Think you know books? Try our new Book Trivia!

BookBrowse Reviews It's All Right Now by Charles Chadwick

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Beyond the book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

It's All Right Now by Charles Chadwick

It's All Right Now

by Charles Chadwick
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • First Published:
  • May 1, 2005, 667 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jul 2006, 704 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Reviews

BookBrowse:


This novel is huge -- in size, ambition, intelligence, and heart. 1st Novel
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For access to our digital magazine, free books,and other benefits, become a member today.

If you expect intense action in your reading matter then it would be best if you moved swiftly past It's All Right Now!  However, if you've enjoyed the subtle pleasures of books such as William Boyd's Any Human Heart or John Lanchester's Mr Phillips, then you should stop and take a close look at It's All Right Now.

Tom Ripple is an emotionally stunted, intellectually incurious man who is an insignificant cog in a not particularly important company; he lives in a nondescript part of North London and for all the world looks like the last person one would wish to spend 30 years and 670 pages with. 

However, as Tom observes his life from early parenthood to retirement, giving often painful and unflattering accounts of his inner and outer life we can start to see why he is the person he is and why he subsists on a diet of intellectual chewing gum (paperback thrillers, action movies and the like) and slowly, slowly one finds oneself caring for poor old grey Tom Ripple and even starting to think of him as something of an everyman hero for simply having the staying power to get through his life.  As Ripple eventually concludes, it is "the basic experiences [of life], the ordinary moments of affection and beauty and common kindness that are infinitely precious."

'Nothing much happens, but it does so with a world-weary elegance, full of wintry discontent. Mature, knowing and very well done.' - Kirkus Reviews.

"The most remarkable thing about this extraordinary debut novel is not that the author is 72 years old; it is in the risks Chadwick, a retired civil servant, takes and brings off with astute craftsmanship and touching sincerity." - Publishers Weekly.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in August 2005, and has been updated for the July 2006 edition. Click here to go to this issue.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked It's All Right Now, try these:

  • Saturday jacket

    Saturday

    by Ian McEwan

    Published 2006

    About This book

    More by this author

    An astonishing novel that captures the fine balance of happiness and the unforeseen threats that can destroy it. A brilliant, thrilling page-turner that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

  • Any Human Heart jacket

    Any Human Heart

    by William Boyd

    Published 2004

    About This book

    More by this author

    A moving, ambitious and richly conceived novel that summons up the heroics and follies of twentieth-century life.

Read-Alikes are one of the many benefits of membership. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
Broken Country (Reese's Book Club)
by Clare Leslie Hall
A love triangle reveals deadly secrets in this thriller for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Angelica
    by Molly Beer

    A women-centric view of revolution through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Alexander Hamilton's influential sister-in-law.

  • Book Jacket

    The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant
    by Liza Tully

    A great detective's young assistant yearns for glory, but first they have learn to get along in this delightful feel good mystery.

  • Book Jacket

    The Original
    by Nell Stevens

    In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.

Win This Book
Win These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas

"[An] atmospheric tale of unexpected hope." —Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author

Enter

Book
Trivia

  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

W the C A the M W P

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.