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| On Green Dolphin Street | 
 enlarge | Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Hutchinson
Category: Book
List Price: £12.00
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £11.99 (100%)
Collectible (1) from £26.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  59 reviews
Sales Rank: 410589
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 356
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
ISBN: 0091793505
EAN: 9780091793500
ASIN: 0091793505
Publication Date: November 1, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Second hand and therefore read. Some creasing to spine otherwise good condition. May have page browning if an older book. Pages not torn or curled in any way. DISPATCHED FAST FROM UK BASED SELLER WITHIN 48 HOURS
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| Customer Reviews:
 Very disappointing October 9, 2007
Like many other reviewers on here, I thought 'Birdsong' had some merit with its brilliantly researched and vividly painted WW1 setting, though I was left with the impression that he's probably a better journalist (his original trade) than he is a novelist.
I found this one a trial though. I have a personal policy of never allowing myself to leave a book unfinished. From time to time, I get to the final page and regret my Virgoan self-discipline. The historical context in this one is of minor interest to most people, unlike WW1 which seems to fascinate us more as the years go by and as family research leads more of us to want to understand the experience of our near ancestors. The story, such as it is, is painfully slow and less 'subtle' than downright dull. The dialogue is unnatural in the extreme, and his writing style is unnecessarily tortuous; I yearned for a noun that was not qualified by at least one superfluous adjective.
Read 'Birdsong'; don't let your Virgoan self-discipline get the better of you on this one, though.
 Beautiful July 14, 2007
I read On Green Dolphin Street having only read Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks before. I found his writing truly beautiful and he fully immersed me in his fictional world. I had a lot of empathy with the characters and the book was very atmospheric.
I would strongly recommend this book to any open minded person. Everyone I have lent the book to has enjoyed it thoroughly and for different reasons.
A good holiday book but not remarkable February 11, 2007
I picked up this book at the station shop when in a rush for something to read on a long train journey. I picked it out because I had recently read and enjoyed Birdsong (by the same author). Having read several of Faulks' books it seems that they run to a formula, troubled relationships with particular historical events used as the back-drop, in this case the Kennedy/Nixon 1960 presidential election (amongst others).
Overall the book is entertaining and has enough depth to keep you interested, however it does not have anything particularly profound to say on any of the subjects it addresses. Although the setting is vivid the story itself has a somewhat "generic" feel about it.
 LIKE A DRY MARTINI NEITHER SHAKEN NOR STIRRED October 14, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was bought "On Green Dolphin Street" by my wife - knowing how much I enjoyed Birdsong, the latter being one of the most profound and moving books I have read. I found On Green Dolphin Street a dire plod a stroll in the park, a book to read after the excitement of the obituary in your local paper. The book gives a glimpse into the events of the late 50`s the run-up to the election of Kennedy. The whole thread being the moral dilemmas of the adulterous wife of an alcoholic junior diplomat. She gradually falls in love with a newspaper journalist covering the election and has an affair with him. She has spurious pangs of guilt and mis-placed loyalties she lingers on (and on, and on) whether to run away with her lover or stay with her now ailing husband and two children - and that`s about it! This book was a dissapointment and not in the same league as Birdsong. I would guess this book would suite the female audience and may strike a few memorable chords for the divorcee or adulterer. I am eager to read more of Sebatian Faulks, I know he can do better. I want more Birdsong stuff!
Could do better January 7, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the first Faulks novel I have read, so I cannot tell whether it is an improvement on earlier books. If you are interested in the minutiae of life in the USA around 1960 as it involved political commentators and the Nixon/Kennedy election, then this will appeal to you. Otherwise, I'm afraid, you will find it difficult to empathise with any of the three main characters: a British diplomat and his wife & the man who becomes her lover, an American journalist. They all drink a lot, eat a lot, behave cynically and are generally pampered, cosseted and thoroughly turned in on themselves. Perhaps that's the impression the author intended to give - in which case he can count this book a success. But, in the end, the effect is that the reader doesn't really care what happens to any of them.
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