Bookseller Reviews
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Perfect, and delicious...
This was incredible!
The subject matter was just so interesting that I had to pick it up, and thankfully Blakemore is an excellent writer.
The writing ... READ MORE
Deliciously dark & unputdownable
I loved this so so much. It is oh so dark and atmospheric and harrowing and really quite appalling - but in the best way. A very gruesome read that remind... READ MORE
Gorgeous and Grotesque
The Glutton is the story of a naive boy with a peculiar talent and an insatiable appetite, set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. A hungry boy ... READ MORE
Sinister yet sublime
Blakemore’s style of writing is fast becoming a favourite. The book is a literary feast that you couldn’t stop yourself from devouring even if you wanted t... READ MORE
Utterly astonishing prose
The Glutton is a true poet’s novel, never an obvious word written and endlessly semantically inventive and surprising. Blakemore sensibly eschews the sensa... READ MORE
a beastly novel
Oh, how I loved this morbid, vulgar read.
The Glutton is a fictionalised biography of a very real man - Tarare. A man with an appetite the likes of whic... READ MORE
Synopsis
The 18th century is drawing to a close, and unrest grips France. Tarare has been born into a life of slender means, but when a sudden act of violence ignites in him a ferocious appetite, his extraordinary abilities to eat make him a marvel throughout the land. Travelling to Paris and beyond, through the heart of the Revolution, he journeys into a world of upheaval and depravity, in which the hunger of one peasant is matched only by the insatiable demands of the people of France.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Granta Books
- ISBN: 9781783789214
- Number of pages: 336
- Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allA Deadly Sin Close Up
Very like ‘The Manningtree Witches’, Blakemore researches the truth about a ‘legend’. This time, of Tarare, a peasant living near Lyon just after The Frenc... READ MORE
Beautifully written
A beautifully written but tragic tale of a man in 18th century France who spends his whole life being taken advantage of and ridiculed by people he trusts.... READ MORE
An appetite for the gloriously bazaar
In the skilled hands of A.K. Blakemore the story of Tarare, a boy with endless appetite, comes to vivid, gory life. The Glutton takes us back to the tumult... READ MORE
Detailed telling of a Legend
If you were a fan of A.K. Blakemore’s previous book “The Manningtree Witches”, then I think you will love this. It is based on the legend of Tarare, a boy ... READ MORE
Commands Your Attention
I read and loved The Manningtree Witches and The Glutton certainly has that uncanny, slightly off kilter vibe that made The Manningtree Witches so compulsi... READ MORE
A fantastic novel beautifully written
A. K. Blakemore arrived on the literary scene with the rather wonderful The Manningtree Witches, which took for its story that of Matthew Hopkins, a true h... READ MORE
Glorious and grotesque
The harrowing and unnerving story of Tarare, a lonely outcast with insatiable hunger which was triggered when he underwent a near-death experience at the h... READ MORE
Astonishing!
What an astonishing book. I was caught up by the outstanding use of words, the vocabulary, words I recognised but hadn't seen in a while and words I didn't... READ MORE
Historical fiction of Tarare the Glutton
Most assuredly my sort of book so firstly, thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
For reasons unknown (except perhaps the oddity of Tarare's disposition) it rem... READ MORE
The Glutton
The outstanding book of the year for me .Extraordinary writing . The protagonist evokes pathos and revulsion in equal measure . Highly recommended .
disgustingly beautiful - historical fiction at its best
Disgustingly beautiful, this is the tale of surviving day-to-day on the fringes of society with no real sense of purpose because the basic trials and tribu... READ MORE
Unique gem of a read
This is such a great, unique read. It's rare I come across a book where I think I've really read nothing like it, and this is one of those gems.
Tarare ... READ MORE
very odd book
This was a really odd book, that I'm finding difficult to review. I'm not sure the reader is supposed to like or even enjoy it, and, although Im not parti... READ MORE
Extraordinary
The Glutton Is one of the most extraordinary books I've read. It's so strange but compassionate. I was encouraged to find out more- the true background- of... READ MORE
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