Another enjoyable read from this author. All of her books vary in setting and time period. Luke Kanowski decides to leave his drunken, depressed father and asylum resident mother behind to make a life for himself and pursue his dream of becoming a playwright. He meets an aspiring producer, Paul and his girlfriend Leigh. Together they form a company to take on the established theatre scene. Luke struggles to commit to any relationships until he meets the vulnerable, but married actress, Nina.
However this all consuming relationship threatens to destroy his creativity and friendships. ( )

From a slow and frustrating start, this built up to a startlingly powerful story. I loved it. So much time and energy is invested in the central characters that as time goes by you get a real sense of connection with them, and nostalgia as the novel draws to its close and characters reflect on the past. The writing is intelligent, literary enough but not obstructively so, and the evocation of 1970s theatre was impressive. I'm not sure why it's called "Fallout", but I'm sure there must be a good reason I missed. I would have called it "The Randiest Binman in Bayswater", but of course that would have robbed it of the gravitas that it richly deserves. ( )

Her best book so far, despite the ending which, though it felt inevitable, also felt contrived. I'd dock it a half star, if I could.

But theater in 1970s London? Peolple, what's not to like? ( )

This novel had been lurking in my Amazon wishlist for ages before the price finally dropped - and I'm glad I didn't pay full price. I can't even remember why I wanted to read it, but I still feel slightly let down. Some sort of love triangle between a bunch of horrible, bland characters in the 1970s might have worked, only nothing really came of the whole story. Sadie Jones captures the era well, with some lovely descriptive passages, but I couldn't stand Luke, the 'attractive genius' who has all the girls falling for him - I imagined him to be a sort of wishy Ben Whishaw type - and could make neither head nor tail of the opening chapters, hinting at a sort of 'star cross'd' attraction between Luke and Nina. Reminded me too much of Nick Hornby's Funny Girl, which completely missed the mark for me too. ( )

I can't remember what made me put this on my 'to read' list. Some good reviews, the popularity of the writer's previous novels? Most likely it was the setting in London's fringe theatres of the early 1970s. And Sadie Jones does a good job of bringing to life that particular time and place. The problem is that this is just not my type of book. I had very little interest in what seemed to be fairly shallow characters (I was unconvinced by their artistic creativity, especially Luke's supposedly ground-breaking plays) and found their intertwined sexual relationships interminable.
However, I wouldn't want to put off other potential readers of this basically well written book who might find it more their cup of tea. ( )