Kate Atkinson’s Human Croquet isn’t quite as bad as its title suggests, but it still isn’t doing much for me – and this is in spite of the fact that it sort of involves TIME TRAVEL. People keep telling me how great Kate Atkinson’s novels are, but this is my second one and I’m not yet a fan. This novel is just too voice-heavy for me. I’ve really become impatient with voice-driven first-person fiction, especially when child narrators are involved. It just seems too hard for authors to avoid letting voice stand in for plot. For example, I am 77 pages into this novel and not much has really happened. We know all kinds of things the protagonist thinks and feels about her friends, family, and neighbors – and that’s it. I am going to keep reading because at some point there is supposed to be some Shakespeare-related TIME TRAVEL, and that interests me. I will let you know how things go.
If you’ve been following the saga of the baby blanket, I ripped out my first attempt a couple of weeks ago because the pattern was complicated and my flawed eyesight couldn’t deal with the tiny needles and the thin yarn and the tiny pattern chart. I knit about 30 rows of the same pattern with bigger needles and thicker yarn, and I figured out where I went wrong. Now I’m back to the thin yarn again, and once again the blanket is in the stage where it looks like a fancy lollipop. Hopefully this time something will come of it, though this is the cursed yarn…
Yarn Along is hosted by Ginny on her blog, Small Things.
Postcards From Purgatory 
I am definitely a Kate Atkinson fan, but I remember thinking Human Croquet was a little weird when I read it back in 2001. Not sure if you’re going to end up liking it much. Her later books are more your thing, i think.
Haha I love the fancy lollipop look! The colour is fabulous. Maybe the yarn is cursed because of the colour? Green is traditionally unlucky, banned on fishing boats, from wearing at weddings etc. Not that I buy into that, my bridesmaids wore green!
Thanks! I’ve actually started the blanket over again in green and it’s going well so far. I’ve never heard of the idea that green is unlucky – as an old English teacher, I think of it as the color of spring, new life, fertility, and money (and, OK, also envy). I think the curse has to do with the fact that I am such a perfectionist and always end up making too many mistakes when I work with fine yarn! Thanks for visiting our blog. 🙂
Boo, I hate when time travel books don’t live up to the hype! I read Life After Life and liked it more than I expected, but I still wouldn’t rush to read another of her books…
I ended up liking Human Croquet more than I thought too, and I’ve heard that A God in Ruins is fantastic – but at this point I definitely don’t think I’m a huge Kate Atkinson fan. We’ll see…