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All Quiet on the Orient Express
All Quiet on the Orient Express
Author: Magnus Mills
Told with insidiously beguiling, deadpan charm, All Quiet on the Orient Express gives us the story of an itinerant odd-jobber -- our narrator -- watching the dregs of the summer run out in a run-down campground in England's Lake District, and waiting to set off for the East. When the owner of the campground offers him a small painting...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780002259064
ISBN-10: 0002259060
Publication Date: 9/1/1999
Pages: 224
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 1

3.5 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Leigh avatar reviewed All Quiet on the Orient Express on + 378 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Just as in his first novel, "The Restraint of Beasts," Magnus Mills creates an unnamed, stoic protagonist of little words. I enjoyed this book very much. The main character's hapless adventures and unlikely falling into a series of jobs and bosses and debts and such, all in a vacation spot in which he was camping, seemed almost normal.

What a strange little town this was, with debts and tabs being accrued and never paid (until the end), a man wearing a crown, a multitude of green paint, and a milkman who meets with an awful fate (but at least escapes driving the ice cream truck to make milk deliveries). Who knew such a town had so much work to do and so little women?

One of my favorite parts was the main character's "social punishment" for not showing up for a darts game, for which he was banished to drink at the pub across the street for two weeks until tempers had cooled.

The ending, as the one in Mills' first novel, left a lot to be resolved, but he seemed to care about the ending as much as his character cared about his life's direction; however, the symbolic ending fit perfectly with the theme of the novel.
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reviewed All Quiet on the Orient Express on + 6 more book reviews
It is an interesting book. It is an easy read and is enjoyable. The ending left too many questions and didn't resolve much.
reviewed All Quiet on the Orient Express on + 24 more book reviews
A quick tense read though the subject matter is perfectly mundane.
reviewed All Quiet on the Orient Express on + 628 more book reviews
Deadpan British humor and a subtle comedyset in a deidely odd and cliquish billage.


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