Disbanded Kingdom

by Polis Loizou

Twenty-two-year-old Oscar is a lost cause. He roams central London, looking for love and distraction. But this isn’t quite Bright Lights, Big City: Oscar is gay but feels disconnected from London’s gay scene. He is naive and rootless, an emotionally stunted young man who lives in upscale Kensington with his foster mother, novelist Charlotte Fontaine.

But all of this changes when Oscar meets Tim, Charlotte’s thirty-something literary agent with whom he becomes hopelessly infatuated. While he struggles to understand Tim’s politics and his rejection of religion, Oscar’s developing friendship with Tim affects a profound change in the young man, making him want to understand the world and his place in it.

DISBANDED KINGDOM is a brilliantly written 21st Century coming-of-age story, set against the emotive backdrop of the United Kingdom’s breakaway from the European Union and its threatened rupture with Scotland.

Genres: LGBT, Fiction

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

A Cyprus-born, UK-based writer and performer working across various disciplines.

His debut novel, ‘Disbanded Kingdom’, was published in 2018 and long-listed for the Polari First Book Prize. His second novel, ‘The Way It Breaks’, is set in his motherland of Cyprus, as is ‘A Good Year’, a queer historical novella inspired by local horror folklore.

Polis is also one third of the award-winning fringe theatre troupe The Off-Off-Off-Broadway Company, as well as a performer of folk tales.

Reviews

[Paula Bardell-Hedley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matthew Janney, The Culture Trip's UK Books Editor, wrote a timely piece earlier this year on the subject of Brexit literature, in which he described it as a new genre “reminiscent of classical 20th-century dystopian fiction”, but one that aimed to “narrativize the turbulent fallout of the [United Kingdom's] 2016 referendum.” He saw this “volatile source of material” as an unending wellspring of inspiration, and suggested with conviction: “This is a space that fiction can own.”

Certainly the referendum on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union has been hugely divisive, with families and friends falling out over the pros and cons of leaving. There does also appear to be a new “era-defining” fiction emerging from the chaos. In his article, Janney quotes briefly from Ali Smith's Autumn, a book described by The Guardian as being the “first post-Brexit novel”. These few sentences bear repeating:

“All across the country, people felt it was the wrong thing. All across the country, people felt it was the right thing. All across the country, people felt they'd really lost. All across the country, people felt they'd really won. All across the country, people felt they'd done the right thing and other people had done the wrong thing...“

Disbanded Kingdom is a dispiriting coming-of-age story set against the emotive backdrop of the UK’s breakaway from the EU and its prospective split with Scotland. Oscar, its 22-year-old protagonist is an introspective man-child living in upscale Kensington with his doting foster mother Charlotte Fontaine, a highly successful writer of cheesy romance novels. He is the definitive 'poor little rich kid', qualified for nothing – there's little incentive to work when one's bank balance is regularly and unquestioningly replenished. Between meeting female friends in fashionable cafes and getting drunk at all-nighters, his days are spent roaming the streets of London and riding to nowhere in particular on the Tube.

Oscar does at least have some redeeming qualities: he's bright, kind-hearted and inquisitive. After breaking up with his boyfriend and sinking into a melancholic lethargy, he starts questioning his place in the world. He is at his lowest ebb when he first meets (and is instantly attracted to) Tim, Charlotte's thirty-something literary agent, a witty, politicized northerner with whom he shares a sense of the absurd. Although he often struggles to understand the older man's views on class and his rejection of religion, their friendship changes his perceptions of life and galvanizes him into rethinking his future.

The characters are able to express their polarized views on issues such as Brexit, immigration and Scottish devolution in set pieces – generally as they sit around a dinner table. Heated discussion is followed by awkward silence; a situation maddeningly familiar to most of us these days. Not since the English Civil War have we been so at odds with each other, and the author perfectly captures the all too real tensions between narrow conservatism and open-minded liberalism in an informal environment.

Disbanded Kingdom has arrived at the height of Brexit anxiety in the UK and is depressingly 'on the button'. However, after finishing the novel I was left with a slight hope the younger generations may have the gumption and good sense to move on from this monumental muddle of our own making.

Polis Loizou was born and raised in Cyprus, but now lives in South London. He is a co-founder of London’s Off-Off-Off Broadway Company, which primarily performs his plays, and has enjoyed a series of successes since its first hit at the Buxton Fringe in 2009. His work has been featured in The Stockholm Review of Literature, Liars’ League NYC and Litro Magazine. Disbanded Kingdom is his first published novel.

Brexit is a phrase coined in 2012. It is an abbreviation of “British exit.”

Many thanks to Cloud Lodge Books for providing an advance review copy of this title.

[Andrew Chidzey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m unsure how I feel about this novel...it may take some time before I can truly rate it and assess its impact. I picked this up whilst in London at Waterstones on Piccadilly Circus attracted by the cover and the intrigue of a story of a man similar to my age traversing London as I was doing at the time. In many respects I can relate to Oscar and also some of the events of his life and in that way the book resonated with me however I was also frustrated with the writers prose. It seemed to be written with no real structure and read like a collection of Oscars thoughts rather than a proper novel - perhaps a reflection this is his first novel after a series of short stories. An interesting read and one that has perhaps raised more questions for me than answers.

[Martyn Sanderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

so stunningly written but jesus christ so unbelievably dull

[Sadie Seroxcat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enoyed this novel. The author's writing style is very descriptive, in the sense that you can definitely tell that he works in the theatre, at times the scene is given in a manner akin to stage direction, but I liked this sense of detailed scene setting and the way his descriptions fit with the mental state of the main character, Oscar, and the somewhat drifting, disjointed sense given of a specific place and time. Oscar is 22. He is a curious mixture, at once privileged - white, male, well educated and financially secure - while also at sea, depressed, unemployed, directionless and suffering from feelings of abandonment and unease - adopted, unsure about his place in both family and society, gay yet feeling ill fitted to the gay culture of the city and also like a square peg in a round hole around both his own friends and his adoptive mother's friends. He is sinking into a dark, dissociative mental state, pulling away from those closest to him, mourning the end of his first relationship and the boy who left him to go to Tokyo (couldn't distance himself much more than that), wondering more and more about the identity of his birth mother, the circumstances of her life which led to her abandoning him as she did, growing apart from his formerly close relationship with the woman who adopted him, finding himself opposing the political stance of family and friends, questioning his own privilege (by fortune of adoption), feeling completely lost in the circles he finds himself in and without a clue what to do with his adult life. Oscar temporarily finds both anchor and obsession in the form of Tim, a man who is seeing his adoptive mother. Tim is from the Midlands, also not a natural fit with the privileged moneyed set, politically rather more socialist and liberal than most of the others he finds around him. Along with his glimpses of other cultures and lives in different parts of London, his obsession with Tim, while not healthy by any means, helps Oscar to further consider his own sense of seperateness and difference, to consider the pros and cons of making a break into independence and self-sufficiency. Oscar's story is also set against a background/setting/discussion of and comparison to contemporary political and social themes - class, money/economics, employment, immigration, Scottish independence and Brexit. We see London as the home of many, varied people and cultures that it is - but we also see the segregation within the city into different areas and communities....and also different attitudes and biases. This novel could be classed as 'gay lit', however, although Oscar is gay and we see both different aspects of gay culture in London and differing attitudes/levels of acceptance of his sexuality, this isn't the focus of the narrative, instead shown as another layer of variety, difference, diversity and potential division within London and Britain as a whole (along with class/money, ethnicity, religion, political stance etc.) Overall....nicely done, thought provoking (on various levels) and worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Elite Group · Rating 4 out of 5]

Youthful yearning to belong

Oscar is a twenty-one-year-old man struggling to come to terms with his identity and how he fits into the social world around him. Abandoned by his birth mother, he was passed between foster carers until he was eight when Charlotte came into his life. Desperate for a child she takes on the role of foster mother and loves and supports Oscar into adulthood.

Charlotte is a successful writer, and Oscar enjoys a high standard of living with all his material needs well and truly met; he doesn’t have to work and is given £1000 a month allowance. But material things don’t bring happiness, and he is rather a lost soul.

With no connection to his roots, he feels adrift, especially so as he is gay, but doesn’t seem to fit into the gay scene. While wanting sex and physical contact, he is equally afraid of it and so runs away from advances. His one and the only relationship ended six months ago when his lover, Terry, went to Japan, leaving Oscar rejected and with unresolved issues.

When Charlotte begins a relationship with her younger agent, Tim, Oscar feels an immediate connection but although clearly interested in Oscar, does Tim feel the same?

This is a sensitive and well-written study of the pain of not belonging and not even knowing where he should belong. I found Oscar frustrating at times as he seems to drift with no real motivation to resolve things. Frankly, like a lot of young people, he needed a kick in the backside and Charlotte’s devotion is not enabling him. His friends are a diverse group, and he does receive support from them, but again, probably, they are too gentle with him.

The novel does propel the reader back into that awful period of teenage angst and disassociation, and you cannot fail to root for Oscar and hope that he finds what he is looking for.

Pashtpaws

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

[Veracious Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oscar is surrounded with almost everything - an affectionate foster mother, a bank account that gets topped up without asking for, a handful of friends who support him and a roof over his head in Kensington, London. From a materialistic point of view, this is what most of the people dream of. But, Oscar comes across as depressed.

He is still nursing a heartbreak when his boyfriend of five years decides to move to Tokyo. Throughout the narrative, I could experience a disconnect between Terry & Oscar, even when I felt the breakup was not the exact reason for Oscar's depression. In reality, there never is.

Oscar is complex and layered. He has no idea who is birth mother is, he is not keen on finding her, and he's merely existing. I don't know if it was a phase, but he seemed in a constant state of limbo. Just existing, not living. He didn't seem motivated by anything or anyone.

Oscar's mind is loud enough for the narrative and yet, he is surprised by the sound of his voice singing or humming a tune. He doesn't care to offer opinions and seemed more like a drifter, a watchful ghost, just standing in the middle of the chaos that his mind and circumstances have created, doing nothing, but mulling over.

I truly believe that Polis Loizou has created a tasteful piece of writing that blurs the lines between truth and fiction. It's a captivating novel because I actually loved reading the turmoils of Oscar's mind and what a human mind is capable of imagining. Oscar's infatuation with Tim is just as much indepth as you and I. It's almost painfully poetic. I loved Disbanded Kingdom to bits and will be reading it again and again, because I know there is still more I can discover from this novel.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disbanded Kingdom is a novel about growing up, modern day London, and infatuation. Oscar is twenty-two and lives in Kensington with his foster mother, novelist Charlotte Fontaine. He is privileged and lost, still adrift after the breakup with his only boyfriend, feeling like he doesn't belong anywhere and not connected to the political and social views of his friends or Charlotte's friends. When he meets thirtysomething Tim at Charlotte's book launch, he doesn't realise he's about to become completely infatuated with him, or that it will be more complicated than an awkward crush.

The novel is at once the story of someone young and sad trying to grow up, and the story of a city caught at a weird time, a multicultural city full of left and right as the country tries to leave the EU. The motif of breaking away is one that is found throughout the novel, making Brexit part of the coming-of-age-ness in some ways, and a counterpoint to it in others. The London depicted is modern and hipster, if occasionally a little too emphatically so, and the novel depicts privileged white people in the city, purposefully pointing out their ignorance at times. The contrast between the realness of Brexit as shown in the novel (a feature likely to make it date noticeably) and the unrealness of the privilege at times (characters just being given two thousand pounds a month isn't exactly relatable) is an interesting one, and the novel often feels a little unreal and hazy, perhaps due to Oscar's lack of direction.

Disbanded Kingdom is a good read, caught between light and heavy in a way that coming of age type novels often are, with affected youth and dissatisfaction.

[Roberta Blablanski]

The writing was reminiscent of Bret Easton Ellis, namely his novel The Rules of Attraction. There are many parallels in Disbanded Kingdom to The Rules of Attraction: a rag-tag, privileged group of young people looking for a purpose in life, unrequited romantic feelings, reappearance of an ex-lover.

I had some difficulty with the writing style--painfully introspective and patronizing at times--and it took me about a third of the book to really get into the story. Different ethnicities and cultures are heavily mentioned throughout-- some not so flattering. Politics is also a major talking point.

The story is told from Oscar's perspective. He's very obviously depressed and that comes through every page. I wanted him to find happiness or, at the very least, get to a better place. He has many luxuries and conveniences at his disposal, but doesn't think he is worthy of those privileges.

I'd be interested in reading a sequel to get further insight to Oscar's further discovery of himself.

**Copy provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and impartial review.**

[looneybooks79 · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝕰𝖓𝖌𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝖆 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖞𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖔𝖑𝖉 𝕼𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝕭𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖙𝖍𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖔 𝖙𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝖚𝖕.

This book is a love letter, a ballad, a romantic story but not between two people! This is a lovestory between us readers and the city of London, with its Just Eat’s, its underground, its Caffè Nero’s, its wet rainy streets and alleyways, its bodegas and with Trafalgar Square on Christmas… But this book is also about the heartbreak due to Brexit, the broken relationships and England’s history. But most of all, this book is about coming-of-age Oscar, his ‘almost-mother’ Charlotte and het literay agent, Tim.

Oscar, a twenty-two year old gay guy, who’s looking for himself, for his past and for love, by roaming London’s streets. But then his foster mom, Charlotte, introduces him to Tim, and he’s immediately infatuated with him. But is it meant to be, are they to get together?

Accompanied by a soundtrack of street noises and wonderful music, we are witness to this boy’s search and are taken along for a ride!

4/5 (there are some parts that are slowing the pace a little, hence not a 5⭐️ rating)

[Martyn Doré · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having enjoyed Polis Loizou's most recent book, The Way It Breaks, I wasn't sure I would enjoy this one as much, given that the main character, Oscar, is only twenty-two and I'm nearly 30 years older! However, I soon found it very relatable.

This is partly due to it being set in London, where I have lived since my 20s. I mean who hasn't had a drunk person flirt with them on the underground! And the descriptions of the gay scene very much took me back to my younger days.

But also because Oscar develops a massive crush for his adopted mother's boyfriend, Tim, and who hasn't fallen in love with someone who is totally unavailable and start to plan your life together purely based on a few conversations!

The language used is as beautiful and as descriptive as his next book and although I had my reservations at first, I would definitely recommend this one too.

[Soubhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program.

Oscar lives with his foster mom in London. They are well off, she being a well read author. He’s at the age where he’s considering finding a job and moving out on his own, but has a bit of inertia as he’s recovering from his first breakup. When he finds himself having feelings for someone new, he struggles.

Unfortunately there wasn’t much of a plot here, and the author’s style wasn’t really for me. He uses a lot of incomplete sentences, and while I think he did this to reflect Oscar’s thoughts, it threw me out of the story.

I did like the ending very much, it felt believable.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone familiar with life in a city, and particularly those who also came of age in London, will find themselves completely immersed with emotion in this novel. In some ways it's almost painful because the author so vividly and accurately recalls the angst of early to mid 20-somethings in a city where everyone seems to have everything and belong somewhere, yet you have nothing and belong nowhere. I couldn't put this book down and read nearly the entire book in one sitting. After you finish it, you'll be reflecting back on your own journey through your 20s and almost laughing that it was all gravely serious and very dark at times, but somehow it worked out in the end.

[Cattrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loizou has an uncanny ability to voice his characters' hidden anxieties and desires in a way that leaves the reader feeling as though their diary has been read aloud. Disbanded Kingdom is a beautiful coming of age story that is by turns melancholy and heartwarming.

Oscar occasionally comes across as frustratingly passive but I felt that this fleshed him out as a character and made him feel real. The descriptions of London were spot-on, even though I was in a different country at the time of reading, I could perfectly imagine walking the streets beside Oscar.

Definitely worth a second read.

[Reeca Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a coming of age novel about Oscar. He is really finding himself as he explores his sexuality.
I did find Oscar a little whiney and all he cares about is sex and who is having sex. So it was a little monotonous. I wanted so much more for him. I also wanted himto expect more out of himself.
I did laugh out loud in places and I see some real brilliance in the author’s writing. But, all the focus on sex annoyed me. The author had some great quotes and showed some great idealism. I am anxious to see how this author grows.

[Sanjay L · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brill book to end the first month of the year on! Such a poignant and beautiful book that has been written by an equally kind and beautiful human that is Polis! Such a great debut novel and such beautiful way with words. The character Oscar is such a well shaped character. Truly a brilliant book! And can’t wait to read more of Polis’s work 😃

[Debbie Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, clever, witty work, from a skilful, talented writer. I felt really engaged by the characters and the playing out of the story.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

hated, thought it ridiculous, review will be scathing - I wrote that after attempting to read this novel which came garlanded with praise for its writing but also for its penetrating analysis of the ennui of the 'younger' generation flitting about the new East End of London. Let me be clear that although I lived, walked and did many things in the same East End streets were parts of this novel were set I am by age and experience an utter exile from the novels world - but then so are, or were there is nothing that dates or changes more rapidly then the current 'younger generation', most of the real people who struggled to find a place or reinvent themselves in extraordinary or desperate ways in the hot house world of London's last real Bohemia.

It is now long, long gone - it was dying even as I watched it burn in fluorescent gaudy brilliance years and years ago even in the days when it could still be pretended that Shoreditch, Hoxton, et al were still the last genuine redoubt of working class London - it was never New York's lower East side - it was never that tough or real - and neither were most of the artists.

But what of this bildungsroman of a lost and over privileged young man - he is not youth but not a man; he is endowed with limitless cash but has not even the skills to apply for a job in a coffee shop - which he doesn't need but thinks he should have but is overwhelmed by the request for a CV. He wants everything but has nothing to offer, he doesn't even know what he wants, except that it should give him meaning. I'd love to say this is a coruscating denunciation of the vapidity of our over privileged jeunes dore but there is as much social comment in this novel as there is substance in a rizzla paper. I do think the author expects his readers to find something to identify in this imaginative and intellectual midget with his barely adolescent cravings supported by nothing further then an ability to extract hundreds of pounds from his foster mother (do not imagine for a moment that the foster relationship is in anyway indicative of depth, it is but a cliched hook on which to hang a staggering degree of loving carelessness which is utterly unbelievable) when ever he feels like it.

I hate to come all over like a hater of rich people - I am a scion of way to much wasted privilege to ever make a convincing advocate of the revolutionary tumbril for others but I can not accept this portrait of nullity as anything but nullity. Young people of every generation are lost, ridiculous creatures (that is a confession as well as a reminiscence) but they do try and make wonders of their lives and that can be poignant, charming, inspiring and sad, even ridiculous, but while always doomed it is beautiful. There is no beauty or spirit in this tale. It is meretricious.

[Beth Younge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked what this did overall and thought that all the characters. The writing was interesting and i thought that the story overall was told well. There were some points i wished had been explored a bit more like Oscar's birth mother and him finding himself more in London's gay scene. I wish there was more about Charlotte as she did not appear enough and she was such a compelling character that i wanted to know more about her than Oscar's friends.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Tripfiction · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gay coming of age novel set in LONDON



22 year old Oscar is drifting. He is gay, but not happy in the gay scene. He lives with his foster mother, successful novelist Charlotte Fontaine, in Kensington. Kensington is a far cry from some of the rougher parts of London that Oscar frequents. He struggles with his sexuality and with his relationship with Charlotte – is he toy boy or son?

All this changes when he meets Tim, Charlotte’s literary agent and latest lover. He is infatuated – and looks for, and imagines, that his infatuation is reciprocated. He and Tim are very different and have very different outlooks on life – they debate issues of politics and religion as they smoke on the balcony of Charlotte’s flat. Oscar’s life is changed… he comes of age.

In TripFiction terms, London comes through loud and clear in the story. From Kensington to Soho to Camden Town. Each area is observed and painted with precision.

Disbanded Kingdom is Polis Loizou’s first published book. He is primarily a playwright and is co-founder of London’s Off-Off-Off Broadway Company. His short stories have been featured in the Stockholm Review of Literature and his work appears frequently in Litro Magazine – one of the UK’s premier publishers of new short fiction. He is undoubtedly a very talented and sensitive writer, who develops his characters well. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

[Sam]

*I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own*
I did not read this book all the way through. I couldn't really get very far into it. It was such a confusing book. I never understood what was going on. I couldn't tell what the plot really was either.
A lot of the wording in this book was pretty offensive and a little inappropriate. It was a little overboard if I'm being honest. A lot of the commentary seemed very unneeded. It just wasn't my cup of tea.