Nobody's Empire
'Empathetic, funny and heartwarming.' Buzz Magazine
-
- 18,99 €
Publisher Description
'As memorable as it is moving.' The Times
'A marvellous coming of age novel.' ROBERT FORSTER
'His most personal work to date . . . poignant but also darkly humorous.' Irish Times, Lauren Murphy
From the West Coast of Scotland to the West Coast of America, the life-affirming debut by the Belle & Sebastian frontman.
Glasgow, early 1990s, and Stephen - music-loving romantic - has emerged from a hospital stay, diagnosed with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a little-understood disease. He meets fellow strugglers, for whom the world seems to care less and less, and they form their own support group as they try to navigate their lives.
Starting to write songs, albeit in a slow and fledgling way, Stephen wakes to the possibility of a spiritual and artistic life. Leaving Glasgow in search of the mythic warmth of California, he and his friend Richard float between hostels, sofas and park benches. Could the trip offer them both a new beginning?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Murdoch, lead singer and lyricist for the band Belle & Sebastian, follows up his memoir, The Celestial Café, with a turgid debut novel tracing an indie rocker's coming-of-age. Stephen, a young Glaswegian scenester recently released from a lengthy hospital stay for chronic fatigue syndrome, is mostly confined to his one-room apartment, and picks up the nickname "the World's Coldest Boy" for dressing in layers. Jobless and unlucky in love, he listens to post-punk records, finds Jesus, befriends the equally troubled Carrie, pines after her fetching younger sister, and declares himself "but a shadow of a boy." Well, this is but a shadow of a book, and its narrator, a "free-floating vagabond of the state," doesn't have a lot to offer beyond prayers and playlists, though when Stephen and his roommate Richard decamp to San Francisco, there's at least a change of scene and some fun philosophical jabbing with local musicians. Ultimately, Stephen finds himself through songwriting and begins putting a band together to cut a demo, but even the most faithful Belle & Sebastian fans will have trouble getting there. This is a dud.
