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Engleby

A Novel

By Sebastian Faulks

(27)

| Hardcover | 9780385524056

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Book Description

Bestselling British author Sebastian Faulks reinvents the unreliable narrator with his singular, haunting creation—Mike Engleby.

"My name is Mike Engleby, and I'm in my second year at an ancient university."

With that brief introduction we meet one of the most mesmerizContinue

Bestselling British author Sebastian Faulks reinvents the unreliable narrator with his singular, haunting creation—Mike Engleby.

"My name is Mike Engleby, and I'm in my second year at an ancient university."

With that brief introduction we meet one of the most mesmerizing, singular voices in a long tradition of disturbing narrators. Despite his obvious intelligence and compelling voice, it is clear that something about solitary, odd Mike is not quite right. When he becomes fixated on a classmate named Jennifer Arkland and she goes missing, we are left with the looming question: Is Mike Engleby involved? As he grows up, finding a job and even a girlfriend in London, Mike only becomes more and more detached from those around him in an almost anti-coming-of-age. His inability to relate to others and his undependable memory (able to recall countless lines of text yet sometimes incapable of summoning up his own experiences from mere days before) lead the reader down an unclear and often darkly humorous path where one is never completely comfortable or confident about what is true.

Mike Engleby is a chilling and unforgettable character, and Engleby is a novel that will surprise and beguile Sebastian Faulks' readership.

Critics

  • The wizard of odd

    Engleby by Sebastian Faulks Hutchinson £17.99, pp342 After his successes with Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, superior sagas of love, trench foot and French peasantry, Sebastian Faulks these days seems determined not to mention the war. Psychiatrists we ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • His mister's voice

    Engleby by Sebastian Faulks 342pp, Hutchinson, £17.99 Sebastian Faulks once admitted that he is drawn to the fanned cobbles and peeling shutters of provincial French towns because he cannot perceive the grandeur in Reading. Such reluctance to engage ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

3 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    Engleby is one of the most uncomfortable books I have read in a long time. Partly because it is impossible to believe it is a Sebastian Faulks novel, and partly because of it's subject matter. The novel follows Michael `Toilet' Engleby through the course of his life: from poor upbringing, through bo ... (continue)

    Engleby is one of the most uncomfortable books I have read in a long time. Partly because it is impossible to believe it is a Sebastian Faulks novel, and partly because of it's subject matter. The novel follows Michael `Toilet' Engleby through the course of his life: from poor upbringing, through boarding school bullying and University obsession to successful Fleet Street Journalism. But as Mike's mind begins to unravel, so too does the plot, as Mike slowly gives away the terrifying reality of what may have happened.

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    Lunarossa said on May 18, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Interesting, but a tad overrated

    I enjoyed this book; as a mystery and glimpse into a fictional university life. It did feel a little like Ian 'One Story' McEwan at times though - and none of the characters were especially endearing.

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    Ian Hodgson said on Oct 10, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • I found this title rather different to the previous novels I have read by Sebastian Faulks in that this one is a thriller which initially surprised me.

    I thought the characterisation of Mike Engleby was excellent. A student at Cambridge when the action, that he narrates to us takes place, he came ... (continue)

    I found this title rather different to the previous novels I have read by Sebastian Faulks in that this one is a thriller which initially surprised me.

    I thought the characterisation of Mike Engleby was excellent. A student at Cambridge when the action, that he narrates to us takes place, he came across as an intelligent young man who is terribly unstable. He unsettled me and I thought he seemed creepy, with his strange behaviour and stalking of Jennifer. Mike is definitely a social misfit who was not accepted by his contemporaries, although he seems to remain completely unaware of this fact.

    Jennifer disappears but as Mike is the storyteller you are never really sure about the facts as he presents them. Has he or has he not something to do with her disappearance?

    Sebastian Faulks certainly created a tormented character with his invention of Mike Engleby. I might not have found this a five star read but it will certainly remain in my thoughts for awhile, a chilling not easily forgotten narrative.

    I do try not to write reviews with spoilers so without giving away the ending, it left me feeling very uncertain.If you have read this do let me know what you think.

    For more visit my Book Review Blog
    http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/08/engl…

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    Lindyloumac said on Aug 27, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
    (27)
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  • English Books
  • Hardcover 336 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 0385524056
  • ISBN-13: 9780385524056
  • Publisher: Doubleday
  • Pub date: Sep 04, 2007
  • Also available as: Paperback, Audio CD, Others and eBook
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