"A Week In December" by Sebastian Faulks


Over the course of a week in December 2007, lives collide in London and they don't even know it. A Polish footballer, a hedge-fund manager, a book critic, a young student led astray by Islamic theory, his father a chutney magnate, a teenage boy hooked on skunk, a schoolteacher, a young lawyer with little work, a tube driver and others. They all go about their daily lives not realizing how closely their lives are related or in what ways their paths are going to collide.

A Week in December is a fascinating look at modern urban life. In cities populated with millions of people, we pass by so many people not knowing the complications of their lives, their hopes and fears, and how they may possibly affect our own lives.

Sebastian Faulks weaves many themes into the book - greed, loneliness, disillusionment, love - to show us the nature of this world.

It is obvious that Faulks has done an incredible amount of research for the book on the financial world as well as football, the internet, the London underground, teaching, and Islam. This is impressive and obvious as the characters and events in the book are so real you feel as though you are reading about actual people. Though the characters may inhabit a world the reader is not familiar with, one cannot help but form attachments and sympathies for the characters through their realistic portrayal.

A Week in December is entertaining and will keep you gripped until the end, wanting to find out how the characters' worlds will collide and if they realize the part they are playing in other's lives.

Comments

  1. bookaddict4realMay 3, 2010 at 8:50 PM

    Sounds good cant wait to check it out!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BeckiMay 3, 2010 at 9:12 PM

    This sounds interesting. I might have to add it to my TBR shelf. I'm a culture junkie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ShanMay 4, 2010 at 7:34 AM

    It's a very interesting commentary. I think I was expecting more "drama" but sometimes books are best when they are just examining lives.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LindyLouMacMay 4, 2010 at 9:55 AM

    I am looking forward to this one having just finished 'Human Traces'
    http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/05/human-traces-by-sebastian-faulks.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. BooksnycMay 10, 2010 at 9:58 PM

    Thanks for this review - I have this book on the shelf and your review makes me look forward to it even more!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gilion at Rose City ReaderJune 23, 2010 at 1:44 PM

    Shan -- Great review! Thanks for sharing it with me. I listed your review on my Rose City Reader review.

    ReplyDelete

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