| Title | : | Pompomberry House |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1781765928 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781781765920 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2012 |
Pompomberry House Reviews
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I loved this story from the start - the humour, the satire and the way it flowed. The twists and turns were fabulous, leaving us not quite sure what was going to happen. It was clever and at the same time insightful - especially where self-publishing is concerned...maybe this is what 'indie writers' should do! No, I don't mean that - I think!
I have to say that I adored the humour best of all, especially the descriptions and opinions of the '5'. That's all I will say because I don't give spoilers.
This book is highly recommended for its humour and wonderful storyline.
A must read! -
A great read..if you are an indie author you'll love the references but this is a book for everyone to enjoy. Light, refreshing and good fun, also very well written and great story.
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This is a warm, knowing and very funny elbow in the ribs of the epublishing community - writers, readers, forums, reviewers, all get a nudge and a wink in this clever spoof. A group of writers from a kindle forum meet at an Island retreat to produce and anthology. Afterwards, stories from the book begin to happen in real life. Spooky. Scary in fact, since some depict murder. The author has caught the excitement of the new era in publishing, and the desire of budding and experienced authors to establish themselves in that world and be appreciated for their talent. There's also a side-swipe at reviewers! Moreover, she has written it very cleverly. Dee, the first person narrator, tells her tale at times in a slightly self-conscious 'writerly' fashion, as though trying to sell us her story. Rosen Trevithick's own voice sings through though, in some extremely funny lines and memorable phrases.
This book is a truimph. We will all recognise some of the characters but wince in horror at some of the monstrous exaggerations she has turned some of them into. The story itself carries us through to a rollicking ending. So far I have only read a few of Rosen's short stories but enough to tell that whatever her subject, she is a talented writer. This contains that extra spark that has me jumping up and down, waving things in the air and shouting 'Five stars, five stars!' -
Over the past one year or so, I’ve been interacting with Indies a lot. Be it via GoodReads – or rather various discussion groups in GoodReads, on LinkedIn groups or email interactions while agreeing to review or god forbid – not review their books.
Fortunately, most of the Indies I’ve interacted with are kind, generous, creative souls, willing to learn from each other and share their knowledge. Only a few whom I encountered had the most pompous egos ever and a critical pin-prick could have them shoot from their chair up in the air like a wailing balloon, designed to screech as it soars upward and slowly deflates.
Dee, the main protagonist in this book and an Indie to boot, is not as lucky as I am. Hoping to run off from a chaotic personal life – rather a jobless, careless husband who refuses to grow up, she heads off to a writer’s retreat pretty much in the middle of no-where. If being glared at and mocked at by evil sea-gulls wasn’t enough, she finds herself surrounded by larger than life whackos, who presumably are gathered here to let their creative juices flow and pen an anthology.
If Dee hasn’t read their book – she just isn’t well read, if Dee doesn’t lust for one of them – well something must be wrong with her. The book is dripping with humour and is an enjoyable satire on Indies, it is replete with fearsome critics and Kindle book review groupies.
Dee is one of the first arrivals at Pompomberry House, where the retreat is being held. She anxiously waits for others to arrive and lustful, well presented Annabel, who has splashed her photograph all over the cover of her book is the first Indie she meets. Her claim to fame? ‘Falling for Flately’ is a number one best seller. “It got to the top of Welsh contemporary romantic suspense fiction priced at under two pounds for three hours.” When Dee asks what the book is about, she learns it is about a girl who falls for a man called Flately. The twist in the story – Flately is her boss. “Otherwise it would be so boring,” explains Annabel. The others arrive, some of them, like the handsome Rafe prefer to make a grand entrance - each of them, Dee included, are well-conceived characters bursting with Indie pride.
They settle down and the workshop begins. Each of them pulls out a piece of paper from a hat stating something about someone in the group. Predictably, they have to guess who that person is. Dee picks up a chit that reads: I die tomorrow! Biff, the care-taker dies. Dee flees from the island, even as the others decide to hush up this murder. Unfortunately the police do not believe her.
The wild carnival ride continues, as the stories in the anthology begin to come true (Dee’s contribution was published without her knowledge and is in first draft, but let me not digress). So, a pig jumps over a cliff (it is rescued), a marriage is staged for a garden gnome with a China doll, a human foot is washed ashore and Dee gasps as she realises the story she had contributed is about a murder! There are darker stories contained in this anthology, will these also come true? The only person Dee can turn to is her estranged husband – Gareth.
The author in this well written satire spares no one, not the egoistic Indie writers, nor the self-acclaimed critics (some of whom live to criticise), nor the forum members. Adding an element of whodunit provided the right measure of spice. An enthralling read, but my Indie friends (and that goes for me – perhaps a wanna be Indie author) do need to have the ability to laugh at some hard truths cleverly captured in these pages.
I would say it is a must read for all Indies, or at least for those who have a sense of humor. Non-Indies will also enjoy this book.
I am so glad that I won this book as a GoodReads Giveaway. Thank you Rosen for shipping it all the way to India. -
This book was not what I expected after reading the reviews and it is normally not the kind I read, but I felt the plot was well written and thought out that I couldn't put the book down. Though the items I mention below as to what I found wrong with the book, all of it combined didn't not stop me from wanting to find out who did what to whom.
There were a couple of places in Chapter 1 that I didn't understand. A couple of paragraphs could have been left out and we wouldn't miss the story line; I didn't understand what the elderly people had to do with her being followed. And I had a problem with omniscient POV by the killer bothersome when we see what he is thinking about why he wants to kill Delilah; it seemed so out of place and could be removed without hindering the story line.
I had a huge problem with the author using parentheses in a fictional novel; they are so out of place as are table of contents in my opinion.
At the end of Chapter 2, I was confused as to who was talking in the second to last paragraph. In Chapter 3, there is so much dialogue with many characters in the scene that you do not know who is talking. I am one for using very little dialogue tags, but there are times when there are more than the two main characters in a scene that we need a little more of them or we start getting confused.
I also had a problem with the formatting and it did bother me. It is so much more easier to read when the paragraphs have a definite distinction of when they begin by indenting them more than one or two spaces. A half of an inch is much clearer. In some places the author did indent more, but most of the time the indents of the paragraphs were hardly there to notice.
There were some grammar errors, but not many, though another pass by a proofreader would't have been a bad idea. I am not sure how a body can sink into a table after they have rolled their eyes. I have to ask what a 'tingle panther' is? This is how it was used: It sent a tingle sprinting down my spine like a tingle panther. Since this was written in British English, this cold be British working I am unfamiliar with, but I am a curious person, so had to ask. And I liked this sentence, though I am hot sure why: My heart fell out through my vagina.
All in all this was a compelling read and I couldn't stop reading until I found out who the killer was. I liked the humor and loved the idea about the Macarena and who was going to perform it. Overall, I recommend this book and would read another book by this author. I rated it 4 stars just because of the plot and the mystery held my attention. -
This is the story of a story. Dee Whittaker is an Indie writer. At the last minute, after someone drops out, she manages to get a place on a writers retreat at the tiny, remote cornish Pompomberry island. There she meets an array of the most pompous, grotesque, self-absorbed, hideous people you could possibly imagine. And a rather buff handyman. When, the next morning the handyman is found murdered, the authors (one of whom surely must be the murderer) are all i favour of a cover up. Dee flees the island in horror. WHen she goes to the police, not only do they not believe her, but the island is deserted with no sign that anyone was ever there.
The Book of Most Quality Writers is the spawn of this retreat, and it is published without Dee's knowledge or permission. If that wasn't bad enough, the events in the stories start coming true, and Dee's story (which we get to read in the prologue) is up next. And it's a murder. There's still the unsolved murder on the island, and Dee is convinced the murderer is still at large and will strike again...
The first thing that came to mind when I was reading this book, was Agatha Christie's And then there were none., also set on a remote island.
It works well as a murder mystery. There are clues and red herrings and plot twists aplenty.
It also works well as a satire of the Indie writing and publishing scene. Yes some of the characters are grotesque and overblown, and somewhat alarming as we go from laugh-out-loud funny moments to heart-wrenching, to sheer terror and back to plain ordinary mayhem. And that Christie image turned out to be strangely prophetic.
This is the first Rosen Trevithick story I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Go on, read it: You won't look on Indie writers the same way ever again. -
Once again, I find myself wishing there were degrees between three and four stars. This book is entertaining. It made me laugh a few times, and I ended up describing the plot to my husband which is a sure tip off that it was on my mind. I also couldn't predict the ending and was fooled by a little false foreshadowing.
So why not four stars? There was some weird stuff. There were a few places where the characterization was so uneven I stopped enjoying the story to try and figure out what I had missed. There was also the strange focus on the hats belonging to the main character. I don't know why that bothered me, but it did.
One other oddity was how much the style changed toward the end. Chapters would end with lines like "And then I was shot and I died." Then the next chapter would start with "Except not really, I was just playing dead." I felt like the author was sort of making fun of soap-opera-style cliffhangers, and if ONE chapter had ended like that it probably wouldn't have bothered me, but several chapters ended like that. If those endings had been scattered throughout the book instead of clumped together right at the end...
While I have listed some things that bugged me, I don't mean to imply that Pompomberry House isn't worth reading. It is. It's funny, the subject matter is timely and amusing (indie writer forums and the weird characters you encounter there), and it's well-written. It's also pretty tough to guess whodunit, and you are left wondering if the narrator will get back together with her husband - so that it is almost two mysteries in one. I just couldn't quite give it four stars. Maybe I'm becoming a grumpy, hard-to-please reviewer like Enid Kibbler in the story. -
I have been waiting for the release of this book ever since the author started teasing about it on some of the forums we both visit... I watched the cover being designed, took part in the quizzes and eagerly watched the trailer which was released a few days before the book itself. Was I worried that the book wouldn't live up to the hype and my expectations... well, yes and no. Yes cos I did build it up in my head a tad and I do tend to get overexcited about things and No cos the author's track record speaks to quality writing imo.
Did it actually live up to my expectations...? Well, I'd have to say No again there - cos quite frankly it exceeded every one of them. I always find Ms Trevithick's books easy to read, and this one was no exception. It took the proverbial out of the whole indie-publishing scene - authors, lovers, haters, reviewers, forum members with so much tongue-in-cheekness that at times I was crying with laughter.
Not only was it a blast character wise, but there was also a pretty nifty story crossing quite a few genres - action, adventure, crime, humour and a little bit of horror thrown in (hate seagulls too) to name but some. The author engaged me as a reader so much that I burned my dinner and also forgot my bedtime, I was so into the book and just HAD to finish it to find out what had actually happened cos there were so many curve-balls and bits of misdirection that I seriously didn't have a clue.
I do like a book that I can emote with and I did go on quite a roller-coaster ride with this one. I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I shouted at most of the characters loads too.
Honestly, if I could give this book more stars I would. -
Self-published authors have gained more public attention in the last couple of years than ever before, as ebooks have reduced the cost of production, and increased the scope for distribution. Now, you can debate the extent to which this is a good thing, but there's an undeniable curiosity about the phenomenon. Rosen Trevithick - already a successful self-published writer, has taken the zeitgeist's pulse, looked at her fellow authors (and, I suspect, at herself), and judged that the time was right to satirise the growing trend of self-published writers.
Pompomberry House, however, has wider aims than just satirising the pompous, deluded arrogant writers who think they're bringing down a centuries old publishing industry with hackneyed romance and thriller novels. Hilariously observed as these parts of the book are, these grotesques are an easy target for mockery, and probably self-indulgent to boot. So Trevithick combines this 300 page satire with a sinister murder mystery, and a dash of chick-lit flustering.
The plot twists and turns, and regular readers of mystery fiction will spot some of the twists, but by no means all of them. There is real humour and heartbreak among the disappearing evidence, sinister clues and huge red herrings. Everyone gets a dig in the ribs, from the deluded authors themselves, to fanatical readers and acerbic reviewers. Whatever the future has in store for books and publishing, Pompomberry House is an entertaining and solidly written snapshot of the 'indie' scene as it exists now, and far more accurate and plausible than some readers (ie, other authors) will like to admit. -
This book strikes a chord with me, probably because I am an Indie author. I think a lot of the reviewers that gave this a low rating don't get satire, which is unfortunate because their confusion drives down the rating of a good author. Anyway, every Indie nail was hit right on the head! The need to do your own editing and the resultant paranoia about mistakes-especially if the reviewers are the ones who are finding those mistakes in your 'finished' product. And then the reviews! A bad review makes you write out your will and consider jumping off a cliff, while a good review reduces you to a giggling, gushing teenager. Then there are the reviewers, who sometimes deliver terrific zingers in their reviews and seem to forget that there is a flesh and blood person on the other end of it. It's all online, it's all a fun game, right? And the other authors! Logically, we all know that no matter what, there are going to be some people who just won't like what we write, and yet we still think that really, everyone should like what we write or have a very good reason for not liking it. And so, we all have attitude of, "We're all in the same boat!" So we all help each other with give aways and guest blogging and sharing and liking. The truth is, we aren't really all in the same boat-we're all in the same OCEAN, each of us rowing in our own little boat.
This book had a lot of well placed humor that any struggling human should be able to appreciate. I recommend it! -
Pompomberry House by Rosen Trevithick is one of my most anticipated book in my Kindle-owning being. So was it worth the wait and the hype and the teasing? ................ Yes, yes, yes, yes.
I'm sure I recall Rosen actually getting the idea for this particular book from a forum, where she couldn't decide between one story or the other and decided to do both. It is the tale of Kindle forum life and Indie authors, but on a much exaggerated scale (I hope ;p).
As a whodunnit, you are kept guessing all the way to the end. The characters are wonderfully larger than life and if you are a forum member, you do wonder where she got her characters from.
A wonderful easy read. If you like any of Rosen's other works, you'll adore this one.
PS, I am the proud owner of one of the seagulls on the cover :D -
This is the story of a group of indie authors who go on a writing retreat and basically things go down hill from there. I won't go into any more details as you should really read it for yourself. Comedy is a difficult thing to write and the author does a great job. The scene in the cafe writing the love scene had me laughing out loud.
As well as a good comedy, it's also a fun, if twisted, thriller. I loved the characters and the indie author scene observations are quite amusing.
Overall I loved it. -
I loved this book! At a time when it is sometimes difficult to find books without witches, vampires or magic; this books was a wonderful treat.
The characters were so richly built that their "unbelievable- ness" was actually totally believable. They were such vile people that I couldn’t wait for the author to provide me more.
The plot was perfectly twisty without being trite or unbelievable. A great who-dunnit mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed. Kudos! -
I think this book could best be described as a light-hearted black comedy, both amusing and entertaining and an easy read. The story, which is completely unbelievable, concerns six self-publishing "indie" authors, five of whom are extremely O.T.T. and all of whom are obsessed with how high their books are in the Amazon top 100 chart. There are also a lot of references to Kindles and I can't decide whether the author approves of them or not but, for the record, I read it on my Kindle.
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I read Pompomberry House a while back, the first piece of writing I cam across from Rosen and what a brilliant story!
It's a rib tickler and an absolute joy to read from start to finish. The authors comedy chops are at their highest in this story. I loved the tongue in check approach to the epublishing community. I didn't want to put it down and cannot recommend it highly enough.
Buy it, read it, recommend it, I did! :) -
I don't really go for satire but I loved this book. The mystery, the odd characters, are just plain fun. If you need a boast or are in a reading rut this book is a must read.
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This was a farce and seemed to get more a bit slapstick towards the end. It was amusing and fun to read.
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Review coming soon.
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This is my book!
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A marvelously satyrical look at the world of indie publishing. Funny and enormous fun to read.
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Cozy Cornish mystery: so far-soothing
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Once upon a time you had to be an educated gentleman to write a book. You had to have the leisure to do it and, quite likely, influential friends in London to help with the grubby biz of printing and publishing it. And of course you would probably be wealthy enough not to worry toooo much about your royalties, depending on your thirst for port wine.
Now anyone can write and publish a books. And we do in our thousands, millions even. There has never been a time like this. We may be living in a golden age of creativity. On the other hand... Many, traditionalists esp., see the tidal wave of new creativity as a tsunami of semi-literate slush. Grammar and editing are soooo last century. Does it matter that the story is half-cocked? Noooooo. All that matters now, we are told, is the author's brand .. and sales, sales, sales.
Rosen Trevithick's Pompomberry House dives headfirst into this mosh pit of milling mores and body surfs the heaving brew with verve and style
It is a very witty book.
A swarm of indie authors go on a writers' weekend on a remote Cornish tidal isle. They are all absurd for different reasons and are all mercilessly lampooned for our amusement. The plot creaks a bit and is as ridiculous as they are in some ways. But hey, it doesn't matter because that is part of this charming satire in which the delusions have delusions.
The writing is often vivid and enjoyable. I wrote down loads of grreat dabs which caught my eye, such as this:
-- Her lips were painted a bright, glossy pink and her resting expression left them slightly partedl like a miniature letterbox waiting for a delivery.
But it was the sharp little needle pricks of wit that really make it, such as these:
-- a whale squirming in a microwave
-- a tower of rage in Topshop heels
-- that irksome Buzz Lightyear look about him
Ah yes, and then there is Dee, the innocent abroad, 'clutching her pencil case for comfort' as she finds herself in danger of being eaten alive by the monstrous egotisical vats of vanity she gets stuck with. We feel her discomfort with the extremes of human frailty she finds herself stuck with. She is the best writer of the lot, but they overawe her. She has no escape. This is a great joke as the whole point of her being there is to escape from another disappointing human, her hubby. Poor Dee! She wants to do right but is thwarted at every turn. Yet she is not unaware of her own sales figures and is not lily white as she checks out the guys her weekend throws her way.
One of my fave dabs is a seduction scene where a hunk makes a play for her, which she thwards, but this just drives him crazy:
-- 'I love it! Feisty! Grrrr!' He made claws with his fingers and mauled the air.
Brilliant stuff. And I can't not mention this lurverly dab either. Dee has just had a snog and describes the buzz suffusing her as
-- like a tingle panther
Let the review get a bit like the plot. Hectic.
The seagull I began to think of as perhaps representing, me, us, the readers, a sort of prying presence. Dawn's pig gambit reminded me of Piggy in Lord of the Flies, esp so at the end of the story, as did the island setting. I also thought of Robinson Cruso and The Tempest.
This dab cracked me up: .. the resounding snorting sound that indicates loose snot .. but then this dab made me sigh .. another choral moment in the heavenly hymn of creativity.
PPBH is just soo set in the now: '..people never visit without texting first..' Gareth seems a typical now man with all his naff ways. Much as Dee is such a now woman with her winning ways. Their relationship is soo now also. Maybe this thread of the story anchors the delusional lives of writers. We can't escape right? All this rampant creativity really is potty. There is desperation at every turn in the real and the deulsional lives.
Another dab I love: ..with Danger operating in power-saving mode.. and (pause to breath) this .. I opted instead for a head toss .. I can sooooo see both of those moments.
Now then, Enid. Gulp. Can you keep a secret? Before I started identifying with the seagull I, for the briefest of moments, wanted to high five Enid. This is notnot good, I confess. But this is nothing if not an honest review, and that is how I felt. I am not proud of it. But there we are. I even wondered, if the author sneakily agreed with Enid. Were that the case, then the story becomes a satire of the purest genius. Such a genius, wld throw in a happy ending, too, yes? Ach, this is unworthy. Moving swiftly on.
Actually, Enid has some great lines, esp: '..that's why you're all so bad .. you're not honest with each other..'
The scene with the authors stampeding to exit with the floor rumbling and warping is worthy of the greatest comedy writer of all, the mighty Aristophanes.
Ach, but the absolute killer in this passage is Enid's jealously which trumps her honesty! Marvellous!
There's quite a bit of genteel four-legged frolicing going on as we go along. As you do.
Chapter 17. Things get really intensely serious here. Dee freaks. It feels very real. Coincidentally, I felt a little unhinged for different reasons as I read this chapter.
Ach, and then a little further on. Those pesky gulls again! '..racing around the airspace, [?] with menace.' If they are not readers, they cld represent the author's creative doubts. Or they cld just be there as a conceit to unsttle us.
This passage really puzzles me and I have thought about it a lot: '..the monstrous figure of an oversized seagull poised impatiently on the rock before me'. Yep, it feels like a sort of creative goad urging the author on perhaps. 'Land this story!'
I can't end without saying you had me chuckling with this dab: '.. my heart alomst fell through my vagina ..'
Bravo! PPBH is a cracking satire for our time. It is how we are in so many ways. I was a bit resistant to the the story to begin with because I need to get out more in my reading ways. I am glad I went for PPBH because I found some lovely bits here and there. And I got to like Dee, daft as she is at times. And I bought the happy ending. I even enjoyed getting a bit freaked as I read Ch 17 as it meant the story was working in me in subliminal ways. PPHH was the first story I have read on my new kindle. It got its grappling hooks in my eyes and bossed my curiosity to the end. Oh and Enid dear, there isn't a literal to be found..and, in these post-structural times... Aww, shuddup Askew, they get the picture. And fingers crossed for you that it does become a picture one day. *bows* -
Very Strange
One of the most bizarre books I've ever read. Dee is borderline crazy, her husband Gareth plainly weird, the cops airheads, and her fellow writers off the charts. This is not a guide to selling books but it's written as if the lead character believes it's perfectly fine to do whatever it takes to achieve a bestseller. The author has a sense of humor - albeit very strange. I'm not even sure why I trudged through - probably morbid curiosity to see where it went - and the ending is like falling down a dark stairwell hoping you land on your feet which of course you don't -
I read this book for the ATY 2020 Reading Challenge Week 39: a book with an author whose name you have no idea how to pronounce.
Crazy! It is one crazy plot. The people in the book get crazier has the story progresses. The authoress depicted in the story begins to doubt her own sanity. Although the characters seem to know what and why things are happening, it seems as if once they got the story started they could do nothing to stop it from progressing to its crazed ending. Fortunately, our heroine knows how to hold still and shut-up when she should. This book will have you scratching your head and turning the pages at the same time. -
Dee Whittaker, aspiring self-published Kindle author, goes to a mystery writers’ retreat on a strange and tiny island off the coast of ?Cornwall with a strange collection of other writers she only knows from a forum. Someone gets killed, all the other writers disappear, the police think she’s mad, and the only person Dee can rely on seems to be the husband she’s intending to divorce. Then the stories they have written on the island start coming true, and more people die…
A bizarre comedy-mystery that I think mostly works. It’s fun and entertaining, not believable but not supposed to be, and nicely free of typos for a self-published book. -
This book was very good!
It certainly has lots of laugh out loud humour!
I scared my two dogs and my husband several times by giggling loudly at odd times.
The story is great, the characters very interesting.
5 stars from me! -
Very silly (in a nice way) murder mystery featuring a disparate group of independently published writers. Read it on my Kindle. Obviously.
