⇒ Read No Laughing Matter Angus Wilson 9781842324448 Books

No Laughing Matter Angus Wilson 9781842324448 Books

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No Laughing Matter Angus Wilson 9781842324448 Books

This is a rich novel, about a dysfunctional family filled with characters as fascinatingly flawed
as the Sopranos (although sex is much more their flaw than violence). And yet dysfunctional is
not really right, since many of the six children come to be major figures in the English literary and political scene.

The plots are great - "page turning", 'can't put it down' soap opera-like plots for each character,
most filled with love and sex, ranging from true romantic love (both gay and straight, happy and
tragic) to incest, teen prostitution, and promiscuous despair. Simultaneously we are given cameo
shots of major moments in English and European 20th century history - such as a visit to Stalin's
Russia during the Purges, a visit to a dinner party of English pro-Nazi Fascists, the 1900 World's Fair,
the Suez Crisis, the London bombings in World War II, etc.
The prose is excellent, not verbose, and almost every word 'tells' - but it can be dense, especially in the opening
chapter, in which each character reveals their nature in a dream-reverie of the American Wild West after coming home
from a cinema in 1900. But it makes for great re-reading, especially as knowing the whole story makes clear the hints
and revelations in the stray thoughts of the characters which the reader is sure to mis the first (or second or third) time through.

Finally, this is a passionate book - in many ways it is an autobiography of Wilson and his family.
For people who enjoy a plot as exciting as a good TV drama, prose as clear and well crafted as any of the masters,
powerful characters who will stay in your mind for life, and wild eroticism (usually presented off stage), this is a book for your permanent library.


Tags : No Laughing Matter [Angus Wilson] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.,Angus Wilson,No Laughing Matter,House of Stratus Ltd,1842324446,1002-WS0401-A03012-1842324446,General,20th century,England,Social life and customs,Upper class families,Classics,Fiction,Fiction Classics,Fiction General,General & Literary Fiction,Literature - Classics Criticism,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),Modern fiction

No Laughing Matter Angus Wilson 9781842324448 Books Reviews

A family saga of the Matthews family. We meet the six Matthews children in London in 1912, living with their shabby-genteel, high spirited parents on the fringes of Bohemia; and we are thrown at once into the intense love-hate relationships of a highly charged family situation. Billy Pop, the father is a down-at-heels writer and his wife "Countess" a frustrated actress full of whims, great personal charm, and maddening inconsistencies. The children dream their separate dreams and play mocking games about their elder's absurd pretentions. We follow this family for fifty years thru changing history and the children's own jobs and lives.
This is a rich novel, about a dysfunctional family filled with characters as fascinatingly flawed
as the Sopranos (although sex is much more their flaw than violence). And yet dysfunctional is
not really right, since many of the six children come to be major figures in the English literary and political scene.

The plots are great - "page turning", 'can't put it down' soap opera-like plots for each character,
most filled with love and sex, ranging from true romantic love (both gay and straight, happy and
tragic) to incest, teen prostitution, and promiscuous despair. Simultaneously we are given cameo
shots of major moments in English and European 20th century history - such as a visit to Stalin's
Russia during the Purges, a visit to a dinner party of English pro-Nazi Fascists, the 1900 World's Fair,
the Suez Crisis, the London bombings in World War II, etc.
The prose is excellent, not verbose, and almost every word 'tells' - but it can be dense, especially in the opening
chapter, in which each character reveals their nature in a dream-reverie of the American Wild West after coming home
from a cinema in 1900. But it makes for great re-reading, especially as knowing the whole story makes clear the hints
and revelations in the stray thoughts of the characters which the reader is sure to mis the first (or second or third) time through.

Finally, this is a passionate book - in many ways it is an autobiography of Wilson and his family.
For people who enjoy a plot as exciting as a good TV drama, prose as clear and well crafted as any of the masters,
powerful characters who will stay in your mind for life, and wild eroticism (usually presented off stage), this is a book for your permanent library.