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| Darkmans | 
 enlarge | Author: Nicola Barker
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy Used: £2.60
You Save: £6.39 (71%)
New (30) from £3.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 2633
Media: Paperback
Pages: 848
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 2.1
ISBN: 0007193637
EAN: 9780007193639
ASIN: 0007193637
Publication Date: March 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Read once. A few stains and scuffs, put perfectly readable!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 A large dose of life July 18, 2008
I was, not uniquely, I suspect, left a little miffed upon finishing this novel - don't worry, I'm not going to spill plot points all over this review though. This is why I have knocked one star off my rating - I am quite traditional in the sense that I like novels to have some overarcing development across their length, and this seems, essentially, plotless. At least not in the 800+ pages present; Darkmans runs in a different timeframe - like evolution, or continental drift.
Not that it feels slow, however. I found myself caught up in the intersecting lives of the vibrant characters, and Barker's elegant writing. It plays as a social drama, with a twist that many of the main characters may or may not be possessed by a 500 year old jester, and those who aren't often have their own mysterious agenda.
You will finish this novel with more questions than answers, but that, I hope, is the intention!
There's a good book in there somewhere July 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A strange book - really a jumble that creates the illusion of being clever. The dialogue, where everyone's an expert and interested in any aspect of history, just doesn't ring true - try to picture watching it in a film and it becomes laughably unbelievable and the whole "overwritten" feel of it deliver a book that takes forever to get started, introduces far too many shallow characters (what on earth did the chap with the lost daughter and the girl cutting the ties off trees add to anything?). I did find it a page turner, however, because I wanted to find out more about John but ultimately Darkmans just left me with a load of loose ends. This really needed a decent editor getting to grips with it!
 What a waste of time! July 3, 2008
First of all, the author's writing style has to be one of the most annoying styles I've ever encountered. Despite being a voracious reader (and I've read quite a few odd books, so I'm not opposed to something a bit different), I almost gave up after a few pages because the style is so frustrating. She uses all these parentheses to explain metaphors as if we're too dumb to figure out what she's saying. And every time a character is confused she leaves big empty spaces and writes "EH!?" or "WHA!?" It's just obnoxious. I persevered and the book does pick up steam, especially towards the end, but there's no point to it all. The plot seemed interesting and I was looking forward to the conclusion, except that there is no conclusion. It's a total cop-out. It's like she came up with some pretty cool ideas but didn't have the talent to pull it all together into something coherent. There's basically a Scooby-dooish bit towards the end where one character thinks he knows what's going on and the other character tries to just explain it all away by saying it's just all a coincidence. Was THAT supposed to be the explanation? Give me a break. That might cut it if there wasn't a bunch of supernatural stuff going on with a ghost or spirit possessing different characters. Or is the author just trying desperately to be "deep"? To me, this book is akin to one of those modern art exhibitions by Damien Hirst or Tracy Emin - so-called "artists" with little talent who've conned people into thinking their trite junk is worth something. If you like that kind of thing, maybe you'd like this book. But all in all it left me feeling like I'd just wasted my time.
 What a waste of time! June 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I wish I'd read these reviews before and not the 'official' ones. I too trudged through this dreadful book but only because I was stuck in a foreign hospital and had nothing else with me...otherwise I would have abandoned it. I have no idea what it was about. These days, the Booker short list seems to comprise unpleasant and tedious reading material that is best avoided. The only reason I've given it one star is because there's no option to give it no stars.
Am I missing something here... May 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I trudged through 838 pages waiting at every page turn to reach the "Brilliantly Comic, Hauntingly Sinister" or the "Fizzing, multi-layered narrative handled with finesse" that other reviewers refer to.
I found it trite, ill-conceived, lacking clarity and a downright boring read.
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