Product Description

Estate agent Frankie Blue is known on his home turf - White City, Shepherd's Bush - as "Frank theFib." He's a liar - but one who always tries to tell the truth. He has been friends with Diamond Tony, a hairdresser, Colin, a computer nerd, and Nodge,a cabbie, since schooldays. Now they are thirty, and trying to live the same life as they did then - drinking, girls, coke, football. But Frankie is bored. He's decided to carry out the great "betrayal" - he's going to get married. From the moment he tells his mates, the whole patchwork of their friendships begins to collapse - revealing the sad, shocking but often hilarious truths that lie underneath.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32049 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Frankie Blue has an overwhelming desire to fit in somewhere. Up until now, his friends have kept him grounded, but, with his wedding day fast approaching, Frankie starts to question his relationship with the lads as well as his relationship with Vronky, his glamourous, sexy but suddenly nagging fiancee.

White City Blue could so easily have fallen into the makeshift-Nick Hornby-throwback trap, but is saved by the fact that it is actually quite an articulate study of a man made of little more than the suit he wears and the car he drives.

Frankie is as sharply observed as a character with little to offer can be, and he and his cronies present a darkly comic yet ultimately tragic insight into the nature of friendship between men. His relationships with Nodge, Colin and Tony seem to consist of little more than a few beers and the annual piss-up in August, yet as Frankie's time-warp of a life moves gradually forward, the real nature of their relationship is blown apart and the truth about how little they really know each other becomes apparent.

White City Blue begins with a sprinkling of familiar humour that lulls the reader into a false sense of security. By the end of the novel, the mood has darkened and the vulnerability of the hitherto cock-sure Frankie and his mates peeps through.

One for the boys, certainly--but beware: once they see there is more to this than birds and booze they may start shifting uncomfortably in their boxers.--Susan Harrison

About the Author
Tim Lott is a journalist and writer. His first book, THE SCENT OF DRIED ROSES, was awarded the J.R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. He lives in London (W11).

Customer Reviews

I wouldn't want to marry him but . . .
. . . BUT, I loved reading about him and I really cared what happened to him. More than that, it wasn't so much what happened to him but who he became. That is, to my mind, largely what this book is about. Frankie is trying to become someone he can like and admire. This is why he is so desperate to hold on to his friends from childhood, who he sees as a reflection of himself, and why he is determined to marry his upmarket girlfriend even though he is not really sure if he loves her.

Frankie isn't sure if he loves anyone, he doesn't even know what love is. It was his awareness of this and his growing suspicion that this was a regrettable way to be, that made the book so moving for me. I hope it isn't a true portrayal of what goes on inside all men, but I do believe that it represents some . . . in fact, I'm pretty sure I've dated one or two!!

I laughed a lot, I spend entire tube journeys with an unsuppressible grin branded on my face. At other times I felt so sad for them all that I wanted them to be real so that I could comfort them. (What a soppy girlie thing to say!)

There is much to learn from this book, not all pleasant, and a lot to discuss with friends who read it too.

Buy it, read it, pass it around!

Excellent, entertaining portrayal of people at a crossroads
Tim Lott's novel about growing up and growing apart was an extremely enjoyable read. It doesn't matter that the characters are often unpleasant - they are plausible and it is Lott's particular gift that he always manages to make his reader feel involved with what happens to them. The last few chapters had me on the edge of my seat with suspense and were also very affecting. The story is bleak at times but that only serves to heighten its emotional impact. A clever, original novel with that flair essential to the true novelist: the ability to describe thoughts and ideas in a freshly-minted way.

Top bloke's book
I have never before been tempted to write an online review. But this book deserves to be read. Downright unpleasant in places, LOL funny in others, it paints a stunningly honest picture about the transition into male adulthood. (The author is spot on in pointing out it actually takes places a lot later than we think it does!)

London, beer, mates, football - if it all sounds too LOADED, it's not. Believe me - it's a a great read.