The Restraint of Beasts: shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Magnus Mills is high on the list of people that I would very much like to share a pint and a chat with. I cannot figure how his mind works, and would love more of a clue. Having read this I will never look at a fence in the same way again. And when I do look properly, I may well have to genuflect.Tam and Richie join the narrator X for a trip to England for a contract to build a fence that lasts a few weeks. They take with them their company caravan, but spend most of every evening in the pub. Mill's books generally have dark humour, and this is no exception. The antics of the 3 labourers are a tremendous read and surely built on some characters Mills had personally observed. It is black of course, blacker than any of the other Mills I have read (Field of the Cloth of Gold and X).I'm not sure why it took me so long to get round to this, but I have been duly rewarded.And, it has a great title...

I had to read this for my book group and approached it with some trepidation after seeing reviews. I actually ended up really enjoying it. Descriptions of the offhand violence (admittedly usually accidental) and the squalid living conditions of the main characters could have been utterly repellent. For some reason they weren't and the dry humour came over really well. There was certainly something bizarre and menacing going on. At one stage about a page or more of text form the beginning of the book was repeated word for word towards the end. There may have been more of this but I didn't spot it. This must have been to highlight the repetitive nature of the characters' employment. This was somehow conveyed without becoming boring in itself. I will look out for more books by Magnus Mills, especially "A Cruel Bird came to the Nest and looked in" - what can this be about?

The story is deliberately mundane, but Magnus Mills' plain style and deadpan humour make it very special. This is one of the funniest books I have read. And, just as the gang of fence-builders get sucked in to more and more peculiar projects, I found myself drawn in the the dull routines of their work - and work-dodging. Much of the humour comes from the awkwardness of the relationships; the narrator's reluctance to assert himself as foreman of the gang, and the discomfort of the gang as they face the company manager. It all felt just a little too real to me.Even on this third re-read, I'm still not certain if Roger is canine or human. Mills keeps the tease going all the way through. Brilliant!

Dark comedy- took me a while to realise the “beasts” were the fencing team as well as the cattle. Easy to read.

Good fun. Magnus Mills's usual quirky humour. Go and get a job, any job. Any experience is life-enhancing.

Already read a couple of books by Magnus Mills and love his slightly different take on the situation, his wonderful use of language and the slightly abstract scenarios he conjures up from his imagination and eloquently narrates inside your mind. A wonderful alternative read that will get you hooked.Shopping experience very good with all books arriving very promptly with sufficient but not excessive packaging very soon after ordering. Very good service.

This author was highly recommended to me by several members of my writing group. It was okay but not as good as I had been led to believe. The humour is extremely dry and at times amusingly black but it wasn't sharp enough for me.

Bought as a present after reading it myself a few years ago. It was well received

I read the Restraint of Beasts a while ago, it was the first of many books I have now read by Magnus Mills, one of the UK's best and most innovative writers.If you haven't read Mills, get this and read it now.

Pure genius. Got me reading again.

A rather tedious, boring book - definitely not recommended. Starting reading then resorted to quickly flipping through after a couple of chapters.

His debut novel and still one of my favourite books, ever.The slow narrative draws you and builds to the crux of the book, which I did not see coming. Great stuff.

One of the funniest books around.. read it and you will never look at fencing in the same way!

This is a present so I cannot give a subjective rating. It looks good and it was on someone's wish list

A classic