Engleby (Vintage International)

by Sebastian Faulks

Mike Engleby says things that others dare not even think.

A man devoid of scruple or self-pity, he rises without trace in Thatcher's England and scorches through the blandscape of New Labour.

In the course of his brief, incandescent career, he and the reader encounter many famous people - actors, writers, politicians, household names - but by far the most memorable is Engleby himself.

This work is a lament for a generation and the country it failed. It is also a meditation on the limits of science, the curse of human consciousness and on the lyrics of 1970s rock music.

And beneath this highly disturbing surface lies an unfolding mystery of gripping narrative power. For when one of Mike's contemporaries unaccountably disappears the reader has to ask: is even the shameless Engleby capable of telling the whole truth?

• ISBN10: 030747268X
• ISBN13: 9780307472687
• Publish Date: 30 September 2008 (first published 3 May 2007)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Vintage Books USA
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 260
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

Slight spoiler warning! This is one of those books that is difficult to discuss unless you give *some* indication of what’s going on.

When you meet Engleby, it doesn’t take long to realize that something is "off" about him. To me, he appears more "Asperger’s Syndrome" (especially because of his memorization skills) than "sociopath", but since you never get a definitive answer to the question, I suppose it could be either/or/both/somethingelse. And since Engleby is your narrator, you also aren’t sure what you should or shouldn’t believe. What isn’t said is sometimes more important than what is.

This was a decent read if you’re willing to make the investment. Sometimes Engleby’s train of thought is a little random, and I have to admit I found myself skimming several parts. And while I liked seeing the professionals’ assessments of Engleby (especially when followed up by his own narcissistic reactions to them), I could have done without "the journal of Engleby after 18 years of treatment". I think I would have rather left that to my imagination, though a sardonic wink to the reader at the end would have made it all worth it.