Worth
Jon Canter
Worth
Richard and Sarah meet in London, fall in love and, after some complications, marry. To escape the rat-race - and their ex-partners - they decide to move to the countryside, and buy a cottage in the pretty Suffolk village of Worth. At first, they struggle to find friends, but then they meet Catherine, who's recently moved into the cottage next door. As a single woman, she admires their love for each other. As a couple, they admire her uncompromising nature. On weekday nights in sleepy Worth, with nothing to do, the trio's pastime is each other. A delightful friendship ensues. But there are things to Catherine that don't add up. Topics avoided, questions unanswered. She describes a manipulative but never-seen sister, who she says is making her life hell. Richard and Sarah offer advice as best they can, but they are starting to feel uneasy. The rural idyll is beginning to fade. With Richard struggling to find work, Sarah, who's pregnant, takes a job with a woman she meets at a conference - a connection that draws the couple deeper into the life of their neighbour - far deeper than they could ever have imagined.
3.8 out of 5 based on 6 reviews
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Omniscore:
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| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction |
| Format |
Hardcover |
| Pages |
288 |
| RRP |
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| Date of Publication |
August 2012 |
| ISBN |
978-0224090070 |
| Publisher |
Jonathan Cape |
| |
Richard and Sarah meet in London, fall in love and, after some complications, marry. To escape the rat-race - and their ex-partners - they decide to move to the countryside, and buy a cottage in the pretty Suffolk village of Worth. At first, they struggle to find friends, but then they meet Catherine, who's recently moved into the cottage next door. As a single woman, she admires their love for each other. As a couple, they admire her uncompromising nature. On weekday nights in sleepy Worth, with nothing to do, the trio's pastime is each other. A delightful friendship ensues. But there are things to Catherine that don't add up. Topics avoided, questions unanswered. She describes a manipulative but never-seen sister, who she says is making her life hell. Richard and Sarah offer advice as best they can, but they are starting to feel uneasy. The rural idyll is beginning to fade. With Richard struggling to find work, Sarah, who's pregnant, takes a job with a woman she meets at a conference - a connection that draws the couple deeper into the life of their neighbour - far deeper than they could ever have imagined.
Reviews
The Independent
Christopher Hirst
“Every page contains a joke, often uncomfortably acute: "A man of my age shouldn't read newspapers, not if he isn't in the newspaper himself. Newspapers are clubs for the people in them."”
28/07/2012
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The Independent on Sunday
Daneet Steffens
“I thought I'd had enough of the slew of novels about countrified city dwellers, but Canter's satirically self-conscious characters, conscientiously observing and over-observing their every thought and action, made me come back for one final, very funny whirl. Even the peripheral characters, as cartoony as they are, keep Canter's narrative on target. As an advertisement for either urban or rural living among self-satisfied characters, Worth is a toe-curling horror story; as a cheeky and well-directed poke in said characters' eyes, it's a winner.”
14/08/2011
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The Daily Mail
Harry Ritchie
“Powered by Jon Canter’s sharp and original wit and his constantly fizzing prose, Worth sets off at a lick and keeps up the pace. An acute and very funny novel about the perils of rural life and of falling a little bit in love with your next-door neighbour.”
25/08/2012
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The Sunday Times
Elizabeth Buchan
“The author’s comic take on the gap between his characters’ aspirations and their shortfall makes for hilarious, snappy reading — which edges into the ominous when a murder is discovered. A sermon on the perils of the rural dream, it will have estate agents blanching. But as a robust and sharp piece of fiction, it is smart, confident and, in places, eye-wateringly upfront.”
06/11/2011
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The Guardian
Jane Housham
“With an unusual degree of control, Canter seems somehow to have engineered the novel's action purely in order to deliver his impressive linguistic flourishes and set pieces. He can execute a verbal three-point turn in the tightest cul-de-sac of a sentence. It's skilful stuff and mesmerising to read. Funny, too.”
07/08/2012
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The Scotsman
Allan Massie
“The plot is slow-moving and complicated, less gripping than it should be. This is partly because Richard, the narrator, is too verbose, too given to explanation and speculation. It will be a tolerant reader who doesn’t quite often find himself urging him to get on with it. Moreover, Richard’s treatment of other characters is inconsistent; some are drawn in the round, others presented as grotesques. No doubt this is how, to a large extent, we often see people in real life. Yet the inconsistency nags, disconcertingly. One could wish also for dialogue that was less woolly, rather sharper. Nevertheless there is a great deal to enjoy, and the weaknesses of the novel are venial.”
02/09/2012
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