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Landfall
Alice Robinson is having doubts about her job on a fashionable London art magazine. Agreeing to house sit for her parents, she moves back to the suburban streets of her childhood, a world of Girl Guides, Tudorbethan houses and blossom trees, and finds herself confronting some truths about the way she's chosen to live her life. How can we connect? What are the maps and manuals that show us how to live today?
Exploring the landscape of the South East and the nature of life on an island, this clear-eyed, mordantly witty, warm and unsparing novel culminates in one of the most surprising and destabilizing endings you'll have read in some time.
Landfall marks the arrival of a new, intriguing voice and a major literary talent.
Exploring the landscape of the South East and the nature of life on an island, this clear-eyed, mordantly witty, warm and unsparing novel culminates in one of the most surprising and destabilizing endings you'll have read in some time.
Landfall marks the arrival of a new, intriguing voice and a major literary talent.
- GenresContemporary
224 pages, Paperback
First published October 6, 2011
5 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Helen Gordon
6 books11 followersHelen Gordon is the co-author of Being A Writer and author of Landfall, a novel published by Penguin. Her journalism has appeared in Intelligent Life and the Guardian. She is former associate editor of Granta magazine, lives in London and teaches creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 25, 2017
Landfall is a funny book. I don't mean that it's amusing - the absence of any humour is one of the problems with it. I mean that it confounded my expectations, but not in a particularly good way. Having read the blurb and extracts from a number of reviews, I had a certain impression of what I was about to read, but almost nothing I anticipated turned out to have anything to do with the reality of the book. Although there are various elements of mystery and intrigue running through it, as well as a continuous theme about the ways in which we connect with others, it sidesteps all of these and isn't really about anything at all.
The story is essentially a character study, focused on a 34-year-old woman, Alice, who is single and living in London. An art critic with a good reputation but no real roots, she is haunted by the disappearance of her younger sister, Janey, when both were teenagers. When the magazine she works for folds, she returns to her parents' home in the suburbs to house-sit and reflect on her life. Shortly afterwards, she is charged with looking after her 16-year-old American cousin, Emily, who joins her in the house. The third protagonist is Danny, a lonely kleptomaniac teenager living with his mum and dad next door, who observes the pair and develops an awkward crush on Emily.
Like a lot of debuts, Landfall feels slightly amateurish, and what it reminded me of more than anything was the early work of one of my favourite authors, Scarlett Thomas. I'm not saying it possesses the same immaturity as, say, one of Thomas's fluffy Lily Pascale mysteries, but then it isn't trying to be an amusing, zeitgeisty crime thriller (and anyway, a little bit of those books' warmth, zest and verve definitely wouldn't go amiss here). There are flashes of something really interesting in Alice's conversations with her friends - and later with an artist she idolises, Karin Ericsson - but the narrative seems to swerve away just as these start to touch on genuinely engrossing topics. The dialogue is noticeably artificial in a number of places, and the characters lack the depth they need in a reflective novel like this. Emily, in particular, seems to be a complete caricature of an airhead American teenager, obsessed with her looks and health, perceiving all adults as ancient. The cartoonishness of these character traits seems out of place with the sombre and serious tone of the book and the quiet, uneventful nature of the plot. I never felt the narrative really got under the skin of the characters, even Alice, whose ruminations are described in such detail - and Danny, undoubtedly the most intriguing person in the book, is underused.
Then there's this claim, taken from the back of the book (not a quote from a critic, this is part of the actual blurb): '[this novel] culminates in one of the most surprising and destabilising endings you'll have ever read'. As you can imagine, this raised my expectations for the ending considerably; I was expecting to be knocked off my feet. And then... nothing happens. I mean, there's a climactic event, and some of what I think is described in films as 'mild peril', but nothing revelatory or explosive or in any way staggering. The recurrent references to Janey turn out to be something of a red herring, and perhaps it's the genre-fiction reader in me, but I found this very frustrating.
All in all, it's safe to say I was disappointed by this book. However much the plot hovered on the edge of something intriguing, I felt I was always left to watch rich white people having minor existential crises, while the really interesting stuff was happening somewhere just off the page. That said, I think Helen Gordon has a promising and unique voice, and I will be keeping an eye out for her future work.
The story is essentially a character study, focused on a 34-year-old woman, Alice, who is single and living in London. An art critic with a good reputation but no real roots, she is haunted by the disappearance of her younger sister, Janey, when both were teenagers. When the magazine she works for folds, she returns to her parents' home in the suburbs to house-sit and reflect on her life. Shortly afterwards, she is charged with looking after her 16-year-old American cousin, Emily, who joins her in the house. The third protagonist is Danny, a lonely kleptomaniac teenager living with his mum and dad next door, who observes the pair and develops an awkward crush on Emily.
Like a lot of debuts, Landfall feels slightly amateurish, and what it reminded me of more than anything was the early work of one of my favourite authors, Scarlett Thomas. I'm not saying it possesses the same immaturity as, say, one of Thomas's fluffy Lily Pascale mysteries, but then it isn't trying to be an amusing, zeitgeisty crime thriller (and anyway, a little bit of those books' warmth, zest and verve definitely wouldn't go amiss here). There are flashes of something really interesting in Alice's conversations with her friends - and later with an artist she idolises, Karin Ericsson - but the narrative seems to swerve away just as these start to touch on genuinely engrossing topics. The dialogue is noticeably artificial in a number of places, and the characters lack the depth they need in a reflective novel like this. Emily, in particular, seems to be a complete caricature of an airhead American teenager, obsessed with her looks and health, perceiving all adults as ancient. The cartoonishness of these character traits seems out of place with the sombre and serious tone of the book and the quiet, uneventful nature of the plot. I never felt the narrative really got under the skin of the characters, even Alice, whose ruminations are described in such detail - and Danny, undoubtedly the most intriguing person in the book, is underused.
Then there's this claim, taken from the back of the book (not a quote from a critic, this is part of the actual blurb): '[this novel] culminates in one of the most surprising and destabilising endings you'll have ever read'. As you can imagine, this raised my expectations for the ending considerably; I was expecting to be knocked off my feet. And then... nothing happens. I mean, there's a climactic event, and some of what I think is described in films as 'mild peril', but nothing revelatory or explosive or in any way staggering. The recurrent references to Janey turn out to be something of a red herring, and perhaps it's the genre-fiction reader in me, but I found this very frustrating.
All in all, it's safe to say I was disappointed by this book. However much the plot hovered on the edge of something intriguing, I felt I was always left to watch rich white people having minor existential crises, while the really interesting stuff was happening somewhere just off the page. That said, I think Helen Gordon has a promising and unique voice, and I will be keeping an eye out for her future work.
July 13, 2021
On second reading in 2021, I must reiterate my previous statement that this book is superb. I liked it even more this time around.
Was able to notice more nuances and get to know the characters. I used to think that only energetic people who take active stance in their lives are worthy of being protagonists. But that's bs, because in reality the world is made up of all sorts of people, and the passive, weak, indecisive ones have the same right to be placed in literature too.
So is the main heroine of the story, and she has a hugely valid reason to be so, which I just understood. She is fully redeemed in my eyes now.
The ending was not a cliffhanger for me. I thought it was plain as day what it meant, even on the first reading. And it doesn't spoil the pleasure, somehow, to know in advance.
Again, the beauty of writing and the imagery doesn't even let you get too sad in the end, although the finale is by all means very sad.
All in all, it's a rare piece of fiction and I am really glad I picked it up randomly in a book sale many years ago.
Was able to notice more nuances and get to know the characters. I used to think that only energetic people who take active stance in their lives are worthy of being protagonists. But that's bs, because in reality the world is made up of all sorts of people, and the passive, weak, indecisive ones have the same right to be placed in literature too.
So is the main heroine of the story, and she has a hugely valid reason to be so, which I just understood. She is fully redeemed in my eyes now.
The ending was not a cliffhanger for me. I thought it was plain as day what it meant, even on the first reading. And it doesn't spoil the pleasure, somehow, to know in advance.
Again, the beauty of writing and the imagery doesn't even let you get too sad in the end, although the finale is by all means very sad.
All in all, it's a rare piece of fiction and I am really glad I picked it up randomly in a book sale many years ago.
December 4, 2020
This is a very odd book especially the ending. Only in a novel would Danny turn out to be harmless. Emily constantly irritated me, even my pity for her could not make her less irritating. Don't be fooled by the apparent realism of the novel, it is working on a symbolic level to reveal that modern-day "agency" is a fragile construction and chaos works just under the semi-successful life.
As someone who "should" be able to solve her own problems and stave off meaninglessness by exercising agency Alice is fighting the inevitable. Janey's absence is stronger than any positive force or material reality for her.
As someone who "should" be able to solve her own problems and stave off meaninglessness by exercising agency Alice is fighting the inevitable. Janey's absence is stronger than any positive force or material reality for her.
April 17, 2020
I devoured it. Poignant, gripping, with an unexpected final
March 2, 2021
Most boring read ever
December 26, 2011
London-based arts critic Alice Robinson is thirty-four, unsure about her place in the world, and haunted by the disappearance of her sister Janey seventeen years previously, when her magazine ‘suspends operations’; taking advantage of her parents’ offer to house-sit for them, she moves back to the suburbs to take stock. Alice’s existence there is enlivened by the arrival of her sixteen-year-old American cousin Emily (who’s been sent over for an improving visit, though she’d rather not be there), and a large dog named Selkirk, whom Alice’s old flatmate Isabel has talked her into looking after (despite Alice’s dislike of dogs). Alice is mostly drifting through life in suburbia when her former editor holds out the possibility of an interview with one of her favourite artists, Karin Ericsson, a recluse who lives on the south coast – could this be the key to Alice’s getting her life back on track?
Helen Gordon’s debut novel is a nicely observed character study, ranging from pithy observations about minor characters (for example, Alice’s artist ex-boyfriend is described as “one of those men of a certain haircut who gravitated towards the east of the city” [pp. 8-9]) to more sustained portrayals of the main players. Alice’s neighbours’ boy, Danny, is a conflicted figure: saved from drowning as a young boy, that piece of great fortune has also made it hard for him to relate to other people (though one senses he ultimately means well), which in turn has led him to dabble in crime. Emily begins as something of a grotesque, obsessed with her body-image to an alarming degree, but, by novel’s end, she is moving towards a more positive view of life; she and Danny come together in a halting, and very real, fashion.
And Alice? She spends a lot of time thinking, but also falls back on instinct, reciting maxims from her Girl Guide and London days. Those recitations may feel forced when she’s at her parents’ house, but Alice’s practical instincts come into their own when she has travelled to the coast. She, like Emily and Danny, makes not so much peace with life, as a kind of messy truce.
Helen Gordon’s debut novel is a nicely observed character study, ranging from pithy observations about minor characters (for example, Alice’s artist ex-boyfriend is described as “one of those men of a certain haircut who gravitated towards the east of the city” [pp. 8-9]) to more sustained portrayals of the main players. Alice’s neighbours’ boy, Danny, is a conflicted figure: saved from drowning as a young boy, that piece of great fortune has also made it hard for him to relate to other people (though one senses he ultimately means well), which in turn has led him to dabble in crime. Emily begins as something of a grotesque, obsessed with her body-image to an alarming degree, but, by novel’s end, she is moving towards a more positive view of life; she and Danny come together in a halting, and very real, fashion.
And Alice? She spends a lot of time thinking, but also falls back on instinct, reciting maxims from her Girl Guide and London days. Those recitations may feel forced when she’s at her parents’ house, but Alice’s practical instincts come into their own when she has travelled to the coast. She, like Emily and Danny, makes not so much peace with life, as a kind of messy truce.
October 1, 2012
The Times on Saturday has a section called Book Club, where four critics review the same book over succesive weeks, and it was their favourable reviews that I chose to read Landfall. I enjoyed all but the last thirty odd pages. Up until then, this is an interesting story of a modern single woman, Alice, who is in her thirties and takes refuge from redundancy in the home of her parents (away on a long trip - a little contrived?) in the suburbs. She has time to reflect upon her sister, Janey, missing since she was seventeen. She is joined by Emily, a preening teenager from America, and a niece of Alice's parents. Their time together is well documented and I liked how they are both in, what is to them, alien territory. But just as we become interested in what must be a mysterious ending, the author makes a complete mess of dreaming up a trite and sudden finale. Such a shame.
September 20, 2015
I read this book after doing a fabulous workshop with the author. I know Landfill by Helen Gordon has received mixed reviews but I loved this book. It is one of those books that get’s under your skin and you think about when you aren’t reading.
My favourite thing about this book is the language. It is so beautifully written, with words and sentences that catch the heart. Which is fitting as this really is a book about the heart. It’s not non-stop action or about resolving issues as book these days so often are but about going through an emotional change within.
A thoroughly enjoyable novel, with language you can just get lost in, perfect for me. I would certainly recommend Landfill.
www.nicolabourne.wordpress.com
Author of The Fabulous Woman's Guide Through Cancer http://amzn.to/1EJc0he
My favourite thing about this book is the language. It is so beautifully written, with words and sentences that catch the heart. Which is fitting as this really is a book about the heart. It’s not non-stop action or about resolving issues as book these days so often are but about going through an emotional change within.
A thoroughly enjoyable novel, with language you can just get lost in, perfect for me. I would certainly recommend Landfill.
www.nicolabourne.wordpress.com
Author of The Fabulous Woman's Guide Through Cancer http://amzn.to/1EJc0he
December 10, 2011
Mixed feelings about this book - I thought I was going to love it from the blurb on the back I had high hopes - as I started to read it I didn't think I was going to like it as I found the language quite flowery, it didn't really flow nicely but as I read on I got used to it and started to like it. The story carried on quite nicely for the main part but because of the style of writing the 'shock' ending didn't quite hit the mark, the writer skirted around the edges of what may have happened so I felt left not quite knowing what happened to several people in the story - lots of loose ends which was frustrating! Was all a bit up and down but still an interesting read and a debut which would make me seek out another of this authors books
August 17, 2014
I identified with the main character, who had to move back to her parents' house in the countryside, and was intrigued by the more sinister part of her background. I loved the brooding, barely-there style of the writing, which not every writer can pull off - it more than made up for the lack of plot. Also, one of the best descriptions of English history I've read:
'There was a thickness to the landscape: Bronze Age burial mound, Iron Age camp, Roman villa, Saxon church and parish. Every surface seemed to have been covered with correcting fluid and then written over, the process repeated and repeated until the white paint was scratched and flaking here and there so that layers of older text showed through in indelible dark blue ink.'
'There was a thickness to the landscape: Bronze Age burial mound, Iron Age camp, Roman villa, Saxon church and parish. Every surface seemed to have been covered with correcting fluid and then written over, the process repeated and repeated until the white paint was scratched and flaking here and there so that layers of older text showed through in indelible dark blue ink.'
October 29, 2012
"As début novels go, Landfall by Helen Gordon is certainly ambitious. The former associate editor of Granta magazine, Gordon clearly knows London artsy types well: her main character, Alice Robinson, is a living, breathing archetype.
She is an art critic for a failing magazine, she listens to experimental doom-metal, she drinks too much wine during the day and smokes rollies and lives in a converted warehouse with a bewitching view of the City." (Excerpt from full review at For Books' Sake.)
She is an art critic for a failing magazine, she listens to experimental doom-metal, she drinks too much wine during the day and smokes rollies and lives in a converted warehouse with a bewitching view of the City." (Excerpt from full review at For Books' Sake.)
December 30, 2011
Seriously, where do I start? Actually if I stop here, reading this would would a bit like reading the book.
Honestly, I hate slating books but this really went nowhere, nothing happened, I was getting closer and closer to the end and nothing had happened, and then it ended. There were several different routes this book could have taken, the missing sister, the new relationship, the old relationship, the cousin - but it didn't do anything... with any of them!?! There just wasn't a developed plot line at all.
The writing style was quite good though!
Honestly, I hate slating books but this really went nowhere, nothing happened, I was getting closer and closer to the end and nothing had happened, and then it ended. There were several different routes this book could have taken, the missing sister, the new relationship, the old relationship, the cousin - but it didn't do anything... with any of them!?! There just wasn't a developed plot line at all.
The writing style was quite good though!
February 20, 2012
Alice is an Arts reviewer living in London at a career crossroads. She agrees to housesit for her parents in the suburbs for 8 months. Her 16 year old American cousin whom she has never met comes to stay for the summer. This stirs up memories for Alice of her sister Janey who went missing when she was seventeen
This is a enjoyable read. A bit slow to start but the Amercian cousin character is interesting. The story builds to a very unusual climax.
This is a enjoyable read. A bit slow to start but the Amercian cousin character is interesting. The story builds to a very unusual climax.
May 30, 2013
Lovely descriptive sections but the book feels disjointed and lacks a plot. I know it's fashionable today to say that the story emerges from description, character and action - and that's true to a large extent. However, I found it implausible that the strange guy from next door is treated as a hero for the rescue from the burning house. Odd, and a long way from home, wouldn't he be the first suspect for causing the fire in the first place?
March 5, 2015
There is some very nice writing in this book, sentences you want to read out to people. And the section in London at the start is pacy and witty. But then our character moves to the countryside and she loses her way a bit, and so does the book. The writing is still strong moment by moment, and there are good sequences, but it doesn't build. And I agree with other reviewers that the ending is spoilt by quotes on the cover.
January 1, 2018
The book is hugely underestimated, judging by the score. As for me, the shortcomings of the book as a whole are fully compensated by the amazing, heart-rending and emotionally devastating finale. One of the best endings I've ever come across, and this is said by a person who largely hates "open" endings. The impact it had on me was so strong that I couldn't start reading anything else for quite a while. It deserved a place on my bookshelf!
November 14, 2012
I enjoyed parts of this book, although to be honest I didn't really like any of the characters. However, despite disliking them you could at least feel that there was a reason why they behaved as they did. I think my sister summed this book up best when she said that it felt like a first draft, that needed editing.
July 30, 2012
Bleak and depressing - kept reading in anticipation of something happening. The fact I didn't give up is what gets it two stars instead of one.
July 9, 2013
This book wasn't what I expected, and I can't quite decide if that's a good thing or not.
June 10, 2013
The end was... Nothing. what happened to Alice and Emily. I enjoyed the book but the ending.. It ended abruptly.
July 28, 2013
Everything but the ending was wonderful. But after turning the last page I didn't feel very satisfied. I hadn't gotten my answers, the plot hadn't concluded. Hm.
June 7, 2012
Was enjoying very much......until the end. Did not like the ending at all!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews