18 Folgate Street: The Tale of a House in Spitalfields

click here for more details, find new or used items	Dennis Severs Pages: 288 (Paperback) ISBN: 0099437368 Pub: Vintage Pub date: 2002-11-07 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 361799

Reader Reviews:

A Manipulative Time-Trip (3/4 people found this helpful)

Dennis Severs restored 18 Folgate Street to an 18th-century time-warp. In this book, he takes the reader through a room-by-room tour of the house, peopled with imaginary characters.

It's a strange experience, very original and yet somehow frustrating. We never get to truly care about this family...it's all a bit force-fed. There's alot of suggestion verging on manipulation: "you close your eyes", etc. (or words to that effect) and somehow the author rather arrogantly pulls the strings with his "Now you see it, now you don't" (or, as Tim from Big Brother UK 3 might have put it - "comprende?") Some readers might find their sensibilities a little insulted.

Having said that, it's creative and clever and there are some enjoyable aspects, particularly, for example, Severs's analysis of seeing the world in two's and three's. Some of the numerology is fascinating. I only wish the rest of the book had lived up to that standard.

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