Product Description

The choir from our Lady of Perpetual Succour School for Girls is being bussed to the national finals in the big, big city. And it's an important day for the Sopranos - Orla, Kylah, (Ra)Chell, Amanda Konky and Fionnula (the Cooler) - pub-crawling, shoplifting and body-piercing being the top priorities. Then it's time to lose that competition - lose, because a nuclear sub has just anchored in the bay and, tonight, the Man Trap disco will be full of submariners on shore-leave. There is no time for delays...But after the fifth bottle of alco-pop up the back of the bus it's clear that all is not going to plan, for anyone. The Sopranos are never going to be the same.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60397 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From the Publisher
'Compassionate and rioutously funny. It is a long time since I read a novel which had me rocking with laughter' The Times

About the Author
Alan Warner is the author of four other novels: Morvern Callar, which has been filmed by Lynn Ramsay; These Demented Lands, which won the 1998 Encore Award, The Man Who Walks and The Worms Can Carry Me to Heaven.

Customer Reviews

Touching but hilarious
'Morvern Callar', Alan Warner's first book was bleak but beautiful, yet the sequel, 'These Demented Lands' was over ambitious and difficult to read, despite some crafted writing and original ideas. 'The Sopranos' restores Warner's place as one of Scotland's finest contemporary writers, telling the story of a day trip to Edinburgh for a school choir competition from the perspective of half a dozen teenage girls - the sopranos. Warner identifies with and writes authentically from the perspective of the six girls; the description, language and dialogue is vivid. Whilst the girls are rebellious and hilarious, we are also exposed to their hopes, fears and insecurities in what is a humane and delicate story. The level of detail brings out every facet of each of the girls' personalities, and Warner shows an exceptional understanding of his subjects' emotions and inhibitions. This is one of my books of the year - highly recommended.

A Tale of Moral Vandalism
Like a lot of People , I was introduced to Alan Warner`s work by Lynne Ramsey`s film adaptation of Morvern callar. Having never read a book quite like Morvern Callar before, I was almost reluctant to throw myself in to the slightly twisted world of Alan Warner once again. Thankfully, The Sopranos exhibits everything that made Morvern Callar so great and then some!

Warners Third novel spans a day in the life of six school girl sopranos on a trip to a national singing contest in the city. Freed from the conservatism of a small port community, the girls embark on a subversive trail of moral vandalism, self discovery and drunken shopping.

As with his two previous novels, Warner combines working class slang with a touch of the great Beat writers. The result is that Warner`s style is often hard to focus on. The reader spends the first few pages trying to comprehend just what Warner is telling us. However, slowly the reader is pulled in to a compelling narrative and the novel becomes surprisingly easy to read and impossible to put down.

The beauty of The Sopranos is that Warner is able to understand the nature of teenage relationships. Warner highlights how even the strongest group of friends are divided to some extent by their own personal and social insecurites. Some times funny, sad and moving, Warner examins, but never judges, the motives of a directionless generation who after the failure of socialism in the 80`s and the triumph of consumer culture during the 90s feel they have no real future. The Sopranos of the title serve as a mirror to highlight the issues that occupy all teenage minds, yet through their own destruction of convervative moral standards, the girls are able to achieve liberation, no matter how short lived this maybe.

The Sopranos is a wonderful read and everything a novel should be.

Strangely warming
This is a difficult book to describe. Following a school choir as they travel to Edinburgh for a contest, this does take a while to get going. Initially the characters are unsympathetic, there is little event to capture interest, and the school cliques are stifling.

As the girls take in the city, however, their masks drop, and we see a more human, vulnerable side to their characters. Events take a turn for the worse, and secrets come out.

Even so, it is only with the return to their hometown and a night on the tiles that we have some true tension and the various stories come to a close.

You finish the book with a subtle affection for the characters, and a hope that things will be alright no matter what. Strangely affirming, in that way.