April 2017 Book Club: Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Discussion in 'TMB Book Club' started by Truman, Mar 30, 2017.

  1. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She's still in the marital home a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse but John's not here. Instead, she's with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month old resident of Trudy's womb.

    Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world's master storytellers

    The Blackfish pls pin
     
  2. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Got an early start. Knocked out about 2/3rds in one sitting. Quick read. So far so good.

    Our narrator is a fetus. That's a new one for me. This bad thing his mom and Claude are planning is to kill Mr Fetus' daddy?

    I hate the layout of the text in my version of the ebook. It's like one big wall of text. Very few paragraph breaks.

    Laughed at a fetus basically calling his dad an idiot and a pussy for giving his mom space and not seeing she doesn;t love/like him any more.

    Damn Trudy... clean your house.

    -Ohhh Fetus is plotting against Claude, who sounds like a real meat head
    - "Not everyone knows what it's like to have your father's rival's penis an inch from your nose" :roll:
    - Fetus really isn't impressed w Claude
    - Claude is the Uncle???? :warn:

    They're killing someone. Feel like John is too obvi. Also our boy is going get that fetal alcohol syndrome

    These two fucks killing animals. :rage:

    LMAO John knew and was banging someone too

    pffft Trudy was all remorseful and unsure about killing John. Now that he's got a side piece she's ready to get at it.

    If my brother ever starts banging my wife, Im sure as hell not toasting to them. Artsy poets are so weird.


    Fetus trying to commit suicide. This is getting dark.
     
  3. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Oh man John was just using Elodie to make Trudy jelly. No real relationship. That will surely bring up some mixed feelings for her, and possible the mix up the police investigation

    Nice little commentary on millennials in this chapter.


    This book was more about the ride than anything else. It was a pretty basic story about a a cheating couple plot to murder the cuckold. However the creativity to use a fetus as the narrator was great. I wish there was a good twist or bigger mystery, because the plot was pretty meh. Would have gone from being just a good read to a great book imo

    Glad I read it, wasn't blown away.

    Good suggestion. Very different than the usual TMB Book Club

    7/10
     
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  4. The Blackfish

    The Blackfish The Fish in Black
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    I'm flying to Grand Rapids on Tuesday and plan to knock it out then
     
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  5. Lorne Malvo

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    In Michigan? I lived there for three years when I was a kid. #random
     
  6. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    It's a short quick read. knocked it out in 2 sittings.
     
  7. The Blackfish

    The Blackfish The Fish in Black
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    Yeah I travel there for work quite a bit
     
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  8. Lorne Malvo

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    Through three chapters:
    Didn't expect the writing to be like this where the fetus pretty much uses smarter words than I do in my daily vocabulary haha. Also, the part about Claude's dick being so close legit made me lol.

    Interested to see where things are going. Philosophical stuff has been hit or miss. Hopefully the plot picks up
     
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  9. Lorne Malvo

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    I'm to this point
    Don't really know how I feel about this book over 2/3rds through. It's certainly an interesting read and perspective but literally no one is likeable in the book. I don't know where it's going beyond ending bad for pretty much everyone involved. Change of pace from the normal stuff I've read and I probably won't regret it, but one I don't think I'll ever check out again.
     
  10. Lorne Malvo

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    Finished
    While the storytelling was a unique idea, I really wasn't a huge fan of the book overall. I've read better thrillers with more interesting characters. And there was literally no likable characters in this book. I guess I don't hate that I read it - it was short enough to not feel like something that would waste time - but I can't say I would recommend it to anyone.

    The penultimate chapter was good as far as being a thriller goes. The way the two cops slowly broke down the truth was good. It's just that there wasn't enough of that throughout the book. 4.5/10.
     
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  11. The Blackfish

    The Blackfish The Fish in Black
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    I'm through three chapters and enjoying it. I like the perspective and the humor as well as the commentary on the state of the world
     
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  12. The Blackfish

    The Blackfish The Fish in Black
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    I think LKRFN88jp misidentified this book. Just starting chapter 6.

    this book isn't a thriller, it's a Burn After Reading-esque dark comedy. The sommelier fetus is killing me. "Put Claude's penis or, less stressful, a gun to my head to name a domain I would blurt out la Romanée-Conti, for the spicy cassis and black cherry alone."

    :roll:
     
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  13. Gonff

    Gonff Prince of Mousethieves
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    Through Ch 11

    Didn't expect them to actually kill the father. Not sure where this goes from here. This is an interesting concept, but it's not a book I'm blown away with so far. But I'm enjoy it enough to keep me interested, and it's pretty short.

    The very intelligent fetus is a weird spin on the storyline. Makes for some funny quips and observations. I was expecting a pretty ignorant main character.

    Kind of wonder where the conflict comes from moving forward. Is it the eventual imprisonment of the mother vs her unborn child?
     
  14. Gonff

    Gonff Prince of Mousethieves
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    Finished.

    I would agree with Truman that this was a book with a good, unique narrator but I just thought the plot was missing a lot of intrigue and some good twists or additional suspense. I know you're limited with what you can do when your narrator is dependent upon where his mother is, but still, it just left me wanting.

    6/10. Solid, but nothing incredible.