Product Description

Towards closing time in a London pub, Daniel Linnell has the idea of writing Who's Who In Hell: a mammoth compendium of the damned. Daniel is supported by his girlfriend Laura, a feisty American with aberrant instincts and a dangerous attraction to altitude, and by his boss Alexander Whittington, the maverick obituaries editor of a national newspaper. News of the book's publication precipitates a sequence of events that propel Daniel and Laura out of their North London flat, deep into the badlands of Kansas - where they receive a unique welcome from her crazed and dysfunctional family - and back again.This compelling modern love story establishes Robert Chambers as one of the most original voices in contemporary fiction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #541084 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

New York Times
'Nick Hornby mines much the same vein of hipster melodrama in his own novels.. thoroughly engaging, delightful and very funny.'

Independent
'I finished the book in a heightened state of emotion... Chalmers balances tragedy and comedy with the skill and poise of John Irving'

Evening Standard
'A blistering state... half contemporary love story, half pitch-black comedy, read this for its store of genuie laughs and you won't be disappointed.'

Customer Reviews

Laughing at a funeral.
I never imagined I could laugh so hard at such a sombre moment! This book brilliantly combines both humour and darkness into one mammoth stream of consciousness that is Daniel's life. It is grim yet comfortable, a tragedy yet hilarious and most of all the writing is quick witted and often written in an almost poetic form. So many passages were unforgetable and moving with the author's powerful use of imagery. I almost feel like I've been to 'The Owl', an imaginary, almost bohemian, restaurant/bar in London's Crouch End, which Daniel and Laura live above. The atmosphere is exotic and offbeat which permiates every page of Chalmers' book. It is a novel which has a distinctly unique and refreshing style, which makes reading both enjoyable and stimulating. A must for anyone who enjoys quality writing...which is hard to come by these days.

This is one of the best books I have read
This is one of the best books I have ever read and one of the few I will read again. It is one of the books of which I read every word instead of as I some times do,scanning a page without losing the plot. I wanted to read every word. In this book not a word is wasted. Robert Chalmers has a gift of knowing and understanding human beings of today and is able to describe them so well I feel I know them all. I was in the cafe with Daniel Linnell and his companions. I was with him deciding which characters to go in the book Who's Who In Hell. I do not want to give the story away but if you want a true to life exciting read this is the book for you. You will
feel sorrow, happiness, and all the emotions of the characters. I can't wait to read his next book.

Deadbeat in dead end.
The art of writing newspaper obituaries combines rigour, subtlety and colour. A hint or a euphemism can say much about a deceased subject. But at least obituaries have some sort of plot, unlike this book. It follows a bit of a loser called Daniel who drifts into the world of obituary writing and conceives a book of notorious people - alive and dead - who might end up in Hell. Actually this part of the novel takes up a relatively small part and is suddenly dropped almost as soon as it appears. What the book is really about is Daniel's relationship with the irritating Laura, an American with problems at home and a bar job that enables her to get taxis everywhere. That's all you need to know really. The novel meanders on without really making any meaningful pit stops along the way. It's not badly written but all rather pointless. And unlike a good obituary, it's full of mistakes. The bar in which Daniel and Laura met mysteriously changes from the Cafe Leon to the Northumberland Arms. His boss mentions a three-year-old conversation as if it had been discussed yesterday. Apart from a slight insight into obituary desks, you don't feel you've gained much from this book.
And even the title is not original. There's already a book called Who's Who in Hell, a philosophical tome listing worthies who have negative views on a Supreme Being. Might prove a better read....