Product Description

In Cardiff's offices and call centres the twenty-something white collar workers of the new sweatshops email each other with work issues, jokes, arrangements for their social lives, gossip and the products of sheer boredom. As the day passes, author Martin conducts this correspondence and saves in Drafts a variety of emails to himself - a commentary on his life. Martin is tired of customer services, in denial over breaking up with his girlfriend, worried about 'that incident' in Bristol, and baffled by the triviality of his life and those of his drinking, recreational drug-taking friends. What is the plot he's supposed to be following? How has it come to this? When on this day, 11th September, 2001, people fly airliners into buildings, Martin knows he's reached a critical point in his life. He sends his final message...Told entirely through emails, part The Office, part Pinter, "Eleven" is a striking debut novel: smart, funny, brutally sad, and a genuine response to 21st century society in the UK and beyond. It iis likely to become a cult text for young people, disillusioned with society, across the UK.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #374790 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 130 pages

Review
'Eleven' is written in the truest tradition of epistolary novels; it is a 'Clarissa' for the twenty first century, a 'Humphrey Clinker' for our crazed age. In its juxtaposition of the petty bickering of office politics, the frustrated immensity of individual needs, and a physical event that might just shatter the world, it conveys an almost unbearable poignancy. Much, much power is crammed into this short novel. -- Niall Griffiths

About the Author
David Llewellyn was raised in Pontypool and is a graduate of Darlington College of Arts. He has written scripts for the BBC and several short stories. David now lives in Cardiff where he works in a call centre.This is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

Small but perfectly formed
Just like, say, Sandi Toksvig, this book is tiny - you can finish it in a day for sure - but there's a lot to it. It is very hard to put down, and it's got nothing to do with gravitational pull, simply the skilled writing and subject matter involved. This has been listed as WH Smith's book of the month for June in Wales, and rightly so. If only more people knew of this man's talent. Hoping there's plenty more to come.

Shocking, funny, disturbing, and true
I must admit I groaned when I first read the blurb on the back of 'Eleven' by David Llewellyn. Another person trying to cash in on 9/11, I thought. I couldn't have been further from the truth. 'Eleven' is indeed set on 9/11, but the global events of that day happen at arms length, reported to the main character, Martin, by his friends. Each friend seems to offer a different angle on the event, from Lloyd, who is irreverent, crass, and often in extremely poor taste, to Dan, who is the only person who seems to grasp the enormity of the situation.
'Eleven' is an often very funny book; I laughed out loud on a number of occasions; but it quickly develops (and by quick I mean QUICK) into something much darker and more unsettling. None of the reviews I've read so far seem to mention the apparent existentialist and absurdist subtexts that are at work (at one point Martin emails God asking him "Why", only to have his email returned saying 'Address Unknown') in this book. It starts off light and frothy, brimming with office gossip, but by the end of the novel souls have been laid bare. This is not just a biting comedy about office politics, and it's not just a cash in. Without giving too much away, the ending explodes the claustrophobic events of the novel out into the bigger picture, so that the reader is invited to consider that day as a whole. As Martin himself says at one point in the novel, "This is everything."

Add to address book
I challenge anyone. Make sure that you've got a couple of hours to spare. Start reading Eleven by David Llewellyn and then try to stop reading it before you've reached the end. Try it and kiss goodbye to your day. This book is funny, sad and shaming. You know these characters. And the chances are that you are one of them.
I've never even been to Bristol ok?.