Everything and More

by Geoff Nicholson

In a dark comedy structured like a great London department store, Arnold, the last of the Haden Brothers, owners of the world's greatest emporium, receives an explosive proposition from an attractive female employee that may result in drastic storewide reductions.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Adult Fiction, Novels, Contemporary

251 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Geoff Nicholson was a British novelist and nonfiction writer. He was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Essex.

The main themes and features of his books include leading characters with obsessions, characters with quirky views on life, interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contain a lot of black humour. He has also written three works of nonfiction and some short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.

Reviews

[Anna]

Goodreads recommended this novel to me, probably because I’ve read several ‘retail space as theatre of social breakdown’ novels. In fact I have a tag for them. This one is fun, but not as dark or violent as I've come to expect. Possibly because the exemplar of this little sub-genre is JG Ballard. ‘Everything and More’ is set in a gigantic department store, owned by an eccentric recluse who lives in a penthouse at the top. (This is a very similar setup to Days by James Lovegrove.) The narrative centres on two new employees with very different agendas, Charlie Mayhew and Vita Carlisle. Although I was entertained by the farce that plays out in a gigantic baroque temple of consumerism, it didn’t have a lot of depth. There was some very snappy dialogue, which could work quite nicely in film format, but not much insight into the oppressive psychology of conspicuous consumption. I prefer it when things get a little weirder, as in Maul by Tricia Sullivan and Yarn by Jon Armstrong. I think the reason might be setting - Maul and Yarn are both sci-fi, while ‘Everything and More’ is set when it was first published, 1994. It certainly reminded me how much more febrile and pervasive consumerism has become since. The satire here thus wasn’t quite sharp enough for my taste, which is admittedly very specific. Nonetheless, the pseudo-revolutionary furniture porters and secret tunnels were amusing conceits and Vita’s counterproductive revenge neatly executed. Worth reading of a weekend.

[Trish]

Fun in spite of some retail implausibilities. The tale of an uber-department store more grand and mysterious than Harrod's that is transformed by a fed-up clerk who takes the reclusive (and randy) owner hostage.

[Rainer Hallmann]

Tolles ungewöhnliches Buch. Genau die richtige Prise von Allem.

[Piper]

shopping,terrorism, comical, mysterious..in a vast London store. I really enjoy this book and author!

[epstuk]

A light book and quick read.