From: Booka
Category: Books
Date: 17 September 2005
Another one of those North London novels, with the details that are necessary for informing the readers that this author is street wise and savvy, not middleclass and out of touch. There must be a particular atmosphere in North London which allows the ‘intellectuals’ to mix with the masses, it seems to be a safety zone allowing the lefty middleclass to send their kids to the comp and keep their conscience clean, and somehow this process is producing a number of novelists. The narrative voice is unconvincing, giving the distinct impression that the author is young and unable to empathise with the character she has created, but perhaps this particular lack of character grants the end the necessary eerie conclusion. We don’t with whom we are dealing. That or Heller is another mediocre novelist, with an ability to write readable books which offer the satisfaction of being done so in a day but not much food for thought.
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