Notting Hell

by Rachel Johnson

Book Overview

EVERY CITY HAS A NOTTING HELL . . . "A spot of extramarital nookie with a close neighbor is one thing. We're all grown-ups here. But selling a rare-to-the-market mid-Victorian house -- not merely a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416531769
• ISBN13: 9781416531760
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

slightlynorthofworth Review Notting Hell

Notting Hell is a satirical and acerbic commentary on the super wealthy "haves and the have yachts" in a Notting Hill neighborhood surrounding a communal garden. Rachel Johnson slices and dices through the families living on Lonsdale Gardens where selling a rare-to-the-market mid Victorian house is considered the ultimate and most unforgivable faux pas. Bravo for Rachel Johnson casting aside society's obsession with being "politically correct" and the convenient use of this oxymoron to smoke screen the world's hypocrisy, bad behavior and conspicuous consumption to the max. "Last month, a woman exited the store after a light, gluten-free lunch and found a traffic warden in the process of writing her a ticket and affixing it to the windscreen of her Mercedes jeep. She picked up a brick off a skip and hit him over the head with it, knocking him out. She ripped off the ticket, laid it on his prone body, then she hopped into her car, reversed into the car behind, and drove off at speed, almost killing Ruby Wax on the pedestrian crossing. Presumably, the woman felt that braining a hard working Ghanaian immigrant after spending his entire annual salary on a morning's groceries was a very appropriate climax to her ethical retail experience." Reality check, Notting Hell exists all over the world; every city/town has their own mutated form of the NHM (Notting Hill Mummy) and their key developmental milestones. Here is a partial list and my observations in our parallel universe: 1. Notting Hill: Invited to join private group/club/class. Where we live: Yes 2. Notting Hill: Have at least one gifted child. Where we live: Yes, everyone has a gifted child bumper sticker on their auto. Apparently, children no longer get anything less than an A. 3. Notting Hill: Have at least one special needs child. Where we live: If the child isn't gifted then they are some form of the alphabet, ADD, AHDD, dyslexic, etc, and proudly medicated.. 4. Notting Hill:Weigh less and/or look younger than own daughter. Where we live: Yes, Yes. The mothers are in competition with daughters. Lest we not forget their wearing of inappropriate clothing (this most often occurs if overweight) and the one "must have"...ridiculously oversized breast augmentation surgery. Also noted, the women appear to have more Testosterone than the men. They are more angry and aggressive(especially driving)and the men are sensitive and cry at everything. To all detractors, you need to get out more often because all of this is not uncommon, it just occurs in different groups and geographic locations. I give Ms. Johnson credit for saying it like it is. Don't take is so seriously; get a sense of humor. It is meant to be amusing and light. "I enter into the fruit and vegetable produce side of the store which wafts conceit in the same way supermarkets pipe the smell of fresh baked-bread at their customers." Read the book, have some laughs, enjoy the surprise ending and

Fun & Clever!

I agree with the previous review! I thought this book was very witty and clever and I didn't want to put it down because I had to see what happens next. Rachel Johnson is a gem and I'm so glad I came across her book. Makes me think Desperate Housewives in book form set in England. Clare and Mimi and friends are all interesting. And there are many laugh-out-loud moments. I highly recommend this book and I can't wait for the sequel!

What a Surprise!

I must say I approached this novel with a certain amount of trepidation as I knew Rachel Johnson from her newspaper columns, and I was emphatically not a fan. They always seemed to want to show off - often about really mundane things , so one felt embarrassed for the author. But the novel seems to be made of sterner stuff! I was totally surprised that not only was it not as feckless and show-offy as I had feared, it was really accomplished. The point of view technique of how the two narrators see each other is brilliantly executed and manages to move the action along as well as being rather hilarious. I also liked the way the time-line was skilfully used to allow for flash-backs, filling in gaps in the narrative and thereby changing the pace of the plot. A few hiccups remain -one really doesn't want to read the expression "A-listers" in a novel, and the animal attraction of Mimi to billionaire Si sounds a bit ropey. Still - I was massively impressed how Rachel Johnson manages to write a novel which is funny, entertaining , thoroughly modern and still retains elements of a now sadly nostalgic seeming English wholesomeness and wistfulness.

that's right, 5 stars for a light read

The other person who reviewed this is right, it is a women's book. I gave it 5 stars because I totally enjoyed it from beginning to end, surprising even myself. I remarked to someone at the office that if this had taken place on New York's upper east side (again!) I would probably have hated it. But it was funny. Mimi and Clare are very distinguishable, one frantically trying to keep up with the Joneses, with her ramshackle family and not caring aristocratic husband Ralph (that's Rafe, Americans); the other taking herself totally seriously as a windowbox consultant and devotee of feng shui. Mimi is assigned to write an article on adultery, which is going on all around her, and most of it not in a conventional sense. You have the perfect French couple, the seemingly boorish American couple, the vegans, the dog lovers, the child lovers. Unlike the awful Elements of Style or The Right Address, I liked these people with all their faults and pretensions. They weren't perfect. They got themselves into embarrassing situations. In general, they weren't mean (check Joan and Wendy in The Right Address, for instance). I didn't see this as a serious piece of literature, but it wasn't supposed to be. As a piece of gentle satire from the author's own background, it works. I really liked it.

Entertaining

I laughed aloud several times in the first 50 pages or so, as Rachel Johnson hilariously and entertainingly ticks off one after another of the characteristics and life-styles of a certain type of residents who live in her (and my) neighbourhood around a Notting Hill garden square; and I wondered how she could possibly keep this up over 328 pages - and of course she couldn't. Later on, the descriptions, page after page, of chichi foods and food stores, chichi dresses and dress shops, chichi interiors and chichi-to-be-but-for-the-moment-stroppy kids eventually become wearying; and the adulteries around the garden square are novelettish. It's all seen through feminine eyes: the chapters alternate between the first person narratives of two women, friends and competitors: the very rich but childless Clare, obsessively trying to thwart a mega-rich American banker building an extension of his mansion into the garden, and the somewhat less rich mother-of-three Mimi; but their voices are indistinguishable one from another. There is one other hilarious scene - the annual Garden Sports and Summer Party, and I do like the unexpected ending.