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Clapham Lights
Craig Tennant hates his job as an estate agent, loves a girl who has a boyfriend and lives in a London flat he can't afford with a university friend he wishes he'd never met. That friend is Mark Hunter, an inept corporate fantasist whose bank balance is shrinking as fast as his waistline expands. With economic meltdown looming, Craig is forced to reassess who he is and who he wants to be, but can he escape his dead-end career, tell the girl how he feels and save himself and Mark from financial ruin? Clapham Lights is a hilarious portrayal of two young men's attempts to find professional and personal success, a book about doomed relationships and redemption which brilliantly captures life in Noughties Britain. An outstanding first novel, Clapham Lights is the funniest and sharpest read of the year.
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published April 25, 2013
86 people want to read
About the author
Tom Canty
1 book2 followersTom was born in Dartford, Kent in 1981 and attended Dartford Grammar School before studying English at the University of East Anglia.
He worked in London as a copywriter before going freelance and writing Clapham Lights, his first novel. He is currently working on his second novel and co-writing a sitcom.
He worked in London as a copywriter before going freelance and writing Clapham Lights, his first novel. He is currently working on his second novel and co-writing a sitcom.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 17, 2018
Semi-comedy about two 20 something men who share a flat in Clapham, the story is set just before the 2008 credit crunch. Nothing major in the story line, but it was an enjoyable easy read.
October 22, 2013
I read a review of this book while checking Twitter in the British Library, interesting enough, while working on my own novel. I was taking a short break and stumbled across a review. It sounded fun and I had spent quite a bit of time in London over the past few years that I knew a bunch of the locations mentioned in the book. So, I bought the eBook on Amazon and started it after I got home.
It's a quick read about two flat mates who have horrible jobs and how each of them deals with the peculiarities and demands of the corporate arena in one of the world's most expensive cities at the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis.
The story is a little too neatly packaged and the ending is tied up to perfectly, almost begging for a Hollywood adaptation with the main three characters played by the latest top actors. Worse, the author spends much of the first half of the book providing excessive description of people and scenes. It's kind of what they taught me in my first writing class and which every person who's read stuff I wrote tells me to cut out. Let the reader fill in the details, you don't need to excessively describe each room, person, or situation. But, having said that, by about 1/2 through, the flow accelerates and the description fades into the background. The author hits his pace at this point and it's a fast dash to the end.
Overall, I liked the book. If I had to be honest, part of my like was knowing where the action was taking place. I felt like I knew each of the areas described, many I'd been to or around. But I wanted to start the book and I wanted to finish it, so that makes it worthwhile for me.
It's a quick read about two flat mates who have horrible jobs and how each of them deals with the peculiarities and demands of the corporate arena in one of the world's most expensive cities at the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis.
The story is a little too neatly packaged and the ending is tied up to perfectly, almost begging for a Hollywood adaptation with the main three characters played by the latest top actors. Worse, the author spends much of the first half of the book providing excessive description of people and scenes. It's kind of what they taught me in my first writing class and which every person who's read stuff I wrote tells me to cut out. Let the reader fill in the details, you don't need to excessively describe each room, person, or situation. But, having said that, by about 1/2 through, the flow accelerates and the description fades into the background. The author hits his pace at this point and it's a fast dash to the end.
Overall, I liked the book. If I had to be honest, part of my like was knowing where the action was taking place. I felt like I knew each of the areas described, many I'd been to or around. But I wanted to start the book and I wanted to finish it, so that makes it worthwhile for me.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews