Gull

by Glenn Patterson

It was one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the Troubles in Northern the construction, during the war's most savage phase, of a factory in West Belfast to make a luxury sports car with gull-wing doors. Huge subsidies were provided by the British government. The first car rolled off the line during the appalling hunger strikes of 1981. The prime mover and central character of this intelligent, witty and moving novel was John DeLorean, brilliant engineer, charismatic entrepreneur and world-class conman. He comes to energetic, seductive life through the eyes of his fixer in Belfast, a traumatised Vietnam veteran, and of a woman who takes a job in the factory against the wishes of her husband. Each of them has secrets and desires they dare not share with anyone they know. A great American hustler brought to vivid life in the most unlikely setting imaginable.

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A work of fiction that’s based around a bizarre real-life episode in the late 1970s/early 1980s – the decision by American “businessman” John DeLorean to build a factory in Belfast to produce his ill-fated sports car, which was designed with gull-wing doors. (DeLorean was lured to Belfast by the promise of massive subsidies from the British Government).

The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of two characters. American Edmund Randall is DeLorean’s right-hand man, a sort of all-round fixer and problem solver, and with DeLorean as his boss there is always plenty to keep him occupied. The author manages to keep him as a sympathetic character, someone who means well but who is taken in by DeLorean’s charisma. Meanwhile “Liz” is a Belfast housewife who gets a job at the factory, somewhat against her husband’s wishes. For her, the factory represents independence and an escape from a life of drudgery.

At one point in the book Liz’s husband Robert predicts that the factory will fail, and when Liz challenges him on how he could know, he replies “Because it’s Belfast! It’s what happens here!” I remember the announcement about the DeLorean factory being built, it was quite big news in the UK at the time. I was in my late teens and I recall thinking “Belfast? Is that really going to work?” I think I assumed the factory would end up being bombed, but in the event it was the flawed design of the car that was the problem more than anything that happened in Northern Ireland. It would be exaggerating to say that the book treats DeLorean sympathetically - he is shown as a shameless liar and someone who operates, at best, on the borders of legality – but in this novel he isn’t the outright crook he was generally viewed as. One of the main themes of the book is how the DeLorean factory represented hope. The British Government of the 1970s hope that jobs and money will reduce terrorism, and at one point in the novel the factory’s Catholic workers try to protect it from rioters from within their own community. Ultimately of course, it’s a bittersweet episode in the city’s history.

Overall I enjoyed this. The novel is entertaining and quite funny in parts. I’ve not read Glenn Patterson before, but this novel suggests that he’s a good storyteller. He’s Belfast born-and-based, so has a good feel for the city and its sectarian divide. I might try more of his work in future.

[Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Glenn Patterson, and having enjoyed the majority of his 9 previous novels should really have got to this one a little bit before I did. Having been at the book's launch in January, it has been sitting on my TBR shelf unread, mainly due to my feeling that the subject matter might not work - I needn't have worried, as it proved to be one of my favourite reads of the year.

While the DeLorean is an iconic car, made famous through the Back to the Future trilogy, I'm not sure how many people worldwide are aware of the story of its Genesis, built in a massively government subsidised factory on the outskirts of Belfast by a religiously mixed workforce during a time of massive political turmoil in Northern Ireland, and while I'm too young to remember the details myself, I have heard many stories of the affair, through local documentaries, newspaper features, personal anecdotes from people who worked there and even from fiction set with the factory as a backdrop - both Colin Bateman and Adrian McKity have touched on the story in their fiction. Patterson starts the novel with a note - 'I made this all up, apart from the bits you just couldn't' - before proceeding to tell the story through both the eyes of the management, with the character of Randall, sent by DeLorean to manage the project, and the workforce using the character of Liz, a thirty something housewife from Protestant Seymour Hill who is appointed to a job on the factory floor.

Without going into any detail, the story of the car really is a ludicrous one - the brainchild of a bright young thing in the car industry, aimed at the American market and built basically in the middle of a war zone by a workforce who had no prior experience of car manufacturing. It ultimately ended in failure, as history shows, but the fact that the venture managed to operate at all, which it did successfully for a time, is amazing in itself. Through Randall we get the idea of the complete culture shock of coming to Belfast, combined with the insight into the modus operandi of John DeLorean himself while trying to keep the British government officials happy, while through Liz, we learn of what life was like working in the factory, with the workforce mingling like they would rarely have had the chance to outside the factory gates.

Indeed it was this aspect, in an almost social history side of things, that interested me most, but which I'd imagine might be lost on a lot of non N Irish readers. Patterson has obviously done his research when it comes to those who worked in the factory, and events portrayed are sometimes poignant, occasionally edgy, often hilarious - quite similar to many tales I've heard of life on the floor of many local factories at the time, but perfectly captured. Politics often came through the factory gates, but preconceived ideas were challenged in the factory, as shown through Liz's experiences with her workmates Anto and TC.

Patterson has written some excellent novels about aspects of Belfast's history and has once again come up with the goods in this one - highly recommended.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was between a 3 and 4 star read. The beginning of the novel deals with DeLorean wheeling and dealing to set up his own company, and I found this less interesting. But Patterson, a Belfast native, knows how to convey the history of his city and its people. DeLorean settles on building his "gull-winged" sports car in Northern Ireland, a car most people only know because of the Back to the Future movies. I was pulled in by the story of the factory, its workers, and the early 80's when the Troubles were reaching a high pitch with the hunger strikes. The hunger strikers were Republican paramilitaries interned outside of Belfast. The first, and most well known hunger striker to die, was Bobby Sands.

The DeLorean factory in Dunmurray, on the outskirts of Belfast, employed people from both the Catholic and Protestant communities. This was uncommon at the time. EAch group had separate entrances as the workers came from different directions. Patterson builds interest in the story by developing a few characters in depth. You get the sense that much of the time the Troubles were in the background and only occasionally inconvenient.

Patterson has written several novels that are best described as historical fiction, that focus on Belfast. He is passionate about his subject, and he is an avid researcher. In this book, details of the construction of the car show his skill at inserting details that lend to the history, rather than the fiction, of his stories. Patterson is well known in Northern Ireland, but less so outside of the country. This is likely due to his devotion to recounting history that is more local than global or universal. Nevertheless, for readers interested in Northern Ireland, he is a "must read" novelist.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Setting: USA and Belfast, Northern Ireland; 1970's-1980's.
In America, Edmund Randall is a disillusioned and disoriented journalist sent to cover the launch of the new Chevrolet Vega at the 1972 Chicago Motor Show. Having the temerity to suggest to the General Motors executive presenting the new model - 300 improvements! - that all they had really changed was the bumper, he drew the chagrin of his employers and was moved from autos to real estate. But he also drew the attention of the executive, none other than John Z. DeLorean, who dreams of building a beautiful, gull-wing-doored sports car - and recruits Randall to help him.
After cities and countries bid against each other to host the new DeLorean factory, Randall eventually finds himself in Belfast at the height of The Troubles, trying to forge a steady path for the building and operations of the new plant. Workers from both sectarian camps are employed in the plant but each enter through separate gates. Liz, mother of two teenage boys, is one of those successful at interview and starts work on the assembly lines, despite the opposition of her husband, Robert. Liz and Randall strike up a strange dynamic after they first meet....
The struggles of getting the plant running, keeping production going and keeping the wolves from the door as a change of government from Labour to Margaret Thatcher's Tory Party puts funding under threat is a major theme affecting the characters. But at the heart of it all is the charismatic, yet somewhat naive, kingpin that is John DeLorean who all the other characters really believe in.
This book was quite a different read from many of the books I have read recently and was really enjoyable, even though ultimately a bit inconclusive as regards the two main characters, whose 'endings' I would have loved to have known. I only found this book by browsing in my local library and I was drawn by the cover and then the blurb - glad that I was and will be looking for more from this author - 8.5/10.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compelling and thoroughly enjoyable fictionalised account of the infamous but ultimately doomed DeLorean car has been painstakingly and extensively researched, which gives authenticity to the story and makes it even more fascinating. The enigmatic and intriguing engineer and designer John DeLorean chose a depressed area of Belfast to build his factory, bringing new hope to the people with a wealth of new jobs. Set against the Troubles – the hunger strikes, political unrest and social problems of that era – Patterson deftly weaves fact into his fiction, and by creating some purely fictional characters to work alongside the real-life ones can allow his imagination some creativity in describing what ultimately went wrong whilst at the same time proving that sometimes fact really is stranger than fiction. It’s a really interesting story – all the facts can easily be checked on Wikipedia – and a clever and well-paced novel.

[Mary Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a novel based on the establishment and ultimate failure of The DeLorean production facility in Belfast in the early eighties.
It is an entertaining and informed book, and even manages to remain fairly nonjudgemental. The fill in, is, the author stresses, fiction, but it provides a fascinating insight into the mismatch of a maverick’s incomplete dream concept with the desperation of a government for investment.
Edmund Randall, the advance scout who stays until the death, is perhaps the most attractive and convincing of all Glenn Patterson’s characters ever.
Do read this, it is a great book. Full marks, even though the ending was my least favourite part.

[Mary Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edmund Randall is Delorean's man in Belfast. He is called into meetings as and when it suits Delorean and picks up bits and pieces of information from government sources. This is a delight to read with some very funny comments from the workers perspectives. This book is all about how some people can be fooled some of the time.

[David Kenvyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

For anyone who remembers the De Lorean fiasco, this is an essential read. It is a novel, not a historical account of what happened, and that does mean that at least some of the story is invented because some of the characters are the products of the author's imagination. I do not even know if there was someone called Edmund Randall, who is the protagonist. I have not bothered to check, because it would not add anything to the novel to find out if he is real or not. In the novel, it is Edmund Randall, a motor journalist, who sets John Z. De Lorean to thinking about a truly innovative car simply by asking a question about the car that De Lorean was trying to sell to the American public. Whether this is true or not, I do not know and I can think of even less reason to care. That is part of the joy of this book. It carries you along with the story that the author wishes to tell. It is, of course, a true story but it is told as Glenn Patterson wishes to tell it, and that is as an historical romp with consequences.

There are a hell of a lot of egos at play in this book. The first is that of John Z De Lorean himself, a visionary, and a charlatan. The second is Margaret Thatcher, convinced that she was right and that there was no alternative. Then there is Bobby Sands, convinced to the point of death in the Irish Republican cause. The only one of these three that is an actual character in the book is De Lorean himself. Thatcher is once on the end of a telephone and Bobby Sands is a brooding presence in prison. The three of them, however, dominate the book because it is their actions that determine the fate of the De Lorean car and therefore the Belfast factory. Everyone else is by comparison a pawn in a game that is driven by ideology, finance and sheer bloody stubbornness.

There are some nasty characters in this book. Of course, there are the gunman, everywhere, but lurking in the shadows. We never get to meet them, but we know they are there because we do get to meet the armoured police, the security guards and we feel the fear. And then there is the Conservative MP, Nicholas Winterton, who makes a damaging comment, because of his ideological opposition to state intervention. [I admit that I have always had a particular dislike of this man because of his vehement opposition to imposing sanctions against apartheid South Africa, and his intervention in the De Lorean case only confirms me in my opinion of the man].

Amidst all this politicking there are ordinary people, like Liz and Robert and their two boys, trying to make lives for themselves in such a difficult situation. There is TC, who wants to become s supervisor and who is taking his City and Guilds exams. There is Anto, who is a good solid trade unionist, and June, who is having an affair or two, while her fiance is on the rigs. These are ordinary people, working at or connected to the De Lorean factory, and whose lives are dependent upon the successful manufacture of a new, revolutionary car. These are the people who you feel for. These are the victims of the machinations of the financiers, of the government and of their own history.

Glenn Patterson leads his readers through all the complexities of this plot with great skill. He makes sure that you are aware of the historical developments while concentrating on the lives of his protagonists, particularly Edmund Randall and Liz. He tells his tale with a skill and compassion, and even manages to make us feel sorry for De Lorean himself. That, in itself, is an achievement.

This is not a history of the De Lorean company. It is not a history of Northern Ireland during the troubles. But it gives you a feel for the time and for a lost opportunity. For that reason alone, this book is worth reading.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Gull' began life as a play, and it shows. This reads a lot like a novelization of a script, in that dialogue (often witty and memorable) takes the lead over other concerns. As a fictionalised account of the rise and fall of DeLorean, it's quite readable but it lacks an emotional centre - none of the relationships go quite far enough and none of the characters stay in the mind. However, the novel does give a strong sense of Belfast and its people and I was impressed by its handling of the hunger strikes and violence that loomed so large in this era. There's a determination to make the city (and Northern Ireland) much more than what mainland Brits saw on the news. I was also amused to see that the description of Botanic Avenue in 1981 was a pretty accurate account of what I saw there in 2023, albeit with a few more coffee shops and a few more posh students milling about. A diverting read but it probably won't be a memorable one.

[Stuart Haining · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10 24% I really enjoyed this gentle meander through the birth, death and intrigue around the infamous Northern Ireland Supercar. It all felt very real, no idea how much is really fiction vs true fact woven into a good yarn well told -much of it tallied with what I’d read about DeLorean though. I liked the fact the author didn’t dwell on the unsavoury ending mired by drug allegations and misappropriated funds but instead told the tale of a man with a vision that became infectious, and what’s wrong with that? It may not have been a great car vs say Tesla, or a great investment like Google, but this crazy tale may have helped herald in peace in Northern Ireland which makes it a truly great deal and legacy. Worth reading whether you like cars or not!

[Jazz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too mixed up - didn't finish it. Also, Only problem....is with Amazon. Have they now such a mammoth share of the market that they've become complacent? Whether reading a Kindle or listening to a audiobook, if a few days lapse, how are you supposed to remember who such a character is? I keep a notebook to remember the List of Characters myself so I'll remember. A list of characters should automatically be supplied with every ebook and audiobook!

[Nicole Mcclure · Rating 4 out of 5]

As he always does, Patterson manages to position the ordinary and the extraordinary in perfect concert with one another. The wild story of John DeLorean fits perfectly inside the nest of the Troubles. What Patterson does so well is to remind us well of the real lives in Belfast and the ways in which it’s inhabitants normalized the violence all around them. Not as deep into the Troubles as some of his other novels, but devastating and fun all at the same time.

[T H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take/insight into Delorean fiasco
Never knew DMC had separate entrances for RCs and Prods. Never knew of the effect of Hunger Strike--Or I hve forgotten.
So disappointing but so predictable

[John Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather odd book. As a novel, chronicling the start and demise of the DeLorean car company, and not much else, the scope seems limited.

[James Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fictionalised account of the De Lorean saga at Dunmurry. I found it a bit trashy but interesting nonetheless.

[Joanne Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a great book. With an unexpected storyline. Loved reading it!

[Heather P · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on a real piece of history!

[Jane (aka Paddy's Muvver) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Elite Group · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of the iconic car from “Back to the Future”

This is the story of the DeLorean motor car, the DMC-12, which was so iconic in Robert Zemeckis’s “Back to the Future” series, starring Michael J Fox. The author, Glenn Patterson states at the beginning of this book that he “made this all up, apart from the bits you just couldn’t”.

Edmund Randall, a journalist with the Daily News, attends the 1972 Chicago Auto Show, which features the launch of the 1973 Chevrolet Vega. The head of General Motors’ Chevrolet Division, John Z DeLorean, tells the gathered press members that there are three hundred improvements on the new ’73 Vega. In the following Q & A session Randall naïvely states that the only difference he can see from the previous model is the depth of the bumper. So begins a relationship that will carry both men into a high-octane, nail-biting journey, ultimately ending in disaster.

John Z DeLorean (Z for Zachary not Zorro!) was a larger-than-life automobile man, whose ideas and sheer enthusiasm carried him into unlikely situations. His idea for the DeLorean DMC-12 was that it should have a stainless steel body and distinctive gull-like doors. The number 12 stood for the price he intended to bring to market, i.e. $12,000, within the budget of two-thirds of US households.

A lot of things that were out of DeLorean’s control contributed to his downfall. Just 9,200 cars were produced compared to the original estimate of 30,000 per year, and after only two years, production was ceased in 1983. Despite this, the name of DeLorean and the car itself retains an air of mystery and still attracts more attention than some of the well-known supercars of the present.

My only slight criticism of this book is that I found that quite a few of the sentences were over-complicated and too long. I found that before I got to the end of them I had lost the flow and rhythm and had to re-read them.

Despite this, the book is well worth reading if only to be reminded of the genius – perhaps flawed – of John Z DeLorean.

Sméagol

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

[Karel-Willem Delrue · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.cuttingedge.be/telex/britlit

Een waarlijk bijzondere wagen

"That's what you would want: your car in a movie. Can you imagine the sales from that?"

Gull vertelt het verhaal van een waarlijk bijzondere wagen: de DeLorean DMC-12, de iconische wagen die bekend werd dankzij Doc Brown in Back to the Future. De titel van de roman verwijst naar de manier waarop de portieren openklappen. Als meeuwenvleugels.

De vertelling is knap ingebed in een goed gedocumenteerd tijdsbeeld van Ierland begin jaren 80. De excentrieke DeLorean laat in 18 maanden tijd een autofabriek bouwen in de buurt van Belfast, midden in de Troubles en zomaar tussen de koeienvlaaien. Op die manier slaagt Patterson erin de Ierse volksaard bloot te leggen: de Ieren weten immers wat het is om zich te verzetten.

Het duurt een aantal pagina's voor de auteur het juiste ritme te pakken krijgt: aanvankelijk lijkt het wel alsof de lezer net als DeLorean zelf moet worstelen en moet zoeken om te kunnen bouwen, maar eenmaal het verhaal van Randall samenvalt met dat van Liz, krijgen de zinnen vaart en wordt het proza vlot en stijlvol. Bovendien is het boek doordrongen van de eigenzinnige humor waar de Britten een patent op hebben. Zo verhuist de firma Xerox niet. Ze kopieert zichzelf naar de overkant van de straat.

De kern van deze roman is echter de ontluikende, aftastende liefde tussen de nuchtere Randall, die dankzij een intuïtieve 'bullshit detector' een hoge functie in het bedrijf van DeLorean verwerft en de stereotiepe huisvrouw Liz, die verrassend genoeg geselecteerd wordt na een gênant sollicitatiegesprek.

Gull kiest een unieke invalshoek om een verhaal te vertellen over wagens, over extravagante ondernemers en over de manier waarop mensen omgaan met ongemakkelijke situaties. En dat met een flegmatieke nuchterheid die alleen door een Brit onder woorden kan worden gebracht.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book from Goodread's First Reads competition

Gull is the story of the famous, and perhaps infamous, DeLorean car set against the backdrop of a troubled Ireland. From the point of view of Edmund Randall, a seeming jobsworth who is moved to Belfast to watch the factory, we follow DeLorean and his dream from first conception, birth and inevitable death.

I'll qualify this by saying I know nothing about cars at all and, shame faced as I am, not a lot about Ireland's troubles. For these reasons the plot was often a little hard to follow, I think there were a lot of names I was supposed to recognize but didn't and this tarnished my enjoyment somewhat. Perhaps a little bit more detail would have helped, as Patterson's style is sparse and quick paced. Or perhaps a reader with more prior knowledge would be able to speed along with the plot and get more out of it.

Patterson's pace is consistent, though fast, and you're drawn along as much as the people of Belfast were in DeLorean's dream. His development of Edmund Randall is good, showing us his family and past jobs to create the image of a man very much floating on the outskirts of society. DeLorean is cast as an initially loveable but eventually irritating scamp who draws people in with his charisma but lets them down with his bad book keeping.

Overall a well written novel that someone with more knowledge would get a lot more out of. Those interested in the DeLorean should definitely stick this on their to read shelves!

[Keith Currie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific title! Is it a verb or is it a noun? Referring of course to the famous gull wing doors of the DeLorean car, the verb ‘to gull’ means to deceive or to defraud, while the noun refers to someone who has been fooled or conned. So which is it? The Guardian has no doubt. Google John DeLorean and read his obituary which carries the headline: American carmaker and conman.

Glenn Patterson is not so sure. In his fictional reconstruction of the DeLorean dream turned debacle, DeLorean is more visionary carmaker and his factory in Dunmurry lying between Republican Twinbrook and Loyalist Seymour Hill provides a dream of hope, which ultimately proves to be a mirage. But whose is the fault – a devious and calculating John DeLorean or a cynical and unimaginative British government? Much of the pleasure in reading this excellent novel is attempting to reconcile the stories and myths surrounding this extraordinary man. To read the novel alongside the Guardian obituary mentioned above is to compare black with white, but fascinating and thought-provoking all the same.

In addition, for anyone of a certain age from Northern Ireland, the narrative restores old memories, some affectionate – Knights’ Record Library on Botanic Avenue - others more the stuff of nightmare. No matter about the imperfections of Northern Ireland today, Patterson’s book is a timely reminder of how bad they once were.

[Pingvingirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of loved this. I tend to avoid local literature and hadn't read any Glenn Patterson before (although I have heard him speak/teach and been impressed in the past). I couldn't resist the DeLorean story, especially when I saw a friend comment on Facebook about the author's note at the beginning: "I made this all up, apart from the bits you just couldn't." I would love to know which were which. There was an insider/outsider viewpoint between the American in charge of the DeLorean factory and the Belfast workers in it. It's almost hard to describe the sense of the DeLorean fairy tale (for as long as it lasted) against the bleakness of early 1980s Northern Ireland. I can't distinguish the fact from the fiction in the novel- and I think that's a pretty good endorsement. It's stayed with me more than most of my holiday reads (less than 2 weeks on, admittedly). Definitely recommend.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I entered the giveaway for this as I love the Delorean in 'Back to the Future' and I wanted to find out more about the car. I love the way that fact and fiction are entwined in this well-written book. It has made me want to read about the history and real facts surrounding the creation of the car. I am about two thirds of the way through and finding it an excellent read.

[Eileen Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fictional account of John DeLorean and his iconic "Gull Wing" car.
This is an imagined tale of his life as a con man entrepreneur and and of people who know him, as well as the Troubles in Northern Ireland where his factory was based.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Head of Zeus via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

l received this book for free thanks to Goodreads Firstreads giveaway

Oh dear. l tried l really tried but l could not get into the book. l am not a car fanatic which did not help. l'm sorry to have to admit that l gave up after reading only 1/3 of the book.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about DeLorean cars and the installation in Northern Ireland. It was interesting reading about some of the tensions and troubles from an American but I felt the jumping about between main characters meant the book was rather stoccato and didn't flow smoothly.

[Mr Christopher Flack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another stunner...

Mr Patterson does it again, taking a well known story and turning out a superb piece of fiction. Could probably drop the sex bits mind. Its hard to read that in a Belfast accent.

[Mahatma Coate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fanciful and implausible interpretation events, consequently no real flow to the book.