Leaving London

ISBN-13: 9781497458994 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 236 str.

MR Garry Crystal

Opis

After yet another break up, a depressed writer is drawn back to London, only to find that his self-destructive tendencies are a little harder to leave behind.-Your problem is you're more like an empty book, and you're waiting on someone else to write your pages for you. For someone who doesn't believe in fate, destiny and all that shit, you spend a lot of time waiting for something to happen to you.-A return to London brings slight reprieve from a break up, and narrator Cal finds refuge in meaningless jobs, temporary relationships and a disconnected life where loneliness is an ironic by-product of living in a city of eight million. And the city has its own plans. Assaulted on Christmas Eve, horrible bosses, a suicidal, escort flat-mate and a writing job for a less than responsible employer all to add to Cal's constant hangover. When Sofia appears, a woman he is both attracted to and suspicious of, Cal soon finds himself in a co-dependent relationship full of turmoil and hard truths.-If you aren't paranoid before you arrive then give it a few weeks and you'll soon notice it dripping into your subconscious like a leaking tap. The trick is not to give a flying fuck what anyone thinks about you, and if you're in the right frame of mind this can be an easy trick to perform. If not, you'll soon notice that for a city full of people - who do a great Stevie Wonder impersonation when it comes to the homeless and beggars and casual violence towards others - wearing the wrong kind of shoes or a cheap suit brings out a sneering, hateful attitude that can have weak-minded individuals locked in their homes, harassing their doctors for Prozac and Beta blockers just so they can make it out of the front door in the morning.- - CalAlcohol, drugs, sex, love, depression, loneliness, game-playing and an escape to New York. Leaving London is a darkly humorous look at a city where staying disconnected can sometimes be the only survival tool.Leaving London, adds to the tradition of contemporary city-lit fiction, in which bohemian pretenders, barflies, the rich, the poor, the down and out, and the down at heart try to find some meaning in a city that can crush your hope as easily as reignite your lust for life. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leaving London Reviews-London itself plays as a major character. For those who have been there it will invoke wonderful memories of the city and for those who have never visited, it will make you want to hop the next plane and walk in Cal's footsteps. The city's vastness, in all its glory and wonder, grime and grit, seems to echo Cal's emotional state and his sense of being -lost- and -rudderless- as he struggles to maintain his footing. Cal not only seeks his place within London but within his own emotional sphere as well. Garry Crystal has a very original voice and I have no doubt that you will enjoy this complex and thought provoking story. Highly recommended.- Julian Gallo, author of Rhombus Denied, Breathe-...wandering the streets in a chemically altered state, he subjects himself to the seamier side of life and gets robbed, beaten up and has sex with whomever he ends up with at the end of the evening. His contemporaries seem to do the same. There is a theme of loneliness running throughout the book and Crystal captures this quite well and you find it easy to see why many feel a strong sense of alienation, stuck in jobs that are low paying with little chance for advancement.- Online Book Club Organization-This book is about relationships. Those relationships are ephemeral. We are either doomed to repeat our mistakes or protect ourselves with walls, not out of fear but as a sort of silent dignity. This is a lengthy love song, a love story, a message in a bottle. I hope it reaches readers out there.- Baxter Labatos, Sphere

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