What does a life amount up to? A collection of memories, snapshots of hazy moments that pile up at the back of a mind that are fitted into the incomplete puzzle of identity, experience and hopefulness. David Carter had it all sorted out early in childhood. He would make of his passion for ancient objects his profession, and eventually he would open his own museum. When he meets Eleanor, a Scottish girl with a troubled family history, whom he marries not much later, he envisions his life as a ste...

Thanks to Goodreads friend Laura K., I was able to read this book now. She sent me a copy for my own when I found out that I couldn’t borrow this book from the library, and so we were able to do a buddy read, and I love doing buddy reads with her.This is a perfect book for a buddy or group or book club read. It’s a great discussion book.Laura and I read mostly in sync and it was a great experience, and it also helped me read it, though the book was so good I doubt I’d have had any problems readi...

McGregor has a wonderful command of language, turning the most commonplace things into scenes and situations that are lovely and heartbreaking. More than once I almost felt tears coming to my eyes, and not even at times that would be considered dramatic.Even though you know what is coming at the climax, in the 3rd to last chapter, your heart breaks once again for his characters, who are flawed, struggling, complicated and 'normal.' I think it was because of this chapter that I felt the book shou...

Reread Jan 2022 as part of the 2006 Booker revisit for the Mookse groupI first read this book back in 2006, after loving McGregor's debut novel If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, and at the time I found it a little disappointing, partly because it deliberately avoids the lyrical set piece descriptive passages which I liked most in that book, and also because much of the story seemed rather depressing. Coming back to it 15 years later with the hindsight of knowing how McGregor's writing has d...

This book deals with a plethora of interesting themes. The first is adoption and what it is that defines a mother and father. Is parenthood defined by blood and genes or is it instead time spent and experiences shared? Should a child be told they are adopted, and if this information is withheld what will be the consequences? Mental illness is another theme. Can one / should one shove psychological problems and the troubled relationships that result under a mat? What will be the result? Can resol...

Six incredible stars. I learned about author Jon McGregor from Katie at Books and Things on YouTube, and once again, her recommendation was perfect. I found this book beautifully structured and written, one of those rare books that grabs you right away, one that you never want to end, yet can't wait to see what happens. Jon McGregor's first novel, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things was longlisted for the Man Booker, as was this novel, his second. Once you start reading, it will become clear w...

There are more kinds of books: the ones that you perceive as wonderful, but you struggle to get them finished as they have a really difficult style, the ones that you like for the story, but not so much for the eloquence of their writing, the ones that you like for the eloquence of writing, but not so much for the story, the ones that are great, but which are not very complex, and the ones that once you connect to their story don’t cease to impress you. You would say that my list above is not ex...

There are so many ways to begin this review, but, then, that’s always the hard part, isn’t it…beginning…. This is a book I want to shove in the hands of every reader I meet. “Read this one,” I might coax cajolingly. “It’s good. You’ll like it.” Like the characters in this book, I have a hard time saying what I want to say. What I really want to say is that McGregor knows how to tell a story, not start to finish, but in little pieces, some from the middle of the story, one or two from near the be...

McGregor unfolds his story in a very captivating manner. His protagonist is a museum worker, and personally, a collector of all the bits and pieces of paper that make up a life. His tale is told episodically, with each chapter tied to some of the ephemera that he has collected over the years of his life. Additionally, you have the sense that he is rummaging through a lot of this material, and telling you the story as each bit comes to hand. This results in a novel that is not at all linear.The w...

The writing is beautiful but so detailed that the story progresses very very slowly. It also lacks focus meandering from the life of Eleanor, her depressions to that of David. Characteristical is the first piece of part one where David is visting Eleanor's mother, not his own, a thing that had me wondering the whole book and in the end didn't have any significance at all. Interesting writer, but the novel not so.

This was brilliant and beautiful! The language is incredible and the book is structured like a museum of memory. Another astounding novel from Jon McGregor.

Jon McGregor had my full attention from the opening sentence….”Eleanor was in the kitchen when he got back from her mother’s funeral”.....The obvious question is why did Eleanor not attend? you are caught in the author’s trap you want to know the answer and so you start reading…...The seemingly ordinary story of the life of Robert Carter and his wife Eleanor Campbell and the fallout that happens when an offhand comment shatters irrevocably those values previously held to be true.Told in a simila...

This is literature at its finest.Its starts with a prologue of 1930s ireland and the rush for work that leave you wondering where the story is going and then an opening line, as good as any ever read about David Carter returning to his wife from her mothers funeral. This works so well - why didnt she go - instant mystery.David is a curator at Cov Museum and the story is told as he goes through a box of objects that tell the story of his life.And there are no shocking murders. It seems that Macgr...

“Lives were changed and moved by much smaller cues, chance meetings, overheard conversations, the trips and stumbles which constantly alter and readjust the course of things, history made by a million fractional moments too numerous to calibrate or observe or record.” — Jon McGregor, So Many Ways to BeginJon McGregor is one of those authors I want to introduce the world to. He really isn’t recognised enough for his enormous talent. He’s young (34) and has written three novels, so I can only hope...

There are so many ways to begin this review, but, then, that's always the hard part, isn't it...beginning....This is a book I want to shove in the hands of every reader I meet. "Read this one," I might coax cajolingly. "It's good. You'll like it." Like the characters in this book, I have a hard time saying what I want to say. What I really want to say is that McGregor knows how to tell a story, not start to finish, but in little pieces, some from the middle of the story, one or two from near the...

This was a Goodreads giveaway win for me, thank you to the publisher and Goodreads for the opportunity to read and review.The story of a man who abruptly discovers he was adopted as a baby So Many Ways to Begin was a solid story. I've noticed other readers have complained about the way the story was told, with each chapter title an object from the many items of the narrators life he has collected over the years for his museum. Each chapter is a chapter from his life the he relates after looking

I'm in two minds about this book. Section by section it's beautifully written. But the whole seemed to be less than the sum of its parts. There was the potential for a gripping story, about a man and a woman both haunted by family unhappiness, who try to keep on loving each other. But Jon McGregor was so keen to focus on the minutiae of each scene - so indifferent about larger dramatic tension and plotting - that in the end I wasn't sure whether or not I cared about the main characters. I'm not

Beautifully written but disappointed with the ending!

Another reserve for this library copy has meant it has to be returned. Will come back to this.

I own this book. This is a reminiscent kind of book that follows David, a now middle-aged, long-married man who looks back at his life, memories and the situations that have gotten him to where he is today. His life started out bright, he is loved, he has a good family, a good support network through his "Aunt Julia" and he seems to find a passion for history and curation throughout his childhood, which takes him into a career in early adulthood. But life is life and things don't stay too brig

Oh Jon. You have a way with words that makes my heart ache. Only you could create a story about a vase on a windowsill and weave that into the plot of the book so effortlessly. I love a book about the everyday, the mundane, even more so if it's told with tenderness and this did it for me. Meet David. As an adult, he finds out something about his life unintentionally, through the words of a friend who accidentally slips it out. He has grown up in post WWII Coventry and the book eases between the

A very remarkable novel.Jon McGregor has his own punctuation and it works really good for him.This novel has an amazing amount of things happening. A lot of writers would need 4, maybe five times as many words to tell the story. The writer gives you pieces of a puzzle, tells you later where they fit. So you see the bigger picture later.The story is told from the perspective of the two main characters, David and Eleanor, except for one chapter. It is the story of love and perseverance, of misunde...

I really enjoyed this novel about the journey of one man's life and his search for his roots. David Carter had always wanted to work in a museum and his story is told through a series of exhibits - memories brought to the fore by memorabilia of the small things of life that he and others in his family have kept by accident or deliberately saved. Not just photos and letters, but train tickets, to do lists, party invites, old clothes etc etc. Some of David's memories however are imaginary. It is s...

I won this book from Goodreads First Reads. I ended up liking it more than I thought I would at first. The story did not become interesting to me until after about 100 pages, when David discovers the truth about his birth. The people in this book all seem to be suffering so, with little flashes of happiness that burst through on occasion. I wish it would have been more uplifting, but in fact I found it all rather depressing. Even so, I recommend the book and the author.

Hands-down, one of my favourite books ever. McGregor employs a lovely narrative strategy that uses tangible ephemera to trigger memories and then draws out the emotional core of significant moments in a life. Gorgeous writing quietly gives weight to the small things, and in a way, seems to make the ordinary of epic importance without any pomp or overwrought action. This is a book I recommend to everyone I start to book-chat with.

This is an odd, quirky book, in that I didn't really warm to either the main character or any of the other characters around him, and yet I still found it an interesting read. One element I liked was reading about the reconstruction of Coventry after the war.

(view spoiler)[ Bettie's Books (hide spoiler)]

3.5* Hard one to rate, I loved the style of writing, beautiful, clever, alternatives suggested, memento triggers etc but it was over long.

An interesting story of families and disappointments, and how "ordinary" lives are never totally ordinary, after all. I found the early parts a little slow and skipped ahead, but then I got hooked and went back and read every word. I like the way that artefacts introduce each chapter. You have to keep track of the dates and handle quite a lot of jumping around in time. So it does require a certain amount of concentration, but for me it definitely paid off.

A wonderful book. As always with McGregor, the prose is a delight in itself. The book is beautifully constructed, piecing together the fragments of a life, of many lives. Such a rich tapestry of stories.Enthralling.