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London and the South-East: From the Booker Prize winning author of FLESH
Paul Rainey, an ad salesman, perceives dimly through a fog of psychoactive substances his dissatisfaction with his life- professional, sexual, weekends, the lot. He only wishes there was something he could do about it. And 'something' seems to fall into his lap when a meeting with an old friend and fellow salesman, Eddy Jaw, leads to the offer of a new job. But when this offer turns out to be as misleading as Paul's sales patter, his life and that of his family are transformed in ways very much more peculiar than he ever thought possible.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
77 people are currently reading
1175 people want to read
About the author
David Szalay
15 books834 followersDavid Szalay (born 1974 in Montreal, Quebec) is an English writer.
He was born in Canada, moved to the UK the following year and has lived there ever since. He studied at Oxford University and has written a number of radio dramas for the BBC.
He won the Betty Trask Award for his first novel, London and the South-East, along with the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Since then he has written two other novels: Innocent (2009) and Spring (2011).
He has also recently been named one of The Telegraph's Top 20 British Writers Under 40 and has also made it onto Granta magazine's 2013 list of the Best of Young British Novelists.
A fourth novel All That Man Is was longlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2016.
He was runner-up of the Booker Prize for All That Man Is, and winner 2025 with Flesh.
He was born in Canada, moved to the UK the following year and has lived there ever since. He studied at Oxford University and has written a number of radio dramas for the BBC.
He won the Betty Trask Award for his first novel, London and the South-East, along with the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Since then he has written two other novels: Innocent (2009) and Spring (2011).
He has also recently been named one of The Telegraph's Top 20 British Writers Under 40 and has also made it onto Granta magazine's 2013 list of the Best of Young British Novelists.
A fourth novel All That Man Is was longlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2016.
He was runner-up of the Booker Prize for All That Man Is, and winner 2025 with Flesh.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
February 3, 2020
‘London and the South-East’ is a melancholic, downbeat novel but one that completely gripped me. Unlike most novels, work is at the core of this book, and - in this instance - initially at least, it’s the dispiriting world of magazine advertising sales. This is a painfully forensic examination of the horror of the modern workplace and the work "relationships of convenience" that flow from it. Middle-aged Paul Rainey, the borderline-alcoholic protagonist, works for one of those free business magazines that arrive in the post and which no one reads. David Szalay has really nailed the minutiae of the workplace and, in particular, the world of selling. However sales is just the springboard for an unpredictable and original plot that was both realistic and credible, but also frequently very surprising.
‘London and the South-East’ is one of the most relatable books I’ve ever read. This sense of realism was further enhanced by my own familiarity with many of the streets and venues that appear in the book. Most impressively, these places were described with complete accuracy, and this attention to detail informs the entire book.
‘London and the South-East’ is a painful exploration of how both work and home form the basis of our identity and our happiness, such as it is, and it’s an unflinching look at commuting, selling, family, identity and compromise. It is bleak, dark, and quite brilliant. I look forward to reading more of David Szalay’s work.
The day after I finished this book, David Szalay’s latest book 'All That Man Is' made the 2016 Booker Prize Shortlist. If it's anything like as good as ‘London and the South-East’ then it will be well worth a read - my copy is on order and I cannot wait to read it.
Since writing my review, I've looked at other reviews and noticed this book is very divisive - it seems to be the bleakness and the shortcomings of many of the characters which alienate some readers. This would probably make it a great choice for a book group. I have chosen it for my own book group so I will find out and perhaps update this review.
5/5
‘London and the South-East’ is one of the most relatable books I’ve ever read. This sense of realism was further enhanced by my own familiarity with many of the streets and venues that appear in the book. Most impressively, these places were described with complete accuracy, and this attention to detail informs the entire book.
‘London and the South-East’ is a painful exploration of how both work and home form the basis of our identity and our happiness, such as it is, and it’s an unflinching look at commuting, selling, family, identity and compromise. It is bleak, dark, and quite brilliant. I look forward to reading more of David Szalay’s work.
The day after I finished this book, David Szalay’s latest book 'All That Man Is' made the 2016 Booker Prize Shortlist. If it's anything like as good as ‘London and the South-East’ then it will be well worth a read - my copy is on order and I cannot wait to read it.
Since writing my review, I've looked at other reviews and noticed this book is very divisive - it seems to be the bleakness and the shortcomings of many of the characters which alienate some readers. This would probably make it a great choice for a book group. I have chosen it for my own book group so I will find out and perhaps update this review.
5/5
December 27, 2023
Exceptional. As other reviewers have noted this is in an unflinchingly bleak, depressing but also very funny novel about mid-life disappointment and emotional disintegration. It is also a “London novel” and a social document, providing an insight into the grey, soul destroying professional lives endured by the majority of the city’s commuter population. This is not a demographic that gets a great deal literary attention, probably because they don’t align easily with any of the standard Londoner stereotypes and are neither sufficiently poor nor obviously culturally interesting enough to make for compelling fiction in any but the most accomplished of hands. On the evidence of London and the South-East, David Szalay has such hands.
October 21, 2025
This is the story of Paul Rainey. Rainey is a middle-aged, middle-class middle manager in a telemarketing company, living in the suburbs of Hove. A man of middling talents - morose, moody and borderline alcoholic - the novel catches him in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Middle, mid-, midst, middling... A lot of em's there and it's probably no coincidence. The protagonist represents the average man. The mean if you will.
The novel charts Rainey's downfall. He cuts a tragi-comic figure, whose life unravels in a fug of alcohol, fatigue and anti-anxiety pills. His job, his relationship, his home - they all go. He's like a modern-day Mayor of Casterbridge. But whereas Hardy lends Michael Henchard a certain epic grandeur in his descent from riches to ruin, we find Paul Rainey at the start of this novel a long way from the top. He's more - well - in the middle. And probably in the bottom half of it at that. He has to look quite hard to find a way down. But still, he finds his sewer and down he goes. If this book was a colour, it would be grey; if it was a weather forecast, it would be (...forgive me...) rain-e-y.
Here's what I liked about the novel. There's a critique of consumerism that runs through it effortlessly and convincingly. Rainey's two jobs - telesales and, later, shelf-stacking in the local supermarket - are used by the author to deliver an unflinching view of the underbelly of marketing-driven capitalism. It's thought-provoking.
Beyond that, the writing is capable. The author has an unerring eye for a well-appointed metaphor. When Rainey wakes up in bed one morning - fatigued, confused and having just taken an important phone call - he's described as leaning urgently, lazily across the empty bed to retrieve a cigarette from his partner's bedside table, "extending his fingers like Adam on the Sistene ceiling." The image - and the juxtaposition of grandeur and mediocrity - work nicely. Here's another. When Rainey learns his partner has been having an affair, he obsessively rifles back through his memories of her behaviour to spot the telltale signs "with the minute care of a chimp going through another chimp's hair for nits."
So you see, the author can be funny. At times, really funny. The novel ends with a fantastic flourish. A small sub-plot in the book - involving blackmail, entrapment and a posh, inept friend - flourishes into a joyously absurd comic caper.
London and the South-East is bleakly humourous. But, overall, more bleak than humourous - let's say 80:20. Too bleak in other words. Of course, the humour within it depends on the bleakness, I get that. But given the author's obvious talent for comedy, he would have been better off balancing the two more evenly and then we would have had a modern comedy masterpiece on our hands - and lost none of the social critique in the process. Thomas Mann, for example, was another archdeacon of bleak - in his final novel, Felix Krull, he surprised everyone by delivering a comedy masterpiece. I have no doubt this author, if he returns to the novel-form, could do the same.
If he does so, I also hope he sets himself the challenge of writing a shorter book. I think he could deliver in 40-50,000 words something more effective than he achieves here in double that number. This author went on to write a true masterpiece - All That Man Is - which I reviewed a few months ago. This is a carefully curated set of short stories - and a masterclass in economy and concision. If you're intrigued by Szalay's work, I'd recommend you start there and then return to this one.
The novel charts Rainey's downfall. He cuts a tragi-comic figure, whose life unravels in a fug of alcohol, fatigue and anti-anxiety pills. His job, his relationship, his home - they all go. He's like a modern-day Mayor of Casterbridge. But whereas Hardy lends Michael Henchard a certain epic grandeur in his descent from riches to ruin, we find Paul Rainey at the start of this novel a long way from the top. He's more - well - in the middle. And probably in the bottom half of it at that. He has to look quite hard to find a way down. But still, he finds his sewer and down he goes. If this book was a colour, it would be grey; if it was a weather forecast, it would be (...forgive me...) rain-e-y.
Here's what I liked about the novel. There's a critique of consumerism that runs through it effortlessly and convincingly. Rainey's two jobs - telesales and, later, shelf-stacking in the local supermarket - are used by the author to deliver an unflinching view of the underbelly of marketing-driven capitalism. It's thought-provoking.
Beyond that, the writing is capable. The author has an unerring eye for a well-appointed metaphor. When Rainey wakes up in bed one morning - fatigued, confused and having just taken an important phone call - he's described as leaning urgently, lazily across the empty bed to retrieve a cigarette from his partner's bedside table, "extending his fingers like Adam on the Sistene ceiling." The image - and the juxtaposition of grandeur and mediocrity - work nicely. Here's another. When Rainey learns his partner has been having an affair, he obsessively rifles back through his memories of her behaviour to spot the telltale signs "with the minute care of a chimp going through another chimp's hair for nits."
So you see, the author can be funny. At times, really funny. The novel ends with a fantastic flourish. A small sub-plot in the book - involving blackmail, entrapment and a posh, inept friend - flourishes into a joyously absurd comic caper.
London and the South-East is bleakly humourous. But, overall, more bleak than humourous - let's say 80:20. Too bleak in other words. Of course, the humour within it depends on the bleakness, I get that. But given the author's obvious talent for comedy, he would have been better off balancing the two more evenly and then we would have had a modern comedy masterpiece on our hands - and lost none of the social critique in the process. Thomas Mann, for example, was another archdeacon of bleak - in his final novel, Felix Krull, he surprised everyone by delivering a comedy masterpiece. I have no doubt this author, if he returns to the novel-form, could do the same.
If he does so, I also hope he sets himself the challenge of writing a shorter book. I think he could deliver in 40-50,000 words something more effective than he achieves here in double that number. This author went on to write a true masterpiece - All That Man Is - which I reviewed a few months ago. This is a carefully curated set of short stories - and a masterclass in economy and concision. If you're intrigued by Szalay's work, I'd recommend you start there and then return to this one.
March 22, 2023
Paul mieszka pod Londynem ze swoją partnerką i dwójką jej dzieci. Codziennie dojeżdża do metropolii do pracy - jest sprzedawcą, a właściwie akwizytorem. Wciska ludziom ogłoszenie w wątpliwych publikacjach. To praca niezwykle frustrująca, zwłaszcza gdy klient, który przez tydzień albo dłużej planuje podpisanie umowy, nagle rezygnuje. To praca męcząca, dająca spektakularne, ale rzadkie sukcesy. To praca, która może budzić zawiść, poczucie rywalizacji i konflikty. To także praca na tyle stresująca, że po kilku bezowocnych rozmowach trzeba wyjść do pubu na piwo. Albo dwa. Albo trzy. Albo więcej. Paul i jego koledzy palą, piją, zalewają się regularnie, budują swoje życie na kłamstwie. To kłamstwo dominuje w pracy, bo przecież by opchnąć ogłoszenie, trzeba nakadzić, nawymyślać, naobiecywać. To kłamstwo wchodzi w nawyk i w krew. Na nim buduje się relacje w pracy i w domu.
Ciąg dalszy: https://przeczytalamksiazke.blogspot....
Ciąg dalszy: https://przeczytalamksiazke.blogspot....
February 20, 2022
W „Londynie” Davida Szalaya poznajemy Paula – czterdziestoletniego mężczyznę, pracującego w Londynie w branży reklamowej. Praca jest dużą częścią jego życia. Alkohol również. Pewnego dnia dostaje ofertę bardzo dobrej pracy od dawnego znajomego. Nie spodziewa się, jak duży będzie miało to wpływ na jego dalsze życie.
„Londyn” to najdłuższa książka wydawnictwa pauza, jaką miałam okazję czytać. I choć Pauza przyzwyczaiła nas do krótkich książek, to w „Londynie” nie czuć tej objętości. Przez tę książkę się płynie, jest świetnie napisana i przetłumaczona, a co więcej ma bardzo londyński klimat, jest intrygująca i trzyma w napięciu. Bardzo podobały mi się zwroty akcji i rozwiązania fabularne. To bardzo dobra angażująca powieść, serdecznie polecam!
„Londyn” to najdłuższa książka wydawnictwa pauza, jaką miałam okazję czytać. I choć Pauza przyzwyczaiła nas do krótkich książek, to w „Londynie” nie czuć tej objętości. Przez tę książkę się płynie, jest świetnie napisana i przetłumaczona, a co więcej ma bardzo londyński klimat, jest intrygująca i trzyma w napięciu. Bardzo podobały mi się zwroty akcji i rozwiązania fabularne. To bardzo dobra angażująca powieść, serdecznie polecam!
April 1, 2015
I confess I'd never heard of David Szalay when this novel, with its commonplace-yet-odd title and its cover (not the one on the Goodreads page) resembling some recurring nightmare of Martin Parr''s, jumped out at me in my local library. I'm very glad it did. It's a painfully funny, hilariously true account of disappointed, self-deluding, alcoholic male middle-age. Determinedly downbeat, it's nevertheless very sharply observed, and some of the description shimmers, in a determinedly downbeat sort of way. Its subject - a man behaving badly and trying desperately to maintain his wilful lack of self-awareness in the matter - is reminiscent of Kingsley Amis at his best, and it contains at least one description of a hangover as fine as any in "Lucky Jim" or the rest of that writer's output. Unlike Amis, there's no misogyny - in fact, Szalay's characters, male and female, are all treated with a kind of rough compassion, regardless of their very obvious faults. A rare debut, one that coaxes engagement, horrible fascination, and compulsive readability out of ostensibly unpromising, unsympathetic raw material.
August 2, 2022
Ugh, fatalna była to książka, bawiłem się absolutnie źle. XD
Londyn Davida Szalaya to bardzo zdumiewająca pozycja, ale wcale nie z pozytywnych powodów, oj nie, po prostu to, co otrzymaliśmy jest tak dziwaczne, tak niezrozumiałe i tak bezcelowe, że aż trudno mi wyobrazić sobie co autor miał na myśli. Bo spoko, rozumiem wstępny zamysł - pokazujemy życie bohatera w realiach korporacyjnego Londynu na początku lat 2000., snujemy niejaką balladę na temat całości, ale na miłość boską, kto pomyślał, że tworzenie 428 stron na ten temat jest dobrym pomysłem?!
W tej książce nie odnajdziemy nic interesującego, absolutne zero. Główny bohater ewidentnie cierpi na szereg schorzeń psychicznych, nie diagnozuje się i snuje się przez całą książkę, wlokąc za sobą bagaż trudnych emocji, przepełnionych cholerną biernością, nie potrafi podjąć jakiejkolwiek inicjatywy, like ever. Na dodatek, fabuła jest po prostu nieciekawa. Cała książka opiera się na zwolnieniu z pracy, znalezieniu pracy and that's it. Pomimo, że całość jest zgrabnie napisana, czyta się całkiem szybko, tak nie da się tutaj nie zastanawiać się nad tym, co tak naprawdę wynieść z tej powieści. Odpowiedź brzmi: nic. Poza smutnymi opisami życia, problemów, alkoholizmu, korporacji, zdrad, nic wartościowego tutaj nie ma. Nie potrafię nawet wpaść na żadne konstruktywne wnioski.
Wynudziłem się potężnie, poziom irytacji sięgnął zenitu, po prostu nie. Aż chciałoby się rzec, że ta książka idealnie odzwierciedla jej miejsce akcji, taki przynajmniej obraz Wielkiej Brytanii w swojej świadomości.
Plz, unikajcie jak ognia!
Londyn Davida Szalaya to bardzo zdumiewająca pozycja, ale wcale nie z pozytywnych powodów, oj nie, po prostu to, co otrzymaliśmy jest tak dziwaczne, tak niezrozumiałe i tak bezcelowe, że aż trudno mi wyobrazić sobie co autor miał na myśli. Bo spoko, rozumiem wstępny zamysł - pokazujemy życie bohatera w realiach korporacyjnego Londynu na początku lat 2000., snujemy niejaką balladę na temat całości, ale na miłość boską, kto pomyślał, że tworzenie 428 stron na ten temat jest dobrym pomysłem?!
W tej książce nie odnajdziemy nic interesującego, absolutne zero. Główny bohater ewidentnie cierpi na szereg schorzeń psychicznych, nie diagnozuje się i snuje się przez całą książkę, wlokąc za sobą bagaż trudnych emocji, przepełnionych cholerną biernością, nie potrafi podjąć jakiejkolwiek inicjatywy, like ever. Na dodatek, fabuła jest po prostu nieciekawa. Cała książka opiera się na zwolnieniu z pracy, znalezieniu pracy and that's it. Pomimo, że całość jest zgrabnie napisana, czyta się całkiem szybko, tak nie da się tutaj nie zastanawiać się nad tym, co tak naprawdę wynieść z tej powieści. Odpowiedź brzmi: nic. Poza smutnymi opisami życia, problemów, alkoholizmu, korporacji, zdrad, nic wartościowego tutaj nie ma. Nie potrafię nawet wpaść na żadne konstruktywne wnioski.
Wynudziłem się potężnie, poziom irytacji sięgnął zenitu, po prostu nie. Aż chciałoby się rzec, że ta książka idealnie odzwierciedla jej miejsce akcji, taki przynajmniej obraz Wielkiej Brytanii w swojej świadomości.
Plz, unikajcie jak ognia!
January 9, 2017
It's really like a BBC4 drama mini-series. Gray and gritty. Sharp. With a surprising support cast. Pre-breakthrough Olivia Colman as Heather, Mackenzie Crook as Martin. Danny Dyer as Eddy Jaw...
You kind of know the set pieces, the lines are insightful but not too deep. Yet, it all rings true and keeps you gripped until the end. You feel pretty good having caught it. A few years later, the author goes BBC1, gets lot of public acclaim with a new work. But the BBC4 feels like the original.
You kind of know the set pieces, the lines are insightful but not too deep. Yet, it all rings true and keeps you gripped until the end. You feel pretty good having caught it. A few years later, the author goes BBC1, gets lot of public acclaim with a new work. But the BBC4 feels like the original.
May 20, 2016
Almost unstintingly bleak and miserable.
December 8, 2017
I was not familiar with author David Szalay before and discovered him via Instagram. There was a giveaway from the Book Club Cookbook and Grey Wolf Press. Lucky me, I won!
While the writing is sharp this is definitely a downbeat plot. You find yourself feeling very sorry for our main character, Paul Rainey. Can you imagine a career in telemarketing sales for a magazine which, sadly, is only subscribed to by the advertisers. Paul is depressed, drinks and smokes too much and finds little solace at home. He is on a treadmill that never gets him anywhere even though he would love a change in his life.
I thought it may be like The Office, but it wasn’t quite. Real life glimpse of an ordinary middle-aged man drifting along in his unsatisfactory life. The cover grabbed me straight away and so I entered for a chance to win the book.
While the writing is sharp this is definitely a downbeat plot. You find yourself feeling very sorry for our main character, Paul Rainey. Can you imagine a career in telemarketing sales for a magazine which, sadly, is only subscribed to by the advertisers. Paul is depressed, drinks and smokes too much and finds little solace at home. He is on a treadmill that never gets him anywhere even though he would love a change in his life.
I thought it may be like The Office, but it wasn’t quite. Real life glimpse of an ordinary middle-aged man drifting along in his unsatisfactory life. The cover grabbed me straight away and so I entered for a chance to win the book.
January 31, 2023
Ugh.
A sad, miserable story about sad, miserable people. What was the point? Someone described this as funny. You’d need a different sense of humor than mine. I read the first 25% and the last two chapters. Didn’t feel I’d missed much in between. Glad I didn’t waste more time on it.
A sad, miserable story about sad, miserable people. What was the point? Someone described this as funny. You’d need a different sense of humor than mine. I read the first 25% and the last two chapters. Didn’t feel I’d missed much in between. Glad I didn’t waste more time on it.
December 13, 2017
You mix Fargo, Ken Loach and Bicycle Thieves (De Sica film) and you get partof the idea ...oh yeah...you have to add the splendid prose of Mr. Szalay...not so great as All that man is, (somehow losing force in the last 80 pages of the novel), but still a great read, specially if you enjoyed ATMI.
April 8, 2018
3.5 stars, actually. Though I don’t usually enjoy the pathetic male protagonist genre (see, This Is Rich), this novel was well written and hard to put down. Though I did find the ending too unlikely based on all that preceded it.
April 19, 2021
David Szalay is a very good writer. I also recommend All That Man Is.
June 10, 2022
1.5
Ogromne rozczarowanie. Nie wiedziałam po co to czytam, co ta książka miała wnieść do mojego życia i czym w ogóle ta powieść chciała być. Szkoda, bo poprzednia pozycja od tego autora bardzo mi się spodobała.
Ogromne rozczarowanie. Nie wiedziałam po co to czytam, co ta książka miała wnieść do mojego życia i czym w ogóle ta powieść chciała być. Szkoda, bo poprzednia pozycja od tego autora bardzo mi się spodobała.
December 1, 2025
Seriously, seriously impressive. I devoured this believable account of grim work and grimmer domesticity. Pub-based, work-based male acquaintances are superbly realised through painful comedy and schematic skullduggery
The unending tragedy of this story never ceases to be enjoyable. It is absurd, not arresting, but also has things to say about the economy, the corporate metropolis and the division of labour. Also love the scenes in Hounslow!
Rounded up to five stars - the ending could have been tighter, some minor characters could have been better realised, but for a debut this was brilliantly enjoyable and exciting. Can’t wait to read his Booker winner next.
The unending tragedy of this story never ceases to be enjoyable. It is absurd, not arresting, but also has things to say about the economy, the corporate metropolis and the division of labour. Also love the scenes in Hounslow!
Rounded up to five stars - the ending could have been tighter, some minor characters could have been better realised, but for a debut this was brilliantly enjoyable and exciting. Can’t wait to read his Booker winner next.
June 18, 2023
3 stars
December 23, 2017
England may have lost its manufacturing base, but it's still tops in alcoholism and self-loathing!
Bonus: you'll get a lot of, "Oh, when are you going?"s, even after you say it's a novel.
Bonus: you'll get a lot of, "Oh, when are you going?"s, even after you say it's a novel.
July 8, 2019
Certainly a unique novel. Can't think of any other that I have read that is quite as dense and really lacking in any drama or story. I waited for a big ending - which it seemed to be building to wonderfully - and it never quite materialised.
Not that its a bad book - its just about a very ordinary topic. Martin works in Publishing Ad Sales in the City. They work (relatively) hard in the morning but every day, head to the pub and drink the afternoon away. Commute back to from London to Brighton and do the same next day.
Family life is not much better. He's married to Heather. There's a couple of kids that hardly get a mention in the story. Martin fails to support them and life drifts on.
He then gets a potential job offer from a former colleague - Eddie Jaw - and quits. He's meant to bring his team with him. Except the job doesn't materialise.
He is left, middle aged, in an existential crisis about what he wants to do with his life. Can his job go in a different direction? Will he notice what his wife is up to?
At times, the dense prose was amazing and really engaging. At other points, it kind of drifted over me. Either way, things transpire that you think there will be an explosive ending and it will all come to a head.
Talented author and 2nd book I have read. Will be back for more.
Not that its a bad book - its just about a very ordinary topic. Martin works in Publishing Ad Sales in the City. They work (relatively) hard in the morning but every day, head to the pub and drink the afternoon away. Commute back to from London to Brighton and do the same next day.
Family life is not much better. He's married to Heather. There's a couple of kids that hardly get a mention in the story. Martin fails to support them and life drifts on.
He then gets a potential job offer from a former colleague - Eddie Jaw - and quits. He's meant to bring his team with him. Except the job doesn't materialise.
He is left, middle aged, in an existential crisis about what he wants to do with his life. Can his job go in a different direction? Will he notice what his wife is up to?
At times, the dense prose was amazing and really engaging. At other points, it kind of drifted over me. Either way, things transpire that you think there will be an explosive ending and it will all come to a head.
Talented author and 2nd book I have read. Will be back for more.
June 12, 2024
Quite a bleak story. Man has horrible job, loses horrible job, gets a worse one, after much self medicating suffers a breakup, ends up back at the original horrible job. But it was brilliantly hideous and very funny and very unpredictable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2019
A real anti-hero, Paul Rainey. Dead-end, functionally alcoholic, a salesman no longer able to even make the opening pitch. His fumbles through work help illuminate — despite how unrelentingly central to life work so often seems, how unwilling it is to give up its place — just how insignificant it all is, after all. How fragile and feeble, how precarious jobs end up being, and how tentative the friendships that come from them so often are.
And yet, even after his waylaid attempt to find honor and dignity and honest work (through the classic, ascetic route — manual labor), he shows how there is something, after all, in knowing what work on is best suited for, even — especially — when it's not what we desire or think is owed to us.
I loved All That Man Is from a few years back, so it was good to see how Szalay works in an extended mode, and not just the vignettes. A lot more of the same type of topic — meditations on European masculinity in the broadest sense — but rewarding, entertaining, and quite fun.
And yet, even after his waylaid attempt to find honor and dignity and honest work (through the classic, ascetic route — manual labor), he shows how there is something, after all, in knowing what work on is best suited for, even — especially — when it's not what we desire or think is owed to us.
I loved All That Man Is from a few years back, so it was good to see how Szalay works in an extended mode, and not just the vignettes. A lot more of the same type of topic — meditations on European masculinity in the broadest sense — but rewarding, entertaining, and quite fun.
June 24, 2019
This was a mildly amusing but mainly depressing story. Some of the writing, particular phrases and descriptions, were excellent.
November 22, 2017
I loved every page of this sad, sad book.
October 31, 2025
I loved this satire on modern life about a poor media sales manager, Paul who is going through a mid life crisis – He has many problems, a job he hates, a marriage on the rocks, and he is an alcoholic. After losing his job he decides to reassess and considers romantic jobs like gardening, gravedigging, road sweeping before settling for night shift shelf stacking which brings him into a whole new parallel universe – This book is funny, and although Paul is the butt of many jokes in his self-delusion, I never lost sympathy for him. Even after all his plans, when he does some very dodgy things, I was still hoping all would work out and it does, everything comes round full circle proving that the grass is not always greener. There are fabulous descriptions of grungy pubs, bed and breakfasts and filthy seaside hotels. The most shocking thing is that everybody is smoking, toking or drinking all the time - shocking in our smoke free environments now - The pressure of the sales environment and the toll of lying for a living are also well expressed in the macho culture of drinking which is used to help them forget – The difficulty of a career change - even to a lowly job – or one he thinks lowly – even grave diggers need skills and a licence to operate machinery. How disillusioned he is, even by Malcom the road sweeper
‘his estimation of Malcolm had been in free fall for several minutes, and from the height of some sort of holy fool or idiot savant, he had plunged, in that short time , to the level of institutional brown-noser. Stupidly infatuated with the pompous vapidity of management-speak. ‘
Even ties are used for satire and metaphor
‘Paul would have spun all sorts of suspicious scenarios from its silk and polyester mix’...’when he thinks about that day now – and he goes through it with the minute care of a chimp going through another chimp’s hair for nits ‘
Some favourite phrases
‘ a small plastic silence’
‘ They walked down Queens’ Road. In the distance the sea glittered like static on a untuned TV screen
I read the book in 6 days it was so gripping – Planted inside Paul’s head, I could relate to his avoidance tactics, his envy self hatred and delusions
‘his estimation of Malcolm had been in free fall for several minutes, and from the height of some sort of holy fool or idiot savant, he had plunged, in that short time , to the level of institutional brown-noser. Stupidly infatuated with the pompous vapidity of management-speak. ‘
Even ties are used for satire and metaphor
‘Paul would have spun all sorts of suspicious scenarios from its silk and polyester mix’...’when he thinks about that day now – and he goes through it with the minute care of a chimp going through another chimp’s hair for nits ‘
Some favourite phrases
‘ a small plastic silence’
‘ They walked down Queens’ Road. In the distance the sea glittered like static on a untuned TV screen
I read the book in 6 days it was so gripping – Planted inside Paul’s head, I could relate to his avoidance tactics, his envy self hatred and delusions
February 28, 2018
Flaubertian. The author is able to remain objective, and tell the story of Paul, a pale flabby drunk hack salesman who has a sort of self-made midlife crisis, without sentimentality. And yet, he still conveys a sense of humanity in his depiction. That is very very hard to do, and worth 5 stars even if the novel has a few other issues.
I do have a few complaints, and that's his relative lack of character development in everyone else but the main character (although, I do think he paints Heather well, just not fully). If he does that, he will truly be writing classics. And with his last book, All That Man Is, he shows he can embody multiple different male characters in short story form; now he just needs to put it all together.
Also, the whole grocery store sting, seemed to me as an unrealistic part of a very realistic novel. It seems off that a bigger grocery chain would allow store produce managers to order their own product from any supplier, and said manager would somehow pocket any money off the top (in difference in prices between approved suppliers and off the back of the truck type of suppliers). I put myself through college and grad school stocking shelves, and then as a dairy and frozen food manager at a grocery store. There's no way to order anything but from the grocery store warehouse, and no one is pocketing anything if there's a difference but maybe bonuses to the store manager for lack of shrink or waste.
The ending wasnt terribly satisfying, but it was realistic in terms of his relationship with Heather. I am not sure any company would take back someone who stole half their sales team either. But those are minor quibbles of plot, since this is such a realistic look at a sad sack lower middle class salesman.
I do have a few complaints, and that's his relative lack of character development in everyone else but the main character (although, I do think he paints Heather well, just not fully). If he does that, he will truly be writing classics. And with his last book, All That Man Is, he shows he can embody multiple different male characters in short story form; now he just needs to put it all together.
Also, the whole grocery store sting, seemed to me as an unrealistic part of a very realistic novel. It seems off that a bigger grocery chain would allow store produce managers to order their own product from any supplier, and said manager would somehow pocket any money off the top (in difference in prices between approved suppliers and off the back of the truck type of suppliers). I put myself through college and grad school stocking shelves, and then as a dairy and frozen food manager at a grocery store. There's no way to order anything but from the grocery store warehouse, and no one is pocketing anything if there's a difference but maybe bonuses to the store manager for lack of shrink or waste.
The ending wasnt terribly satisfying, but it was realistic in terms of his relationship with Heather. I am not sure any company would take back someone who stole half their sales team either. But those are minor quibbles of plot, since this is such a realistic look at a sad sack lower middle class salesman.
January 20, 2020
The poignant tale of a British man who tries to find happiness when his world falls apart.
Szalay's London and the South-East begins unassumingly on a sales floor in London: white-collar workers are trying to convince businesses to place advertisements in a somewhat fraudulent procurement management journal with no real readers. The main source of tension early on in the narrative is the fact that the antihero, Paul Rainey, despises his job. When Rainey later loses this sales position after burning his bridges, it’s unclear in what direction the story is heading other than into the abyss of unemployment since he refuses to get another job in sales. With a relationship with his partner, Heather, that has cooled, a neighbor who is always coming around and spending time with his Heather, his partner’s somewhat distant children, frequent spliffs smoked, and many glasses of beer drunk, there is plenty that can and does go wrong for Paul before a quiet, satisfying— though somewhat dark—ending for the somewhat changed protagonist.
One distraction from the intrigue: the narrator occasionally uses obscure words like "albescent" and "echoic" that remind us that we are not exactly in the mind of a university graduate who has a pretty mundane vocabulary but a hyperarticulate and invisible force. With that said, the novel still mostly feels like a dive into the mind of a vulnerable, frequently unlikeable, and heavily drugged fortysomething. As in Szalay’s more recent novel All That Man Is, we see many dimensions of a male and his surroundings as he moves between the supermarket, the snooker hall, suburban tract homes in the noisy flightpath of a London airport, a living room couch next to the sea, and other spots in the Southeast of the UK. While the book is laced with profanity and some sex, it primarily feels like a book for mature audiences in the sense that the reader must be prepared to soldier through the boredom and gloom of an adult's life.
Szalay's South-East is a place rendered sharply in all its beautiful banality.
Szalay's London and the South-East begins unassumingly on a sales floor in London: white-collar workers are trying to convince businesses to place advertisements in a somewhat fraudulent procurement management journal with no real readers. The main source of tension early on in the narrative is the fact that the antihero, Paul Rainey, despises his job. When Rainey later loses this sales position after burning his bridges, it’s unclear in what direction the story is heading other than into the abyss of unemployment since he refuses to get another job in sales. With a relationship with his partner, Heather, that has cooled, a neighbor who is always coming around and spending time with his Heather, his partner’s somewhat distant children, frequent spliffs smoked, and many glasses of beer drunk, there is plenty that can and does go wrong for Paul before a quiet, satisfying— though somewhat dark—ending for the somewhat changed protagonist.
One distraction from the intrigue: the narrator occasionally uses obscure words like "albescent" and "echoic" that remind us that we are not exactly in the mind of a university graduate who has a pretty mundane vocabulary but a hyperarticulate and invisible force. With that said, the novel still mostly feels like a dive into the mind of a vulnerable, frequently unlikeable, and heavily drugged fortysomething. As in Szalay’s more recent novel All That Man Is, we see many dimensions of a male and his surroundings as he moves between the supermarket, the snooker hall, suburban tract homes in the noisy flightpath of a London airport, a living room couch next to the sea, and other spots in the Southeast of the UK. While the book is laced with profanity and some sex, it primarily feels like a book for mature audiences in the sense that the reader must be prepared to soldier through the boredom and gloom of an adult's life.
Szalay's South-East is a place rendered sharply in all its beautiful banality.
December 12, 2017
Paul Rainey, the hapless antihero of London and the South-East, works, miserably, in ad sales. He sells space in magazines that hardly exist, and through a fog of booze and drugs dimly perceives that he is dissatisfied with his life – work, sex, weekends, the whole nine yards.
If only there were something he could do about it – and “something” seems to fall into his lap when a meeting with an old friend and fellow salesman, Eddy Jaw, leads to the offer of a new job.
When that offer turns out to be misleading as Paul's own sales patter, however, his life is transformed in ways more peculiar than he ever thought possible. (Description from the publisher – slightly edited.)
When I started reading London and South-East, I thought immediately about the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, and in fact Glengarry Glen Ross is briefly mentioned early in the book. What I really thought, though, as I got into the book was Mad Men: the booze, the cigarettes, and the sexism that permeated Mad Men permeates London and the South-East.
I wanted to give this book a five-star rating, because it is so well written; however London and the South-East is so relentlessly depressing and the characters are so totally unlikable that it was difficult to enjoy. Paul Rainey, the main character, is the most unlikable of all. He is Don Draper without a scintilla of his charisma. Bottom line is that I cannot give this a five-star rating no matter how good the writing is. I enjoy reading whether it's light reading or “important literary works.” It's hard to enjoy reading a book with characters so unlikable and a story so depressing, so I'm reduced to giving it a three-star rating.
If only there were something he could do about it – and “something” seems to fall into his lap when a meeting with an old friend and fellow salesman, Eddy Jaw, leads to the offer of a new job.
When that offer turns out to be misleading as Paul's own sales patter, however, his life is transformed in ways more peculiar than he ever thought possible. (Description from the publisher – slightly edited.)
When I started reading London and South-East, I thought immediately about the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, and in fact Glengarry Glen Ross is briefly mentioned early in the book. What I really thought, though, as I got into the book was Mad Men: the booze, the cigarettes, and the sexism that permeated Mad Men permeates London and the South-East.
I wanted to give this book a five-star rating, because it is so well written; however London and the South-East is so relentlessly depressing and the characters are so totally unlikable that it was difficult to enjoy. Paul Rainey, the main character, is the most unlikable of all. He is Don Draper without a scintilla of his charisma. Bottom line is that I cannot give this a five-star rating no matter how good the writing is. I enjoy reading whether it's light reading or “important literary works.” It's hard to enjoy reading a book with characters so unlikable and a story so depressing, so I'm reduced to giving it a three-star rating.
February 3, 2018
This book has been heavily reviewed, so I don't have any stunning insights to add. For those considering reading this book, I will outline a few things to consider whether you should take the plunge.
Most of the negative reviews center on the downbeat nature of the narrative and the absence of likeable characters. While the plot is depressing and the characters are unlikeable, they do not disqualify this book from greatness. What puzzles me about such criticisms is that nothing about the thumbnail sketch for this book would lead one to believe that this was a feel-good story with relatable characters. So, if you are looking for a piece of cake instead of a slice of life, look elsewhere.
So, if you can get past a relentlessly depressing narrative, is this book worth a read? Yes, in my estimation. Szalay is masterful at dissecting the indignities of everyday life. The unpleasant commute. Dreary, pointless work. Empty consumption of alcohol. Early morning malaise following the consumption of alcohol. The existential crisis of "is that all there is?" The fluid nature of interpersonal relationships, both at home and work. Szalay gives voice to what many of us have experienced whether we want to admit it.
This is 5- star writing with a 4-star plot. Szalay takes pains to make this book as real as possible, which makes several implausible plot points somewhat jarring. These plot twist come later in the book, so they are more of a let-down than a disqualifier.
Most of the negative reviews center on the downbeat nature of the narrative and the absence of likeable characters. While the plot is depressing and the characters are unlikeable, they do not disqualify this book from greatness. What puzzles me about such criticisms is that nothing about the thumbnail sketch for this book would lead one to believe that this was a feel-good story with relatable characters. So, if you are looking for a piece of cake instead of a slice of life, look elsewhere.
So, if you can get past a relentlessly depressing narrative, is this book worth a read? Yes, in my estimation. Szalay is masterful at dissecting the indignities of everyday life. The unpleasant commute. Dreary, pointless work. Empty consumption of alcohol. Early morning malaise following the consumption of alcohol. The existential crisis of "is that all there is?" The fluid nature of interpersonal relationships, both at home and work. Szalay gives voice to what many of us have experienced whether we want to admit it.
This is 5- star writing with a 4-star plot. Szalay takes pains to make this book as real as possible, which makes several implausible plot points somewhat jarring. These plot twist come later in the book, so they are more of a let-down than a disqualifier.
December 30, 2018
The first half of London and the South-East by David Szalay reads like a sadder, pathetic version of Glengarry Glen Ross, just without the verbal pyrotechnics and machismo (though there is some of that too). Paul Rainey is in telesales, managing a team that barely sells anything, for a company that sole purpose is to sell ad space in business and manufacturing publications. His day starts with a 90 minute commute from the Brighton area (Hove, actually, the South-East of the title) to London (the London of the title), he usually starts drinking around noon at the local pub before, before going back after two hours to do more calls, going back to the pub, stumbling home drunk, sometimes blindingly so. When he has an encounter with an old co-worker, he thinks he has a better job offer waiting for him. But a petty grudge messes that up, and Paul is out of work. Thinking he can start again, Paul wants out of sales, but the only job he can land is for the night shift as a shelf stocker at the local Sainsbury courtesy of his smarmy neighbor. Paul is barely holding it together -- his marriage, his sobriety, his self loathing. The characters are desperate and sad, the lot of them. Populating a novel with them is not a bad thing, but it does take its toll. Szalay hints at a redemption arc for Paul, but slyly never delivers on it. Paul is stuck in his life. Work will always be work. Work will always be life. Who can say what it takes to knock him out of his torpor. And by him I mean us.
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