Lurid & Cute
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
'I had this vision very clearly of a book in which I would record my total experience, and I knew how it should sound: with all the tones that no one ever admires, – the Gruesome, Tender, Needy, Sleazy, Boring, the Lurid and the Cute.’
In this way the hero of Adam Thirlwell’s new novel describes the book you hold between your hands: a delirious tale of backchat and low tricks, all of which begin when our hero wakes beside a woman who is bleeding, unconscious and not, unfortunately, his wife... And then, of course, events get very much worse.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2015
WINNER OF THE E.M. FORSTER AWARD 2015
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The nameless narrator of the latest from Thirlwell (The Escape) is a bit of a worrywart, constantly fretting over each decision laid before him. So when he wakes one morning next to a woman who is not his wife, Candy in a shabby hotel room, he begins a long, anxiety-driven journey down the road to disaster. The woman, Romy, is one of his closest friends and has overdosed on ketamine which he provided; he's no saint, after all and it's up to Thirlwell's protagonist to save her. Far removed from his normal life living at home with his parents and wife in upper-middle-class comfort our hero soon finds himself entangled in orgies, robberies, brothels, gunfights, and heavy narcotics. As he pines for romance with both Candy and Romy, his friend Hiro convinces him to push the boundaries of safety, and before long, the consequences rear their ugly heads when a pair of armed, masked strangers turns up at his front door demanding cash. Thirlwell's narration is interesting, with occasionally delightful flourishes, yet the inner monologues (full of ridiculous similes) eventually wear thin and often prevent anything from actually occurring for long stretches (think of Bernhard's The Loser, but less enchanting). And unlike Johnson's Jesus' Son or Welsh's Trainspotting, these adventures feel manufactured.
