The Sound of My Voice
by Ron Butlin
On This Page
Description
'Genuinely subversive, Butlin's book is a stylistic triumph. A major novel' - Irvine WelshMorris Magellan is thirty-four years old and already two-thirds destroyed. By day he is an executive, after six and at weekends the husband of an understanding wife and the father of two. At all times he is a music lover and a drunk.Of the past he remembers only fear, and of the future he senses even greater terror to come; he is a man struggling from moment to moment to salvage something of himself show more before that too slips from his grasp.On one level The Sound of My Voice tells the story of an alcoholic: a frantic attempt by some inner voice to halt an apparent need for self-destruction. More generally it presents the conflict between modern man's cowardice and cruelty, and a desperate attempt to recover humanity. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
'You have reached a moment quiet enough to hear the sound of my voice: so now, as you stare out into the darkness, accept the comfort it can give you - and the love. The love.'
Utterly compelling, deeply moving, often hard to read, this is an extraordinary book which deserves to be read by everyone. Written entirely in the second-person, this is the story of Morris Magellan, a 34 year-old executive in a firm selling biscuits, married with two small children. He is, also, a barely functioning alcoholic, and as his descent into the very worst moments of darkness spirals out of control, the remarkable achievement of this novel truly comes into its own. The ever-insistent 'you' of the book - Morris's own voice watching himself from outside show more his body, as it were - also means that we as readers watch the events through this perspective too. Convinced that he is managing his relationship with alcohol, we can see the true extent of the damage that it is doing to both his career and his family.
Us Scots have a troublesome relationship with the demon drink and this, together with perhaps an equally powerful book in AL Kennedy's 'Paradise', are brilliant but uncomfortable books that explore this. With a foreword from Irvine Welsh, and an interesting afterword from the author himself explaining the troubled publication history of this novel, this book has been justifiably hailed as a classic. Let us, please, not lose this again to the void. This is a remarkable, troubling, deeply lyrical book that explores some dark places and offers, well, I'll leave that for you to decide. An absolute must-read. show less
Utterly compelling, deeply moving, often hard to read, this is an extraordinary book which deserves to be read by everyone. Written entirely in the second-person, this is the story of Morris Magellan, a 34 year-old executive in a firm selling biscuits, married with two small children. He is, also, a barely functioning alcoholic, and as his descent into the very worst moments of darkness spirals out of control, the remarkable achievement of this novel truly comes into its own. The ever-insistent 'you' of the book - Morris's own voice watching himself from outside show more his body, as it were - also means that we as readers watch the events through this perspective too. Convinced that he is managing his relationship with alcohol, we can see the true extent of the damage that it is doing to both his career and his family.
Us Scots have a troublesome relationship with the demon drink and this, together with perhaps an equally powerful book in AL Kennedy's 'Paradise', are brilliant but uncomfortable books that explore this. With a foreword from Irvine Welsh, and an interesting afterword from the author himself explaining the troubled publication history of this novel, this book has been justifiably hailed as a classic. Let us, please, not lose this again to the void. This is a remarkable, troubling, deeply lyrical book that explores some dark places and offers, well, I'll leave that for you to decide. An absolute must-read. show less
[SPOILER]
I don't know if this book was influenced by Eric Berne's writing but it fits nicely into Transactional Analysis (eg his book "What Do You Say After You Say Hello?").
A tiresome clever wally marketing manager uses alcohol to hide his damaged emotional state (from childhood) and support his playacting marriage and working life. He slides into a downward spiral but instead of arriving at the scripted crash, his inner (adult) voice pushes aside the child and gently helps him to help himself and successfully challenge the root of the problem, in this case his dead father.
A short but interesting book about alcoholism.
I don't know if this book was influenced by Eric Berne's writing but it fits nicely into Transactional Analysis (eg his book "What Do You Say After You Say Hello?").
A tiresome clever wally marketing manager uses alcohol to hide his damaged emotional state (from childhood) and support his playacting marriage and working life. He slides into a downward spiral but instead of arriving at the scripted crash, his inner (adult) voice pushes aside the child and gently helps him to help himself and successfully challenge the root of the problem, in this case his dead father.
A short but interesting book about alcoholism.
The best books about the human psyche and it's deficiencies make you question yourself and have a good look at your own possible issues. This is one of those books. If you have never had mental health problems hen perhaps you won't fully grasp how this book beautifully portrays a middle aged man trying not to drown in life. Essential reading.
Moving and emotional account of an alcoholic. The narrator gives a distance to the account but it still feels personal.
Innovative, utterly brilliant examination of alcoholism, authentic and realistic
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Published Reviews
Butlin had made a reputation as a poet but this was his first novel* and an unusual debut it was. Presented from the viewpoint of Morris Magellan, a married man with two children he refers to as “the accusations” it is an absorbing study of an alcoholic and his descent into self-disgrace.
What marks The Sound Of My Voice out as especially bold is the use of the second person to carry the show more narrative. Second person novels are rare; successful ones are rarer still. That Butlin carries the conceit off is a tribute to his writing skill. It helps that in its opening the novel concentrates on Magellan’s childhood where his remote father is presented as a major (negative) influence on his subsequent life.
Using the second person could have been an invitation to the reader to be complicit in Magellan’s woes but it is not merely a literary trick, the voice is there for a purpose - which I shall not spoil even though the introduction, by Randall Stevenson, does. (Or would have had I not taken the precaution of avoiding reading it till after I’d finished the novel.)
This is a short book but all the better for it.
* Published in 1987 by Canongate. This Black Ace edition is described as definitive; corrected and revised by the author. show less
What marks The Sound Of My Voice out as especially bold is the use of the second person to carry the show more narrative. Second person novels are rare; successful ones are rarer still. That Butlin carries the conceit off is a tribute to his writing skill. It helps that in its opening the novel concentrates on Magellan’s childhood where his remote father is presented as a major (negative) influence on his subsequent life.
Using the second person could have been an invitation to the reader to be complicit in Magellan’s woes but it is not merely a literary trick, the voice is there for a purpose - which I shall not spoil even though the introduction, by Randall Stevenson, does. (Or would have had I not taken the precaution of avoiding reading it till after I’d finished the novel.)
This is a short book but all the better for it.
* Published in 1987 by Canongate. This Black Ace edition is described as definitive; corrected and revised by the author. show less
added by jackdeighton
Lists
The Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read
1,005 works; 550 members
Author Information
22+ Works 227 Members
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Sound of My Voice
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 99
- Popularity
- 325,162
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (4.12)
- Languages
- English, French, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 4
