Poppy Shakespeare
by Clare Allan
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of Poppy Shakespeare.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
This book is not in any lists. Go add it to a list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 74)
Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in February, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
Read in June, 2008
An enjoyable send up of mental health institutions, bureaucracy generally, and government. The narrator, N, is a patient or "client" of a day mental health hospital -- she spends her days there, but lives in her own apartment. The story she tells is of a new patient named Poppy Shakespeare who arrives in the hospital insisting that nothing is wrong and that she's being unfairly forced into treatment. The narrative style is somewhat stream-of-consciousness (and a "mentally ill&q...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone with an interest in or knowledge of mental health issues
I'm giving this book four stars in my opinion (I thought about giving it 5!) but its not for everyone. Its a particular sort of portrayal of life within and around a mental health unit in the UK, written from the point of view of one of the day patients. You know how sometimes you read a first hand accout (like A Million Little Pieces) and wonder how on earth the person could have written this? Well this is a book which will NOT leave you asking that! Its a fantastic read but you've have to be w...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
This book is meant to portray how mental patients are treated and how, just perhaps it is not them that are mad, but the hospital and society itself. Fine, but it was badly executed.
First of all you're never quite sure what year it is, as the writting style and descriptions seem old-fashion but then there are references to ebay. Also I feel it is very British-audience centred.
Secondly the names are ridiculous! Poppy Shakespeare, Veronica Salmon, Tony Balaclava, Ministry of Madness, ser...more
First of all you're never quite sure what year it is, as the writting style and descriptions seem old-fashion but then there are references to ebay. Also I feel it is very British-audience centred.
Secondly the names are ridiculous! Poppy Shakespeare, Veronica Salmon, Tony Balaclava, Ministry of Madness, ser...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Hornby wrote about this in The Believer - a first novel, set in an institution - "a brilliant fictional creation whose subordinate clauses tumble over each other in an undisciplined, gloriosu rush of North London energy. It's not often you finish a first novel by a writer and you are seized by the need to read her second immediately."
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2007
An impressive first novel, a bit hard to read--grammatically and sentence structure-wise.
When everyone (who has read more than you so far) tells you that something is horrific is about to happen, it doesn't seem so horrific when you actually get there. This false expectation possibly ruined the novel for me.
When everyone (who has read more than you so far) tells you that something is horrific is about to happen, it doesn't seem so horrific when you actually get there. This false expectation possibly ruined the novel for me.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
Who is sane and who is crazy? Is it Poppy Shakespeare, or is it N, the narrator and long-time patient of the mental hospital; where both are wasting their time during the day? Or maybe, it's the staff from the institute and bureaucracy itself who are out of control?
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
This is written in British slang, so it was kind of hard to read at first. I have a hard time putting down any book, but I should have put this one down. I did not like the ending at all.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2008
Ik moest hier heel erg inkomen. Maar opeens had ik het te pakken. Een hele originele stijl. Waar ligt de lijn tussen gekte en normaal zijn. En wat is gek en wat is normaal. Bijzonder boek.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
Begonnen maar veel van hetzelfde en na 30 bladzijde begint het al te vervelen. Spijtig.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
Notes on a Scandal in a day hospital... both hilarious and disturbing
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Don't like the use of slang speak in this but I will persevere...
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
Confusing
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
