Midnight all Day

by Hanif Kureishi

Hanif Kureishi's previous book, Intimacy--an account of the writer's abandonment of his marriage--divided critical opinion violently, but the novel's unsparing honesty marked it as one of Kureishi's best works, with an excoriating, spiky cussedness that sidestepped the wheedling self-justifications of most "confessional" books. Midnight All Day, his new collection of short stories, continues his exploration of the irrational impulses of desire. Some of the protagonists here seem to be barely disguised avatars of the author, as if Kureishi had felt compelled to go over the earlier material obsessively, from different angles, through different voices: a prismatic opening up of the emotional complexity of Intimacy (the book is alluded to in the first story; elsewhere there are uneasy discussions about the ethics of writing). There is a clinical quality to his observations, an anatomisation born not of indifference but of fascinated curiosity at the perplexing disarray of human relationships, the shifts from desperate need to boredom, the uneasy fragility of the alliances that lovers make: "We are unerring in our choice of lovers, particularly when we require the wrong person. There is an instinct, magnet or aerial which seeks the unsuitable. The wrong person is, of course, right for something--to punish, bully or humiliate us, let us down, leave us for dead, or, worst of all , give us the impression that they are not inappropriate, but almost right, thus hanging us in love's limbo."

He perhaps shows in these stories that what he has always been interested in is the unfathomable pitch of sexuality-- ultimately idiosyncratic and endlessly fascinating, a chaotic accumulation of people's myriad specific needs, anxieties and desires.

Kureishi has moved away from the more obviously politicised terrain of earlier work, though elegiac glimpses of it surface occasionally, ruminations on the wake of idealism. If the long years of Thatcherism made a kind of political writing unavoidable, the 90s has seen a shift of focus to the landscape within, to what we are as men or women. This selfishness stems from a recognition of the inability ever to know the other. ("If falling in lov e could only be a glimpse of the other, who was the passion really directed at?") What remains is the search for gratification and the scrutiny of one's own impulses, an alternation between compulsion and a need for freedom.

The final story, "The Penis", is an unsubtle reworking of Gogol's "The Nose". It is as if, after all the analysis, Kureishi is despairing of ever reaching a better understanding of love: all that's left is one man and his dick, in uneasy alliance. --Burhan Tufail

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, British Literature, Contemporary, 20th Century, Collections, Novels

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Hanif Kureishi is the author of novels (including The Buddha of Suburbia, The Black Album and Intimacy), story collections (Love in a Blue Time, Midnight All Day, The Body), plays (including Outskirts, Borderline and Sleep With Me), and screenplays (including My Beautiful Laundrette, My Son the Fanatic and Venus). Among his other publications are the collection of essays Dreaming and Scheming, The Word and the Bomb and the memoir My Ear at His Heart.

Kureishi was born in London to a Pakistani father and an English mother. His father, Rafiushan, was from a wealthy Madras family, most of whose members moved to Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947. He came to Britain to study law but soon abandoned his studies. After meeting and marrying Kureishi’s mother Audrey, Rafiushan settled in Bromley, where Kureishi was born, and worked at the Pakistan Embassy.

Kureishi attended Bromley Technical High School where David Bowie had also been a pupil and after taking his A levels at a local sixth form college, he spent a year studying philosophy at Lancaster University before dropping out. Later he attended King’s College London and took a degree in philosophy. In 1985 he wrote My Beautiful Laundrette, a screenplay about a gay Pakistani-British boy growing up in 1980’s London for a film directed by Stephen Frears. It won the New York Film Critics Best Screenplay Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.

His book The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) won the Whitbread Award for the best first novel, and was also made into a BBC television series with a soundtrack by David Bowie. The next year, 1991, saw the release of the feature film entitled London Kills Me; a film written and directed Kureishi.

His novel Intimacy (1998) revolved around the story of a man leaving his wife and two young sons after feeling physically and emotionally rejected by his wife. This created certain controversy as Kureishi himself had recently left his wife and two young sons. It is assumed to be at least semi-autobiographical. In 2000/2001 the novel was loosely adapted to a movie Intimacy by Patrice Chéreau, which won two Bears at the Berlin Film Festival: a Golden Bear for Best Film, and a Silver Bear for Best Actress (Kerry Fox). It was controversial for its unreserved sex scenes. The book was translated into Persian by Niki Karimi in 2005.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Kureishi is married and has a pair of twins and a younger son.

Reviews

[Zaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the stories in this collection were shit except for the last one called The penis.

A porn star loses his dick one day and runs around town looking for it. It took him till evening when he came upon his dick in a cafe and has a conversation with it in which the dick expresses its desire to go solo. The dick wants to make more serious films and play characters like Hamlet.

The dick says he'll only be prepared to go back under the porn stars management if he is attached to his face where the nose is.

All of a sudden the dick loses consciousnous and the porn star rushes to a cosmetic surgeon to get it reattached to his balls.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Falling in love was simple; one only had to yield. Digesting another person, however, and sustaining love, was bloody work, and not a soft job."

'Midnight All Day' is a collection of short stories that covers similar ground to the author's best-selling novel, 'Intimacy'.Each story, with the exception of the final one,'The Penis', look at failing marriages, often marriages with children, from a different point of view.'Four Blue Chairs', 'Girl', 'Morning in the Bowl of Night' and the title story, 'Midnight All Day', all explore relationships between men who've left their wives for younger lovers.

In 'The Penis', porn-star Doug wakes up one morning to find his living penis and scrotum missing. After spending the day chasing the penis around London Doug finally manages to catch it when it falls asleep. He takes it to a cosmetic surgeon who, for a large sum of money, sews it back on and Doug lives happily ever after, if hugely in debt.

Despite all the stories being told from a male point of view and each one having taken a newer, younger lover they seem to feel little pleasure. In fact cruelty rather than love seems to be the central theme and unlike the penis all the men appear weak and flaccid.

On the whole I'm not a great fan of short stories but am a fan of the author which is why I picked it up. I quite enjoyed 'The Penis' and it certainly lifted the mood at the end of the book which on the whole left me with a rather bitter taste in my mouth, largely I suspect because it has a ring of truth about it, the grass isn't always greener. A quick read but not one that will live long in the memory.

[tee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, I think it's a pity he revolves so obsessively around divorce, affairs, children being involved - the same old material but with slightly different storylines. They say write about what you know, and it's pretty obvious this is what Kureishi does.

I must say that I enjoyed 'Intimacy' more, it was more powerful, fierce even. All his work creeps me out a little because I'm wondering at just how much is based on fact, and whether he's trying to get back at his wife/ other people who have wronged him by writing these stories. Still doesn't change the fact that he weaves pretty good stories, very human.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddly, my rating of this doesn’t really reflect my enjoyment of it. The reason for this is that although the writing, atmosphere and by all means, the stories are good (save one), but they are all (again, save one) too short and too alike.

Kureishi often writes characters I have a hard time relating to, often there’s a thought, a sentence spoken, a feeling described that I could, but overall they often makes me wonder if he thinks everybody is ultimately so egotistical, un-empathic, petty and incapable of real depth of emotion (apart from anger or sexual that is). And sure, I can enjoy stories where there are no relatable or even likeable characters (basically, the only thing you feel in these are pity). But it’s a bit hard when you are reading one story after another…

Strangers When We Meet - An uncomfortable all parties in an infidelity situation vacation and a chance meeting years later. The longest and by far best story in this collection, this is really good.

Four Blue Chairs - A bitter sweet and good story about a young couple, way too short.

That Was Then - A theatrical and dramatical story that is ultimately trying a bit too hard to be intellectual.

Girl - This one was oddly depressing and I kind of just pushed through it to be done.

Sucking Stones - About a writer’s struggles, this one is in the top section

A Meeting, At Last - Another drama feeling piece, brief but painful, felt like a compressed Lars Norén play.

Midnight All Day - Protagonist in this one is a bit of an annoying wimp and that doesn’t help.

The Umbrella - A divorce story, ok. but depressing, plenty to draw from in this situation, isn’t there?

Morning in the Bowl of Night - More divorce, painful interactions with the abandoned wife.

The Penis - I’m amazed this one made it from idea through writing and editing to actual publication. It’s just weird. And it’s not that I don’t understand it - it’s as plain as the penis on your face - it’s just that it’s just no good.

[Lester · Rating 2 out of 5]

As Kureshi is well known, I thought I would give this book a try as a sampling of his writing. I find that short stories usually contain the best of a writer's abilities, as they are intense and contain the essence of the characters.



To begin with, I was not disappointed. Kureshi is able to distill the essence of emotions and situations into short stories incredibly well. However, two things irritated me, even though I read the whole book.



The first is that many of the actual plots are tiersomely repetitive. Just about everyone involve some form of familial or marital problem, so I guess Kureshi was unable to distill any joy or happiness from his experiences of relationships.



The second is that not a single story ended well. It is one thing to leave a story with loose ends, but quite another to take the reader on an emotional journey and then suddenly stop the narrative in the middle of nowhere. Maybe he thought this was cool, but it means that I will never read Kureshi again.

[Saima · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was super boring :|

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kureishi lives up to his legendary reputation as a misogynist in this book of short stories. He works a repetitive theme of rich, middle-aged men with bitter, hysterical ex-wives and demanding, clingy (often pregnant) new girlfriends. His males wander around London or Paris, drinking in cafés or taking mind-altering drugs, dwelling endlessly on the meaning of Life - or more correctly, just THEIR life, as these characters are so self-obsessed, they barely seem to know there is a world beyond themselves.
Their ex-wives try to kill themselves as 'blackmail', their lovers harangue them in the street for wanting to see their children - to Kureishi women are lost causes without a man to complete them, or perhaps without one whose balls they can break.
The men meet in coffee shops to exchange callous banter about relationships or to confront one another over a woman who is merely chattel between them - whose wife is it anyway? Stories end abruptly, usually with the man rising above the soul-destroying, fun-sapping complaints of his harem to realise another day will dawn.
A preoccupation with sex permeates the stories - there is rarely a feeling that his males love the women they have left their wives and children for, more that they have been drawn away by lust and then trapped into the inevitable relationship demanded by their mistress. The final story, The Penis, in which a porn star's genitalia escapes him and seeks independent fame only emphasises that Kureishi's mind, despite his philosophical pondering is, just like those of his male characters, firmly rooted in his trousers.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so goddamn boring and repetitive. The overarching theme is bourgeois ennui. Most stories barely even have a hint of a plot. I was thinking of ways to improve this book and devised a drinking game, in case you want to read it despite my 1-star rating.

MIDNIGHT ALL DAY DRINKING GAME
Take a shot when:
-someone pulls out a notebook and pen
-someone is having an affair
-a couple struggles to determine whether or not they are truly in love
-a tea shop is mentioned
-a parent thinks about how much he or she regrets having his or her child(ren)
-someone is an aspiring and/or successful actor
-someone is an aspiring and/or successful novelist
-the title or author of a literary work is name-dropped to create the illusion of sophistication

Disclaimer: You'll be heavily intoxicated before getting halfway through the book.

There is one redeeming story that saved this book from my garbage can. It's called "The Penis" and is so unlike every other story in that book that Kureishi probably wrote it as a joke or dare. I'm not going to spoil it but it's an absurdist piece involving a porn star's penis.

[Abe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection allows us to delve deeper into Kureishi’s unique style of expressing life’s depressingly true and dark side.

The stories resemble one another closely in theme and overall feeling. Kureishi’s writing style lends itself well to the short story form. His characters are compelling and naturally flawed.

The writing is wonderful as usual and the stories read effortlessly. You could easily finish the collection in a day.

I gave the three-star rating because, overall, the stories resemble each other too closely. The theme of leaving love for another becomes too repetitive. The stories do not become boring but I would rather read a collection of stories that differ in theme and story.

[Lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved the movie Venus, so I decided to pick up this short story collection by author Hanif Kureishi. Very disappointing. The writing is stiff and keeps the reader feeling distanced from the characters, who are mostly aging, successful, male artists having affairs. Autobiographical or no, I have no desire to read about the stale exploits of weak, yet egotistical people.

[Venkat · Rating 2 out of 5]

A really charming cover.

This is one of those books: a writer writing about a writer writing.

Burst of poignant prose at the epiphanous moments, but mostly middle-aged penis crooning.

[Takisx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Τι να πω για τον Χανίφ. Οι θεωρείες περί Ερωτος ειναι καταιγιστικές. Θα πιω το κώνιο τελικά, με επεισε.

(5 αστέρια)και λίγα είναι

[OSKR · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should be called "4pm All Day". For me midnight is an exciting time and these stories are drab and downbeat.

I flick read the first several stories and they were all about the broken relationships of succesful but passionless artists. The stories seem to lack adventure or fun. This isn't the Kureishi that I like. There might be something good in there somewhere but when the first three or four stories are dull I'm not going to continue.

[Gaia Ferrante · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Kureishi's novel 'Intimacy' before this collection of short stories and I liked both of them a lot. He has the capacity to portray romantic relationships in both a depressingly sober and also deeply romantic way. Half of the time reading it, I thought to myself 'why do people do this to each other? Everyone is better off alone.' And the other half I was thinking 'how beautiful and special is this intimacy between two people.' Kureishi is masterful at showing the gray areas of relationships, you never quite figure out what you think of the characters and their intertwinements.

[Macushla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kureishi's book 'The Buddha of Suburbia' is one of my favourite books of all time.

'Midnight all Day' is a collection of stories about upper middle class people having torrid affairs and hating their ex-wives and it was so dull and pedestrian that it made me want to have an affair with a different book.

The first story about a young actor on the rise having an affair with a married, older failed actress. That seemed normal and fine to me. Then the next story was about a couple who had just moved in together after they'd had an affair with each other. That started to feel suspicious. Then every subsequent story was about a dull couple (one of whom was almost invariably an actor, a writer, a tv person or some other permutation of ersatz creativity) who either sleep with each other and consider divorce or sleep with other people and get divorced.

I began to think that maybe this was just an opportunity for Kureishi to work through some extremely sordid feelings towards his own life. Unfortunately I never qualified as a therapist and have no interest in listening to people hash out their milquetoast desires for sexual deviancy.

As other people have noted, the collection ends with a quick and frivolous story about a pornstar losing his dick and being forced to pursue it through London, which felt like it had been transported from an altogether better and more vibrant story collection.

It gets two stars only because the writing was competent (if incredibly rigid) and nothing about it offended me deeply.

[Nick Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Midnight All Day is collection of short stories by the author of My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia, though to call it simply a collection of short stories is to mis-sell it rather. The book reads like an epic in the theatrical sense of the word, like Brecht at his most disjointed, but it's not so much Fear and Misery of the Third Reich as fear and misery of the third relationship. Every character is either having an affair, embarking on a new relationship as the result of an affair or discovering that their partner is having an affair. In this way it is as if it is one story told through the experiences of different people. None of the individual stories reach anything as traditional as a resolution, reading for more like verbal snapshots of random lives, but taken as a whole there is a sense of moving through a cautionary tale of what happens when we let desire take over.

And yet, considering the subject matter all of the lives being portrayed in these stories are strangely passionless, as if everyone, married or in the middle of an affair is simply going through the motions. It's a theme that Kureishi has explored before, most notably in Intimacy, but whereas there it was believable for one couple to be having an affair that lacked any emotional intensity in Midnight All Day it is less believable for so many people to be involved in exactly the same situation, all lacking feeling. None of the characters display the slightest hint of lust for their illicit partners, let alone love and the whole thing just feels rather flat, but then perhaps that's the point.

Above all this seems to be an extremely moral book and while I might be reading too much into it or misreading the author's intention completely there seems to be no doubt to me that the over riding tone is that infidelity will lead to misery, which may be a comforting thought for all those out there who have never been unfaithful allowing them to take the moral high ground, but it is also extremely simplistic. It's also unfair on those who may want to leave a unhappy marriage as at least one of the protagonists of these stories does, and then later on start again with a new partner because the stories are all pointing to the single conclusion that no matter how bad your first marriage is don't go thinking that you can start again because not only will the next one be exponentially worse but you will still have all the baggage from the first one to deal with.

There are the lovers who arrange for a romantic weekend away only to be joined at the last minute by an inconvenient husband causing the tryst to be cancelled, when we next meet them years later they are all relieved that they did not pursue the affair. Then there's the couple embarking on a second marriage, soullessly choosing new furniture for their apartment in which they plan to entertain the friends that they had during their previous relationships. Or there's the man who is unable to see a long term future with his new partner despite her being pregnant with their child (this actually occurs in two of the stories) and other variations on this theme. Only two of the tales deviate from this structure but even these can be read in the same way such as the tale of the woman who has given up her family, first by divorcing her admittedly unfaithful husband, then farming her son off to her mother and finally dumping her casual boyfriend all to pursue her dream of becoming a novelist - in case you didn't get it her affair is with the act of writing which is the only time in the whole collection that someone shows any passion for anything. The other is a modern retelling of Nikolai Gogol's The Nose with the body part in question being the one leaving and embarking on an affair.

Are these stories good? Yes, without question. Extremely well written and paced just right they nicely snapshot modern relationships. The problem is taking them all together in one collection makes for very bleak and somewhat one dimensional reading.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The short stories were good in themselves, but pretty much all about failing marriages, cheating, and divorce, which gets a bit repetitive after a while - I much preferred his first book 'Buddha of Suburbia', even though the review on the front of the book cover say his books keep getting better and better.

[Michael Hastings · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories all concerning love and relationships which wouldn’t usually be my cup of tea but these all have a dark twist of some sort. Most have infidelity woven into the story, either current or in the recent past. There are guilty men and badly treated women, in fact none of the characters are particularly likable but all feel real. Apart from one/two at the end and they’re not supposed to be. I’m not sure I could be arsed with a full novel on these lines but in the shorter form I enjoyed reading them. The writing is excellent and some of the stories hooked me up completely.

[Chastity · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just have to say this first - this was not a bad read. In fact, it was rather well written.

But it was not something I could enjoy.

Topics being mostly adultery, drugs and failed dreams of various artists, I could not find it in me to enjoy these stories. Nor could I find it in me not to judge every character harshly for their decisions. Topics did not resonate well with me, and I found them quite tiring to read.

But the last story... oh the last story was a bucket of ice water on a hot day. I don't think I ever found something so distrubing yet funny.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seemes as if Kureishi tried a writing exercise where he had to tell different stories with only 3 charecter relationships in mind. One is cheated on, one is cheating and one is the lover. Impressive how every story contributes something else to the book. The main Characters are very self involved. They always have an excuse for their actions and everyone else is at fault but them. This makes the characters seem very real to me. I really enjoyed the structure of the book. Especially the last short story "The Penis" is a surprising but good sum up in my opinion.

[Lee Kofman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved this slim short story collection. As per usual, Kureishi is immensely readable yet not at the expense of depth. All his stories here are about love, divorced parents and love again, yet they don’t repeat themselves. I love his faith in love, and the pace of the stories is just perfect – no tedious passages whatsoever.

[Salman Uppal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was hoping the stories to be a lot more interesting since they were about affairs, adultery and separations. Unfortunately I found them pretty dull with no grip. Sucking stones was probably the one that I liked the most. By the end I was completely exhausted reading it.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant chronicle of the lost, the lonely and the darkest parts of ourselves that we don't want to face. Overflowing with honesty and authenticity, this collection of short stories is consistently and uncomfortably believable.

[Angelique · Rating 4 out of 5]

I so enjoyed these stories and chomped them up. Hanif Kureishi is the writer I wish I could be. I only wish the stories would have gone on longer!

[Mona Kareem · Rating 3 out of 5]

you can't read much hanif after buddha of suburbia

[Noor Al-Zubaidi]

Impulsive book buy from back in the day. Finished and done with. I am not a fan of short stories, and this wasn't enjoyable at all.

[Jane Cullen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Waste of time. Not really anything uplifting in these stories or even characters to be liked. Why was this even published?

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

The majority of these short stories were about relationships between various dynamics of people. Some were good but most had endings that went nowhere. Just ended. Shame.

[Nurhazlinda Mazlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐

I was skeptical reading Hanif Kureshi's novels, but years ago, I got his short stories; Midnight All Day. Since I'm waiting for the 4th vol of Fantasy World book to come out in the next few days, this dust covered , spotted, musty book fit the gap lol

To my amazement , each page grew on me. Would I enjoy it when I was a budding reader and in my youth? Probably not. The main characters in these short stories are male, and about their life choices (duh) ; in relationship and marriage, abuse and self discoveries. Do I condone some of these paths in life? Not entirely, but I understand. The heart wants what the heart wants, even if you have to break some along the way.

Ps: this book doesn't have a high rating on both Goodreads nor Amazon, what a shame.

[Castspells · Rating 1 out of 5]

Obnoxious, taking itself too seriously, and accidentally disturbing in the worst possible ways. Pretentious at its best and absolutely miserably tedious at its worst. Repetitive themes such as marriages, divorces, and affairs are poorly described and hardly nuanced. Many of the affairs mentioned had no compelling reason for ever taking place; everything boils down to lust and extremely superficial ideas of melancholy, with barely convincing takes on ‘existentialism.’ I moved from story to story crossing my fingers that the next one would show me the ‘genius’ everyone was talking about when referring to this author. Some characters I actually liked or cared about, but it was one disappointment after another.