and family secrets, The Rain Before It Falls is also a meditation on the tapestries we weave out of the past, whether transcendent or horrific. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times for his "sustained, intricate brilliance," Jonathan Coe once again proves himself "an artist of character and of his characters’ stories," here more astutely than ever before. 2269266 6 1 2007 The Rain Before It Falls total:386|5:52|4:131|3:149|2:41|1:13| 386 1326 670 107 1705383 0307268039 9780307268037 33 15 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256164450m/1705383.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1705383.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 4 4 false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 21:18:53 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 06:32:33 -0800 2009 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 5 2 false Tue Feb 19 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 19 07:01:14 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 19 07:01:14 -0800 2008 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 5 1 false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 15 14:12:58 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 15 14:40:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 4 1 false Sun Sep 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 00:23:57 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 05:51:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 5 2 false Mon Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 07:52:18 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 31 17:49:23 -0700 2008
The book is about a family tragedy carried down through generations, and the woman who was con...more...]]> 2263258 0141033215 9780141033211 29 4 Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2263258.Rain_Before_It_Falls 3 1 false Sun Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 01:58:50 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 05:49:58 -0700 2008
Perhaps because I've read so much Jonathan Coe at this stage, I'm overly familiar and never engaged with the characters as being anything ...more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 0 0 false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 21 15:42:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 15:43:46 -0800 2009 STOP SMILING review of The Rain Before it Falls:

Jonathan Coe’s The Rain Before It Falls is told largely in the words of the elderly Rosamund, who records the narrative on four audiocassettes while consuming a fatal dose of Valium and Scotch at her home in Shropshire, England. In...more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 5 0 true Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 06:51:28 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 06:51:47 -0700 2009
At the start of the book, we know an elderly aunt has died and she has left money to her niece (Gill) and to another relative - the blind imogen.

...more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 4 0 true Tue Dec 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 13:37:54 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 09:58:49 -0800 2008 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 5 0 false Thu Apr 09 18:40:18 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 18:42:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 3 0 false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 11 09:30:14 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 11 09:30:36 -0800 2009 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 3 0 false Sun Jan 04 13:43:55 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 26 04:49:17 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 04 13:43:55 -0800 2009 What a Carve Up!, although it is also the tale of a family and it deals with family relationships, cursed generations and secrets, and certainly not as funny. Yet the book has its moments of grace, some parts are really well put –not the mo...more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 4 0 false Sat Nov 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Sep 06 07:37:41 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 15 10:22:41 -0800 2008
I read this immediately after the long, unusual novel "The Savage Detectives" by Roberto Bolano, so it seemed a bit too straightforward at first. However,...more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 3 0 false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 08:45:49 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 08:57:46 -0700 2008
The first chapter, the set up, pissed me off mightily. Far too flowery. I don't know what Coe...more...]]> 1705383 0307268039 9780307268037 33 15 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256164450m/1705383.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1705383.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 2 0 false Sat Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 22:33:08 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 22:33:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2263258 0141033215 9780141033211 29 4 Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2263258.Rain_Before_It_Falls 3 0 false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 09:44:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 14:01:25 -0700 2008
The entire book should have been dialogue, but it was all very 'written'. Even for an old woman (who might have a more...more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 4 0 false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Sep 12 06:38:47 -0700 2007 Sun Dec 09 19:45:32 -0800 2007 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 2 0 false Mon Aug 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 13:38:57 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 13:42:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 895807 0670917281 9780670917280 306 85 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179267340m/895807.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/895807.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 4 0 false Sat Jul 11 13:49:02 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 13:57:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1705383 0307268039 9780307268037 33 15 The Rain Before It Falls 3.44 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256164450m/1705383.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1705383.The_Rain_Before_It_Falls 3 0 false Sat Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 10:37:28 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 10:40:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=4786705