What a good and enjoyable book! This was the general feedback from all in the Marylebone Library Reading Group who had read the book ‘Capital’ by John Lanchester. At the time of the meeting, some members hadn’t quite finished the book, so the rest of us were careful not to spoil the last chapters for them.
John Lanchester started out as a journalist, writing for several leading papers and has also written both fiction and non-fiction works, winning the Whitbread ‘First Novel’ Book Award in 1996 with ‘The Debt to Pleasure’.
The story of ‘Capital’ follows the lives of several people and families who have a ‘common denominator’ of living in the same London street, but whose lives are very different to each other. Lanchester’s tale is both very cleverly written and well observed. All of us in the room felt we recognised at least one person in our own lives who we could identify as one of the characters portrayed in the book, such is the realism.
Some comments from the group:
“It was an interesting idea, with the people seeming very real and natural”
“There was no judgement of the characters within; the observations were so good and accurate, one could relate to the people.”
“A clever novel that, although long, held my interest throughout.”
The next meeting is on 12 February and we’ll be discussing ‘The Pursuit of Love’ by Nancy Mitford. See you there!
[Georgina]
