What a carve up!

Critics

• Theydunnit

  Gothic horror tale, detective mystery, autobiography, political history: Jonathan Coe’s appealingly ambitious new novel involves a promiscuous intermingling of literary genres, as a potted social history of Thatcherism is tucked inside some meta-text ... (read full critics)

  lrb published on Fri, 3 Sep 2010

9 Reviews

• 

  What a Carve Up! was my first Jonathan Coe, and it was his breakthrough book. A curious, mad story, based on a dreadful sub-Carry On film, Coe uses the movie plot as a springboard for a satire on the State Of England from World War II to Gulf War I.

  Coe is an immensely likeable author and (which a ... (continue)

  What a Carve Up! was my first Jonathan Coe, and it was his breakthrough book. A curious, mad story, based on a dreadful sub-Carry On film, Coe uses the movie plot as a springboard for a satire on the State Of England from World War II to Gulf War I.

  Coe is an immensely likeable author and (which always works for me) a Powell/Pressburger buff. Each novel creates a new, oblique viewpoint on the world of by-passes, confused marriages and post-industrial uncertainty. Judging from my choice of bookmark, I first read What a Carve Up! on a flight from Columbus OH to Chicago Midway.

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  Philip Downer said on Jun 30, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  My absolute favourite Coe novel.

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  Viollka said on May 28, 2010 | Add your feedback

• 

  I usually wait till the end to rate a book. Except I'm really enjoying this one. At the beginning it was a little hard to follow: so much shifting from one character to the other, from one decade to another; but it all ties in.

  And now I can't wait to finish the grand finale in the mystery mansi ... (continue)

  I usually wait till the end to rate a book. Except I'm really enjoying this one. At the beginning it was a little hard to follow: so much shifting from one character to the other, from one decade to another; but it all ties in.

  And now I can't wait to finish the grand finale in the mystery mansion.

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  fran_ces said on Dec 4, 2009 | Add your feedback

• 

  Intricate, as all Coe's books. Interesting, moving, shocking.Oddly funny. Maybe a bit too Britain centred for non British readers.

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  Sabi said on Jan 16, 2009 | Add your feedback

• 

  the best book of Jonathan Coe...once you start you can't stop!

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  Elenacrive said on Dec 11, 2008 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Really good stuff. And occasionally funny, too -
  the chapter about Dorothy is great.
  The ending is oddly fitting.. gotta love the Winshaw family!

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  leo said on Aug 21, 2008 | Add your feedback

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Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Paperback 512 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0140294562
• ISBN-13: 9780140294569
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Pub date: Feb 22, 2001
• Dimensions: 1161 mm x 710 mm x 258 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Hardcover, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Livros em Português, Libri Italiani, Nederlandse Boeken

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• British Comedy Abroad (140)
• England England (1192)

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