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neekah's review against another edition
4.0
Her books always manage to mess me up somehow. Most of the characters turn out to be so complicated. You have to pay attention to it, I think.
alysian_fields's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Suicide
logopolis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Homophobia and Toxic relationship
sljbook's review against another edition
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
sophiepmeeks's review
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
grubstlodger's review against another edition
4.0
The book starts with an epigraph from the play ‘Peter Pan’ and it’s a quote that means a lot to me. The Lost Boys are surrounding Tootles and telling him how bad he is for shooting Wendy, even though they’d all tried themselves. Tootles turns to the other boys and says;
"When ladies used to come to me in dreams, I said, 'Pretty mother, pretty mother.' But when at last she really came, I shot her.”
The reason this quote means a lot to me is because at university, I played Tootles in a production of ‘Peter Pan’ and whenever it came to this line, the rest of the Lost Boys got the giggles - it was to do with the innocent directness of the line, ‘I shot her’. As for themes and references to Peter Pan, this book doesn’t really get going on them until the last third.
The very beginning was a vague prologue in which lots of names were bandied about and events alluded to, I found this quite irritating, not having read the book and having no idea of who the characters were or the events being alluded to.
Finally we get introduced to Stella. She has a talent for performance (or at least her uncle thinks she does) and has been pulled out of school to take LAMDA exams in acting, which is something I did as a child (though I went to school as well). She doesn’t seem very keen on acting really, she doesn’t seem very keen on anything. The uncle and aunt keep hinting to each other dark secrets in Stella’s past and referring to intimate events we don’t yet know nothing about. This was something of a habit in this book, we’d be told all sorts of private information about a person without knowing who they were before being introduced to them. It made it a rather difficult read but kept some sort of shadowy tension and a hope the book would all makes sense when it ended.
Stella joins a rep theatre in Liverpool as a stagehand. She takes to the role better than as an actor, does a few little bit parts and becomes a great favourite of everyone there because of her forthright manner and odd notions. She gets a massive crush on the obviously gay director and fends off other advances - some creepy - from other members of the cast and crew. The lead actor likes putting her over his lap and spanking her, everyone else seems to consider this normal.
We get lots of glimpses of post-war Liverpool, it would appear to be a shit’ole. There are pigeons every few pages, everything seems tatty or broken and most of the people have dirts, boils, sores and other signs of disease.
For the most part, the book is about a production of Anthony and Cleopatra but for the last third, they put on Peter Pan. Stella ‘plays’ Tinkerbell as a light shining around the stage. The former lead actor literally breaks his leg and they get a former acting legend in to play Hook. The play instantly takes off and the chemistry on stage is palpable. Then everything goes wrong. It turns out the model of this book is more a Greek tragedy then Peter Pan - and in the last performance of Peter Pan, Stella forgets to turn the light back on when the children are clapping and Tinkerbell dies.
This isn’t quite as gripping an evocation of theatrical life as Penelope Fitzgerald’s ‘At Freddies’ but it does capture the tatty allure of the theatre, a fizz I long for periodically. Also, everything did tie up and make sense at the end and I should have just trusted Beryl Bainbridge all along.
"When ladies used to come to me in dreams, I said, 'Pretty mother, pretty mother.' But when at last she really came, I shot her.”
The reason this quote means a lot to me is because at university, I played Tootles in a production of ‘Peter Pan’ and whenever it came to this line, the rest of the Lost Boys got the giggles - it was to do with the innocent directness of the line, ‘I shot her’. As for themes and references to Peter Pan, this book doesn’t really get going on them until the last third.
The very beginning was a vague prologue in which lots of names were bandied about and events alluded to, I found this quite irritating, not having read the book and having no idea of who the characters were or the events being alluded to.
Finally we get introduced to Stella. She has a talent for performance (or at least her uncle thinks she does) and has been pulled out of school to take LAMDA exams in acting, which is something I did as a child (though I went to school as well). She doesn’t seem very keen on acting really, she doesn’t seem very keen on anything. The uncle and aunt keep hinting to each other dark secrets in Stella’s past and referring to intimate events we don’t yet know nothing about. This was something of a habit in this book, we’d be told all sorts of private information about a person without knowing who they were before being introduced to them. It made it a rather difficult read but kept some sort of shadowy tension and a hope the book would all makes sense when it ended.
Stella joins a rep theatre in Liverpool as a stagehand. She takes to the role better than as an actor, does a few little bit parts and becomes a great favourite of everyone there because of her forthright manner and odd notions. She gets a massive crush on the obviously gay director and fends off other advances - some creepy - from other members of the cast and crew. The lead actor likes putting her over his lap and spanking her, everyone else seems to consider this normal.
We get lots of glimpses of post-war Liverpool, it would appear to be a shit’ole. There are pigeons every few pages, everything seems tatty or broken and most of the people have dirts, boils, sores and other signs of disease.
For the most part, the book is about a production of Anthony and Cleopatra but for the last third, they put on Peter Pan. Stella ‘plays’ Tinkerbell as a light shining around the stage. The former lead actor literally breaks his leg and they get a former acting legend in to play Hook. The play instantly takes off and the chemistry on stage is palpable. Then everything goes wrong. It turns out the model of this book is more a Greek tragedy then Peter Pan - and in the last performance of Peter Pan, Stella forgets to turn the light back on when the children are clapping and Tinkerbell dies.
This isn’t quite as gripping an evocation of theatrical life as Penelope Fitzgerald’s ‘At Freddies’ but it does capture the tatty allure of the theatre, a fizz I long for periodically. Also, everything did tie up and make sense at the end and I should have just trusted Beryl Bainbridge all along.
literarytranquillity's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
brontebucket's review against another edition
4.0
Troubled aspiring young actress Stella Bradshaw leaves home and baggage behind to join the theatre. She becomes obsessed with Meredith, the theatre company Director who spurns her for someone else. The book created a clear vision of the chaos of the theatre and good characters. It packed a lot in to a short book.
amanda_hart's review against another edition
4.0
A beautifully written book with a twist of humour and tragedy which holds you in suspense to the end.
rworrall78's review
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Very clever, some of the lines really landed, some didn't. It was smartly constructed. Stella's inability to connect with her well meaning uncle and aunt is the saddest thing. I found the cast of characters hard to follow and the writing was at times dazzling but occasionally it read clunkily.
It was great to see 1950s post war Liverpool depicted. Familiar and so different. The poverty and brokenness was skillfully evoked.
It was great to see 1950s post war Liverpool depicted. Familiar and so different. The poverty and brokenness was skillfully evoked.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault