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Emotionally Weird

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Emotionally Weird

By: Kate Atkinson
Narrated by: Kara Wilson
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On a peat and heather island off the west coast of Scotland, Effie and her mother Nora take refuge in the large mouldering house of their ancestors and tell each other stories.Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear, like who her father was - variously Jimmy, Jack, or Ernie.

Effie tells of her life at college in Dundee, the land of cakes and William Wallace, where she lives in a lethargic relationship with Bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed, and to whom the Klingons are as real as the French and the Germans (more real than the Luxemburgers).But strange things are happening. Why is Effie being followed?Is someone killing the old people? And where is the mysterious yellow dog?

 Contemporary Fiction Fantasy Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Funny Witty
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Critic reviews

The lustre, energy and panache of her writing are as striking as ever...Funny, bold and memorable
Beautifully written...brimming with quirky characters and original storytelling. Kate Atkinson has struck gold with this unique offering
A truly comic novel - achingly funny in parts - challenging and executed with wit and mischief...an hilarious and magical trip
Sends jolts of pleasure off the page...Atkinson's funniest foray yet...it is a work of Dickensian or even Shakespearean plenty
A truly comic novel - achingly funny in parts - challenging and executed with wit and mischief...an hilarious and magical trip
Her novels are remarkable both in and of themselves, and as evidence of an important emerging body of work from a brilliant and profoundly original writer
With just two novels, Atkinson has added new colour to the British literary landscape
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I adore Kate Atkinson's writing but this was just a little too emotionally weird. At times extremely funny but in the end I found it hard to follow the plot

Funny, imaginative but not my favourite

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lovely to hear Dundee described in a tale of decidedly non Oxbridge students, tutors and a dodgy P.I....it touches on themes and characters developed in the Jackson Brodie books, and is oddly touching. Kate Atkinson has a way of bringing her cast alive in just a few lines, fully formed and lovable. I'm just sad I've listened to them all, several times, and hope there will be a next. Kara Wilson is wonderful - perfectly performed and a real treat to hear Scottish words pronounced properly

Delightfully mental

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i love all her work but this was my least satisfying story - it was bitty and hard to bond with any of the characters, but still Kate Atkinsson even when not at her best weaves a interesting plot and i don’t regret listening.

i love kate atkinson… but

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What an ungrateful book this must have been to perform and edit. I liked the story, but have a feeling I might have been less confused if I read it myself. Although, I stuck with it, and don’t regret it. The best part for me was the humour!

Complicated indeed

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Not as good as some of her other books. Took me a long time to work out who was who and why any of it mattered. And the narrator did not differentiate enough between settings to help sort this out. I think Kate A can get too carried away with her own cleverness, and this time it just didn't work out.

Disappointed

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