Its like watching more than a decade of living from a slowmoving train. In jon mcgregors new novel the missing girls name is rebecca shaw and she is years old. The villagers fan out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks and a crowd of news reporters descends on what is usually a place of peace. Rebeccas family are on holiday in a village in the. He is the winner of the impac dublin literature prize, the costa novel award, the betty trask prize, the somerset maugham award, and the american academy of arts and letters e. Their film, powers of ten, is only nine minutes long but measures the scope of the universe.
It was recommended to me by a friend who reliably knows what i will like. My outstanding read of 2017 reservoir by jon mcgregor duration. Even by the standards of his mature work, reservoir is a remarkable achievement. A couple are seen having a picnic in a park in chicago from a distance of one metre. Click and collect from your local waterstones or get free uk delivery on orders over. Reservoir by jon mcgregor reservoir by jon mcgregor. Jon mcgregors an extraordinary writer, unlike anyone else. Oct 03, 2017 reservoir isnt simply an iteration of the usual story, however. Illustration by jon mcnaught one of my favorite short stories is luigi pirandellos beautiful, brief. With just four books, mcgregor this isnt the sort of thing that happens to someone like you, 2012, etc. Nov 03, 2017 set in our own day in a village in englands peak district, jon mcgregors reservoir opens with searchers assembling to look for thirteenyearold rebecca shaw, last seen out on a walk in the countryside with her parents, who had somehow lost sight of her. The villagers are called up to join the search, fanning out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks and a crowd of news reporters descends on their usually quiet home.
His first novel, if nobody speaks of remarkable things, was nominated for the 2002 booker prize and was the winner of both the betty trask prize and the somerset maugham award in 2003. What happens to a tranquil british town when a yearold. Sep 09, 2018 what mcgregor delivers is a really profound book about the rhythms of our lives and how life must and does, go on. Reservoir by jon mcgregor i have very conflicted feelings about reservoir by jon mcgregor because i admired so much about its technique and ingenuity, but i often wasnt engaged by the story in that satisfying way i hope a novel will make me feel.
In 2002, his first novel was longlisted for the booker prize, making him the youngest ever contender his second and fourth novels were longlisted for the booker prize in 2006 and 2017 respective. As the thirteen years methodically tick by, the narrative drifts in and out of peoples lives, assembling a patchwork quilt of a community forever altered. Thats the hauntingly real premise of jon mcgregors fascinating new novel, reservoir. A young girl disappears outside a small village in northern england. Winner of the 2017 costa novel award 01 by jon mcgregor isbn. Reservoir ebook by jon mcgregor 9781936787715 rakuten. The rumpus jon mcgregors haunting mystery novel about the ways in which we measure our lives will get under your skin. Jon mcgregor 4th estate, harpercollins midwinter in the early years of this century a teenage girl on holiday has gone missing in the hills at the heart of england. Reservoir by jon mcgregor begins with the disappearance of rebecca shaw, a thirteenyearold girl who goes missing while on holiday with her family in the peak district in the early 2000s. Reservoir is quite extraordinary the way its structured, the way it rolls, the skill with which jon mcgregor lets the characters breathe and age roddy doyle, author of paddy clarke ha ha ha. The financial times and its journalism are subject to a selfregulation regime under the ft editorial code of practice. Read reservoir a novel by jon mcgregor available from rakuten kobo. Reservoir generates suspense, not out of chase scenes or sly dialogue, but out of the extended narrative experience of waiting waiting for something, anything, to break in rebeccas case. In the years that pass following her disappearance, the various residents of the small rural village get on with their lives, but the mystery.
Jon mcgregor is a british author who has written three novels. Reservoir is only his fourth novel, but it confirms his gift as a poet of ordinary lives and his skill in taking risks with form and style. After a young girlrebecca or becky or bex shawgoes missing on new years eve on the frozen moors of an unnamed english village, the community members each must deal with her loss in their own way. And it is this fidelity that, paradoxically, allows us to see how very weird and impermanent and unreliable and unreal socalled. Thirteen year old becky shaw has disappeared from a small village in england.
Mcgregors latest novel, reservoir, thrums with the soft gossip of life itself. In 2002, his first novel was longlisted for the booker prize, making him the youngest ever contender. Mcgregor is a writer with extraordinary control, and he uses the power of the archetype as well as our genre expectations for his own purposes. Reservoir explores the rhythms of the natural world and the repeated human gift for violence, unfolding over thirteen years as the aftershocks of a strangers tragedy refuse to subside.
In 2012, his third novel, even the dogs, was awarded the international dublin literary award. Jon mcgregors fluid and fastidious prose is as near to faultless as makes no difference jon mcgregor. Prosaically enough, it is a portrait of an english village. Reservoir by jon mcgregor paperback harpercollins. The british novelist jon mcgregor is interested in the bystanders to public.
Reservoir is quite extraordinarythe way its structured, the way it rolls, the skill with which jon mcgregor lets the characters breathe and age. Set in our own day in a village in englands peak district, jon mcgregors reservoir opens with searchers assembling to look for thirteenyearold rebecca shaw, last seen out on a walk in the countryside with her parents, who had somehow lost sight of her. His second and fourth novels were longlisted for the booker prize in 2006 and 2017 respectively. Apr 23, 2017 reservoir by jon mcgregor is published by 4th estate. Apr 28, 2017 reservoir, by jon mcgregor, fourth estate, rrp. In if nobody speaks of remarkable things mcgregor keeps his camera close on his subject. Buy reservoir by jon mcgregor from waterstones today. Reservoir isnt simply an iteration of the usual story, however. Its one of those reads where a lot of the action goes on in the stillness between the events described. Jon mcgregor s an extraordinary writer, unlike anyone else. Reservoir follows the village for as many years as becky had lived, allotting a chapter to each. In jon mcgregor s new novel the missing girls name is rebecca shaw and she is years old.
The villagers fan out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks, and a crowd of news reporters descends on what is usually a place. Jon mcgregor born 1976 is a british novelist and short story writer. The real meaning behind jon mcgregors village tale of a. The novel is set in a nameless village in derbyshire, and from its opening the reader could be forgiven for thinking that a crime story, of the happy valley variety, might follow. Every ten seconds the camera moves away from them by a power. Costa prizewinning author of one of the most popular novels of 2017, reservoir, now out in paperback by avril hoare news presenter, reporter and bibliophile. So many ways to begin was published in 2006 and was on the booker prize long list. Rebeccas family are on holiday in a village in the peak district, staying in a barn conversion. Short story series by jon mcgregor set in the peak. A teenage girl on holiday has gone missing in the hills at the heart of england. In his latest novel, reservoir, jon mcgregor has revolutionized that most hallowed of mystery plots. Maybe this is not so much a thriller, but a postthriller a novel that meditates on tragedy and its inevitable fading away in memory.
The visionary power of the novelist jon mcgregor the new. The visionary power of the novelist jon mcgregor the new yorker. Lee ingleby reads jon mcgregors awardwinning novel. Aug 26, 2017 reservoir by jon mcgregor i have very conflicted feelings about reservoir by jon mcgregor because i admired so much about its technique and ingenuity, but i often wasnt engaged by the story in that satisfying way i hope a novel will make me feel. In midwinter in an english village, a teenage girl has gone missing and everyone is called upon to join the search. Reservoir 2017 is his first novel for thirteen years and like his debut novel, if nobody speaks of remarkable things 2002, it was longlisted for the booker prize. Reservoir longlisted for this years man booker begins with a tragic incident, and continues first by examining a community in. Reservoir is quite extraordinary the way its structured, the way it rolls, the skill with which jon mcgregor lets the characters breathe and age. Jon mcgregor is the author of four novels and two story collections. He is daring in never mentioning reservoir again after naming his novel after it and insinuating, merely by its prominence, that it had something to do with the disappearance of rebecca, or becky, or bex, the yearold girl who disappeared one year and was never accounted for, though shed been looked for and not forgotten for the thirteen. Reservoir by jon mcgregor, won or was nominated for, a slew of awards in 2017. Jon mcgregor reading from his novel reservoir youtube. Reservoir does this, and in a truly original wayits scale and the way time works within it combine to mimic, with rare fidelity, the way things are in reality, and the way real life, lived, actually feels.
Reservoir jon mcgregor 4th estate, harpercollins midwinter in the early years of this century a teenage girl on holiday has gone missing in the hills at the heart of england. What mcgregor delivers is a really profound book about the rhythms of our lives and how life must and does, go on. Lee ingleby reads jon mcgregor s awardwinning novel. In 1977 a year after jon mcgregor was born charles and ray eames, the renowned american designers, put their talents to filmmaking on behalf of ibm.
M forster award, and has been longlisted three times for the man booker prize, most recently in 2017 for reservoir. It is years end, and the family has been spending the holiday in the village, a. I thought of pirandellos story while reading reservoir catapult, the fourth novel by the english writer jon mcgregor. In an age where narrative in the most popular works of art often proceeds at a breakneck speed, he has chosen to defy this. Paula hawkins, author of the girl on the train and into the water a new novel from the absurdly gifted jon mcgregor, seven years after the impacwinning even the dogs, reservoir is haunting and heartbreaking, the tale of a disappearance and its aftermath his best yet. Every ten seconds the camera moves away from them by a. The british novelist jon mcgregor is interested in the bystanders to public disasters the people in the background of the. Even the dogs was published in 2010, and his newest work, reservoir. I have very conflicted feelings about reservoir by jon mcgregor because i admired so much about its technique and ingenuity, but i often.
595 1631 111 722 1209 1292 440 888 1113 399 732 1219 1109 1600 792 951 789 771 1453 191 123 1445 365 738 932 679 29 19 1435 439 539 1228 119 1196 918 1496 824 1445 99