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30 Jun
10:08am, 30 Jun 2024
54,218 posts
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McGoohan
Jeremy Dyson was played by Michael Sheen in the film adaptation of The League of Gentlemen TV show as he was the non-acting member. But he used his own hands and the sweat of his own actual brow (verified) to write this book.
Please reciprocate by scribbling your thoughts in the margins below.
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10 Jul
1:47pm, 10 Jul 2024
30,785 posts
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fetcheveryone
I've read the first two short stories, and so far, so lame. Nothing wrong with the writing style, but they just peter out into nothing. Apologies to anyone who has given it a go :-/
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10 Jul
1:52pm, 10 Jul 2024
54,238 posts
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McGoohan
I'm on story 2, just about to finish it and have to agree. There's a bit where he says someone's drinking from a 'cycler's canister' and I tried looking that up with zero results. I think he means 'cyclist'.
I think the writing on League of Gentlemen was good but it was all clever/sparky dialogue. This has precious little dialogue and the prose that remains is a bit... well, prosaic.
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10 Jul
1:58pm, 10 Jul 2024
30,786 posts
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fetcheveryone
So far, I've been intrigued by the set up - but left shrugging at the end.
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16 Jul
10:50am, 16 Jul 2024
54,262 posts
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McGoohan
I was finding this a bit unpickupable but I had a couple of train journeys to do yesterday so blasted through it.
Sorry Fetch, I really disliked this. Even when there was an intriguing set-up, the story ends up going nowhere. The stories are structured really badly for a kick-off.
As an example, The Coue (CBA to do the accent). The whole set-up concerns Charlie and this mysterious Mr Collins. We learn about Charlie's lack of affection for Janet obliquely and only really see her through his eyes. However the retribution happens to her and at the end we switch attention to her for only one paragraph. As a reader, I felt nothing. You can't switch viewpoint in one paragraph and expect any degree of involvement in the outcome.
"Bound South" was similar. You have a set up about one person, the narrator - most of which is irrelevant colour - you have him worrying about his train journey, then you switch focus to his mysterious saviour. Hmm, okay. Let's be intrigued for a moment. And then *he* starts to tell a not-very-shaggy-dog story. He knows in great detail the contents of a religious-philosophical argument which is bizarrely interminable and then the story ends. Ooh, he was connected to the sub-story all along. Trouble is none of the shagginess of the shaggy dog is particularly interesting.
Some stories are quite badly written. He throws in some needlessly florid writing and at other times it feels like a failed exercise in sixth form creative writing. "He screamed into the unperceiving wind" and "her voice rising interrogatively".
And then some of the stories seem to have little point except to be a bit... unpleasant.
I've scored it a 4
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16 Jul
11:13am, 16 Jul 2024
87,017 posts
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Diogenes
That sounds quite generous of you, McG.
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16 Jul
11:19am, 16 Jul 2024
54,265 posts
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McGoohan
It's a 3.5 but I rounded up 
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16 Jul
11:23am, 16 Jul 2024
30,842 posts
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fetcheveryone
I've read the first four stories now I think, but tempted to give up. No apologies needed. I thought it'd be better than it is, but it really isn't.
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20 Jul
12:19pm, 20 Jul 2024
9,009 posts
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westmoors
I'm not a fan of short stories and this did nothing to change that. Found most of them quite predictable.
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29 Jul
6:50pm, 29 Jul 2024
15,088 posts
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Little Nemo
I'm not always a fan of short stories but I mostly enjoyed these. One caveat - the one about the BJ was awful!!! But apart from that there was some good variety and some genuinely scary ones.
As I know the author is part of TLOG crew it's tempting to think some of these would definitely have fitted in with their work, especially as an episode of Inside No 9. Some of the stories had weird or non endings but I didn't mind that for most of them. I saw them as little snippets of life and a neat ending and/or twist isn't always necessary. My absolute favourite was probably Michael, found this genuinely chilling. Also really enjoyed Out of Bounds and The Coue - can you tell I preferred the spooky ones?
I think this book was the right choice at the right time for me and it's reminded me that I've got another one of his books on Kindle. I'll definitely be trying this soon. Thanks to Fetch for choosing it
I've given this book a 7.
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