Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10760 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

Synopsis
Taking his inspiration from Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, Louis de Bernieres chose to celebrate his ten years of life in the south London suburb, living above a small shop that had been by turns an outlet for oversized naughty clothes for transvestites, a West Indian hairdressers and junk shop, by writing of the people that he had known and come to love in his time there. Brilliantly capturing the myriad voices of modern Britain, with their different rhythms of speech and accents, their humour and their tragedy, jokes and gossip, de Bernieres' tour de force takes us to the heart of a community and its spirit - the lives of its people

From the Publisher
By the author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin
`This is my farewell embrace to the polymorpheus people of Earlsfield, with whom I lived for ten years…Dedicated to the living and dead of Earlsfield, which was definitely the centre of the world when I was living in it.'

Taking his inspiration from Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, Louis de Bernières chose to celebrate his ten years of life in the south London suburb, living above a small shop that had been by turns an outlet for oversized naughty clothes for transvestites, a West Indian hairdressers and junk shop, by writing of the people that he had known and come to love in his time there.

Brilliantly capturing the myriad voices of modern Britain, with their different rhythms of speech and accents, their humour and their tragedy, jokes and gossip, de Bernières' tour de force takes us to the heart of a community and its spirit - the lives and loves, the tears and the laughter of its people.

`Louis de Bernières is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh…he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste' A. S. Byatt

First broadcast on BBC radio 1998 Performed at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, 1999 and 2000

Customer Reviews

An excellent, fun read
I stumbled across this little gem a while ago in my local bookshop, and found myself fascinated by the excellent characterisations and idiosyncracies. It is probably a little expensive for what it is, and yes, it's self-indulgent, but it's still an entertaining read, and I would love to hear the radio play.

Dylan Thomas goes to London with a Greek chorus!
...Apart from 'Red Dog', the shorter texts [...] were all written some time ago. This suggests that de Bernières has always written such idiosyncratic pieces alongside the novels, and the difference now is that publishers want them. Anyway, some of them are good: 'Labels' is a gem. He can write what he likes, can't he? How terrible it would be to have to churn out writing to the same formula all the time to satisfy a stern and rapacious readership: the quality would certainly suffer. However, although it is evocative, has some good observations and jokes and it's fun to trace the influences, I agree that 'Sunday Morning' doesn't work particularly well on the page. It's better on the radio. The music is wonderful, although the fake sarf London accents of the middle-class actors didn't fool me for an instant.

Disappointing self indulgence
Let's be honest: if this had been written by anyone else, it wouldn't have been published. This type of thing (see also 'Labels' and 'Red Dog') is not what made de Bernieres rich and famous and the sooner he stops writing them the better.

I can understand de Bernieres taking his chance to indulge himself and try other styles and forms, but it really doesn't become him. And unless he returns to writing his stupendously good fictions, he is in danger of alienating a large part of his hard won readership. People are going to get tired of buying short stories about cat food, independent dogs, or unlikely people in Earlsfield.

Maybe I'm being harsh. After all, Sunday Morning was written to be heard rather than read, and maybe it sounds great on the radio. But in that case, it shouldn't be marketed to an unsuspecting readership.

Overall, it was barely okay, and I won't throw my copy away, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it. I also feel let down and wish de Bernieres would write another real novel that I could truly enjoy.