No Fireworks

by Rodge Glass

Book by Glass, Rodge

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Rodge Glass is the author of the novels No Fireworks (Faber, 2005) and Hope for Newborns (Faber, 2008), as well as Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography (Bloomsbury, 2008), which received a Somerset Maugham Award in 2009. Recently, he was co-author of the graphic novel Dougie’s War: A Soldier’s Story (Freight, 2010), which was nominated for several awards. He is currently a Programme Leader in Creative Writing at Edge Hill University, and was Associate Editor at Freight Books. His novel, Bring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs, was published in April 2012 by the multi-award winning Tindal Street Press, then as a paperback by Serpent’s Tail, and it appeared as Voglio la testa di Ryan Giggs in April 2013 (66thand2nd, Roma). His latest book, LoveSexTravelMusik, was published by Freight Books in April 2013 and was nominated for the International Frank O’Connor Award. His fiction has been published in Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Danish and Italian.
(from http://rodgeglass.com/ )

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in less than 24 hours. Surprising, very funny, confusing, moving and quite sad. Abe Stone alternates between endearing and repulsive, his story is always engaging. Great characters, all feel very real, there are no bit parts.

[Saleh Razzouk]

In my opinion it is a distinguished book. Straightforward narrative, yes, without too much experimental parts, but it is very poetic and emotional.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather strange but enjoyable book.

Following the lives of a what might loosely be described as a family but is really a dysfunctional group of people reluctantly bound together largely for financial reasons and Abe's futile quest to discover his "roots" following the death of his mother.

In the end it was unmemorable and I had to go back and re-read the endling so I could write this review !

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

agnosticism, i reckon, is a bold & experimental thing. but in 'no fireworks', abe's non-committal dalliances with very spiritual realms - christianity & judaism, the promise of sex, communication seemingly from beyond the grave - all felt lukewarm. kicking off a story from a starting point of ennui, sadness & burnout is tricky anyway, and the motor never got going for me.

[Archana · Rating 1 out of 5]

No fireworks, nothing spectacular, absolutely bland.

[Caz · Rating 3 out of 5]

a lighthearted read

[Mew · Rating 4 out of 5]

surprising...funny in a sad way...