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The Time We Have Taken (2007)

by Steven Carroll(Favorite Author)

3.1 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0732278368 (ISBN13: 9780732278366)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

HarperCollins Publishers Australia

review 1: Steven Carroll takes an interesting approach to storytelling, contrasting interpersonal silences with personal intellectual chaos, and in fact internal dialogues make up the vast majority of this novel. Apparently it's the conclusion of a trilogy, but it works fine (possibly better from what I have heard) as a standalone piece, and I think the constant presence of the past experienced psychologically by the characters is much more effective than a more detailed and sustained recounting. That said, in all honesty I didn't find the book particularly interesting, and despite the huge amount of time spent in the consciousness of the major characters, none of them ever felt wholly real. The prose was fairly stark and straightforward, and whilst I liked the idea of the consta... morent repetition (of particular phrases or words) as a comment on the repetitiveness of human experience, after the first 100 or so pages I had had enough. I'm kind of confused by my reaction to it - I guess I'm in a position of muted praise... I liked some of the ideas, but the novel didn't really leave me with anything substantial to either like or dislike.
review 2: Progress, Age, Production, History: the language of modernity becomes the sign-posts for a vision of the past; a time between the times. The setting of late 60's/early 70's is ideal to explore the droll of suburbanism and it's attempt to be a Place with a History. Carroll takes the reader on the trail of the post-War generation as they wander into the unknown (bereft of anything like their sacred Progress), and the Vietnam generation as they paint, march and love into what has been left over after Production and History have had their way. But it is not clear what is left. This is a good read because Carroll is a skilled writer. less

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