Jonathan Coe, página 2 de 6

Imaginemos que Charles Dickens, Evelyn Waugh y Agatha Christie, de alguna milagrosa manera, hubieran planeado escribir una novela a seis manos: el resultado habría podido ser esta novela que nos introduce en el ambito de la mas poderosa familia de Inglaterra, y desde luego la mas canalla. La critica y el publico han coincidido en calificar ¡Menudo reparto! como una de las novelas politicas mas divertidas y al mismo tiempo mas serias de los ultimos años, en la que Jonathan Coe ha conseguido fusionar lo publico y lo privado en una farsa tragica de proporciones y de ambicion extraordinarias.En el verano de 1990, mientras Inglaterra esta al borde de una guerra contra Saddam Hussein, Michael Owen, un joven escritor sin blanca y con serios problemas emocionales, recibe el encargo de la anciana Tabitha Winshaw de escribir la biografia de su rica y famosa familia y llegar al fondo del posible asesinato de su hermano Godfrey, fallecido en 1942, segun ella a manos de uno de sus parientes.A partir de aqui se inicia el viaje de Owen al intrincado laberinto de personajes de la familia Winshaw, entre los que nos encontramos a Thomas, magnate del cine y voyeur, Dorothy, fabricante de comida basura y experta en maximizar la eficiencia de los mataderos; Mark, trafica

Dopo La famiglia Winshaw, un altro caleidoscopio di invenzioni narrative e un'altra girandola di personaggi ora commoventi ora comici, in un dormiveglia caotico che non conosce riposo. In La casa del sonno si racconta l'avventura di un gruppo di giovani. Da studenti, nei primi anni Ottanta, vivono tutti nella severa Ashdown: Gregory, che studia medicina e ha la mania di spiare il sonno altrui; Veronica, una lesbica volitiva, ultrapoliticizzata e appassionata di teatro; Terry, che dorme quattordici ore al giorno e da sveglio sogna di girare un film che richiedera cinquant'anni di riprese; Robert, romantico studente di lettere, che scrive poesie d'amore per Sarah; e Sarah, appunto, intorno alla quale girano le vicende di tutti gli altri. Dodici anni dopo, Ashdown e diventata una clinica dove si cura la narcolessia e nei sotterranei si svolgono oscuri esperimenti. E' un autentico "castello dei destini incrociati", dove si avverano sogni e si dissolvono visioni; dove c'e chi dorme troppo e chi troppo poco, chi ama sognare piuttosto che vivere e chi non vorrebbe perdere un solo minuto di vita nel sonno. E, mentre si interroga ossessivamente sul valore e il significato del sonno, l'eterogenea comunita di studenti, diventata adulta, inciampa nel malessere, nella follia e nelle comiche incongruenze della vita.

Sarah is narcoleptic. Her inability to distinguish between dreams and waking reality gives rise to many misunderstandings. For Terry, a disillusioned film critic, sleep is merely a memory. For Dr Dunstan, sleep is nothing less than a global disease. Constructed to reflect the different stages of sleep, The House of Sleep is a brilliant and original comedy about the powers we acquire - and those we relinquish - when we fall asleep, and when we fall in love.

From award-winning novelist Jonathan Coe and distinguished Italian artist Chiara Coccorese comes The Broken Mirror, a political parable for children, a contemporary fairy tale for adults, and a fable for all ages.One day Claire, to escape her quarrelsome parents, takes refuge in the dump behind her house. There she finds a broken mirror, a nasty piece of sharp glass yet she is strangely drawn to it. She soon discovers it has the power to transform even the most drab reality into a fairy-tale world: the grey sky is reflected blue, and Claires modest, suburban house is transformed into the most beautiful castle.

Sometimes I feel that I am destined always to be offstage whenever the main action occurs. That God has made me the victim of some cosmic practical joke, by assigning me little more than a walk-on part in my own life . . .Coming of age in 1970s Birmingham, teenager Benjamin Trotter is about to discover the agonies and ecstasies of growing up. Whether it is first love or last rites, IRA bombs or industrial strife, prog versus punk rock, expectations of bad poetry or an unexpected life-changing experience involving lost swimming trunks, The Rotters Club is a heartfelt and hilarious portrait of a particular time and place featuring characters recognisable the world over . . .Very funny, a compulsive and gripping read The Times Hugely entertaining The Observer A book to cherish, a book to reread, a book to buy for all your friends Independent on Sunday

Inexplicably, Michael is commissioned to write the family history of the Winshaws, an upper class Yorkshire clan whose members have a finger in every establishment pie. But as a murderous maniac stalks the family, Michael realizes that his favourite film is coming true.

A zestful comedy of personal and social upheaval, this book captures a fateful moment in British politics - the collapse of Old Labour - and imagines its impact on the topsy-turvy world of the bemused teenager: a world in which a lost pair of swimming trunks can be just as devastating as an IRA bomb.

L’Angleterre lui faisait l’effet d’un territoire calme et stable. D’un pays en bonne intelligence avec lui-même. Tout allait pour le mieux. » En dix ans, l’Angleterre est passée de la liesse des jeu

In the heady summer of 1977, a naïve young woman called Calista sets out from Athens to venture into the wider world. On a Greek island that has been turned into a film set, she finds herself working for the famed Hollywood director Billy Wilder, about whom she knows almost nothing. But the time she spends in this glamorous, unfamiliar new life will change her for good.While Calista is thrilled with her new adventure, Wilder himself is living with the realisation that his star may be on the wane. Rebuffed by Hollywood, he has financed his new film with German money, and when Calista follows him to Munich for the shooting of further scenes, she finds herself joining him on a journey of memory into the dark heart of his family history.In a novel that is at once a tender coming-of-age story and an intimate portrait of one of cinema's most intriguing figures, Jonathan Coe turns his gaze on the nature of time and fame, of family and the treacherous lure of nostalgia. When the world is catapulting towards change, do you hold on for dear life or decide it's time to let go?

Londres, 1958. Thomas Foley dispose d'une certaine ancienneté au ministère de l'Information quand on vient lui proposer de participer à un événement historique, l'Exposition universelle,

Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe - Spies, girls and an Englishman abroad.Trust no one. London, 1958: unassuming civil servant Thomas Foley is plucked from his desk job and sent on a six-month trip to Brussels.His task: to keep an eye on The Britannia, a brand new pub which will form the heart of the British presence at Expo 58 - the biggest World's Fair of the century.As soon as he arrives, Thomas is equally bewitched by the surreal, gigantic Atomium, which stands at the heart of this brave new world, and by Anneke, a lovely Flemish hostess.But Thomas' new-found sense of freedom comes at a price: two British spies are following him.For fans of Jonathan Coe's classic comic bestsellers What a Carve Up! and The Rotters' Club, this hilarious new novel, which is set in the Mad Men period of the mid 50s, will also be loved by readers of Nick Hornby, William Boyd and Ian McEwan. "Clever and funny, enthralling and moving. Wonderful!" (Daily Mail). "Rich and splendidly comic". (Independent). Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. Expo 58 is his tenth novel. The previous are: The Accidental Woman, A Touch of Love, The Dwarves of Death, What a Carve Up!(which won the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), The House of Sleep (which won the 1998 Prix Medicis Etranger), The Rotters' Club (winner of the Everyman Wodehouse Prize), The Closed Circle, The Rain Before It Falls and The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim.His biography of the novelist B.S. Johnson, Like a Fiery Elephant, won the 2005 Samuel Johnson Prize for best non-fiction book of the year.Expo 58 was nominated for the 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

This is a novel about the hundreds of tiny connections between the public and private worlds and how they affect us all.It's about the legacy of war and the end of innocence.It's about how comedy and politics are battling it out and comedy might have won.It's about how 140 characters can make fools of us all.It's about living in a city where bankers need cinemas in their basements and others need food banks down the street.It is Jonathan Coe doing what he does best - showing us how we live now.

Maxwell Sim est un loser de quarante-huit ans. Voué à l'échec dès sa naissance (qui ne fut pas désirée), poursuivi par l'échec à l'âge adulte (sa femme le quitte, sa fille rit doucement de lui), il s'accepte tel qu'il est et trouve même certaine satisfaction à son état. Mais voilà qu'une proposition inattendue lui fait traverser l'Angleterre au volant d'une Toyota hybride, nantie d'un GPS à la voix bouleversante dont, à force de solitude, il va tomber amoureux. Son équipée de commis-voyageur, représentant en brosses à dents dernier cri, le ramène parmi les paysages et les visages de son enfance, notamment auprès de son père sur lequel il fait d'étranges découvertes : le roman est aussi un jeu de piste relancé par la réapparition de lettres, journaux, manuscrits qui introduisent autant d'éléments nouveaux à verser au dossier du passé. Et toujours Max pense à la femme chinoise et à sa fille, aperçues dans un restaurant en Australie, dont l'entente et le bonheur d'être ensemble l'ont tant fasciné. Va-t-il les retrouver ? Et pour quelle nouvelle aventure ? Brouillant joyeusement les cartes de la vérité et de l'imposture, Coe l'illusionniste se réserve le dernier mot de l'histoire, qui ne manquera pas de nous surprendre. Plus d'une génération va se reconnaître dans ce roman qui nous enchante avec un humour tout britannique, bien préférable au désespoir.

A warm-hearted story of Mr Hoppy, Mrs Silver and the tortoise who brings them together.

Dans le Shropshire, un frère et une sœur, rivaux et complices de toujours, visitent la tombe de leurs grands-parents et font surgir les fantômes du passé. Lors d’un festival du film d’horreur, sur un

"William ha poco piu di vent'anni e le frustrazioni di tanti giovani: odia il suo lavoro (commesso in un negozio di dischi), la citta in cui vive (Londra), e la ragazza con cui sta e molto restia a concedersi. Candido e complicato come il giovane Holden, gran tiratardi nel capire le cose del mondo, ha solo un paio di amici e divide la casa con una tipa che non incontra mai e che comunica con lui attraverso bigliettini. Il suo unico conforto e fare musica ma, pur aspirando a diventare pianista di jazz, suona la tastiera in una rock band di sfigati che si ostina a storpiare le sue composizioni. In realta il suo vero talento sembra essere un altro: perdere gli autobus, essere ignorato dai camerieri, dire sempre la cosa sbagliata al momento sbagliato. Una sera, infatti, assiste involontariamente a un delitto commesso - a lui pare - da due nani. La caccia agli assassini lo portera a una sorprendente scoperta, ma gli consentira anche di ripensare alle proprie scelte di vita e di aprire finalmente gli occhi! "