Synopses & Reviews
Critical acclaim for Kate Atkinson:
"Startlingly original" (Johanna Stoberock, The Seattle Times)
"Really comic, really tragic, bracingly unsentimental." (The Boston Sunday Globe
"An effervescent, affecting delight." (Rebecca Radner, The San Francisco Examiner Chronicle)
"Atkinson's language is a joy." (Valerie Sayers, Commonweal)
"Full of ambiguities and neat surprises." (Katharine Weber, The New York Times Book Review)
"Vivid and intriguing...fizzes and crackles along." (Penelope Lively, The Independent)
"Luminescent...sure and sophisticated, poetic and darkly comic." (Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe)
On a weather-beaten island off the coast of Scotland, Effie and her mother, Nora, take refuge in the large, mouldering house of their ancestors and tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear-like who her real father was. Effie tells various versions of her life at college, where in fact she lives in a lethargic relationship with bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed, and to whom Klingons are as real as the French and the Germans.
But as mother and daughter spin their tales, strange things are happening around them. Why is Effie being followed? Is someone killing the old people? And where is the mysterious yellow dog?
In a brilliant comic narrative which explores the nonsensical power of language and meaning, Kate Atkinson has created another magical masterpiece.
Review
"Atkinson's smart, funny novel explores the power of storytelling and blurs the line between fact and fiction." (Booklist)
Review
"[Atkinson] delights so thoroughly in the power and possibilities of writing, and in the fun of language, that it's difficult not to join her." (New York Post)
Review
"A sparkling comic meditation on how authors choose to tell their stories."--
Entertainment Weekly (grade: A-)
“…Reads like the fictional equivalent of a magic trick; you might wonder how she pulls it off, but youre certain to marvel at the results.” —Harpers Bazaar
“A full-bore, old-fashioned yarn—the kind that keeps you turning pages, hurrying toward the denouement long after youve told yourself youre going to bed.” —The Washington Post Book World
“Beautifully written…brimming with quirky characters and original storytelling.... Kate Atkinson has struck gold with this unique offering.” —Time Out
"Atkinson has found her best subject…a truly funny comic novel." —Newsday
Synopsis
In this thoroughly original and hilarious new novel from the author of "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", a mother and daughter take refuge in the house of their ancestors in Scotland and spin tales of their lives, as strange things begin to happen around them.
Synopsis
A hilarious and utterly original novel about mothers, daughters, and love, by the author of Life After Life.On a weather-beaten island off the coast of Scotland, Effie and her mother, Nora, take refuge in the large, mouldering house of their ancestors and tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear--like who her real father was. Effie tells various versions of her life at college, where in fact she lives in a lethargic relationship with Bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed, and to whom Klingons are as real as Spaniards and Germans.
But as mother and daughter spin their tales, strange things are happening around them. Is Effie being followed? Is someone killing the old people? And where is the mysterious yellow dog?
In a brilliant comic narrative which explores the nonsensical power of language and meaning, Kate Atkinson has created another magical masterpiece.
Synopsis
A thoroughly original and hilarious novel about mothers, daughters, and love, by the author of Behind the Scenes at the Museum.On a weather-beaten island off the coast of Scotland, Effie and her mother, Nora, take refuge in the large, mouldering house of their ancestors and tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear--like who her real father was. Effie tells various versions of her life at college, where in fact she lives in a lethargic relationship with Bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed, and to whom Klingons are as real as Spaniards and Germans.
But as mother and daughter spin their tales, strange things are happening around them. Is Effie being followed? Is someone killing the old people? And where is the mysterious yellow dog?
In a brilliant comic narrative which explores the nonsensical power of language and meaning, Kate Atkinson has created another magical masterpiece.
About the Author
Kate Atkinson is the author of several novels, including Behind the Scenes at the Museum, winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year, Human Croquet, Emotionally Weird, Not the End of the World, Case Histories, One Good Turn, and Life after Life. She lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions
1. Reviewers have noted that his novel is the equivalent of a magic trick. How does Atkinson accomplish this?
2. Consider, for example, Effies writing assignment on Henry Jamess critique of Middlemarch as a formless collection of detail. Could the same be said of Effies story and Emotionally Weird as a whole? Can you think of other instances where Atkinson seems to be tricking her audience? What does this narrative technique say about Atkinsons view on writing and language?
3. Paranoia and the feeling of being watched—the constant reference to eyes and looking, Bobs paranoid exclamations, and even Atkinsons own linguistic agility, which reminds readers of her presence—is a theme which is present throughout the novel. How does this theme affect the narrative? Does it create suspense? To what degree is this feeling a fabrication and to what degree is it a reality in the world of the novel?
4. What does Atkinsons use of different fonts for the various narratives in the story accomplish in terms of storytelling and writing? Did you find it effective?
5. Is it clear that the narrator is extremely self-conscious—so much so, that shs constantly rewriting her own life story. How does this level of self-consciousness affect her credibility as a narrator? How do the constant interruptions to Effies storytelling (the water boiling, the wind, etc.) affect the autobiographical genre that Atkinson is exploring here?
6. The sequences with Effie and Nora on the island seem to take place in the present, that is to say, all the other narratives are stories from Effie and Noras past (and imagination) that they recount to each other. Why is it, then, that it is precisely these sequences that have the most dream-like quality about them and seem to be the most surreal? What does this say about the novel as a whole?
7. As the narrative progresses, more and more characters enter the story. Nora even makes a complaint to Effie, saying that there are far too many minor and side characters (p. 167). Moreover, most of these characters are also writing their own novels; even Effie herself is writing a murder mystery. How does this issue of writing about writing fit into the larger theme of the novel? What does it say about writing itself?
8. The shaggy yellow dog is a character in his own right. What does the dog represent in the novel? What is his function?
9. What does Emotionally Weird say about relationships between mothers and daughters? Does Effies relationship with Nora progress or regress by the books end?