Book Post #6

Expo 58

By Jonathan Coe

So this book is based fictitiously around the 1958 World Trade Fair held in Brussels and focuses on Thomas Foley a man who works for the COI in London and who finds himself assisting in running the Britannia Pub in the British Pavilion. He then moves to expo for a 6 month run leaving his wife and baby daughter in London and the story revolves around the goings on at the expo and the people Thomas becomes friends with.

I won’t go into detail about other things that happen so as to not give away any key plot details so I will go straight to what I thought of this book. It is definitely not my normal type of read and I haven’t previously read any other books written by Coe. But I have to say I may now do so. I was surprised by how easy the book was to follow even though not a lot happens in respect to action or main plot twists, what does happen is beautifully written and Coe goes into great detail in describing the Expo and other areas the reader is transported to.

I was also intrigued to read about family life from this era and get a feel for how people lived it was definitely a time when men were expected to act like ‘men’.  I did enjoy the use of old fashioned language there was a lot of “top-notch” and “rather” or “I say old chap”.  The author displayed such vast knowledge of how people would have spoken to each other and what would have been acceptable behaviours. Along with his obvious historical knowledge of the expo and relationships with differing countries.

This book took me completely by surprise in how much I enjoyed it especially because it is not my normal read. It just goes to show how with good writing any topic can be interesting and pull you in. I will say to anyone going to read this keep at it as the story takes on a new lease of life just when you wonder if anything is actually going to happen. I think anyone who hasn’t read this style of book before would be very surprised by this book.