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What Happens Now
Winter, 1981, and fifteen-year-old Alistair Black is wrestling with the fierce power of his imagination. The boundaries between what is real and what is fantasy are dissolving to increasingly dangerous effect. And then he falls in love with Alice . . . WHAT HAPPENS NOW is a mesmerizing story about love, fear and faith. Atmospheric, suspenseful and spiked with black humour, it confirms Jeremy Dyson as one of the most exciting and original writers of his generation.
311 pages, Paperback
First published April 6, 2006
12 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Dyson
36 books52 followersJeremy Dyson is an English screenwriter and, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, a participant in The League of Gentlemen. He has also created and co-wrote the popular west-end show Ghost Stories.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 27, 2011
Painful, tragic and compulsive reading. A slow start admittedly, but the sense of ease at first is perhaps what makes the conclusion all the more shocking.
February 9, 2013
That Jeremy Dyson is being published by smaller companies like Abacus and Canongate, rather than heavy-hitters like Simon & Schuster or even Penguin, is baffling to me. As far as I'm concerned, he's a master-class storyteller, with a beautiful, readable style and engaging tales to tell.
What Happens Now is the first novel I've read from Dyson (I'm counting The Haunted Book as a collection of stories rather than the long story it really is), and I couldn't read it fast enough. He built a full-fleshed world without too much detail, and created real characters who we understand through their reactions (and inactions) more often than their actions. I believe this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's all I can do to keep from reading it again right now.
What Happens Now is the first novel I've read from Dyson (I'm counting The Haunted Book as a collection of stories rather than the long story it really is), and I couldn't read it fast enough. He built a full-fleshed world without too much detail, and created real characters who we understand through their reactions (and inactions) more often than their actions. I believe this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's all I can do to keep from reading it again right now.
January 11, 2019
What really struck me about this story was how it was told.
I had just read a few stories just before this written so poetically, carefully, thoughtfully - this felt like the exact opposite of that... and it was probably why it was so effective.
The whole thing felt like the writer was clawing out the story from his memory onto words. It was long, difficult and unrewarding at times. As if a person was recounting their past but being really specific of details that you might not care for, but it matters to them that we know about it // sort of thing.
It's an honest and sensitive book and I feel like many more teenagers and young adults should give this book a go.
I had just read a few stories just before this written so poetically, carefully, thoughtfully - this felt like the exact opposite of that... and it was probably why it was so effective.
The whole thing felt like the writer was clawing out the story from his memory onto words. It was long, difficult and unrewarding at times. As if a person was recounting their past but being really specific of details that you might not care for, but it matters to them that we know about it // sort of thing.
It's an honest and sensitive book and I feel like many more teenagers and young adults should give this book a go.
August 2, 2007
I prefer his short stories, but this is very readable.
April 20, 2020
How unpredictable the turns of this tale were. With twists lurking at every corner, it became evident that one couldn't trust what you read; which made a wonderfully refreshing change from the asphyxiatingly predictable, banal literature out there. Thank God for Dyson and his dark, raw writing.
February 20, 2012
Jeremy Dyson is one of the co-creators of The League of Gentlemen, although you won't have seen him on screen because he's the mysterious non-acting one. As you might expect, then, What Happens Now opens with a comically sinister scene in which a relatively mundane event terrifies a child. It's an excellent beginning, and establishes a recurring theme of the book: childhood fears of, on the face of it, relatively minor incidents having a long-lasting psychological impact well into the adult lives of Dyson's characters.
This aspect of Dyson's work reminds me a little bit of Jonathan Coe, who happens to be one of my all-time favourite authors. Coe's characters are often haunted by shadowy recollections of childhood trauma, sometimes in ways even they don't fully understand, and as Dyson's story unfolds, it's clear that Alistair Black and Alice Zealand, who once acted together as teenagers in a TV drama, have been irrevocably affected by their experience. The question is, why?
One of the beautiful things about Jonathan Coe's work is the exquisitely-meshed perfection with which every delicate cog of his stories has slotted elegantly into place by the time his books end, and I have to say that Dyson doesn't quite achieve this. Mysteries are mostly cleared up, but things to which considerable time is devoted in the novel are not what I would call properly resolved, or prove to be simply less significant than expected. In this kind of novel, this just makes them seem superfluous, perhaps a little self-indulgent on the author's part. I wanted to find out more about certain aspects of Alistair's life, for instance, and Alice's on-off relationship, as an adult, with a celebrated young artist simply didn't have enough background or connection to the rest of the story beyond serving as a fairly heavy-handed illustration of her apparently inability to commit. One or two characters are also a little overdone: Steve, the cocky co-star opposite whom Alistair and Alice act as teenagers has been cranked up just a couple of notches too high, so a pivotal event involving all three didn't chill me quite as much as it probably should have done simply because I couldn't really believe in Steve as a character.
However, that's not to say What Happens Now isn't an immensely engaging and often fascinating read, and nervous, shy, perpetually embarrassed Alistair Black, with his ever-increasing neuroses, is an entirely believable and largely sympathetic character - which makes the novel's conclusion all the more affecting. What Happens Now is a novel full of misfortunes and misunderstandings, some trivial and some devastating, with an oddly wistful but always unsettling undertone.
This aspect of Dyson's work reminds me a little bit of Jonathan Coe, who happens to be one of my all-time favourite authors. Coe's characters are often haunted by shadowy recollections of childhood trauma, sometimes in ways even they don't fully understand, and as Dyson's story unfolds, it's clear that Alistair Black and Alice Zealand, who once acted together as teenagers in a TV drama, have been irrevocably affected by their experience. The question is, why?
One of the beautiful things about Jonathan Coe's work is the exquisitely-meshed perfection with which every delicate cog of his stories has slotted elegantly into place by the time his books end, and I have to say that Dyson doesn't quite achieve this. Mysteries are mostly cleared up, but things to which considerable time is devoted in the novel are not what I would call properly resolved, or prove to be simply less significant than expected. In this kind of novel, this just makes them seem superfluous, perhaps a little self-indulgent on the author's part. I wanted to find out more about certain aspects of Alistair's life, for instance, and Alice's on-off relationship, as an adult, with a celebrated young artist simply didn't have enough background or connection to the rest of the story beyond serving as a fairly heavy-handed illustration of her apparently inability to commit. One or two characters are also a little overdone: Steve, the cocky co-star opposite whom Alistair and Alice act as teenagers has been cranked up just a couple of notches too high, so a pivotal event involving all three didn't chill me quite as much as it probably should have done simply because I couldn't really believe in Steve as a character.
However, that's not to say What Happens Now isn't an immensely engaging and often fascinating read, and nervous, shy, perpetually embarrassed Alistair Black, with his ever-increasing neuroses, is an entirely believable and largely sympathetic character - which makes the novel's conclusion all the more affecting. What Happens Now is a novel full of misfortunes and misunderstandings, some trivial and some devastating, with an oddly wistful but always unsettling undertone.
February 20, 2012
Last year I enjoyed Jeremy Dyson’s off-kilter, Roald-Dahl-gone-extra-bad visions in the short story collection ‘Never Trust a Rabbit’. I’d been intending to read more by him when I got the chance, so this year I snapped up his novel at the library.
With parts set in the 1980s, and hopping back and forth to the present day, ‘What Happens Now’ took a little while to get going, but that seemed to be a deliberate method to ease the reader into the inner worlds of screwed up minds and early teenage heartache. Once I got into the flow it really drew me in as I tried to figure out how the threads in each chapter wove together. When the devastating revelation is reached it felt like suddenly being at the top of a high roller coaster, and we’re sent into very painful freefall as all the chapters suddenly knit together.
The mystery of a terrible event and who it happens to, and who instigates it, is what kept me gripped from start to finish. A sense of unease vibrates beneath apparently innocent teenage ‘growing up’ and our reactions to it are left for us to figure out along the way. There’s also the bigger question of reality at stake. Is reality only what we make of it? Does God create others who dream like he does? These mysteries make this a bigger story, a more universe- encompassing, morally questioning and curiously spiritual story, than it first appears. Given the era and it actually felt like a more upsetting version of Richard Ayoade’s film, ‘Submarine’, in fact. That’s purely in the era, not the story.
Jeremy Dyson is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers and I’m very glad to have another book of short stories by him on the shelf all ready to go.
SPOILERS BELOW!
In an earlier review of the ‘Kite Runner’ I compared the themes in that book with ‘What Happens Now’ and it’s very interesting how the two authors dealt with something as traumatic as rape and betrayal. I mean, hopefully this event is still very shocking to most readers, and I felt that the way it’s dealt with in ‘WHN’ keeps it clear of melodramatic cliche. It helps that there’s a sympathetic protagonist who makes a roundabout, somewhat surreal attempt at redemption. There’s also more insight into the victim themselves, which provides much needed balance and insight into the effects of this violent act. ‘The Kite Runner’s’ attempts at a similar redemption seemed comparatively hamfisted and rather one note, although of course the act is just as shocking. For this reason I still prefer Jeremy Dyson’s approach, and after reading ‘WHN’ I felt much more moved and quite deeply affected.
With parts set in the 1980s, and hopping back and forth to the present day, ‘What Happens Now’ took a little while to get going, but that seemed to be a deliberate method to ease the reader into the inner worlds of screwed up minds and early teenage heartache. Once I got into the flow it really drew me in as I tried to figure out how the threads in each chapter wove together. When the devastating revelation is reached it felt like suddenly being at the top of a high roller coaster, and we’re sent into very painful freefall as all the chapters suddenly knit together.
The mystery of a terrible event and who it happens to, and who instigates it, is what kept me gripped from start to finish. A sense of unease vibrates beneath apparently innocent teenage ‘growing up’ and our reactions to it are left for us to figure out along the way. There’s also the bigger question of reality at stake. Is reality only what we make of it? Does God create others who dream like he does? These mysteries make this a bigger story, a more universe- encompassing, morally questioning and curiously spiritual story, than it first appears. Given the era and it actually felt like a more upsetting version of Richard Ayoade’s film, ‘Submarine’, in fact. That’s purely in the era, not the story.
Jeremy Dyson is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers and I’m very glad to have another book of short stories by him on the shelf all ready to go.
SPOILERS BELOW!
In an earlier review of the ‘Kite Runner’ I compared the themes in that book with ‘What Happens Now’ and it’s very interesting how the two authors dealt with something as traumatic as rape and betrayal. I mean, hopefully this event is still very shocking to most readers, and I felt that the way it’s dealt with in ‘WHN’ keeps it clear of melodramatic cliche. It helps that there’s a sympathetic protagonist who makes a roundabout, somewhat surreal attempt at redemption. There’s also more insight into the victim themselves, which provides much needed balance and insight into the effects of this violent act. ‘The Kite Runner’s’ attempts at a similar redemption seemed comparatively hamfisted and rather one note, although of course the act is just as shocking. For this reason I still prefer Jeremy Dyson’s approach, and after reading ‘WHN’ I felt much more moved and quite deeply affected.
December 16, 2010
Ok: so it wasn't terrible, really. However, I did feel like I was reading a book for teenagers (something like Junk by Marvin Whatever or Judy Blume) rather than adults, which suggests to me that he has the tone of this book all wrong. The plot itself was interesting, although the twist was hardly twisting at all and the ending felt like the worst type of cliche. Apart from the main character (who is never fully explained - does he have some mental problems or what?) everyone else felt awfully 2D.
Actually, the more I review this novel the less I like it. I'm going to stop now before I condemn it into the ground.
Actually, the more I review this novel the less I like it. I'm going to stop now before I condemn it into the ground.
May 29, 2013
This Book is absolutely NOTHING like it seems from its cover. When I first began reading it I thought it was going to be immature, but after the first 70 pages the book takes a completely different turn. It's actaully very dark and confusing atsome times but it's worth reading. The events that occur when Alistair and Allison are 15 effect them for the rest of their lives and you get to see that in this book. To me the book really exemplifies how the decisions you make in your adolosecents define you as you grow which is both strange and unfortunate. Howevever, this novel also illustrates the strength it takes for a person to overcome their scars from the past.
August 2, 2014
I must confess that I bought this book expecting it to be something very different to the book I read.
Saying that though, I really enjoyed this coming of age tale. Both of the main characters are very well written and the hook of finding out why they are both damaged people in the future is a good one.
This is a story about consequences, a story of what people may become following something dark and terrible happening to them.
Like I said, not what I was expecting but damn fine all the same.
This is a read worth checking out. I'm glad that I did.
Saying that though, I really enjoyed this coming of age tale. Both of the main characters are very well written and the hook of finding out why they are both damaged people in the future is a good one.
This is a story about consequences, a story of what people may become following something dark and terrible happening to them.
Like I said, not what I was expecting but damn fine all the same.
This is a read worth checking out. I'm glad that I did.
January 15, 2012
Liked this until about two thirds of the way through where the author seemed to run out of ideas. Heavily influenced by early Ian McEwan (especially "The Cement Garden") but with an even more surreal edge. I think he's a better short story writer than a novelist
June 1, 2011
Couldn't get into it :(
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews