This novel tells the tale of the many lusts of Min, a BBC sound engineer who is married to silent George, but has the Bloater (Carlos) coming to stay - seemingly the only man in London that she doesn’t fancy. Tonks’ late 1960s novel, now republished by Vintage, gives the impression of a slightly more contemporary Muriel Spark, with quick wit, a London cultural elite setting, and immense privilege amongst debauchery.

I had never heard of Rosemary Tonks but liked the sound of this book. I am afraid it didn't do much for me. Min was self-centred and quite selfish in her dealings with other people. In fact the only character that I felt any warmth towards was Claudi. Not an author I would read again. With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC to read and review.

I had not heard of Rosemary Tonks and it seems she had an interesting life which I would like to know more about. I so wanted to love The Bloater but I found it a bit too brittle and clever for me, couldn't get a handle on the characters. That said it is a short creation of witty, clever writing very much of its time and ahead of its time.

I'm a huge fan of comedy of manners and witty stories. This one stood the test of time and was fascinating and highly entertaining.
Rosemary Tonks had a fascinating way of using the words and her characters are both silly and cerebral.
Loved it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I didn’t get on well with The Bloater. I’m usually very wary of “cult classics” but an enthusiastic endorsement from Stewart Lee persuaded me to try this one. Not a good idea, as it turns out.

The fact is, I didn’t get it. It’s quite well written and the voice of Min, the narrator, is readable enough, but frankly, I couldn’t see the point. First published in 1968, this seems to me to be a sort of late-60s Bridget Jones Diary. Min, the narrator, has a successful career in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and is married. However the Workshop gets just a couple of scenes, chiefly so Min can have awkward relationships with her two co-workers. Her husband, who may or may not be having affairs, gets barely a mention. Meanwhile, Min is being pursued by two suitors – the titular bloater and Billy, whom she seems to actually care for. There’s some chat with female friends and a lot of confused angst...and I just didn’t find it funny or engaging.

Plainly, people whose views I respect really liked The Bloater. I’m afraid I didn’t and I can’t recommend it.

(My thanks to Vintage Classics for an ARC via NetGalley.)

I was so intrigued to read this reissued novel by Rosemary Tonks. The novel features Min, a young woman in London, dealing with the various men in her life, including the eponymous 'bloater'. I think the tone of the novel must have been incredibly invigorating at the time of writing: Min is childfree, carefree, stylish and treats her husband with complete disinterest. She is alternately attracted to and repulsed by 'the bloater' and in the meantime, pursues an affair with a third man, Billy.

The author has a great facility for wordplay and metaphor; the language is clever, fresh and entertaining. However I thought it was just a bit too pleased with itself. The novel reads like someone's attempt at cultivating a writing style, rather than an engaging novel. I do think it is clever, but I didn't really enjoy reading it.

A new edition of a cult British novel from the sixties by poet and novelist Rosemary Tonks. Up until now copies of The Bloater have been rare, printed once in 1968 and only now reprinted, it was made even scarcer by the actions of its author. Tonks became deeply religious in later life and as part of her personal mission against the workings of the devil visited libraries to obtain copies of her earlier work which she then burned. The book itself was produced during the heyday of British experimentalism and firmly placed in that category - it definitely reminded me of some of the other writers in that select grouping especially Brigid Brophy, although there are shades of Iris Murdoch here too. There’s a slender plot which forms a kind of comedy of manners centred on Min who’s married to the inconsequential George but being pursued by two other men, one an opera singer she nicknames the bloater – like the fish he smells and is physically overblown. Min’s struggle with the ways in which the bloater both attracts and repulses forms the core of the narrative.

Min’s an odd character, although Tonks doesn’t really do character in any developed sense, her thoughts overflow with scenes from literature, art and music, all linked to what was then firmly positioned as high culture. But Min’s cultural predilections, rather than serve as a means of insight, allow her to maintain a kind of ironic distance from her surroundings. It’s a life, or perhaps a society, in which lived experience is always inferior to life rendered in and through art. Min’s attitudes of mocking cruelty and devastating disdain set the underlying tone for the story. But this is tempered by moments of intense wit, some marvellous lines and phrases, and curious situations that resemble operatic farce, as the gout-ridden Min hesitates over her choice of suitors.

I found this an interesting book rather than an enjoyable one, and slightly mystifying at times, particularly in relation to the world it presents. On the surface the portrayal of gender, particularly relations between heterosexual men and women’s deeply conventional, reflecting the mainstream culture of England in the late sixties, an era mired in the last throes of the so-called sexual revolution and anticipating the flowering of feminism in the seventies. But Tonks’s sneakily-iconoclastic approach works to highlight the artificiality of gender, the way in which so much of what takes place here stems from the machinations of people whose sense of self, and self-expression, is rooted in performance. And Min’s callous treatment of Carlos, man as fish, is a fascinating reversal of the ways in which women were all too often objectified, offered up to be consumed, frequently compared to meat or flesh. Alongside the main plotline, there are striking snippets of social and cultural history including a glimpse of the inner workings of the famed BBC Radiophonic Workshop during Delia Derbyshire’s time – Tonks had worked with Derbyshire on a creative project.

Caustic Whirl Of Wit…
With a caustic whirl of wit comes The Bloater, a comedy of manners if you like, which stands the test of time. Sparklingly well drawn characters populate a ridiculously gossipy and fluffy plot which is both compelling and entertaining. Hugely enjoyable.

The Bloater is brilliant, I absolutely loved it, it’s quite posh people in 60’s London gossiping and lusting after each other, hating themselves for it and not caring. Min is married to George who she says is leading three other separate secret lives he’s barely present in her life, and so when famous opera singer comes to stay she can’t decide if she hugely attracted to his hugeness or hugely disgusted by it. Min is a work of genius and her friend Claudi hits the nail on the head when he says he can’t decide if she is very emotionally deep or just a spoiled school girl toying with everyone. I loved Min as much as I hated her. I loved her awful behaviour and her extreme reactive feelings to the people around her. Min wallows in her feelings and I loved her for it. I loved her intermittent gout and her neediness. As Claudie says she only gets away with it because she has pretty figure.

Min is shallow and self obsessed but she revels in it. She spends her working life as a BBC sound engineer trying to create authentic sounds and her free time gossiping with friends and being entertained by the Bloater a renowned opera singer. Min’s husband George sits firmly in the background while the Bloater pursues her.

I loved the caustic wit and bad behaviour from Min and would be first in line for a gossip with her. The book brings the social whirl to life and draws you in. Well worth a dip into for the sparkling writing.

Brilliant new read!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

Light, frothy and fun, The Bloater was just what I needed!
When I say that the characters are all quite vacuous, I don’t mean it as an insult - Min’s whole preoccupation throughout the book is whether she should sleep with ‘The Bloater’, and opera singer who takes her out to the theatre or dinner whenever he comes to town,
There are brilliant comedic moments, particularly involving gout and the neighbour’s cat, and I really enjoyed the escapism that it offered.

This witty tale full of characters you’ll probably love to hate, and a far from believable storyline, but definitely a book I’m glad I’ve read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m so glad I read this. Rosemary Tonks’ novel is truly original although if I had to say if it reminded me of anyone else I would say Muriel Spark.. Dreadful yet sympathetic Min, the narrator is a great voice to take us through the agonies of attraction and repulsion, the ridiculousness of love and sex. She has several men in her life, not least the Bloater who she is attracted to but doesn’t actually like. She is married to George but he is not a commanding presence (Min once turned off the kitchen light and shut up for the night as he was still eating dinner). Can Min find her way through the conflicting feelings into something like love? If I found it funny and disarmingly touching.

I don’t listen to the Backlisted podcast that championed this novella’s reissue but I’m very glad that they supported it because I enjoyed it a lot.

Min isn’t the most endearing protagonist but I found myself relating to her against my better judgement. I loved the writing and there are many witty, well-observed lines that I noted down.

I would’ve liked to have read Stewart Lee’s introduction so I’ll definitely purchase a physical copy of The Bloater when one is available.

Thanks to avid pursuers of this book through inter-library loans and, perhaps, the Backlisted podcast, this has become a Penguin vintage classic.

I found it as unsettling as Rosemary Tonks’ own life, but also funny, vibrant and compelling. The characters are both domestic and somewhat gothic. It seems as fresh today as when it was written, and I suspect it will never date, like real classics. Well done Penguin. And Backlisted.

A fascinating cast of characters, like none I’ve ever met. I loved the protagonist’s antagonism and insight, and the men who her life revolves round. It felt fresh despite being ‘Vintage’!

I had never heard of Rosemary Tonks before. I nevertheless found this to be an intelligent and funny read although very much of its time (the 1960s).

Min is a sound engineer, married to George, though he is seldom around- not in a bad way, he's just the sort that is easy to forget about. However, Min is, in a strange way, courted by a renowned opera singer whom she refers to as 'The Bloater' or 'The B.'. Finding herself both disgusted by and attracted to him, she deliberates whether to sleep with him or not.

This is a reprint of a book initially released in 1968. I read that Tonks disliked her work and had many copies removed/destroyed, which is unusual knowledge to possess before/while reading.

This is not a writing style that guides you into the story; from the first chapter, I felt myself scrabbling to comprehend the context. At points, a character will say something profound and deeply understandable which strikes you as wise or enlightening, either establishing the personalities of those present or just explaining what's going on. In the next sentence, something almost non-sensical will be stated, un-doing the previous work, and I'm lost again.

Repeatedly whilst reading, I had the thought that I'm missing a key element that would make this whole story snap into focus. I didn't find it. Yet, I'm left with a feeling this is due to my lack of understanding rather than it being the work of the book. Whether this is true or not, I shall likely never know.

We should be grateful to Vintage for republishing Rosemary Tonks' The Bloater, prompted perhaps by Stewart Lee and Backlisted podcast's recent championing of it. It's a comic novel of music (both opera and the Radiophonic Workshop, not a combination seen often enough) and relationships originally published in 1968 when it probably already felt a little dated. The intervening half century, in which Tonks stopped writing and required her 6 novels to go out print, has brought out its qualities (it's funny and irreverent) and paradoxically made it seem both more and less of a museum piece. Tonks deserves her place among the Brophys and Mortimers of (roughly) her generation and let's hope her other novels are also republished soon (please). My pdf version lacked Stewart Lee's introduction though, which was a shame.