Poor Souls

by Joseph Connolly

On their way to a tedious dinner party with a couple they loathe, Barry and Susan find themselves in a stranglehold amidst a smashed bottle of whisky. As Barry's gambling debts propel him to desperate measures and Susan's boredom finds relief in Barry's best friend, the poor souls tumble from miserable mundanity into social apocalypse. In an acid portrayal of boozing, fornicating, money-grubbing and extreme marital angst, Connolly shows himself to be a master of the genre with wickedly comic panache.

Genres: Fiction, Comedy

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably more of a 2.5 in terms of enjoyment, but I'm rounding it up to a 3 because I think Connolly achieved exactly what he wanted to with this dark 'comedy of manners' style novel.

Poor Souls takes place during one hellish week in 1985 in London, and follows two couples and the other hapless people they come in contact with, as they essentially destroy both their own and each others' lives. There's a quote on the back of this book likening Connolly's writing to Bret Easton Ellis's if he had been born in Hampstead, and I'd really agree with that comparison. This novel is brutal at times, depressing, wryly funny, and unfortunately at the end of it all leaves you feeling utterly hopeless.

I haven't seen many people talk about this book at all, which is quite a novel (forgive the pun) experience these days on Goodreads - part of me wondered if this 1995 novel was still in print (amazingly yes!). I picked it up a few years ago in Fopp based on the weirdly ugly cover and the brief synopsis. And I'm glad I read it because Connolly is obviously really talented at what he does. The book is heavily based on dialogue and internal monologue, and the voices are so authentic that you could swear you'd encountered the characters somewhere before. As a character study, it's a really solid book. Unfortunately though I just think it was a bit too nihilistic, even for me. While I can appreciate the skill in creating these truly despicable characters, it was exhausting to hear them be just awful to each other, and watch them make continuously horrible decisions. Especially Barry, he was the absolute worst. There's also a lot of misogyny in the book, and while it is there for a reason and absolutely not the opinion of the author obviously, it got really hard to stomach after a while.

Overall this was a really interesting book and very different from what I normally pick up, and I can 100% say that it was an experience from start to finish. It went places that I didn't expect it to go, and got so dark at points that I was genuinely shocked. But, I think I'm going to have to wait a fair bit before I decide whether or not I want to delve into any of Connolly's other work in the future.

[Frederick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the time, when it comes to a book on your bookshelf, you know why you bought it, but you may not remember where and when. That was the opposite with this book. I bought the book some 20 years ago in a southern English town. But when I took the book out of the shelf this week and read the back cover, I had absolutely no recollection of why, out of thousands of others, I brought this book home at that time. Does this say something about my changing tastes over the years?
Anyway, the title "Poor souls" is excellently chosen. All the characters more than fit the description: marital problems, violence, alcoholism, gambling addiction, these are just a few examples of the problems they all face.
The book is certainly well written and the well thought out tension curve makes it come alive, but it is all a bit too reminiscent of those TV series in which people smoke and swallow bottles of whiskey from start to finish.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the eighties this novel, shows a couple of destructive marriages which lack any redeeming features and the work life of Barry, who works in editing. All seems to take place in an alcoholic haze, which does seem reminiscent of the eighties but the lack of any real caring connections make you wonder, was it really like that? Hard going because it is so nasty and depressing but it becomes sort of compulsive and builds to a hellish climax.

[Natalie McLagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a weird one. It kept me hooked and it was an interesting read with long monologues of the characters thoughts in real time. Interesting to see the thoughts of the time as definitely un PC for now, but that's how it was.

[Hatty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bleak but well written. Some burning but accurate social commentary and observation. So sharp.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. Horrible characters, but brilliantly written.

[Jordan Kaplan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read like a second rate Irvine Welsh, full of cardboard characters and 80s machismo

[Jane Glaister · Rating 2 out of 5]

Miserable marriages with some wicked observations.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a marvelous novel, sexy, blackly funny, and peopled with desperate characters, who are put through their frothy entanglements with all the glee of a wild, Murdochian design.