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Mr. Toppit
And out of the Darkwood Mr Toppit comes, and he comes not for you, or for me, but for all of us... When the author of The Hayseed Chronicles, Arthur Hayman, is mown down by a concrete truck in Soho, his legacy passes to his widow, Martha, and her children - the fragile Rachel, and Luke, reluctantly immortalised as Luke Hayseed, the central character of his father's books. But others want their share, particularly Laurie, who has a mysterious agenda of her own that changes all their lives. For buried deep in the books lie secrets which threaten to be revealed as the family begins to crumble under the heavy burden of their inheritance. Spanning several decades, from the heyday of the British film industry after the war to the cut-throat world of show business in Los Angeles, Mr Toppit is a riveting tale of the unexpected effects of sudden fame and fortune. Not since Jonathan Coe's What a Carve Up! has a novel managed to capture a family and a society to such wonderfully funny and painful effect.
345 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2009
38 people are currently reading
1191 people want to read
About the author
Charles Elton
21 books35 followersDear Reader,
Fifteen years ago I began writing Mr. Toppit when I was a Literary Agent representing the Estate of AA Milne, author of Winnie The Pooh. I learned the story of Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne, who grew to hate the fame his father’s books brought him. To reshape that idea in a modern context was the single idea that was the genesis of my novel.
During the years I spent writing, another phenomenon occurred in the world of children’s book publishing that made Winnie The Pooh’s fame seem parochial: Harry Potter. Suddenly, my idea of a modern series of children’s stories that take over the world did not seem so far-fetched. What had originally been conceived as a small story about my boy hero, Luke Hayman, suddenly made famous by his dead father’s books widened into both an examination of the mechanics of fame and a strange journey towards a literary Tipping Point that has devastating consequences for the characters in my book.
Mr. Toppit was published by Viking/Penguin in England last year and has been very successful and received an enormous amount of media interest, helped by being one of the Richard and Judy Summer Reads (the UK equivalent of the Oprah Book Club). It is being published in the US by Other Press and I wanted to explain why this means so much to me.
Although I only had the sketchiest notion of where Mr. Toppit was going to go when I started writing it, the one thing I was certain of was that the children’s books inside my novel would first become famous in America. I began to follow the story of a radio presenter named Laurie Clow, from her sad childhood in Los Alamos to her dysfunctional life in Modesto, California and the trip she makes to England where she collides with Luke and his family and becomes the catalyst that changes all of their lives. What happens in America is crucial to the plot of my book, and its publication completes the strange circle that started 15 years ago as I began writing.
I really hope you like the book and thank you in advance for all your support.
Best
Charles Elton
ABOUT CHARLES ELTON...
Charles Elton worked as a designer and editor in publishing before becoming a literary agent. Since 1991 he has worked in television and for the past ten years has been the executive producer in drama at ITV. Among his productions are the Oscar-nominated short Syrup, The Railway Children, Andrew Davies’s adaptation of Northanger Abbey, and the recent series Time of Your Life, all produced in association with WGBH Boston's Masterpiece Theater.
Fifteen years ago I began writing Mr. Toppit when I was a Literary Agent representing the Estate of AA Milne, author of Winnie The Pooh. I learned the story of Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne, who grew to hate the fame his father’s books brought him. To reshape that idea in a modern context was the single idea that was the genesis of my novel.
During the years I spent writing, another phenomenon occurred in the world of children’s book publishing that made Winnie The Pooh’s fame seem parochial: Harry Potter. Suddenly, my idea of a modern series of children’s stories that take over the world did not seem so far-fetched. What had originally been conceived as a small story about my boy hero, Luke Hayman, suddenly made famous by his dead father’s books widened into both an examination of the mechanics of fame and a strange journey towards a literary Tipping Point that has devastating consequences for the characters in my book.
Mr. Toppit was published by Viking/Penguin in England last year and has been very successful and received an enormous amount of media interest, helped by being one of the Richard and Judy Summer Reads (the UK equivalent of the Oprah Book Club). It is being published in the US by Other Press and I wanted to explain why this means so much to me.
Although I only had the sketchiest notion of where Mr. Toppit was going to go when I started writing it, the one thing I was certain of was that the children’s books inside my novel would first become famous in America. I began to follow the story of a radio presenter named Laurie Clow, from her sad childhood in Los Alamos to her dysfunctional life in Modesto, California and the trip she makes to England where she collides with Luke and his family and becomes the catalyst that changes all of their lives. What happens in America is crucial to the plot of my book, and its publication completes the strange circle that started 15 years ago as I began writing.
I really hope you like the book and thank you in advance for all your support.
Best
Charles Elton
ABOUT CHARLES ELTON...
Charles Elton worked as a designer and editor in publishing before becoming a literary agent. Since 1991 he has worked in television and for the past ten years has been the executive producer in drama at ITV. Among his productions are the Oscar-nominated short Syrup, The Railway Children, Andrew Davies’s adaptation of Northanger Abbey, and the recent series Time of Your Life, all produced in association with WGBH Boston's Masterpiece Theater.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 297 reviews
July 9, 2015
I wouldn't exactly say this book had me gripped, and yet somehow I was interested enough to get through the whole thing in a few days, so clearly, it had something. It's written in a witty, enjoyable tone, with lots of dry humour, memorable descriptions and fun cultural references. The plot provided constant surprises - the story turned out to be totally different from what I initially expected. However, I found the characterisation troubling and inconsistent; some of the characters are mere caricatures, others almost totally unbelievable. I particularly struggled with Laurie - at times she seems virtually insane, so I find it hard to accept that she would later become a successful TV chat show host without so much as a hitch. I was also frustrated that the nature of her obsession with Arthur and the Hayseed books was never really explained. Overall, an engaging but flawed debut.
December 6, 2010
The author was literary agent to AA Milne's estate, and he says he wrote this to ponder what would have happened to the real Christopher Robin if he'd grown up in the time of Harry Potter and tabloid fame. As a young boy, Luke is depicted in his troubled father's obscure series of English children's books, and finds unwanted fame when his father's accidental death and the scheming of an obsessed admirer from California catapult the books to Potteresque fame over a period of years.
As someone who's written about the arts as a journalist my entire career, I've always been interested in the unintended consequences of fame - the odd, unpredictable intersection of public and private life. (There's a lot of that sort of dark comedy in my novel about a failing singer-songwriter, "Mirror Ball Man.") Luke is a sympathetic teen, and the novel's opening was particularly effective in establishing the magic of his father's books.
There are a bunch of similarities here to another novel in the same vein, "The Funnies" by J. Robert Lennon. That's about Tim, the slacker son of a popular cartoonist who dies - the cartoon is a barely veiled version of "Family Circus," and the novel is mostly about Tim confronting the gap between reality and cartoon as he prepares to take over his father's franchise. In both novels there are also siblings left out of father's art - Luke's angry sister, Tim's mentally disturbed brother - and the father's inner darkness is the mystery hanging over the story. In each an obsessive fandom is a big factor in moving the story forward. I think Lennon's book was perhaps better, although overlong, because the work of art in question kept giving off meaning throughout the book.
As someone who's written about the arts as a journalist my entire career, I've always been interested in the unintended consequences of fame - the odd, unpredictable intersection of public and private life. (There's a lot of that sort of dark comedy in my novel about a failing singer-songwriter, "Mirror Ball Man.") Luke is a sympathetic teen, and the novel's opening was particularly effective in establishing the magic of his father's books.
There are a bunch of similarities here to another novel in the same vein, "The Funnies" by J. Robert Lennon. That's about Tim, the slacker son of a popular cartoonist who dies - the cartoon is a barely veiled version of "Family Circus," and the novel is mostly about Tim confronting the gap between reality and cartoon as he prepares to take over his father's franchise. In both novels there are also siblings left out of father's art - Luke's angry sister, Tim's mentally disturbed brother - and the father's inner darkness is the mystery hanging over the story. In each an obsessive fandom is a big factor in moving the story forward. I think Lennon's book was perhaps better, although overlong, because the work of art in question kept giving off meaning throughout the book.
March 26, 2020
An encounter at his death of a writer leads to posthumous fame for his obscure series, The Hayseed Chronicles, and the sinister Mr. Toppit who is at the center of the books. Covering decades from post World War II British film industry boom years to the late Twentieth Century, this nice debut novel tells he story behind, the legacy of The Hayseed Chronicles successful book/film franchise, and the impact it has on the family. Surprisingly dark at times. 7 out of 12.
April 12, 2011
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
This is the debut novel of a British producer of TV costume dramas (among other projects of his was the recent fantastic ITV/Masterpiece adaptation of Northanger Abbey) who for many years was a Young Adult literary agent; and indeed, this feels exactly like the kind of story that someone in that position would sit around composing in their head for years in their spare daydreaming moments, which takes as its start the idea of a Roald-Dahl-type subversive British children's author who languished in obscurity for most of his career, until meeting an American television producer literally during the traffic accident that kills him, with her becoming obsessed with his five-book "Darkwood" series and eventually making them as big in the US as the real-life Dahl's books eventually became as well. Ah, but it turns out that this is not really what the book is about, but rather is a pitch-black dramedy about all the various ways that both this book series and resulting world-famous film adaptations play havoc with the remaining family members, the bossy neighbor who prodded the books' first illustrations, and even the overweight, overbearing, perhaps-lesbian American who "discovered" them in the first place.
I'm doing the book a disservice with this small recap, of course -- it's in actuality a brilliantly expansive look at a whole series of interlocking character issues, mostly a sad drama about dysfunctional families but with some funny moments sprinkled in, including a central mystery regarding who exactly inspired the series' main character that serves as a nice spine in which to hang all the other elements of this beguiling, complex plot. A surprise gem that was much better than I was expecting it to be, it comes highly recommended to everyone from Jonathan Franzen fans to Harry Potter ones, and I suspect will be making CCLaP's best-of list at the end of the year as well.
Out of 10: 9.6
This is the debut novel of a British producer of TV costume dramas (among other projects of his was the recent fantastic ITV/Masterpiece adaptation of Northanger Abbey) who for many years was a Young Adult literary agent; and indeed, this feels exactly like the kind of story that someone in that position would sit around composing in their head for years in their spare daydreaming moments, which takes as its start the idea of a Roald-Dahl-type subversive British children's author who languished in obscurity for most of his career, until meeting an American television producer literally during the traffic accident that kills him, with her becoming obsessed with his five-book "Darkwood" series and eventually making them as big in the US as the real-life Dahl's books eventually became as well. Ah, but it turns out that this is not really what the book is about, but rather is a pitch-black dramedy about all the various ways that both this book series and resulting world-famous film adaptations play havoc with the remaining family members, the bossy neighbor who prodded the books' first illustrations, and even the overweight, overbearing, perhaps-lesbian American who "discovered" them in the first place.
I'm doing the book a disservice with this small recap, of course -- it's in actuality a brilliantly expansive look at a whole series of interlocking character issues, mostly a sad drama about dysfunctional families but with some funny moments sprinkled in, including a central mystery regarding who exactly inspired the series' main character that serves as a nice spine in which to hang all the other elements of this beguiling, complex plot. A surprise gem that was much better than I was expecting it to be, it comes highly recommended to everyone from Jonathan Franzen fans to Harry Potter ones, and I suspect will be making CCLaP's best-of list at the end of the year as well.
Out of 10: 9.6
November 30, 2010
Who is Mr. Toppit? When you find out you will care. Trying to remember why this was recommended to me...Luke is the sulking victim, Rachel is the gradually psychotic daughter, Martha is the drunken crazy mother, Arthur is the inaccessible father. Oh, and Laurie is...wtf is Laurie? Crazy fat person? Then there's Lila the crazy German illustrator? I just wanted this book to be over. I liked the ending. It's a bit of a mystery. But I ceased trying to keep the additional characters straight during the interminable LA portion. I think a publisher told Elton to "flesh it out" some more. Some reviewers guess this is more British than we might fathom. I've read many 'british' writers and books and this is not one of them!
I like Elton's note on the Amazon page explaining the Genesis of his book. It's almost more interesting than the book itself.
I can't recommend this book. Excellent critical and jacket blurbs! Ignore them!
I like Elton's note on the Amazon page explaining the Genesis of his book. It's almost more interesting than the book itself.
I can't recommend this book. Excellent critical and jacket blurbs! Ignore them!
February 25, 2011
While Mr Toppit turned out to be a pretty good read, the novel suffers from an identity crisis, as do its various characters. Charles Eton has combined fantasy, coming-of-age, the publishing business, celebrity, and dysfunctional family in an uneasy stew that occasionally induces queasiness in the reader.
His main theme is the psychic damage caused to a child who was used as a main character in his father's series of fantasy books. Collateral damage is inflicted on the boy's sister, who was NOT in the books. The result is that Luke spends his life hiding from relationships and trying to avoid the limelight, while his sister Rachel spends her life trying to be noticed.
After the death of the father, through a series of random events, fame and fortune come to this unfortunate family. The fallout is at once hilarious and tragic. A whole collection of quirky characters, both real and imagined, representing the elements of our celebrity culture, keep the story moving.
There are flashes of all the elements of good fiction--plot, character, social commentary, angst, etc. It just does not mesh until the last twenty pages or so. By the end I felt fairly satisfied but also relieved that it was over.
June 17, 2017
I received a free copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway.
Quirky and original take on fame, and the psychological damage suffered by family members of those who are thrust into the limelight by the sudden onset of celebrity status.
Arthur Hayseed is an unsuccessful writer - his screenplays are often savagely cut, and his series of children's books have almost sunk into obscurity. Then he is involved in a road accident, and tended in his final moments by a passing eccentric American tourist, Laurie Clow. This leads to a chain of events where Laurie resurrects Arthur's books through her radio show, they become immensely popular, and suddenly Arthur's children encounter an interest in them that they never expected. Son Luke, immortalised as Luke Hayseed in the books, finds the public cannot, and do not want to, separate fiction from reality. His sister Rachel has to deal with different issues, as she was never included in the books.
The book starts really well, and I was quickly involved in Luke's story. He is a likeable and perceptive narrator, and his story clearly showed how uncomfortable life can be for an 'ordinary' teenager faced with sudden fame. There were some very funny but also revealing episodes - for example where fans surround the family home and take souvenirs of their visit. The novel also has a darker side - fame has an adverse effect on the vulnerable Rachel, and Elton adds some biting comment on the publishing and film industries.
I enjoyed reading this book and was interested to see what happened to the characters. I did feel that it became a bit muddled in the middle sections, where the author seemed to be packing too many different themes and ideas in. Overall a promising and interesting debut novel that I'm glad to have read.
Quirky and original take on fame, and the psychological damage suffered by family members of those who are thrust into the limelight by the sudden onset of celebrity status.
Arthur Hayseed is an unsuccessful writer - his screenplays are often savagely cut, and his series of children's books have almost sunk into obscurity. Then he is involved in a road accident, and tended in his final moments by a passing eccentric American tourist, Laurie Clow. This leads to a chain of events where Laurie resurrects Arthur's books through her radio show, they become immensely popular, and suddenly Arthur's children encounter an interest in them that they never expected. Son Luke, immortalised as Luke Hayseed in the books, finds the public cannot, and do not want to, separate fiction from reality. His sister Rachel has to deal with different issues, as she was never included in the books.
The book starts really well, and I was quickly involved in Luke's story. He is a likeable and perceptive narrator, and his story clearly showed how uncomfortable life can be for an 'ordinary' teenager faced with sudden fame. There were some very funny but also revealing episodes - for example where fans surround the family home and take souvenirs of their visit. The novel also has a darker side - fame has an adverse effect on the vulnerable Rachel, and Elton adds some biting comment on the publishing and film industries.
I enjoyed reading this book and was interested to see what happened to the characters. I did feel that it became a bit muddled in the middle sections, where the author seemed to be packing too many different themes and ideas in. Overall a promising and interesting debut novel that I'm glad to have read.
November 10, 2010
Imagine sharing your name with the main character in a series of children's books written by your father. Now imagine being his sister, who isn't in the books. These dilemmas are the crux of Charles Elton's darkly comic, heartachingly marvelous Mr. Toppit.
Mr. Toppit is the character in the Hayseed Chronicles who is never seen, but who often compels young Luke Hayseed to undertake all sorts of adventures and tests of courage. At the end of the last book, Mr. Toppit emerges from the woods behind Luke's home. But that is all anyone knows of him, for Luke's father, Arthur Haymon, doesn't write any more books. They were never big sellers.
But then Arthur dies, struck in the road after visiting his publisher. As he lays dying, American tourist Laurie Clow tries to comfort him. Frustrated child of a mother with Alzheimer's and performing a dead-end hospital radio job, Laurie latches onto Arthur as if he was her lifesaver. Whch is just what he becomes.
Laurie, after worming her way into the Haymon family home as easily as she hopped onto Arthur's ambulance, goes back to Modesto, reads the Hayseed Chronicles over the hospital radio airwaves, and a star is born. She ends up with an Oprah-like TV program while Arthur's books take off in popularity akin to, well, you know who.
The real Luke is not the publicity hound many want him to be when the books take off in popularity. There is much of the "no thanks, I'm English" about him, and while he is not driven in any particular direction, neither does he want to be driven by others. His experience has been that the things he does try to do end up being twisted. Things that happened to him were rearranged by his father in the books, and no one believes the truth. They would rather believe he is Luke Hayseed. His sister, Rachel, Luke realizes, is worse off. She has the Hayseed legacy as well, but she does not exist in the books.
The stories of these three characters are the focus of Elton's strong debut novel. It's easy at times to despise Laurie, while at others sympathy is earned. She's part monster, part hapless wannabe important person. Like the other main characters, she is never completely in control of her life. Luke remains a cipher, perhaps on purpose, as other characters try to imprint their version of the fictional Luke onto him. Rachel veers between trying to make something of the Hayseed legacy and trying to shed its power over her. She is fragile yet fiercely alive.
Elton often uses dark humor to show how ridiculous it can be to have such a legacy over one's head. Arthur's funeral and the reception following, for example, are brilliant in sharply skewering society. The contrast between Luke's England and Laurie's America also offers dark humor opportunities that are used well and not overdone. Many of the secondary characters are surely descendants of those created by Dickens and Austen.
Much of the power in Elton's novel comes from his ability to show the abundant contrasts in life. Luke Haymon isn't Luke Hayseed. Laurie Clow is not a member of the family but successfully makes herself important to them in a way that an older would-be helper does not. Arthur is not successful while alive but makes pots of money as a dead author. Luke and Rachel's mother gave up working on her PhD to work for the man who worked with Arthur, but she never shows any wisdom. In the books, the woods are the dark place while the Hayseed house is in the light. In real life, the house is shunned by the children while they seek the woods as a place of play and solace.
All the contrasts, characters and happenings work together in examining who do books belong to after they are written, particularly if they are beloved books. And what choice to some people have when their legacy threatens to overshadow anything they may accomplish on their own? Elton allows readers to draw their own conclusions.
Mr. Toppit is the character in the Hayseed Chronicles who is never seen, but who often compels young Luke Hayseed to undertake all sorts of adventures and tests of courage. At the end of the last book, Mr. Toppit emerges from the woods behind Luke's home. But that is all anyone knows of him, for Luke's father, Arthur Haymon, doesn't write any more books. They were never big sellers.
But then Arthur dies, struck in the road after visiting his publisher. As he lays dying, American tourist Laurie Clow tries to comfort him. Frustrated child of a mother with Alzheimer's and performing a dead-end hospital radio job, Laurie latches onto Arthur as if he was her lifesaver. Whch is just what he becomes.
Laurie, after worming her way into the Haymon family home as easily as she hopped onto Arthur's ambulance, goes back to Modesto, reads the Hayseed Chronicles over the hospital radio airwaves, and a star is born. She ends up with an Oprah-like TV program while Arthur's books take off in popularity akin to, well, you know who.
The real Luke is not the publicity hound many want him to be when the books take off in popularity. There is much of the "no thanks, I'm English" about him, and while he is not driven in any particular direction, neither does he want to be driven by others. His experience has been that the things he does try to do end up being twisted. Things that happened to him were rearranged by his father in the books, and no one believes the truth. They would rather believe he is Luke Hayseed. His sister, Rachel, Luke realizes, is worse off. She has the Hayseed legacy as well, but she does not exist in the books.
The stories of these three characters are the focus of Elton's strong debut novel. It's easy at times to despise Laurie, while at others sympathy is earned. She's part monster, part hapless wannabe important person. Like the other main characters, she is never completely in control of her life. Luke remains a cipher, perhaps on purpose, as other characters try to imprint their version of the fictional Luke onto him. Rachel veers between trying to make something of the Hayseed legacy and trying to shed its power over her. She is fragile yet fiercely alive.
Elton often uses dark humor to show how ridiculous it can be to have such a legacy over one's head. Arthur's funeral and the reception following, for example, are brilliant in sharply skewering society. The contrast between Luke's England and Laurie's America also offers dark humor opportunities that are used well and not overdone. Many of the secondary characters are surely descendants of those created by Dickens and Austen.
Much of the power in Elton's novel comes from his ability to show the abundant contrasts in life. Luke Haymon isn't Luke Hayseed. Laurie Clow is not a member of the family but successfully makes herself important to them in a way that an older would-be helper does not. Arthur is not successful while alive but makes pots of money as a dead author. Luke and Rachel's mother gave up working on her PhD to work for the man who worked with Arthur, but she never shows any wisdom. In the books, the woods are the dark place while the Hayseed house is in the light. In real life, the house is shunned by the children while they seek the woods as a place of play and solace.
All the contrasts, characters and happenings work together in examining who do books belong to after they are written, particularly if they are beloved books. And what choice to some people have when their legacy threatens to overshadow anything they may accomplish on their own? Elton allows readers to draw their own conclusions.
September 29, 2010
Wow! I have such a crush on this book. I heart Mr. Toppit and I want everyone else to as well.
Picture if you will my friend the lives of A.A. Milne and J.K. Rowling and the immense success of their immortal creations all mixed together with just a touch of Hamlet. You get a funny and dark casserole of cleverness, Mr. Toppit by Charles Elton. I remember reading that after having his childhood mined by his Father, the grown up Christopher Robin Milne said that, "My Father got where he was by climbing on my infant shoulders." That quote popped into my head more than once while reading this novel. It is humorous, distressing and sums up the heart of the Hayman family story.
Mr Toppit is the mysterious, menacing creation of Arthur Hayman. Hayman is the author of a series of children's books, The Hayseed Chronicles. The Chronicles were fated to stay tucked away in obscurity and jumble sales until Arthur is killed in a traffic accident. After meeting a cement truck his final few minutes are spent with passing American tourist Laurie Chow. Chow is the embodiment of American access. She is obese, constantly "on" and overly connected. Laurie is the catalyst with her own agenda that brings the beyond-your-wildest-expectations monetary prosperity to the Hayman family via her pushing the books. The Hayseed Chronicles become a global, money spewing, obsessive fan creating juggernaut. Meanwhile Arthur's widow and children struggle with the fame and rewards: Mrs Hayman's alcoholism, son Luke's loathing of his thinly disguised self as the book's hero and daughter Rebecca's anguish at her exclusion from the books. Then there are also the agents, the movie moguls, the media specialists, the product tie marketers, the fans, the fans and the fans.
~~sigh~~ I'm getting all misty eyed remembering how much I flipped over this novel. I ate it up. In Mr. Toppit Charles Elton has completely captured the frenzy that can accompany unbridled success. There is a wealth of story in Mr. Toppit to satisfy and enthrall. This novel is a comic heartbreaker. Read it and relish it.
Picture if you will my friend the lives of A.A. Milne and J.K. Rowling and the immense success of their immortal creations all mixed together with just a touch of Hamlet. You get a funny and dark casserole of cleverness, Mr. Toppit by Charles Elton. I remember reading that after having his childhood mined by his Father, the grown up Christopher Robin Milne said that, "My Father got where he was by climbing on my infant shoulders." That quote popped into my head more than once while reading this novel. It is humorous, distressing and sums up the heart of the Hayman family story.
Mr Toppit is the mysterious, menacing creation of Arthur Hayman. Hayman is the author of a series of children's books, The Hayseed Chronicles. The Chronicles were fated to stay tucked away in obscurity and jumble sales until Arthur is killed in a traffic accident. After meeting a cement truck his final few minutes are spent with passing American tourist Laurie Chow. Chow is the embodiment of American access. She is obese, constantly "on" and overly connected. Laurie is the catalyst with her own agenda that brings the beyond-your-wildest-expectations monetary prosperity to the Hayman family via her pushing the books. The Hayseed Chronicles become a global, money spewing, obsessive fan creating juggernaut. Meanwhile Arthur's widow and children struggle with the fame and rewards: Mrs Hayman's alcoholism, son Luke's loathing of his thinly disguised self as the book's hero and daughter Rebecca's anguish at her exclusion from the books. Then there are also the agents, the movie moguls, the media specialists, the product tie marketers, the fans, the fans and the fans.
~~sigh~~ I'm getting all misty eyed remembering how much I flipped over this novel. I ate it up. In Mr. Toppit Charles Elton has completely captured the frenzy that can accompany unbridled success. There is a wealth of story in Mr. Toppit to satisfy and enthrall. This novel is a comic heartbreaker. Read it and relish it.
December 6, 2010
Much like Christopher Robert Milne experienced, the fictional Luke Hayward has his life put down on paper by his father, Arthur Hayward. The result? The story told in this book.
To be honest, I flip-flopped back and forth between liking this book and wanting to just give up on it. It wasn't an easy read and there were some rather crude parts that had me feeling uncomfortable (and the end result will be me not recommending this book lightly). They were completely unnecessary and I am rather sad that I even had to experience them. But then, there's the story of this family, this broken family all revolving around a father that it seemed none of them had paid attention to during his lifetime.
Every character had his or her flaws, but the most lifelike character was, to me, Lila, the German friend. Charles Elton did such a magnificent job detailing her behavior, her style of dress and her manner of speech so well that I couldn't help but picture her and know exactly what type of person she was. Every time she burst into the scene I couldn't help but laugh and enjoy myself immensely.
I think this story is fairly realistic, I sympathized with Luke's feelings of resentment toward the book, his motives for feeling that resentment and I sympathized with Laurie's decisions regarding the story, even if I didn't completely agree with them.
Overall, while not a gripping story, it was an interesting one and I wanted to see it through.
To be honest, I flip-flopped back and forth between liking this book and wanting to just give up on it. It wasn't an easy read and there were some rather crude parts that had me feeling uncomfortable (and the end result will be me not recommending this book lightly). They were completely unnecessary and I am rather sad that I even had to experience them. But then, there's the story of this family, this broken family all revolving around a father that it seemed none of them had paid attention to during his lifetime.
Every character had his or her flaws, but the most lifelike character was, to me, Lila, the German friend. Charles Elton did such a magnificent job detailing her behavior, her style of dress and her manner of speech so well that I couldn't help but picture her and know exactly what type of person she was. Every time she burst into the scene I couldn't help but laugh and enjoy myself immensely.
I think this story is fairly realistic, I sympathized with Luke's feelings of resentment toward the book, his motives for feeling that resentment and I sympathized with Laurie's decisions regarding the story, even if I didn't completely agree with them.
Overall, while not a gripping story, it was an interesting one and I wanted to see it through.
April 22, 2019
This is such a strange little book, which I cannot say with certainty I enjoyed completely. I’ve been left feeling very confused, and mildly frustrated.
Elton tells of an author of children’s novels who passes away after an accident. We’re presented with the fallout’s impact on his family, and his posthumous rise to fame. The family are dysfunctional to say the least, and we see how the death of the patriarch affects the tumbling of subsequent events.
The plot follows a multiple voice narrative, which I welcomed originally, and yet became wildly irritated by. The sequences are jarring, disconnected, and strange, with most of the characters seeming utterly superfluous and, quite frankly, pointless.
There’s a lot of commentary on fame, and how the public and private lives of celebrity can collide. Elton’s presentation of Luke, who was immortalised in his father’s work, and his sister Rachel, who wasn’t, was worthy of deep contemplation after seeing both of their ultimate fates.
I’m still unsure how I feel, but I’d be loathe to recommend this to someone. Sold to me as a dark look into a fantasy novel having parallels with real life, what was actually portrayed was a deep dive into the life of a troubled family. A very strange book.
Elton tells of an author of children’s novels who passes away after an accident. We’re presented with the fallout’s impact on his family, and his posthumous rise to fame. The family are dysfunctional to say the least, and we see how the death of the patriarch affects the tumbling of subsequent events.
The plot follows a multiple voice narrative, which I welcomed originally, and yet became wildly irritated by. The sequences are jarring, disconnected, and strange, with most of the characters seeming utterly superfluous and, quite frankly, pointless.
There’s a lot of commentary on fame, and how the public and private lives of celebrity can collide. Elton’s presentation of Luke, who was immortalised in his father’s work, and his sister Rachel, who wasn’t, was worthy of deep contemplation after seeing both of their ultimate fates.
I’m still unsure how I feel, but I’d be loathe to recommend this to someone. Sold to me as a dark look into a fantasy novel having parallels with real life, what was actually portrayed was a deep dive into the life of a troubled family. A very strange book.
March 3, 2011
Dark and confusing, Mr. Toppit felt like a carnival fun house ride gone awry. Its the story of the Luke Hayman and the Hayseed Chronicles. Luke's father, Arthur, writes the Hayseed Chronicles which are published and languish in obscurity for many years. When Arthur dies a young American woman becomes mysteriously involved with the family, eventually rocketing the Hayseed Chronicles into widespread fame. None of the family, Luke, his sister Rachel, or his mother handles the new found fame well and as the book comes to a close disaster seems inevitable.
The plot of Mr. Toppit is an interesting and unique idea. It largely deals with the feelings of Luke who has to live with his childhood being highly fictionalized and then read by millions. Unfortunately the execution left me cold. I never understood the motivation or actions of any of the characters and was often confused about even simple plot details. The overall tone is of doom and impending disaster which just didn't appeal to me.
I listened to the audio version of Mr. Toppit, read by Simon Vance. While I generally like Simon Vance's readings, it is hard to enjoy the narrator if the content is lacking.
The plot of Mr. Toppit is an interesting and unique idea. It largely deals with the feelings of Luke who has to live with his childhood being highly fictionalized and then read by millions. Unfortunately the execution left me cold. I never understood the motivation or actions of any of the characters and was often confused about even simple plot details. The overall tone is of doom and impending disaster which just didn't appeal to me.
I listened to the audio version of Mr. Toppit, read by Simon Vance. While I generally like Simon Vance's readings, it is hard to enjoy the narrator if the content is lacking.
September 14, 2013
On the whole I enjoyed this novel. Stylistically it was well written and the central conceit was a good one. However I found the plot a little disjointed, not least because of the (I felt) wholly unnecessary character of Laurie. Quite why we needed so much of her backstory is beyond me - her subplot threatened to swamp the entire thing. I think it would have been a much tighter novel if she had been omitted - if someone else had been with Arthur at the accident (perhaps the colleague who claimed to recognize him from the other side of the road) and things had focused on the famliies downward spiral. However, it is Mr Elton's debut novel, so I am being kind and giving three stars - hoping for better in his subsequent work.
April 28, 2011
This book was totally messed up and I think the only reason I managed to get through it was because of the fairly decent writing and the format it was presented in with chapters per character. I did sympathise with main character Luke and felt quite sorry that he was embedded in a family of secrets and lies when he simply wanted to grow up as a normal boy. I am not a massive fan of modern fiction, probably because I like to escape when I read a book and when there are modern issues which I hear enough about on the news, I cannot make that escape.
December 3, 2015
in a silly metaphor, the structure for this house was solid, but most of the rooms were empty.
June 9, 2019
This one sounded so intriguing…decades of following a family of an author of famous children’s books. Books about books are usually a delight and this one was somewhat less so. Although I must preface this review by saying that audiobooks for me are a very specific sort of entertainment. They don’t have to be superb, but they do have to draw me in enough to motivate me to go on walks and maintain my interest. And this one managed the latter, but not the former. While listening to the book, I was interested enough, but during the in between time I didn’t really find myself thinking about it or excited to see what’s next for the characters. There was something peculiarly, consistently stodgy about both the book and it’s narrator’s tone, so much so that the two went well together, but maybe not ideally as a single entity. Maybe it wasn’t the right sort of thing to listen to on audio, I’m not sure. I found the story quite interesting, the effects this series of five children’s books (Narnia esque, maybe, but darker in tone) have had on the family of the author and fans. Children’s books tend to have that certain power adult books seldom do, the level of attachment, the love they command almost irrespective of quality by association alone…those are genuinely potent connections. In this book the author has modeled the title boy on his son and yet it is his daughter, completely left out of the stories, that seems to have become least adjusted as an adult. There is a stranger, who is a huge fan of the series, and her chance encounter with the author leads her to change her entire life, eventually achieving fame and fortune that eluded most of the family oddly enough, so much of the book is her story, her senile mother, her deadbeat father. It’s a pretty compelling side narrative. The book has a bunch of those, actually. I’m just not quite sure it all comes together very satisfactory. The characters are not especially enjoyable, the narrative skips around all over the place. This might be to do with the fact that it’s a debut novel. It seems to be trying to do too many things without really doing them to perfection. It’s interesting to know that the idea came to the author while he was working as a literary agent for the Estate of AA Milne and contemplated what it might have been like for a child protagonist to grow up under such a brightly demanding umbrella of fame. There’ve been two movies about Milne Sr. and Jr. just recently, so obviously the interest is still there. But Elton’s Luke doesn’t grow up to be a character especially worth writing about, he’s lukewarm, somewhat bland, very much an observer, his story isn’t much of a story. So in a way is this book, well intentioned observation, but too tepid and stodgy to wow the audience. It entertained decently enough, it had its moments, certainly, especially as it took on the entertainment industry of then and now, but in the end it never really takes off. Mr. Toppit never comes out of the Darkwood as it were. Three walks or four, not too long, not too wild. Just sort of there.
January 26, 2019
For a cover buy this was a good one, although I didn't find the funny bits the blurbs seemed to like. The book really looks at a bunch of people connected by a series of books and events that changed their lives. I often felt real anger towards the behavior of particularly one character and the helplessness of almost all characters being pushed around by others and circumstances.
There are also events that felt a little off in the writing and story and bigger connections being aimed for, but they didn't harm the overall enjoyment of the book.
There are also events that felt a little off in the writing and story and bigger connections being aimed for, but they didn't harm the overall enjoyment of the book.
August 18, 2025
Easy read. Reasonably entertaining
June 25, 2013
Mister Toppit is gripping, compelling and for the most part well-written. It is also dark, grim, harrowing, creepy and all-round depressing. There is nary a character to like or admire. Elton took AA Milne's son Christopher Robin Milne's resentment at having himself immortalised as a characterised child as the idea for his book. The main character, Luke Hayman, is similarly cast as Luke Hayseed in his father's books The Hayseed Chronicles, which become a Potter-esque global phenonmenon after an implausible series of events is set in motion, beginning with the untimely death of his father. It's really about the very public collapse of family already haunted by a sordid and pathetic past. We see everyone through Luke's eyes, but Luke himself is largely character-free - resentful of the spotlight and continually at the mercy of a string of overbearing women, but otherwise merely "a watchful observer". Luke's father, Arthur Hayman, escapes as the only blameless character of the book, but only by being largely absent. Luke's mother Martha is reserved to the point of being removed, demanding, philandering and haunted. I actually quite liked his sister, Rachal, whose insecurities are the opposite from Luke's - she is completely absent from the Hayseed books. This leads her into a spiral of drugs and insanity, but while undoubtedly foolish and naive, she is at least sweet, harmless, blameless, and charming in her own way. The real hatred in this book is reserved for the sundry hangers-on in the Hayseed story - Lila, the book's illustrator, a pushy, demanding, revolting woman who is nothing but a burden to everyone she encounters, and Laurie, a stranger who happens to be there at Arthur's death, and who is a grotesque characature who lurches through the novel, simpering her way from pity-enducing nobody, to hardly believable Holywood star, with her own sordid family past. If not likable, the characters are vivid and evoke strong reactions, and there is certainly nothing boring about this book.
March 27, 2011
I've been reading this book over the last week or so. It wasn't at all what I was expecting somehow. And it was a reasonable read, leaves you with some things to think about, but I don't think this is one I would want to read again.
Mr Toppit is a character in a series of childrens books, The Hayseed Chronicles, within this book. He never really shows his face in this book, or the children's books. The books' author, Arthur Hayman, is killed in a traffic accident before his books become anywhere popular. Afterwards the world goes mad for the books, and this story follows his family left behind - Martha the wife, the daughter Rachel who never featured in the books, and his son Luke, who appears to have been the inspiration for the books. Then there's this irritating, interfering German woman, Lila, who did the original illustrations; and this annoying American woman Laurie who was with Arthur when he died, who really becomes unpleasant when she becomes really successful. And though we find out the truth about her supposedly idealised father, she never seemingly does, and continues to treat her mother like crap.The story was a bit slow at times. What I really found interesting were the parts about how the book became popular, how it changed with various publishing houses, film crews, legal battles, and then the readers and fans. And somehow the soul of the book is virtually lost and forgotten in this. In becoming so world-wide famous, packed out with merchandise etc, it looses something. And it makes you wonder about things such as Harry Potter (which I've never read), LOTR and Narnia, to name but a few.
This was written by a literary agent, and I read somewhere that some of the inspiration for this came from the Winnie the Pooh books, and how the son, the original Christopher Robin, ended up hating the whole thing. I'd be interested to know how many episodes in this book relate back to what happened with the whole Winnie the Pooh thing.
Mr Toppit is a character in a series of childrens books, The Hayseed Chronicles, within this book. He never really shows his face in this book, or the children's books. The books' author, Arthur Hayman, is killed in a traffic accident before his books become anywhere popular. Afterwards the world goes mad for the books, and this story follows his family left behind - Martha the wife, the daughter Rachel who never featured in the books, and his son Luke, who appears to have been the inspiration for the books. Then there's this irritating, interfering German woman, Lila, who did the original illustrations; and this annoying American woman Laurie who was with Arthur when he died, who really becomes unpleasant when she becomes really successful. And though we find out the truth about her supposedly idealised father, she never seemingly does, and continues to treat her mother like crap.The story was a bit slow at times. What I really found interesting were the parts about how the book became popular, how it changed with various publishing houses, film crews, legal battles, and then the readers and fans. And somehow the soul of the book is virtually lost and forgotten in this. In becoming so world-wide famous, packed out with merchandise etc, it looses something. And it makes you wonder about things such as Harry Potter (which I've never read), LOTR and Narnia, to name but a few.
This was written by a literary agent, and I read somewhere that some of the inspiration for this came from the Winnie the Pooh books, and how the son, the original Christopher Robin, ended up hating the whole thing. I'd be interested to know how many episodes in this book relate back to what happened with the whole Winnie the Pooh thing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2011
I really enjoyed reading this book - it actually reminded me of the Jonathan Tropper books This Is Where I Leave You and The Book Of Joe, in that there is a family-and-friends cast of dysfunctional and funny characters that are laced through the story, and told in the first person by the son in the family.
In a nutshell, the father (Arthur) of the protagonist (Luke) wrote a series of Harry-Potter-like books years ago which were minimally popular and were not published outside of England. But when the father is hit by a truck in London, his chance encounter with an American tourist ultimately results in the books attaining worldwide Potteresque popularity. The story is the wild ride this popularity takes the family on, especially Luke who is a reluctant participant but can't escape because he is the namesake of the main character in the books.
My only negative thing to say is that the chapter that introduces the American character was, for me, very depressing - an obese single woman whose life revolves around her insignificant job and her abusive mother in a nursing home - and I considered putting it down at that point just because it was bumming me out. But I'm very glad I stuck with it, and in a way it was important to establish her in this given the tremendous changes in her life that come later in the story.
I felt like this book was at very good place on the spectrum that reaches from dense-weighty-but-admirably-literary to fluffy-silly-not-well-written - it was well done, well constructed and entertaining.
In a nutshell, the father (Arthur) of the protagonist (Luke) wrote a series of Harry-Potter-like books years ago which were minimally popular and were not published outside of England. But when the father is hit by a truck in London, his chance encounter with an American tourist ultimately results in the books attaining worldwide Potteresque popularity. The story is the wild ride this popularity takes the family on, especially Luke who is a reluctant participant but can't escape because he is the namesake of the main character in the books.
My only negative thing to say is that the chapter that introduces the American character was, for me, very depressing - an obese single woman whose life revolves around her insignificant job and her abusive mother in a nursing home - and I considered putting it down at that point just because it was bumming me out. But I'm very glad I stuck with it, and in a way it was important to establish her in this given the tremendous changes in her life that come later in the story.
I felt like this book was at very good place on the spectrum that reaches from dense-weighty-but-admirably-literary to fluffy-silly-not-well-written - it was well done, well constructed and entertaining.
March 25, 2015
I came out of this book wondering I'd gotten some weird kind of misprint where half the book had somehow not been included. Turns out the book I had had in my hands was just fine. Still, it shows that the book has serious structural problems. The plot skips forwards, and the reader is expected to just fill in the blanks of how the characters got from point A to point B. At one point the Hayseed books are niche books, then suddenly they've achieved Harry Potter levels of fame and one of the characters is suddenly a famous talkshow host. Okay then.
I guess you'd conclude I would have liked to see more of that journey, and on some level I do, but also not so much? Because that meant the story would have been longer, and it's not quite the kind of book you'd wish never end. It's not a bad book, but it's not a good book either. The characters aren't always believable - who the hell allows people to walk all over them like that? - and you just don't manage to care for a fat lot of them. Certain things which are hinted at early in the story simply don't pay off in the end, and it's all quite unsatisfying.
I mean, I finished it, so I did like it enough to keep going, but I just... well. I can't even find any other way to describe my feelings about this book other than 'meh'. Not quite the glowing review you want to be able to come out with after finishing a novel.
I guess you'd conclude I would have liked to see more of that journey, and on some level I do, but also not so much? Because that meant the story would have been longer, and it's not quite the kind of book you'd wish never end. It's not a bad book, but it's not a good book either. The characters aren't always believable - who the hell allows people to walk all over them like that? - and you just don't manage to care for a fat lot of them. Certain things which are hinted at early in the story simply don't pay off in the end, and it's all quite unsatisfying.
I mean, I finished it, so I did like it enough to keep going, but I just... well. I can't even find any other way to describe my feelings about this book other than 'meh'. Not quite the glowing review you want to be able to come out with after finishing a novel.
December 13, 2010
What a treat - an estimable debut novel read by multi-award winning narrator SimonVance! His voice is, as always, resonant, compelling, and he clearly distinguishes each character much to the delight of listeners. Vance must have enjoyed reading MR. TOPPIT as we certainly enjoyed his narration of this funny, touching and totally original story.
Arthur Hayman is an obscure screen writer who meets an untimely end when he’s run over by a concrete truck. In addition to his screen work which has received scant notice, he has penned a series of children’s books. Now sadly unbeknownst to him that series has enjoyed enormous success, while at the same time becoming a burden to his offspring.
Son Luke has been depicted as Luke Hayseed in his father’s books and is portrayed by a child actor in a top-of-the-charts television series. Thus, Luke is made the butt of many jokes, and is miserable about all of this. Sister Rachel is also unhappy - not because of any notoriety her father’s work has brought to her but just the opposite - she was never mentioned in his books.
Now, add to the Hayman family’s distress the greed of the publishing and film worlds, embodied by one Laurie Clow who has made a global success of “The Hayseed Chronicles.” That’s grist for some excellent satire plus a reminder that all that glitters isn’t gold.
Enjoy
- Gail Cooke
Arthur Hayman is an obscure screen writer who meets an untimely end when he’s run over by a concrete truck. In addition to his screen work which has received scant notice, he has penned a series of children’s books. Now sadly unbeknownst to him that series has enjoyed enormous success, while at the same time becoming a burden to his offspring.
Son Luke has been depicted as Luke Hayseed in his father’s books and is portrayed by a child actor in a top-of-the-charts television series. Thus, Luke is made the butt of many jokes, and is miserable about all of this. Sister Rachel is also unhappy - not because of any notoriety her father’s work has brought to her but just the opposite - she was never mentioned in his books.
Now, add to the Hayman family’s distress the greed of the publishing and film worlds, embodied by one Laurie Clow who has made a global success of “The Hayseed Chronicles.” That’s grist for some excellent satire plus a reminder that all that glitters isn’t gold.
Enjoy
- Gail Cooke
December 13, 2009
Have you ever watched Frankenstein? I've only seen the Brannagh/De Niro version but that's not the point. Anyway. In an important scene of the film, Dr. Victor Frankenstein robbed a few graves and used the limbs and organs from corpses to piece together his Creature. One stormy night, he hoisted his Creation, let lightning zapped at it a few times, then of course, it was alive. It's ALIVE. The monster moved, talked, growled, killed.
Grrr. Arrgh.
Elton, in a way, was our mad scientist. Like Frankenstein, he pieced together his Creature (this novel, Mr. Toppit) from rotting limbs and organs. But for some unknown reason, he never made it alive. He didn't let lightning struck at it. Elton just left the putrefied body parts on the slab and went off doing God knows what.
Mr. Toppit was good for about 15 pages. Then it began to reek till the last page. Elton started with a good idea but I don't know why he chose to expand it by writing crap no one cared about, crap that don't have anything to do with the way the story turns out.
Add the fact that Elton didn't create a single character worth talking about because they were either really annoying (Lola, Graham, Rachel) or lackluster (everyone else).I gave other books 1 star this year but I think this is the worst of them all.
Grrr. Arrgh.
Elton, in a way, was our mad scientist. Like Frankenstein, he pieced together his Creature (this novel, Mr. Toppit) from rotting limbs and organs. But for some unknown reason, he never made it alive. He didn't let lightning struck at it. Elton just left the putrefied body parts on the slab and went off doing God knows what.
Mr. Toppit was good for about 15 pages. Then it began to reek till the last page. Elton started with a good idea but I don't know why he chose to expand it by writing crap no one cared about, crap that don't have anything to do with the way the story turns out.
Add the fact that Elton didn't create a single character worth talking about because they were either really annoying (Lola, Graham, Rachel) or lackluster (everyone else).I gave other books 1 star this year but I think this is the worst of them all.
September 22, 2013
I was so very excited to read beyond the first chapter which was amazing and I couldn't wait to hear more about the Darkwood and the eponymous Mr Toppit. But as the story progressed I became disappointed. I still give this book four stars for its originality and thoughtful premise, but the execution baffled me at times. I did not understand why we spent two entire chapters on the funeral after-party and discussed menu items. (Was there any point to that at all?) And I was also bitterly disappointed that Martha drops off the face of the earth in a bizarre manner after she storms out of some movie meeting for no reason. What a strange way to exit a character. I also didn't get why the book meandered into Hollywood territory which seemed beside the point. The character of Rachel lacked soul as did the narrator, Luke, but I believe that was partially the point (the family of the famous suffer from living in the shadows being the overall theme of the book). Most of all I was just sad that Darkwood and Mr Toppit wasn't explored in more depth.. it almost felt like the author shied away from what was in the Hayseed Chronicles as he didn't know himself. But still, the writing was sharp and the book kept me interested to the (albeit baffling) end.
April 12, 2011
This debut's promising beginning (unsung British author of a series of children's books is hit by a cement truck in London, and the American woman who happens to be at the scene will forever change the lives of the author's family after he dies) turns into a mess in the second half, when the story moves from England to L.A. The city is an unsurprising backdrop to showcase the plundered legacy of Arthur Hayman's Hayseed books, but there are too many threads and half-sketched characters to keep Mr. Toppit focused in the end. And sometimes even Luke, Arthur's son, the supposed inspiration for Luke Hayseed, and a frequent narrator of the novel can seem hardly bothered to tell the family's story. I was originally sold by Zoe Heller's blurb: "This is a brilliant novel--very funny, very sad, and wickedly clever. I wish I had written it." Brilliant is probably overstepping it. Funny, occasionally. Sad, often. Clever, at times. All of these things occur in pockets at best. Did she really wish she'd written this, though?
January 26, 2015
I feel really mean only giving this 2 stars because I sort of enjoyed it. The writing is engaging and I love odd characters - Martha should have featured more, she was a strange but funny part of the story. Luke was the one who featured in the Hayseed Chronicles but other than his reluctance to step into the limelight it seems to me that he was not overly bothered by anything, he was very apathetic and blasé about everything. I don't understand why the 2nd part of the book veered off in such an odd direction. I wasn't convinced by Laurie and her meteoric rise to fame just because she read the books on a hospital radio! I did chuckle at some of the wry observations from Luke but all the way through I was waiting for some plot to reveals itself or some twist to make it all worthwhile. Sadly this never came so when I closed the book I was left with mixed feelings - I enjoyed it but it all seemed a bit pointless.
July 2, 2017
As much as I enjoyed this book, I felt a little mislead by the blurb. I was expecting some sort o fairy tale or magical realism but actually got a very intelligent story about a dysfunctional family.
The characters both in and those affected by, the Hayman family were so well drawn and utterly believable and the knock on effect that each small incident had following the father's death to make the books famous was fascinating to read. Laurie was a clever character as she always felt faintly disturbing but her journey through the reader's favour was stunning.
Poor old Luke, our oftentime narrator whose namesake was used in his father's famous books never made much of an impression - I couldn't really tell you how he looked in my imagination. He is so overshadowed by his fictional self and by the strong, destructive women around him.
It was a very compelling and truthful novel, but for me, I never quite got over my disappointment for the lack of magic.
The characters both in and those affected by, the Hayman family were so well drawn and utterly believable and the knock on effect that each small incident had following the father's death to make the books famous was fascinating to read. Laurie was a clever character as she always felt faintly disturbing but her journey through the reader's favour was stunning.
Poor old Luke, our oftentime narrator whose namesake was used in his father's famous books never made much of an impression - I couldn't really tell you how he looked in my imagination. He is so overshadowed by his fictional self and by the strong, destructive women around him.
It was a very compelling and truthful novel, but for me, I never quite got over my disappointment for the lack of magic.
November 29, 2014
A book about a book. Or,more precisely when a book your father has written comes back to haunt you. Mr Toppit himself never makes and appearance; he is a character in the Hayseed Chronicles, a book written decades ago that languished unloved, until by a curious twist of fate and the death of its author, it suddenly explodes into the public consciousness. But it wasn't just about Mr Toppit--the chronicles' main character was Luke Hayseed, who was modeled on the author's son. Much like the gothic narrative of the Hayseed books, the real-life Luke finds his life turning dark and unseemly by the new-found fame, and he finds himself haunted by a fictional character whom he cannot escape.
Not a traditional ghost story by any means, there are still touches of the dark and creepy that surround this tale.
Not a traditional ghost story by any means, there are still touches of the dark and creepy that surround this tale.
March 28, 2011
This could have been so much better. The premise is great, but the pacing and character development was very uneven.
[mild spoiler]
The hostility and contempt for the overweight American character Laurie Clow made me uncomfortable, and when she metasticizes into a kind of monstrous B-list Oprah and the book shifts to LA, away from England, the book totally loses its appeal. The pell-mell rush of the narrative made it weirdly gripping, but without real reward, it's a sour, sad, repellant story in the end.
[mild spoiler]
The hostility and contempt for the overweight American character Laurie Clow made me uncomfortable, and when she metasticizes into a kind of monstrous B-list Oprah and the book shifts to LA, away from England, the book totally loses its appeal. The pell-mell rush of the narrative made it weirdly gripping, but without real reward, it's a sour, sad, repellant story in the end.
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