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Norman Collins (1) (1907–1982)

Auteur de London Belongs to Me

Pour les autres auteurs qui s'appellent Norman Collins, voyez la page de désambigüisation.

17 oeuvres 511 utilisateurs 13 critiques

Œuvres de Norman Collins

London Belongs to Me (1945) 343 exemplaires
Bond Street Story (1959) 47 exemplaires
Children of the Archbishop (1951) 33 exemplaires
Black Ivory (1948) 17 exemplaires
The husband's story (1978) 15 exemplaires
The Governor's Lady (1968) 14 exemplaires
Anna (2011) 8 exemplaires
Penang Appointment (1939) 6 exemplaires
I Shall Not Want (1963) 6 exemplaires
The Blazing Land (1950) 5 exemplaires
The Bat That Flits (1777) 5 exemplaires
Love in our time (1943) 4 exemplaires
Little Nelson (Bloomsbury Reader) (1981) 3 exemplaires
Flames Coming out of the Top (2012) 2 exemplaires
The Facts of Fiction (2012) 1 exemplaire

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Anticipating Colin MacInnes but with the word count of Dickens, London Belongs To Me is a sort of wartime soap opera about the lives of the landlady and five tenants of a South London house. There's a murder in the early chapters and the Blitz at the end - or what should be the end - but the characters are the real focus of the story. Collins writes about people in a timeless yet slightly comic style which means that they are both ordinary and larger than life. I didn't really get a sense of the pre/early war era in which the book is set, either, but enjoyed much of my stay at Dulcimer Street - a better editor, to crop around two hundred pages and pick up on characters with multiple names, would have made this a five star book for me. And on a side note, I haven't loathed a character like Percy Boon since having to endure Pinkie in Brighton Rock!… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
AdonisGuilfoyle | 9 autres critiques | Mar 12, 2022 |
Heavily Dickens-influenced slab of London life covering the inhabitants of a Kennington rooming-house from Christmas 1938 to Christmas 1940. There are some funny scenes, especially involving the novel's best character, the spiritualist and con-man Mr Squales, who unwittingly possesses real psychic powers (which I thought ought to have featured more than just twice). However, most of the humour is very much of the "gentle" variety, as Collins affectionately steers characters like the bumbling, congestive Mr Puddy and the impoverished but optimistic Connie through a series of minor misadventures. The scenes from the blitz, which only get going in the last 1/4 of the novel, are very well done. The trials of Connie and Percy are also standout set-pieces.

The two downsides for me were the Dickensian nomenclature (Josser, Puddy, Squales, a barrister by the name of Veesey Blaise) and Collin's constant narration from within his characters' heads which, given they speak in rather similar voices, gives the prose a saminess that grates over 700+ pages. But that's the kind of book this is.

There's no grand scheme to this novel; it's just a well-drawn soap focusing on ordinary Londoners. I can absolutely see why it was a popular smash on publication.
… (plus d'informations)
½
 
Signalé
yarb | 9 autres critiques | Feb 12, 2020 |
London Belongs to Me had everything I look for in a book: well-drawn characters, a vivid setting, and interesting storylines. Throw in some history and I’m pretty well set. The novel opens on Christmas Eve, 1938, as Fred Josser is retiring from his long career as a bookkeeper. His entire adult life has been shaped by daily routine, and one can imagine he will have difficulty coping with retirement. Mr Josser returns home to celebrate Christmas with his family, introducing the reader to the other tenants of 10 Dulcimer Street. Besides Mr & Mrs Josser and their adult children Ted and Doris, there’s Mr Puddy, Mrs Boon and her son Percy, Connie the aging former actress turned hatcheck girl, spiritual medium Mr Squales, and landlady Mrs Vizzard. Each has a story that will play out gradually over two years and more than 700 pages.

The Jossers are very much at the center of this novel. They look out for their neighbors and seem to be involved to some degree in most anything that happens. This is not always by choice -- Connie has a way of putting her nose into everyone’s business, to amusing effect. But when Mrs Boon and Percy fall on hard times, the Jossers work tirelessly on their behalf, setting their own dreams aside. When Mrs Vizzard suffers a betrayal, Mrs Josser overcomes her natural reserve to provide comfort. And then there’s the war and its far-reaching impact on everyone’s lives.

This book makes for easy, relaxing reading, thanks to a pleasing rotation of chapters focused on the many characters, and ending with mini-cliffhangers that made me eager to keep reading to learn what would happen next.
… (plus d'informations)
3 voter
Signalé
lauralkeet | 9 autres critiques | Jun 6, 2016 |
A special thank you to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars

Bond Street, really Oxford Street, even so, it was indisputably one of the better stations. Norman Collins delivers BOND STREET STORY, a charming, nostalgic novel of post-war London set in a glamorous department store, Rammell's.

Rammell’s is famous. It has everything. A London department store. You could be clothed, fed, furnished, kept amused, and ultimately buried entirely by Rammell’s. Provided you are in the right income bracket.

Irene Privet, was only seventeen. Still living in the full turmoil of adolescence. Life opened out in front of her down a long corridor of chaos and confusion. She longs for the bright lights of stage.

Readers meet a variety of eccentric characters from Rammell’s—each with their connections, loves, hopes and dreams. From young to old and those in between.

The family From the owners, retired Sir Harry, and his son Eric with his digestive problems, his wife and son Tony -- to the newest salesgirl Irene, daughter of one of the shop-walkers Mr. Privett. Mr. Bloot, the senior shop-walker falls in love and marries. Tony has a fling with the model Marcia and Eric, in straightening this out, assumes Marcia as his responsibility until she pulls a mink bomb -- and it is Sir Harry who, at the end, takes Marcia off everyone's hands.

From life in the fifties— glamour, gossip, romance, intrigue with a cast of charming, and memorable characters. A look at post-war London when life was bustling –from shop girls, typist, cashiers and secretaries who running the show.

Broken down in sections with short chapters:
Book One: Reluctance of a Female Apprentice
Book Two: Love and the Shopwalker
Book Three: private Affairs of a Leading Model
Book four Case of the Missing Budgies
Book Five: Bond Street in Retrospect

A timeless classic lighthearted fictional account, reminding us of the days when at one time or other in our younger years, there was always a job at an upscale department store (which we now call a boutique)--always those in charge. You can feel the buzz and nostalgia—Collins brings the characters to life in a simpler time.

Love the glamorous new cover!
… (plus d'informations)
½
 
Signalé
JudithDCollins | 1 autre critique | Feb 21, 2016 |

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Statistiques

Œuvres
17
Membres
511
Popularité
#48,532
Évaluation
4.0
Critiques
13
ISBN
53

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