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Spring-Clean by Proxy
Bio sci-fi with a drizzle of romance. Vanessa Palmer runs a pre-school. She'd love a relationship. But just as a relationship might be in the offing in comes an intervention from space that makes survival the only game in town.
331 pages, Paperback
First published April 27, 2014
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 27, 2016
There's a bit of a mixup on Amazon at the moment, so this one I downloaded by mistake, but Amazon should rectify this soon.
Anyway, I am completely out of my comfort zone, but I thought, oh well, it's here now. I'll read it.
I surprisingly enjoyed it! I'm absolutely amazed at myself. Just goes to show.
For me it was whack in places but definitely kept my attention because of it.
Mushrooms have taken on a whole dimension for me!
If I knew the genre before hand I would have steered clear but I guess this has done me a favour. In a strange way.
It has a good story plot, some romance and then comes in the science stuff. Bit like watching one of those outrageous films that are popular like an outbreak of large worms, or gases in the air changing people and they're perception on things.
It has heroines and saviours that come through at the end.
I gave it 4 stars because in a odd and strange unusual way I liked it very much.
I can't believe I'm saying that! Me who reads mostly thrillers!
In a way, it was like a thriller with scientific elements.
The author offered the book to me. I thought I'd read and review it.
Anyway, I am completely out of my comfort zone, but I thought, oh well, it's here now. I'll read it.
I surprisingly enjoyed it! I'm absolutely amazed at myself. Just goes to show.
For me it was whack in places but definitely kept my attention because of it.
Mushrooms have taken on a whole dimension for me!
If I knew the genre before hand I would have steered clear but I guess this has done me a favour. In a strange way.
It has a good story plot, some romance and then comes in the science stuff. Bit like watching one of those outrageous films that are popular like an outbreak of large worms, or gases in the air changing people and they're perception on things.
It has heroines and saviours that come through at the end.
I gave it 4 stars because in a odd and strange unusual way I liked it very much.
I can't believe I'm saying that! Me who reads mostly thrillers!
In a way, it was like a thriller with scientific elements.
The author offered the book to me. I thought I'd read and review it.
September 12, 2016
This book started strong and full of promise. Its writing style is monotone and disjointed, but monotone and disjointed like a fox.
It started to slack off at about the 50% mark when the dialog between characters began to flow loquacious. Some of that was me not knowing British English, and some of that was Bayley knowing so exactly who was talking in a particular conversation that he often forgot to tell us.
The last bit of the book made a bold move by staying honed in on its main character. Giving us a strange and demented account of her world because she had been made strange and demented. I lacked the patience to fully appreciate it. Also, the science, which was based on the "one big lie" in the beginning, ended up falling prey to my inverse ratio of suspension of disbelief. And the reason I have trouble forgiving the science is because the harrowing bleakness could have been maintained fairly easily without deliberately countermanding the known.
But... even if you're like me and the inflexible clipboard of reality is always at hand, even when you deliberately set out to suspend your disbelief, the first half of the book is well worth the toll charged to finish it.
It started to slack off at about the 50% mark when the dialog between characters began to flow loquacious. Some of that was me not knowing British English, and some of that was Bayley knowing so exactly who was talking in a particular conversation that he often forgot to tell us.
The last bit of the book made a bold move by staying honed in on its main character. Giving us a strange and demented account of her world because she had been made strange and demented. I lacked the patience to fully appreciate it. Also, the science, which was based on the "one big lie" in the beginning, ended up falling prey to my inverse ratio of suspension of disbelief. And the reason I have trouble forgiving the science is because the harrowing bleakness could have been maintained fairly easily without deliberately countermanding the known.
But... even if you're like me and the inflexible clipboard of reality is always at hand, even when you deliberately set out to suspend your disbelief, the first half of the book is well worth the toll charged to finish it.
September 19, 2016
I received this book for a review. It wasn't too bad of a book. I would call it a fantasy type of book. I wasn't really sure even while I read it what caused the mushrooms to arrive which in turn caused the depletion of oxygen on the planet. all I know is in this book it happened and it makes u wonder if some time down the road, losing oxygen on earth could really happen somehow. anyhow this was a book I wouldn't normally read but I was given it to review. I didn't mind it. it sort of reminded me of Stephen King books, not in the sense that the author writes like him, just mainly the story itself. If you like books like that and strange fiction, Im sure you would enjoy it this book.
June 20, 2016
This book surprised me. From the title of the book, I was not sure what to expect. I was blown away by this book. It was very different from what I read and I enjoyed it. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*
July 21, 2016
Spring-Clean by Proxy is a classic waiting to be discovered. Do yourself a favor and take the time and read this debut novel. Robert Bayley has done something truly amazing, he has written a timeless classic as a first novel. Spring-Clean by Proxy is not only an excellent genre novel, but a great piece of literature.
Robert Bayley asks a deceptively simple question, what happens when the worlds comes to an end, but quietly. An apocalypse happens, but it is almost an after thought because he explores what his characters do to maintain a "normal" life. This is a classic character study of those keeping "a stiff upper lip" in an impossible situation. His writing style is both very simple to read, but subtle and complex at the same time, so it can be read by all types of readers.
What this book is not is an action novel, but it is a novel that will make you think very deeply of his situation. Robert Bayley's novel reminds me in tone of Earth Abides, On the Beach, The Death of Grass, Alas, Babylon and oddly, The Haunting of Hill House. This is a good thing in that I loved these books and there is certainly a way he developed his book that reminds me of this period of fiction writing. He has done amazing job of catching the same type of tone these other novels share and manages to keep the story very fresh.
I took a flyer when I bought this novel and I was stunned what I found. I am hoping he is discovered and ends up being taught in schools. Spring-Clean by Proxy is that good and you heard it here first.
Robert Bayley asks a deceptively simple question, what happens when the worlds comes to an end, but quietly. An apocalypse happens, but it is almost an after thought because he explores what his characters do to maintain a "normal" life. This is a classic character study of those keeping "a stiff upper lip" in an impossible situation. His writing style is both very simple to read, but subtle and complex at the same time, so it can be read by all types of readers.
What this book is not is an action novel, but it is a novel that will make you think very deeply of his situation. Robert Bayley's novel reminds me in tone of Earth Abides, On the Beach, The Death of Grass, Alas, Babylon and oddly, The Haunting of Hill House. This is a good thing in that I loved these books and there is certainly a way he developed his book that reminds me of this period of fiction writing. He has done amazing job of catching the same type of tone these other novels share and manages to keep the story very fresh.
I took a flyer when I bought this novel and I was stunned what I found. I am hoping he is discovered and ends up being taught in schools. Spring-Clean by Proxy is that good and you heard it here first.
June 14, 2016
I received this book to read for an honest review.
You are following Vanessa, a middle aged woman living in a small town in England. She owns a well established day care after her divorce with her husband, Jack. You follow her journey in her belief that she will end up suffocating to death from the lack of air, and her sanity slowly going, when she believes that she is the last human alive.
Vanessa also has an interest in her mail man, John.
John has told Vanessa about his idea of going back to school, with her support, he does some research in their small town.
Heather, is a druggie that is hired by Vanessa as a teacher. Although, Vanessa didn't know about Heather's drug use.
The book opens up to one of Vanessa's teachers acting strange. Said teacher doesn't register anything that happened around her, including a child that was injured.
Not long after that, everyone is acting unusually calm. Even though the farmers herds and crop are dying and people going missing/ showing up dead; under unusual circumstances.
As the book progresses, you learn that the planet is dying from an extraterrestrial matter..... a form of mutated mushroom.
The mushrooms' spores infect their host and slowly kill it.
With that in mind, after the host has been completely reliant on the mushroom to survive, the host then goes where the mushroom wants and officially dies. That includes plants and animals.
Eventually the earth is running out of oxygen, in that case whatever is left, dies.
The plot for this book, is quite unusual. It took me a little while to understand what was going on. Due to never hearing of any book with mushrooms.
There were a few points in this book that were rather slow, but after getting through them, you realize that there is quite a bit going on.
I enjoyed how the author has put some science in the book. Not everyone knows that plants make our oxygen. White out them, we can't breath. We would die from carbon monoxide poisoning with out plants.
This was a quick read. It is definitely something different. And if Syfi is your thing, you might like this book.
I, personally, found it entertaining, but it's not a favorite. It was still an good read.
You are following Vanessa, a middle aged woman living in a small town in England. She owns a well established day care after her divorce with her husband, Jack. You follow her journey in her belief that she will end up suffocating to death from the lack of air, and her sanity slowly going, when she believes that she is the last human alive.
Vanessa also has an interest in her mail man, John.
John has told Vanessa about his idea of going back to school, with her support, he does some research in their small town.
Heather, is a druggie that is hired by Vanessa as a teacher. Although, Vanessa didn't know about Heather's drug use.
The book opens up to one of Vanessa's teachers acting strange. Said teacher doesn't register anything that happened around her, including a child that was injured.
Not long after that, everyone is acting unusually calm. Even though the farmers herds and crop are dying and people going missing/ showing up dead; under unusual circumstances.
As the book progresses, you learn that the planet is dying from an extraterrestrial matter..... a form of mutated mushroom.
The mushrooms' spores infect their host and slowly kill it.
With that in mind, after the host has been completely reliant on the mushroom to survive, the host then goes where the mushroom wants and officially dies. That includes plants and animals.
Eventually the earth is running out of oxygen, in that case whatever is left, dies.
The plot for this book, is quite unusual. It took me a little while to understand what was going on. Due to never hearing of any book with mushrooms.
There were a few points in this book that were rather slow, but after getting through them, you realize that there is quite a bit going on.
I enjoyed how the author has put some science in the book. Not everyone knows that plants make our oxygen. White out them, we can't breath. We would die from carbon monoxide poisoning with out plants.
This was a quick read. It is definitely something different. And if Syfi is your thing, you might like this book.
I, personally, found it entertaining, but it's not a favorite. It was still an good read.
June 21, 2016
A little like The Girl with all the Gifts but with less hope. Slightly, and I mean ever-so-slightly, disjointed at times but on the whole a thoroughly engaging read with a male doing a really rather marvellous female perspective. This is something I've been thinking about for a while and I really couldn't tell that the author was male, not that one should with good writing as both "voices" are human, but I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to try. I do so look forward to reading his next works as he can only get better!
I'm reticent to go into more of the story but he seems to share Stephen Baxter's joy in destruction and it's effects on the people observing the chaos. The effects of the changing physical environment and the changing mental states of the characters are perfectly captured in the prose and I caught myself re-reading sections to try and figure out how he'd captured the feeling not only in the words but in their structure - an excellent and engaging read!
I'm reticent to go into more of the story but he seems to share Stephen Baxter's joy in destruction and it's effects on the people observing the chaos. The effects of the changing physical environment and the changing mental states of the characters are perfectly captured in the prose and I caught myself re-reading sections to try and figure out how he'd captured the feeling not only in the words but in their structure - an excellent and engaging read!
August 25, 2016
This was a great read that dragged me along with Vanessa as the world changed around her.
I didn't like the ending, very disappointing, but others may not agree.
I didn't like the ending, very disappointing, but others may not agree.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews