book data
120 ratings,
3.79
average rating, 12 reviews
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published
February 16th 1996
by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
(first published 1996)
details
Hardcover, 512 pages
isbn
0747523797
(isbn13: 9780747523796)
description
If you haven't discovered the black-magic world of British novelist Rupert Thomson, this quality paperback edition of his psychological thriller, The …more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 181)
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5 stars (29)
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4 stars (47)
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3 stars (36)
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2 stars (6)
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1 star (2)
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avg 3.79
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in August, 2008
I stumbled across this little psychological thriller at a thrift store. Something moved me to pick it up, and I'm glad I did; although it seems to take a kind of drastic curve toward the last third of the book, I urge you to stick with it. It's fascinating.
The narrator is a man who has been blinded by a stray bullet lodging in his brain, damaging his occipital cortex. Because of this, his eyes still perceive light, but his brain is no longer able to form an image of the outside worl...more
The narrator is a man who has been blinded by a stray bullet lodging in his brain, damaging his occipital cortex. Because of this, his eyes still perceive light, but his brain is no longer able to form an image of the outside worl...more
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Read in June, 2009
This book was fascinating. It starts with a man being shot and losing his sight. Except... maybe he can see after all.... but only at night. The entire book is his adventure, investigating the disappearance of a beautiful woaman, or maybe she not really beautiful and his sight is just a delusion..... In the middle of the book, we suddenly change narrators and drop back in time fifty years and the reader is completely confused... until it all comes back together at the end, brilliantly. I cant wa...more
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Read in October, 2007
I'd heard such good things about Rupert Thompson. I might try another book down the road, but this one was uniquely terrible, I couldn't even finish it. From the unoriginal, solipsistic narrator to the meandering pace and dearth of any suspense or momentum, I couldn't help but think of the author sitting down every day and arbitrarily picking something new for his protagonist to do. ("Today I'll have him order a pastry!" ... "Today he should meet yet another person who's unexplain...more
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Read in April, 2008
I've had this on my shelf for a while. I was disappointed by 'Divided Kingdom' and I hoped that this novel wouldn't further distance me from Thomson. The mixed reviews on Amazon and here didn't help either, but I took the plunge...
... and I'm very glad I did. Again Thomson creates a strange land that is both familiar and alien at the same time. You feel like you recognise the place, but somehow it seems more unfriendly than anywhere you've actually been.
Within these h...more
... and I'm very glad I did. Again Thomson creates a strange land that is both familiar and alien at the same time. You feel like you recognise the place, but somehow it seems more unfriendly than anywhere you've actually been.
Within these h...more
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One of the weirdest books I have ever read... surreal and at the same time very realistic, definitely original, unpredictable, disturbing, fascinating, unpredictable, sleazy, paranoid, ... Man gets shot in the parking lot (page 1), becomes blind but soon discovers that he can see in the dark, then his odyssey starts... very good! but probably not for everybody...
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Read in August, 2009
This is a twisted and somewhat Lynchian book. There are a lot of really well-done moments, and the narrative in 'Carving Babies' is gripping, but it's just too uneven. Definitely worth the read if you dig twisted fiction.
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This book was VERY interesting...I read it before I got into eyecare, and thought it was fascinating. Reading it AFTER I got into eyecare gave it a whole new depth. Loved it.
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Read in August, 2009
Wow, talk about a different book. This is the second book of Rupert Thomson I have read, I have the first book 5 stars because I just loved it. I enjoyed this book, he really has a style of his own which is very refreshing to find, however this book was just not the type of book I enjoy, therefore the 3 stars...as far as being well written he gets all 5 stars again.
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The Insult (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) by Rupert Thomson (1997)
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Read in June, 2008
Rupert Thomson is an extremely talented writer whose subject matter has a tendency to lean toward the subculture/sexual deviancy side of things. If I'm to judge him by "The Insult", which is only the second book of his I've read so far, he also likes to play around with shifting points-of-view, something that pays off in the end (in this case), but I still find it jarring and it almost lead to my not finishing the novel.
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I still don't know if there was something I was meant to understand in this book? Did I miss something?
The concept intrigued me but it didn't go anywhere.
The concept intrigued me but it didn't go anywhere.
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Read in December, 2008
The only good book I've read recently. Damn good it is too.
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