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Book Reviewed by: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.
If you liked It's All Right Now, try these:
by Ian McEwan
Published 2006
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.
by William Boyd
Published 2004
A moving, ambitious and richly conceived novel that summons up the heroics and follies of twentieth-century life.
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