An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge

[Janet]

The 'blurb'
It is 1950 and the Liverpool repertory theatre company is rehearsing its Christmas production of Peter Pan, a story of childhood innocence and loss. Stella has been taken on as assistant stage manager and quickly becomes obsessed with Meredith, the dissolute director. But it is only when the celebrated O'Hara arrives to take the lead that a different drama unfolds. In it, he and Stella are bound together in a past that neither dares to interpret.

It took me a while to get into this book - I found it to be quite slow at first but it builds gradually and gets much better towards the end!

What the author does really well is to convey the feel of the time in which it is set. I really felt as though I was watching the scenes take place in the austere, post-war 1950s - that feeling of drabness but also of change.

*Do not read the spoilers if you haven't read the book*

Stella is a naïve and somewhat disturbed individual who is on a voyage of self-discovery.

She thinks she's in love with Meredith but he is indifferent to her and eventually she forms a relationship with the much older O'Hara. It's difficult to see whether he's taking advantage of Stella or whether it is she who is taking advantage of him.

We don't really know a lot about Stella's past. She lives with her Uncle Vernon and Aunt Lily in a run-down guest house. Although her relationship with them doesn't seem quite 'normal', it is clear that they care for her a great deal. Stella's mysterious mother is mentioned only once or twice by Vernon and Lily, and although Stella talks to her by telephone, we never hear what her mother has to say - it's only ever "Mother said the usual things".

The ending of the book is really quite sad. There was a twist that I didn't see it coming

I didn't realise mother was going to be the speaking clock - even though it was mentioned that she'd 'won the competition' and thought that was such a clever idea, and that it was also so pitiful that Stella would ring it just to hear her mother's voice and to be able to talk to her.

I wondered if O'Hara was going to have something to do with Stella's mother, but I didn't think he'd turn out to be Stella's father!

The paperback is 197 pages long and is published by Abacus. The ISBN number is 978-0349116150.

6½/10

(Finished 23 September 2009)

[Kell]

I recently read this one but was sadly disappointed. The end was definitely the best bit (not just because it was the end, either - LOL!), but the rest of it was incredibly slow and I found I couldn't identify with any of the characters, nor bring myself to care about any of them.

[maisy]

I found this so disappointing I didn't even get to the end! Perhaps I will revisit and give the end a try.