Read on and you might feel that the village, despite its horribly self-satisfied and small-minded inhabitants, has a point; for anyone expecting a jaunty satire on a closed community's reactions to a family of blow-ins will find themselves surprised. That comic edge is undoubtedly there, enhanced by a full-on display of evocative period detail (a fancy-dress parade to which Lizzie goes as Miss Decimal, dressed up in Bacofoil as a 50p piece; the comic Whizzer and Chips as a special treat; egg-and-bacon pie rebranded as quiche lorraine – this was the texture of a 70s childhood).

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Starred Review. This is an impressive first novel, a combination of P. G. Wodehouse pacing and the eccentricity of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals (1956). An extraordinarily well-written, deeply satisfying read about an unusual, highly entertaining group of people." - Booklist The bridge of the freighter shown here has two steering stands. This redundancy is a safety measure in case one of the steering mechanisms that control the ship's rudder fails. The book is told purely from Lizzie's perspective, I found this got very boring after a while. The characters have no opportunity to shine either, I found them all very flat and one dimensional. This book should have been amazing, but it just wasn't. A] joyous read, full of wit and charm . . . I am already longing for Nina Stibbe's next book ( Express) Nina Stibbe is one of the rare authors who can talk about the sad, tragic, painfully shameful in such a way that it is impossible not to laugh. The unique talent and gold standard of the author of humorous prose, her books largely have an autobiographical basis. This is a mature gift that has managed to wait for its time. Imagine. that her first novel "With Love, Nina" (Love, Nina) was based on the impressions of thirty years ago from working in 1982-1984 as a nanny in the house of Mary K. Wilmers, editor-in-chief of the London Book Review.

Nina Stibbe’s ‘Man at the Helm’ - The New York Times Nina Stibbe’s ‘Man at the Helm’ - The New York Times

However technology also allows for a multitude of smaller workstations in a classroom setting. Administrators network student workstations so that the instructor can launch individual scenarios at each station. Computer models are used to accurately simulate conditions such as wind, seas, and currents. Moreover, shallow-water effects or other hydrodynamic forces, such as ships passing close to each other, can also be depicted. A computer application records training sessions, complete with voice commands issued by the instructor which are received by the students via a headset. Stibbe scores many hits with this undoubtedly funny setup: her ear for off-kilter dialogue is as brilliantly tuned as it was in Love, Nina; and she is a maestro of bathos, continually undercutting vivid gaiety with moments of horrible sadness. But the novel is also problematically episodic, going from one hair-raising drama or sharp vignette to another without enough regard for the importance of pacing and tempo. Her conversational tone both muddies our sense of who the narrator is – a child, or an adult recollecting childhood? – and gives the impression of a writer uncertain of how to get to the next thing. Merchant vessels [ edit ] Helmsman on the bridge of a container ship on river trip. The helmsman steers to instruction of the pilot, under the captain's control. In 'Love, Nina', random things seemed to happen and then were never referred to again such as the incident where Nina struggled to write in her life-writing class to reproduce the incident where they led a horse upstairs. Well, if you ever wanted to find out what happened (to the horse and to the attempt to write it), you'll find out here.Some of the most perceptive writing I've read about relationships in a while...this book is very, very funny. Stibbe has a fine eye for absurdity, and her writing has an unforced charm." - The Independent (UK)

Man at the Helm: The hilarious debut novel from one of

But these are issues that can be sorted out as Stibbe's undoubtedly distinctive writing develops. She has the potential to become that increasingly rare thing: an accomplished comic novelist who knows how to make it matter.Man at the Helm manages to take this antiquated, politically dicey formula and make it work in 1970's England with a nine-year-old narrator, her wise 11-year-old sister, and their sweet stammering little brother. Like Lizzie Bennet, Lizzie Vogel has to find a man, but not for herself. "If a lone female is left," says Lizzie's sister, "especially if divorced, without a man at the helm, all the friends and family and acquaintances run away.'" So the sisters begin a list of potential helmsmen, and on that list goes practically every man in the hostile village they've been exiled to after their father has an affair with a man named Phil and then re-marries, starting a new, cuter family.

Man at the Helm: A Novel by Nina Stibbe, Paperback | Barnes Man at the Helm: A Novel by Nina Stibbe, Paperback | Barnes

This book doesn't fit into a category easily. I found it to be very funny, but I felt uneasy and anxious pretty much the whole time I was reading it. The young narrator is compelling and the whole family is believable but odd. And endearing. Somehow they either laugh or accept with a shrug every crazy thing that happens to them, so I tried to, but I just kept feeling like things could spiral out of control at any moment. The kids articulate this feeling in their worry that they'll get sent away to a home because their mother isn't doing a good job of taking care of them. So I guess I took on their anxiety, and it was combined with my own outrage at the mother's inability to parent, but then I also took on their desire to take care of her. An odd set of feelings, but I guess that means that the writing took me on that journey. And again, moment to moment, a lot of it is very funny (albeit with a British sensibility, and there were times I thought I might not be getting some of the humor as it was referring to things I didn't know about). It just doesn't have anything spectacular going on, it's paced quite slow and that does not alter at all and after a while it's a bit like the same story on repeat. It's certainly not as funny as indicated it might be, which is a shame as I was looking forward to that. Overall it was a very average and "okay" read in my opinion. It has some moments that are great but the majority is as bland as watered down custard. Let me tell you how delicious this book is: Jane-Austen delicious. The particular pleasures of a Jane Austen book are wit and dignity in the face of impending financial doom. The doom is caused by crazy relatives and simply being a dependent female in a male-centric world, and the only cure is to find a good man. Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II. I think one of the biggest issues for me was the way the book was written. I felt as if Lizzie was just talking at me the whole time and that there was no depth at all to any of the character interactions or indeed the scenery and setting in the book. The village didn’t ‘come alive’ for me and I couldn’t really picture in my head any of the conversations the characters were having. That's always a red flag for me.

at the helm

Nina Stibbe was born in Leicester. She is the author of the hugely acclaimed Love, Nina, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year Award and won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2014 National Book Awards. She lives in Cornwall with her partner and two children. Man at the Helm is her first novel. Computer-based ship simulators provide a training environment for learning skills to steer a ship. Training can be programmed to replicate a variety of ship sizes and environmental conditions. Scenarios depicted in 3-D graphics range from making course corrections in open waters to maneuvering in port, rivers, or other shallow waters. Cost compared to a real vessel is low. Mariners learn responses to dangerous situations, such as steering failure, in the safety of a virtual environment. The tone at times reminded me of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle with its opinionated innocence. There is a lurking wisdom here, too – moments when you recognise the truth in an observation, such as: "busy-body actions are often selfish at heart and mostly don't help the intended recipient". Some of the wisdom is inherited. At one point the mother says one of the worst things in life is trying to get over bad things you have caused yourself. This is followed, without missing a beat, by: "She knew this – most of the bad things in her life having been her own fault." This ought to be devastating, but in the context of this uplifting book the remark manages to be light, unjudgmental – nearly a joke. Nine-year-old Lizzie (our narrator) is the perfect conduit for her creator, just the right mixture of childhood innocence and incredulity for the necessary deadpan delivery of Stibbe's particular brand of comedy. Read it and be charmed' Independent Land-based ship simulators may feature a full-scale replica of a steering stand with a ship's wheel. Such simulators incorporate magnetic and gyro compasses (or repeaters) for steering. Moreover, a rudder angle indicator that responds appropriately to the helm is part of the configuration.