married father of three, doing all he can to raise his boys right. On the other (slightly burnt) hand, his life is chaos. Every day seems full of cruel and unusual obstacles, from temperamental arancini to a car breakdown at the worst possible time. Painkillers and booze can only do so much to protect him from the fallout of his adolescence – the bullying, the fear, the things that were done to him and the things he did.
Now his fiftieth birthday is approaching, and all the ghosts of his life are invited to the party. It feels like his last chance, though he isn’t sure for what.
‘A novel I’ve been hoping for! Party Boy is a shock of a book about damaged males, about being a father, a husband, a son, an idiot, someone trying to make amends. Somehow it manages to be both pulse-rattling and poetic, and from its daring mix of comedy and terror, what arrives is finally a deeply affecting portrait of a man on the edge.’ —Damien Wilkins, author of Delirious
Breton Dukes is the author of three acclaimed short story collections: What Sort of Man (2020), Empty Bones (2014) and Bird North (2011). He has worked in hospitals, language schools, gymnasiums, bars, kitchens, factories and government call centres, and has received the Creative New Zealand Louis Johnson New Writer’s Bursary. He lives with his wife and three children in Dunedin.
Now his fiftieth birthday is approaching, and all the ghosts of his life are invited to the party. It feels like his last chance, though he isn’t sure for what.
‘A novel I’ve been hoping for! Party Boy is a shock of a book about damaged males, about being a father, a husband, a son, an idiot, someone trying to make amends. Somehow it manages to be both pulse-rattling and poetic, and from its daring mix of comedy and terror, what arrives is finally a deeply affecting portrait of a man on the edge.’ —Damien Wilkins, author of Delirious
Breton Dukes is the author of three acclaimed short story collections: What Sort of Man (2020), Empty Bones (2014) and Bird North (2011). He has worked in hospitals, language schools, gymnasiums, bars, kitchens, factories and government call centres, and has received the Creative New Zealand Louis Johnson New Writer’s Bursary. He lives with his wife and three children in Dunedin.
Terrible, avoid this one. There are other books on Louise Brooks available. This is the worst.
This interview with Emily Perkins from the Hay Festival provides some information on the book and the author for those who are curious. I thought the book was fantastic. Both the structure and the style of the book are quite different, I would not describe it as 'experimental' just a different and more effective way of portraying characters than what we usually see in modern novels.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/9303182/Hay-Festival-2012-Emily-...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/9303182/Hay-Festival-2012-Emily-...
Very dull. I expected better from Julian Barnes and a book that had made it to the Booker long list. I think this would have worked better as a short story rather than being strung out to a short novel.
Meg by Maurice Gee
Good but make sure you read it directly after Plumb. I left almost 18 months in between the two and I found it hard going to catch up with the large cast of characters.
Interesting historically but poorly written. The title gives some indication of this. Snell is attending a dinner function and he mentions to a fellow guest that he cannot think of a title for his book. She asks if there are any drums or bugles mentioned in the book, he answers no and she replies, "well there is your title then". Bizarre.
Too long, James Wood writing in the the London Review of books (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n08/wood02_.html) put me on to this book. Certain pieces are very well done but I cannot help but feel that they would have been better appreciated if they were closer together.