Rating: 
Summary: He's got the talent, But......
Review: So this kid is a good looking British with just 20 years behind his back, can he write? Not convincingly. For a 70 year old man, he faults in that. The story was stretched to the limit, how much more could you tell? Bantam is quite a fool I must say :) I would rather give this book 3 stars, but the current average of this book is too high, so I'd prefer to drag it down to its reasonable rating in my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: The Guardian Newspaper, Britain
Review: It is Richard Mason's good fortune that his first novel was always guaranteed to get everyone's attention. When the unpublished 20 year old undergraduate received a £100,000 advance from Penguin last year, with another half a million coming in foreign rights, The Drowning People became a media event before it had even been written. The young man's misfortune, however, is that his book is impossible to read without the thoughts, "how young?", and "How much?" getting in the way. One soon suspects that Mason anticipated these thoughts. His story is set in the mid-1990s, but is narrated from a future time, by an old man looking back on the black drama of his first love. This enables the protagonist to elaborate at deliberate length on the naive folly of youth, and how little his younger self understood. "At 22, one labours under the illusion that one knows everything," he likes to chide himself. "I was innocent, and innocent of my innocence." The theme of his tender emotional ignorance becomes the pivot on which the plot turns. The device is aneat retort to readers who will wonder what indeed such a young man can know of love, jealousy, and other psychological forces which drive his novel. But the conceit is undermined by an inescapable flaw: Mason concedes the ignorance of youth, but only by appropriating for himself the wisdom of old age. It is a cheeky case of having your humble pie and eating it. Mason should be allowed some cheeck, though, for he has written an assured, well-paced and ambitious novel. His hero, a young violinist, falls in love with an enigmatic heiress whose troubled destiny draws him through London, Prague and France to a tragedy of betrayal and death. Part love story, part thriller, it reads like a very junior Irish Murdoch, with promising nods to Donna Tartt. It is seldom entirely convincing, but in places the writing is a delight; a socialite at a party endures the burden of making introductions "as though the weight of the world had been placed on her shoulders while Atlast went ot find himself a champagne cocktail." For a 20-year-old, The Drowning People is an exceptional achievement. If Mason weren't so young, you might say it was simply good. But if you didn't know his age, it is possible that you might trust his writing more, and think it very fine. If it weren't for how much money he was paid, you might even say it was brilliant. He should write his next novel under a pseudonym.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth it
Review: Maybe I don't read the newspapers enough - but I for one (almost alone of reviewers on this page) was unaware of the "hype" surrounding Richard Mason's novel The Drowning People I bought it for two reasons (and they're both superficial): one, it was cheap; two, it had a good cover. Well make that three reasons: the third one being I like hardcover first editions. But I found a novel which completely intrigued me. Set in a world I don't really understand (but which I see from the newspapers and magazines like Tatler does still exist) I felt that Richard Mason's novel drew me into it. His characters are real people, despite their superficial glamour. And his handling of suspense is wonderful. So whatever the hype says, believe it.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely no door stop
Review: In one of the reviews on this page (which reads, to my cynical mind, like the envious malice of an unpublished young writer) I found The Drowning People referred to as a useful doorstop. Which made my heart sink, as I had just bought it and was about to tuck in. Maybe I started it wanting to give poor Richard Mason a bit of a chance (after all, it's not HIS fault he looks like Hugh Grant, or that his publishers parted with foolish amounts of money for his book); and I'm glad I did. Though hardly fashionable (or even cutting edge, in the Bret Easton Ellis sense) The Drowning People is a - yes - mesmerising novel about the consequences of conscious moral choices badly made. In our age of passing-the-buck, this is an unusual message from a writer - and I think Richard Mason should be praised for his courage. Add to the psychologically intriguing narrative an expert turn of phrase (barring occasional lapses - the water metaphor, for example, is too much) and you have a hugely impressive first novel. And if you're looking for a serious doorstop, try Salman Rushdie. Weighing in at just 320 pages, The Drowning People isn't quite large enough.
Rating:
Summary: Stuffed again
Review: There is a difference between drama and melodrama. Unfortunately for poor suckers like me, Mr. Mason doesn't know what it is. A turkey.
Rating:
Summary: Irritating though also run-of-the-mill
Review: oh dear, I was taken in by the hype. I'm afraid this is the kind of mass-produced, pseudo-intellectual novel which is giving British Literature a bad name. The atmosphere of the book is really annoyingly upper-class Englishness which wasn't even really realistic in the 1920s. The plot is fairly gripping but the content is stuck on "wisdoms" and grand themes which are actually rather banal. The characters you end up wanting to slap, the author's voice is pretentious and pompous . . . a useful doorstop though, so it had its advantages.
Rating:
Summary: Pants, pants, pants
Review: I must say that this 'haunting' novel really did haunt me for some time. Rushing out, as I did, to purchase this bargain novel (£10) I soon came to realise that I had found a flop. Now I feel that I can never trust the marketing of books again; the hype surrounding this naive author was ridiculous. Not wishing to sound too vulgar, I realised this morning that I had run out of toilet paper and decided that I had a worthy substitute sitting on my shelf. I believe that Richard Mason can learn a lesson from this; I hope he could rebuild a worthy reputation of himself in the future, because the kid does have some talent.
Rating:
Summary: Life is too short to read this book
Review: Mason's writing style is painfully long-winded and obsessed with high literary droning and English upper class soap opera which supposedly makes their inner navel-gazing more important or intellectual. It's the kind of book where none of the characters would ever watch tv if they could help it - the book is supposedly set in the future but is unapologetically Edwardian and irritatingly pretentious, especially the vain attempt at assuming the voice of aged authority. By the way, some of the 5-star reviews seem slightly suspicious, dontcha dink? Tireless self-pubicity?
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this if you're busy....
Review: The Drowning People is definitely not a book for those with hectic pressurised lives - the strain of putting it down has made me late for more than one meeting. A gripping, thoughtful narrative, this is no conventional pot-boiler - but it draws you in like one. Absolutely couldn't put it down; loved the way it took me into a world (smart young London, as the English jacket copy says) of which I have very little experience. Characters are mad but interesting. Can't wait for Mason's next one.
Rating: 
Summary: Too old, too tired
Review: I picked this up on the recommendation of a glossy magazine. I expected something fresh, sharp and young. But this book reads like something from the 1920s. The old man narrator is ponderous and given to flights of 'profound' observation - and the story of love tangles among the aristocracy seemed very dated to me, and not convincing. There are some well-drawn moments and scenes, but not enough for this to be called satirical or a 'comment' on the set it describes. I was disappointed. Perhaps I should have known better than to take my literary recommendations from a glossy magazine!
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