The Happy Numbers of Julius Miles
I thought the narrator was a really interesting choice.
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The ending was a little confusing and frantic, but overall I enjoyed it. Feb 15, Julie added it Shelves: I made it to page It just never really got my attention. May 29, Tracy Terry rated it liked it. Though ultimately an enjoyable read, thankfully Julius Miles did have more to offer than the one dimensional stereotype of the mathematical genius, I did however on occasion feel that the 'linguistic inventiveness' and the author's tendency to go off at a tangent came close to interrupting the flow of what was otherwise very good story telling.
Petty Witter Pen and Paper. Read and reviewed on behalf of the publisher, Alma Books, I was merely asked for my honest opinion, no financial compensation was asked for nor given. Apr 07, Renita D'Silva rated it really liked it. What an amazing find! I picked it up for the title, which intrigued me, and it did not let me down. A truly original story peopled with well rounded, believable characters with very human dilemmas.
The multi-cultural east end of London comes alive in this book, the scents, the noises, the colorful people. Loved Felicity, adored Julius, liked Awa, even warmed to Daisy in the end. A great book, beautifully written, with compassion and love.
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Oct 29, Jim rated it liked it. The Roman gods may be history but Cupid's not dead in fact he's had a sex change, is living in London and goes by the name Felicity; she drinks too much and pops too many pills but it's still business as usual for this Cupid. Her current target is one Julius Miles, a tall, socially-awkward statistician and everything is going by the numbers under the woman who is top of her list dies and Felicity finds she can't move onto Plan B as easily as she might have hoped and turns detective.
Read my full The Roman gods may be history but Cupid's not dead in fact he's had a sex change, is living in London and goes by the name Felicity; she drinks too much and pops too many pills but it's still business as usual for this Cupid. Read my full review on my blog here.
Nov 11, Kevin Orrman-Rossiter rated it liked it. Poignant is one word to describe this book. It's a tale of personal relationships featuring some interesting and not entirely convincing characters in London. The main character, Julius Miles of the happy numbers, for me never really escapes the stereotype of mathematical genius.
The author does not do anything really interesting with him or this idea. It neither offended nor enticed me. A good read - but missed opportunity. Aug 29, Guadalupe Cordero added it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The Happy Numbers of Julius Miles by Jim Keeble – review | Books | The Guardian
It is full of trivia: Great references to East London: The end was disappointing, a bit confusing, but I supposed that is the way the narrator was! Sep 24, Tracy rated it liked it. I enjoyed the story of Julius and his unusual life. It takes place at an important time of great change for him.
And he is knowingly and unknowingly entwined with some interesting characters, not least of whom is the narrator. I don't think there is too much more to say without giving away the story, but definitely worth a read! Nov 12, Dave Di Vito rated it liked it. It didn't, but again, give me something inventive and quirky with some originality like this one and I'm happy.
Steve Saindon rated it it was ok Oct 13, Tina rated it liked it May 31, Trixypixy Ladores-pastoral rated it it was amazing Sep 26, Rowan P rated it liked it Jul 03, George rated it really liked it Feb 15, She jabs him fiercely in the stomach and kicks him hard between the legs.
Her death is ruled as accidental. Felicity moves on to Plan B. In the process of snooping she becomes aware of some salient facts that have nothing to do with her primary mission, to find a soul mate for Julius, facts that lead her to conclusions that refuse to add up and demand further investigation; she had been, after all, the son—and eventually the daughter—of a policeman. There is a lot of profundity slipped in between the sheets of this book, meaningful mental meanderings about the nature of life, people and, of course, love.
For example, towards the end of the book, Felicity muses on human memory:. People recall memories as if recalling facts. To my mind, memories are merely stories we prefer to other stories, stories that we constantly edit and re-edit like obsessive film directors, adjusting and revising the meaning as the years go by until the film bears no resemblance to the narrative we thought we were telling when we started.
Over time we craft our memories into armour, plate by plate, until they form an impenetrable, ever so comfortable coat. Hard as flint, clear as ice, but these recollections are not based on any objective truth.
Thought-provoking stuff, so much so that the significance of what Felicity was saying here in relation to the story I was reading was lost on me and it was only later looking back that I noticed the foreshadowing. And there is a fair bit of it that. For some of you it will be like walking from a darkened room into sunlight, a slap between the eyes.
Even Julius will tell you, statistically speaking we all fall in love more than once in our lives. In more than one fashion. Is Felicity talking here about her marks or herself? Needless to say there is a lot I have not told you about and I have no intention to revealing more than I have which may seem like a lot but, trust me, there is much more to discover. The ending is handled well—not sure how Hollywood would feel about it—and the reveal was a genuine surprise.
I thought this was a wonderful book. It makes me very keen to check out his other books especially The A-Z of Us because, as regular readers will know, I once planned to write a Dictionary of Me but never quite got round to it. You can read a lengthy excerpt from his book here. Jim started writing following a French degree at Oxford, when he opted out and began working as a gardener in the south of France. He spent two years cutting down everything that grew whilst writing travel articles, which got him commissions from the travel pages of The Daily Telegraph , The Times and The Evening Standard.
Schulz , the creator of Charlie Brown. Nick Hornby was actually my English teacher for two years at Parkside Community College in Cambridge, where he was an excellent teacher but a terrible football coach. I did ask him whether or not he might return to Felicity again.
I have been mulling that since I stopped typing on Happy Numbers. I certainly enjoy and cherish Felicity sufficiently to want to spend time with her again. In particular I really enjoyed her detective work, the dickless private dick, I might be tempted to push her a little more in a subsequent book as a contemporary Philip Marlowe prowling the streets. If nobody likes her in this book, maybe embarking on a second would be too masochistic? They currently live in east London with their three kids and three goldfish; no one can have three kids and less than three pets. I sometimes judge a writer by his influences and his are sound.
But the whole story rests on the fact that things have gone wrong and need to get put right. Humour often fills in conflict because so much humour is all about things going wrong or being misunderstood. I think this is one you would like, Ken. This does sound like the book for me. Not sure about minor gods and that sort of thing , but the fibonacci sequences and complex and imaginary numbers did it for me. Sounds too good to be missed. All I can imagine, Dave , is that the paragraphs I skimmed are the ones that will excite you.
What the course did teach me was now misleading statistics can be. I probably say more in my article than he says in the whole novel. Felicity is a great creation. I would have been tickled pink to have thought her up. Great review, comme d'habitude. You had me at Felicity's musings-on-memory quote.
By the way, one of the author's "three daughters" Cute kids, and an interesting article from that link as well. For God's sake, Annie , how did I get that wrong? It's fixed and thank you for pointing out the error of my ways. Our Cupid is called Felicity and this is how she describes herself: This, for example, is all she tells us about her calling: No other deities or demi-gods appear, although a few are mentioned in passing: Hermaphrodites are also chosen, but they have a reputation for being a little highly strung, Felicity drinks too much; pops way too many pills.
For example, towards the end of the book, Felicity muses on human memory: On his website he says: