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Number 11

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Number 11

By: Jonathan Coe
Narrated by: Jessica Hynes, Rory Kinnear
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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Number 11 by Jonathan Coe, read by Rory Kinnear and Jessica Hynes.

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.

©2015 Jonathan Coe (P)2015 Penguin Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Funny Mind-bending Scary Witty Thought-Provoking

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All stars
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Addictive. Great readers. Modern life critique. The masters and the slaves.
Really enjoyed the way these separate stories take on life as a menacing whole. (pun intended)

a tangled web but comes together beautifully

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If you could sum up Number 11 in three words, what would they be?

absorbing, intelligent, compelling

Who was your favorite character and why?

Impossible to say - they were all compelling.

Which character – as performed by Jessica Hynes and Rory Kinnear – was your favourite?

Again, I don't really do favourites. I would want to say that the performers were outstanding, delivering a range of accent and dialect in realistic, distinctive and engaging manners.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and no. I was interested enough to, practically it is too long to do so for me. Equally, I enjoyed it so much I wanted to eke it out.

Any additional comments?

I am a Jonathan Coe fan, I enjoy his subtle and not so subtle satyr, the intricacy of the web he weaves throughout a book, and this book delivered to the standard I've come to expect. The commentary on the state of the nation and the bankers that shape it is astute as ever. Coe's characters are separately and specifically introduced, and each has a story to tell. There is some excellent fiction faction, evoking characters we see on our TV screens as the opiates of the masses, referring with literary genius to significant events in the history and creation of up for grabs Britain. Narration makes or breaks with a good book, this narration was excellent. The book takes some sharp twists and my only uncertainty is a twist late on and how it sits. Clearly, well enough, as I was enthralled to the end.

I wish I could write like Coe!

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A wonderful book comprising various interwoven stories. Each one Absorbing and entertaining. Strong social and political themes throughout, but Jonathan Coe always writes with warmth humanity and humour. The narration is perfect and I couldn't imagine it being read any better.

A brilliant novel, excellent narrators

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This is my first Jonathan Coe book so hopefully I can be forgiven for expecting this to be a political 'Yes Minister' type satire. On commencing the story I thought there must be some mistake. I didn’t expect a gothic story of two children being frightened by a crazy bird woman and I thought there might have been some sort of digital mix up. I did however stick with it and on the whole I was rewarded with a mesmerising story of modern Britain and the austerity measures we are all supposed to be living under. The ill treatment of the poor is a given and the injustices were effective rallying calls. But what is very clever is the way in which the lucky ones, the very rich, are portrayed as being trapped in almost hellish meandering lives, roaming the world visiting their increasingly vulgar properties, siring children they despise and devising schemes to hold onto the money they neither need or can spend on anything worthwhile. The limitations of extreme wealth are hilariously portrayed. It may enable you to excavate the pointless 11th level of your depressing and claustrophobic basement extension but it cannot entice the lions to come out to play when you safari in Africa.

In a way this is basically a story about revenge and the bizarre way in which it is enacted didn’t really work for me. I did however relish the journey of the three main characters, Rachel, Alison and Val, and regrettably I know that there really are people like Freddy out there.

The narration from Jessica Hynes was outstanding and a real credit to the material. I note from reading reviews that Jonathan Coe fans do not see this as his best work. I thought it was very good /excellent and this will certainly lead me into reading more books from him.

‘Austerity Britain’ or ‘Business as Usual’

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Excellent writing and a story that will make you listen for hours to get to the end. Totally gripping story . Beautifully read

Number 11

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‘Number 11’ is not meant to be a straight sequel to ‘What a Carve Up’ – I think. Time has moved on. Here Jonathan Coe weaves stories with numerous characters that are believable; and sometimes deplorable too. Coe shows far more compassion than in ‘WaCUp!’ and binds the reader to their stories. There have to be mechanisms to link stories and he manages this well. He also speaks out to all those people who will have witnessed news stories of horror in the way that people are enslaved overtly and more subtlety. People are hurt regardless. There are comedic moments though. I am naturally sympathetic to Coe’s mining of his childhood past when the limited offer of terrestrial TV meant that there was more of a common experience than on these splintered times. The last, drawing things together might test some listeners, but this is fiction. What is absolutely certain is that Coe demonstrates conclusively the lie that in terms of a British Society we are not ‘all in this together’. I am better for having listened to this novel. The audio-book is excellently performed and produced and will disappoint few if any.

We are not all in together; a foolish thought

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really don't know what to make of this. I am a huge fan of JC, What a Carve Up is one of my favourite books. But this just seems like an exercise in jamming together as many literary styles as possible under the umbrella of a common theme - how the rich demonise the poor to distract from their own crimes - which is ladles on so thickly that it gets I'm the way of the storytelling and characterisation. There were just too many 'but people don't behave like that' momentd for me to immerse myself in the novel.

was this a p*ss take?

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Political, caustic, engaging,one of my fav books! Makes sense of everything unjust about Britain, loved it!!!

Just brilliant! Coe at his best!!

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Jessica Hynes brings the text to life with great timing and characterisation. This felt like so much more than simply listening to someone reading out loud. Very engaging. I will be looking out for her in the audio book store.What a talented lady.
A really good experience. This is the first Jonathon Coe book I have 'read'. I found it compelling and thought provoking. He has held a mirror up to us all; showing us what we know but cannot bear to see.

Read well and said well.

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Very enjoyable audiobook, largely due to the fantastic narration. Superb performances from both Jessica Haynes an Rory Kinnear. The story was however rather disjointed and, in my opinion, a bit unsatisfactory.

Fabulous performances but story faltered

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