The Night Porter by Mark Barry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Night Porter is a modern contemporary piece of art. November, England and the prestigious Arkwright Book Awards are just around the corner. A golden award for Best Writer is the ultimate prize along with it’s cash reward, and receiving an “Alf” is the book equivalent of the Grammys.
Organisers of the ceremony have taken over all the local hotels and this story is based around 4 authors they have booked into The Saladin Inn. During their stay nothing is too much, their every whim must be catered for and everything is paid for by the Arkwright group.
Amy is a best selling romance novelist, Frank a thriller writer, Jo a YA/NA fiction writer and Julian the outsider, a self-published e-book writer of contemporary fiction. Each with their own characteristics, it’s Julian who causes trouble. He is argumentative and rants about the other authors. Amy says he has a chip on his shoulder because he hasn’t been through and survived the ritual of selection that traditionally “published” authors have gone through.
The story is told by The Night Porter of the Saladin, the one who listens late at night to those wanting to talk, he tends to their late night needs and is professional to the end. He’s there when a shocking event occurs and he’s there at the final awards as a guest.
There are plenty of twists and turns and the musings of the Night Porter in detailed foot notes to the text make an extra layer to the book. (footnotes are only in the paperback version)
For my own personal reading experience the footnotes were a distraction and slowed down my read, but I can see them being entertaining, you almost need to read the book twice, once without the footnotes and then with, to get the most from the book. They are a clever style which puts Mark Barry “out there” as an artistic writer.
Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
View all my reviews on Goodreads.
Great review of one of my favorite books ever! At first I didn’t get the footnotes but by the end they were the part I liked best.
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Reblogged this on Barrow Blogs.
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This is a terrific review for a book I really enjoyed. I understand about the footnotes, although I loved them (particularly the last one – priceless!)
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I’m very intrigued now…
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I read a novel with footnotes. I was surprised but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. This is the third review I’ve read about The Night Porter. Nope to read it.
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I read something similar a few months back, but this book seems more clever and witty. 🙂
@dino0726 from
FictionZeal – Impartial, Straighforward Fiction Book Reviews
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It was the first book I read by Mark Barry. I’ve since read 3 more. Nuff said! 😀
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Well that is a good review …especially Terry’s comment!
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Thanks Adrienne.
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Hi all. Thanks for commenting 🙂 It seems ages since I wrote this – I must read it again. The footnotes were something I borrowed from David Foster Wallace (RIP) who, whenever he wrote, refused to allow digressions in his main narrative. Some people liked them, others positively detested them ha ha. They don’t appear on Kindle, btw. Thank you for reviewing, Rosie and hello everyone xx 🙂
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Sounds like a good read. I like the idea of the footnotes, very original idea on the writer’s part
Popping by on the A to Z Road Trip
Debbie
http://www.myrandommusings.blogspot.com
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Hi Debbie, lovely to meet you, there really is no end to the April A to Z it is so much fun.
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