Jonathan Coe

'Big, hilarious, intricate, furious, moving' - Guardian Telling the stories of the wealthy Winshaw family, WHAT A CARVE UP! is a riveting social satire on the chattering and all-powerful upper classes.

What a Carve Up!

Sarah Sammis

What a Carve Up! is two stories in one. The first is that of a writer trying to find his voice and his tragic short romance with a neighbor. The second story is that of a family implosion. The two intersect because the author has been working on a biography of the family for the last decade. In 2005, Radio 4 did a brilliant adaptation of the book and now having had the chance to also read the book, I think the abridging they did served the story well. There are many ponderous moments to this novel that slowed down the progress of the story to its insane conclusion.

A WICKEDLY FUNNY TAKE ON LIFE UNDER THE THATCHER GOVERNMENT BY THE PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF MIDDLE ENGLAND It is the 1980s and the Winshaw family are getting richer and crueller by the year: Newspaper-columnist Hilary gets thousands for telling it like it isn't; Henry's turning hospitals into car parks; Roddy's selling art in return for sex; down on the farm Dorothy's squeezing every last pound from her livestock; Thomas is making a killing on the stock exchange; and Mark is selling arms to dictators. But once their hapless biographer Michael Owen starts investigating the family's trail of greed, corruption and immoral doings, the time growing ripe for the Winshaws to receive their comeuppance . . . 'A sustained feat of humour, suspense and polemic, full of twists and ironies' Hilary Mantel, Sunday Times 'A riveting social satire on the chattering and all-powerful upper classes' Time Out 'Big, hilarious, intricate, furious, moving' Guardian

Lea de Sousa

5/5 ⭐ 

What a Carve Up! is a political satire mainly set in the 80s and is centred around a henious, deeply-flawed and selfish family, the Winshaws, whose guts you WILL hate.



It was published in 1994 but still feels current and fresh. It's a rollercoaster of a story divided into sections for each Winshaw grandchild and ends with a punch and a twist you both were and weren't expecting.

My favourite part of this book: The ending, definitely, and also the level of character depth (I'm referring to the writing - those Winshaw bastards are all shallow).

My least favourite part: Some of the chapters were a bit long winded and I occasionally skipped a few pages when the politics got tiring.

You'll enjoy this if you like: Family dramas and family sagas, scandal, The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047, political satires.

Katherine

This novel spins an intricate satirical web of class relations and corporate and governmental evil in Thatcher's Britain. Fascinating characters, compelling plot, witty and emotionally moving.

Le atrocità di una famiglia britannica negli anni di Margaret Thatcher. E, insieme, le avventure di uno scrittore che, incaricato di ricostruire le vicende di questa famiglia, vi si ritrova invischiato, lui e i suoi fantasmi infantili, sino a misurare sulla propria pelle i meccanismi di potere e sopraffazione che hanno portato l'Inghilterra degli anni Ottanta allo sfascio.

La famiglia Winshaw

Paolo Genta

Hannah Swithinbank

heleen de boever

Andrea Bruno

Amanda S

Sophie Koonin

A brilliant noir farce, a dystopian vision of Britain, a family history and the story of an obsession. Michael is a lonely, rather pathetic writer, obsessed by the film, 'What A Carve Up!' in which a mad kinfeman cuts his way through the inhabitants of a decrepit stately pile as the thunder rages. Inexplicably he is commissioned to write the family history of the Winshaws, an upper class Yorkshire clan whose members have a finger in every establishment pie, from arms dealing to art dealing, from politics to banking to the popular press and factory farming. During his researches Michael realizes that the Winshaws have cast a blight on his life, as they have on Britain. His confidence, his sexual and personal identity begin to reform. In a climax set in the Winshaw's family seat the novel turns into the film, 'What A Carve Up!' as a murderous maniac stalks the family and Michael discovers the significance of Shirley Eaton's lingere.

Stijn C

ChiaraB

Frederik Van den Bril

Lisa Miller

A brilliant noir farce, a dystopian vision and the story of an obsession. Michael is a lonely, rather pathetic writer, obsessed by the film, 'What A Carve Up!' in which a mad knifeman cuts his way through the inhabitants of a decrepit stately pile as the thunder rages. Inexplicably, Michael is commissioned to write the family history of the Winshaws, an upper class Yorkshire clan whose members have a finger in every establishment pie. But as a murderous maniac stalks the family, Michael realizes that his favourite film is coming true.

What a Carve Up!

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