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The Dig Street Festival
It’s 2006 in the fictional East London borough of Leytonstow. The UK’s pub smoking ban is about to happen, and thirty-eight-and-a-half year old John Torrington, a mopper and trolley collector at his local DIY store, is secretly in love with the stylish, beautiful, and middle-class barmaid Lois. John and his hapless, strange, and down-on-their-luck friends, Gabby Longfeather and Glyn Hopkins, live in Clements Markham House - a semi-derelict Edwardian villa divided into unsanitary bedsits, and (mis)managed by the shrewd, Dickensian business man, Mr Kapoor.
When Mr Kapoor, in a bizarre and criminal fluke, makes him fabulously credit-worthy, John surprises his friends and colleagues alike by announcing he will organise an amazing ‘urban love revolution’, aka the Dig Street Festival. But when he discovers dark secrets at the DIY store, and Mr Kapoor’s ruthless gentrification scheme for Clements Markham House, John’s plans take several unexpected and worrisome turns…
Funny, original, philosophical, and unexpectedly moving, The Dig Street Festival takes a long, hard, satirical look at modern British life, and asks of us all, how can we be better people?
Chris Walsh grew up in Middlesbrough and now lives in Kent. He writes both fiction and non-fiction. The Dig Street Festival is his first novel.
When Mr Kapoor, in a bizarre and criminal fluke, makes him fabulously credit-worthy, John surprises his friends and colleagues alike by announcing he will organise an amazing ‘urban love revolution’, aka the Dig Street Festival. But when he discovers dark secrets at the DIY store, and Mr Kapoor’s ruthless gentrification scheme for Clements Markham House, John’s plans take several unexpected and worrisome turns…
Funny, original, philosophical, and unexpectedly moving, The Dig Street Festival takes a long, hard, satirical look at modern British life, and asks of us all, how can we be better people?
Chris Walsh grew up in Middlesbrough and now lives in Kent. He writes both fiction and non-fiction. The Dig Street Festival is his first novel.
432 pages, Paperback
Published March 18, 2021
36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 19, 2021
Let’s get this out in the open right from the off. This book is bonkers. Totally off the wall, a crazy ride, bizarre characters and a series of increasingly unlikely and out of control events might make you think this book is not the one for you. Do not be fooled. In the midst of all the mayhem and madness, at the very heart of this book, is a core of charm and delight that runs through it like words through a stick of Blackpool Rock and it makes this book one of the warmest, funniest and sweetest reads I have picked up this year so far.
At the centre of the book is John Torrington, a man who has found himself on the fringes of life, largely ignored by almost everyone and scratching away an existence on the margins of society. By day he collects trolleys and mops floors at his local DIY superstore, at night he lives in a rundown building full of sad bedsits, inhabited by other lonely, forgotten men, mooning after the bright, young barmaid in his local pub, reading secondhand stories about Scott of the Antarctic and scratching away at his poetry (mainly haikus) and his unfinished novel. A less prepossessing character to carry a book it would be hard to imagine, but John has hidden depths, or so he likes to believe. Almost everyone, except his equally strange friends, Gabby and Glyn, disagree.
I absolutely adored every single character in this book. This author had created some of the most memorable people you will every meet in a novel, and then placed them in equally memorable situations and watched what they do. (I say watched, because it is very clear to me from reading this that each of the people in this book have very individual minds of their own and have done their own, quite bizarre things on the page which I am sure the author had little if any control over in the end.) There are some really memorable scenes in the novel – the one involving the journey to the DIY store on Gabby’s first day at work is a particular standout (parts of which made my slightly gyp to be honest) – and many real laugh-out-loud moments. You can’t imagine a group of people who get into so many mad scrapes as this trio, but in the context of this novel you can completely believe they are happening, and it is quite a ride to take with them.
At the same time, there is so much tenderness within this book. The relationship between the three men is oddly touching. They all look out for each other and clearly care for one another in a way that most of us would be lucky to find in this life. This care extends from their small trio to the other hopeless residents of Clements Markham House, despite the fact they are largely unpleasant, ungrateful and undeserving. John Torrington has a big, soft heart, and lavishes his care around, even to his bullying, sadistic boss, OCD-impaired supervisor and any other waif and stray he comes across in life. But his own vulnerability is really thrown into sharp relief in his relationship with Lois, much younger than him and way out of his league both in terms of social status and intellect. Despite this fact, we long for her to see the qualities he has lurking beneath us outwardly awkward facade and give him a chance.
This book is a really different read, but all the more appealing for that. My favourite thing about blogging is coming across these hidden gems of books that are outside the mainstream and outside your reading comfort zone. It is within these novels that we find something new and exciting, that speaks to us of things we may never have considered before and takes us places we have never been. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Funny and moving.
At the centre of the book is John Torrington, a man who has found himself on the fringes of life, largely ignored by almost everyone and scratching away an existence on the margins of society. By day he collects trolleys and mops floors at his local DIY superstore, at night he lives in a rundown building full of sad bedsits, inhabited by other lonely, forgotten men, mooning after the bright, young barmaid in his local pub, reading secondhand stories about Scott of the Antarctic and scratching away at his poetry (mainly haikus) and his unfinished novel. A less prepossessing character to carry a book it would be hard to imagine, but John has hidden depths, or so he likes to believe. Almost everyone, except his equally strange friends, Gabby and Glyn, disagree.
I absolutely adored every single character in this book. This author had created some of the most memorable people you will every meet in a novel, and then placed them in equally memorable situations and watched what they do. (I say watched, because it is very clear to me from reading this that each of the people in this book have very individual minds of their own and have done their own, quite bizarre things on the page which I am sure the author had little if any control over in the end.) There are some really memorable scenes in the novel – the one involving the journey to the DIY store on Gabby’s first day at work is a particular standout (parts of which made my slightly gyp to be honest) – and many real laugh-out-loud moments. You can’t imagine a group of people who get into so many mad scrapes as this trio, but in the context of this novel you can completely believe they are happening, and it is quite a ride to take with them.
At the same time, there is so much tenderness within this book. The relationship between the three men is oddly touching. They all look out for each other and clearly care for one another in a way that most of us would be lucky to find in this life. This care extends from their small trio to the other hopeless residents of Clements Markham House, despite the fact they are largely unpleasant, ungrateful and undeserving. John Torrington has a big, soft heart, and lavishes his care around, even to his bullying, sadistic boss, OCD-impaired supervisor and any other waif and stray he comes across in life. But his own vulnerability is really thrown into sharp relief in his relationship with Lois, much younger than him and way out of his league both in terms of social status and intellect. Despite this fact, we long for her to see the qualities he has lurking beneath us outwardly awkward facade and give him a chance.
This book is a really different read, but all the more appealing for that. My favourite thing about blogging is coming across these hidden gems of books that are outside the mainstream and outside your reading comfort zone. It is within these novels that we find something new and exciting, that speaks to us of things we may never have considered before and takes us places we have never been. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Funny and moving.
March 29, 2021
A vibrant, life-affirming read with characters I didn't want to close the book on. The protagonist ponders life as if he's in a Tolstoy novel, while interacting with a vast Dickensian ensemble, through Kafkaesque plot twists in a thoroughly modern British setting. This was fun but also thought-provoking, and I will be recommending it widely.
April 4, 2021
I really enjoyed reading this. A really odd book, with odd dysfunctional characters, and a spectacularly surreal plot. But for all that, it's more relatable and real than all the books I've read about high fliers living in trendy regenerated East London. This on the other hand is set in the (ahem) 'fictional East London Borough of Leytonstow' in 2006, and is all the more colourful for it.
April 4, 2021
Slightly bonkers and very funny. An enjoyable read made even better as it’s my era and my old stomping ground!
April 25, 2021
The Dig Street Festival is a thoughtful and at times bizarre examination of the human existence. Although there were times I struggled with suspension of belief, the situational comedy had me chuckling out loud. Walsh is, without a doubt, a master of characterisation and the characters truly shone in the story. A special shout out to the narrator of the audiobook, who was simply suberb.
April 14, 2021
Welcome to the fictional East London borough of Leytonstow. Through the eyes of mopper, trolley collector and part-time poet/novelist John Torrington, Chris Walsh takes us on a rather surreal adventure through the highways and byways of this corner of London in the company of John's faithful, if sometimes reluctant, sidekicks Gabby Longfeather and Glyn Hopkins, and introduces us to a whole cast of vibrant and intriguing characters.
John, Gabby and Glyn live a somewhat below par existence in bedsits at the decrepit Clements Markham House, along with their elderly neighbours, at the mercy of their dodgy landlord Mr Kapoor. Wannabe rock god, and hopelessly sheltered, Gabby lives on the largesse of the council, but Glyn and John work as the lowest of the low at the local DIY store, and they all do the best they can to get by, occasionally trying to recreate Scott's expedition to the South Pole in their leisure time - when they are not drinking at the local pub, where John gazes from afar at the glamorous barmaid Lois, Glyn hides his magazines of a certain genre under the chair in not quite opaque carrier bags, and Gabby puts his not so hard earned cash into the juke-box.
They may be a unusual bunch of misfits, but their hearts are in the right place, so when John discovers shady dealings both at work and on the home front, it looks like it is going to be up to him and his friends to put things right - especially if he is to win the heart of the lovely Lois. Using an unexpected windfall, John sets about organising the Dig Street Festival as a big urban love-in and way to improve the lot of all the deserving on his home turf, and inadvertently sets in motion a series of madcap events with very unexpected consequences...
The Dig Street Festival is the zaniest and most hilarious book I have read for a very long time. Imagine a weird mash-up of Withnail and I; Only Fools and Horses; the mostly improvised stage shows of Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson's Bottom; the irreverent and guffaw inducing Tom Sharpe books; and a Tolstoy novel - but with a lot more hugging. However, strange this sounds, you come up with something full of the most wonderful characters, and the kind of story lines that give you barrels of laugh out loud moments alongside those deep and memorable in the feels scenes that you hold in your heart for ever.
There are times here where you feel there is a bit too much going on, and although I can understand exactly why Walsh has crammed so much into his novel, I feel that he might have been better off taking a leaf out of John's book and covering a bit less ground in his debut - holding a bit back for another Leystonstow novel perhaps, or even some short stories set in the same borough. There are lots of lovely themes to engage with in this book, which Walsh explores beautifully, and I would be interested to read a bit more about some of the characters on the side-lines whose stories were not shown in full in these pages. My favourite theme is the way he shows you should never make assumptions about people from what you see on the surface - very good advice indeed!
This really is one of those books where you are sorry to get to the final page, even though the ending is a triumph of lovely, touching gorgeousness, because you feel like you have been on an all encompassing journey of discovery alongside the characters, and have made firm friends of them. I am nowhere near ready to let go of John, Gabby and Glyn and their frequent hugs yet, so really hope that Walsh will regale is with some more tales from Leytonstow in the future.
If you are looking for something that will induce laughter and tears, fill you will life-affirming joy, and make you think really hard about what lies in the secret hearts of those around you, then this is definitely going to be the book for you!
John, Gabby and Glyn live a somewhat below par existence in bedsits at the decrepit Clements Markham House, along with their elderly neighbours, at the mercy of their dodgy landlord Mr Kapoor. Wannabe rock god, and hopelessly sheltered, Gabby lives on the largesse of the council, but Glyn and John work as the lowest of the low at the local DIY store, and they all do the best they can to get by, occasionally trying to recreate Scott's expedition to the South Pole in their leisure time - when they are not drinking at the local pub, where John gazes from afar at the glamorous barmaid Lois, Glyn hides his magazines of a certain genre under the chair in not quite opaque carrier bags, and Gabby puts his not so hard earned cash into the juke-box.
They may be a unusual bunch of misfits, but their hearts are in the right place, so when John discovers shady dealings both at work and on the home front, it looks like it is going to be up to him and his friends to put things right - especially if he is to win the heart of the lovely Lois. Using an unexpected windfall, John sets about organising the Dig Street Festival as a big urban love-in and way to improve the lot of all the deserving on his home turf, and inadvertently sets in motion a series of madcap events with very unexpected consequences...
The Dig Street Festival is the zaniest and most hilarious book I have read for a very long time. Imagine a weird mash-up of Withnail and I; Only Fools and Horses; the mostly improvised stage shows of Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson's Bottom; the irreverent and guffaw inducing Tom Sharpe books; and a Tolstoy novel - but with a lot more hugging. However, strange this sounds, you come up with something full of the most wonderful characters, and the kind of story lines that give you barrels of laugh out loud moments alongside those deep and memorable in the feels scenes that you hold in your heart for ever.
There are times here where you feel there is a bit too much going on, and although I can understand exactly why Walsh has crammed so much into his novel, I feel that he might have been better off taking a leaf out of John's book and covering a bit less ground in his debut - holding a bit back for another Leystonstow novel perhaps, or even some short stories set in the same borough. There are lots of lovely themes to engage with in this book, which Walsh explores beautifully, and I would be interested to read a bit more about some of the characters on the side-lines whose stories were not shown in full in these pages. My favourite theme is the way he shows you should never make assumptions about people from what you see on the surface - very good advice indeed!
This really is one of those books where you are sorry to get to the final page, even though the ending is a triumph of lovely, touching gorgeousness, because you feel like you have been on an all encompassing journey of discovery alongside the characters, and have made firm friends of them. I am nowhere near ready to let go of John, Gabby and Glyn and their frequent hugs yet, so really hope that Walsh will regale is with some more tales from Leytonstow in the future.
If you are looking for something that will induce laughter and tears, fill you will life-affirming joy, and make you think really hard about what lies in the secret hearts of those around you, then this is definitely going to be the book for you!
April 22, 2021
For the first forty pages, Chris Walsh’s novel The Dig Street Festival meanders along without much purpose, like a desultory pigeon patrolling a stretch of pavement outside a branch of Greggs, and this sense of directionless movement is very much in keeping with the lives of its three main characters. The plot likewise ricochets around in the manner of a gaggle of subatomic particles in the Large Hadron Collider.
To describe Gabby Longfeather, Glyn Hopkins and John Torrington as feckless individuals would be wrong, since none of them ever had any feck in the first place. This motley trio (a kind of Freudian triumvirate comprising Id, Superego, and Ego) are life’s archetypal losers, the first a dole claimant, the latter two suffering regular workplace bullying in their zero status jobs as floor moppers and trolley wranglers at Amundsen Enterprises.
As for the bullies, they tend to be older, working-class men who typically espouse reprehensible right-wing views. In the case of Stock Manager, Dave Lofthouse, this manifests itself specifically as adulation of that vile hag, Margaret Thatcher. This miserable old cant (I’m referring here to Lofthouse, not Thatcher, though the description applies equally well to the former MP for Finchley) deserves at the very least some no-nonsense euthanasia of the sort that used to be regularly meted out by NKVD operatives back in the day. Sadly, poor John just turns the other cheek, in the manner of that sandal-wearing individual whose equally bizarre exploits are recounted in another work of fiction, namely the New Testament.
The Dig Street universe is far-fetched and somewhat whimsical in nature, with a dash of transvestism thrown in for good measure. For a tale set in 2006, porno mags are still in vogue, whereas I always assumed that free Internet porn had done away with such old fashioned and expensive publications. Having said that, the three bozos (Gabby, Glyn, and John) do seem to lack computer access so I suppose it makes sense in this particular story world. Besides, this is a fantasy world where, for instance, the security camera in the local NatEast bank can be switched off with relative ease, where the main character can suddenly obtain a £100,000 overdraft facility, and where there are no mobile phones to be seen at all, apart from the lads in the Chicken Hamlet takeaway in Chapter 56. It’s even set in a fictional London borough called Leytonstow.
Benny the security guard from Sierra Leone seems a bit too fluent in the English language for my liking, but I’ll let that pass. As for Eric Beardmore’s transformation, or for that matter, Alan Povey’s, I didn’t buy either of them. It’s a shame that the delightful Lois went missing for a large chunk of the novel as I definitely wanted to see more of her. Mistakes are thankfully few and far between: “We three wound our away through a crowd…” [p. 167]; “…would consist of me bring able…” [p. 276]; “Do we have we a deal?” [p. 407]
If you’re in the market for something to make you snigger, this might be it.
To describe Gabby Longfeather, Glyn Hopkins and John Torrington as feckless individuals would be wrong, since none of them ever had any feck in the first place. This motley trio (a kind of Freudian triumvirate comprising Id, Superego, and Ego) are life’s archetypal losers, the first a dole claimant, the latter two suffering regular workplace bullying in their zero status jobs as floor moppers and trolley wranglers at Amundsen Enterprises.
As for the bullies, they tend to be older, working-class men who typically espouse reprehensible right-wing views. In the case of Stock Manager, Dave Lofthouse, this manifests itself specifically as adulation of that vile hag, Margaret Thatcher. This miserable old cant (I’m referring here to Lofthouse, not Thatcher, though the description applies equally well to the former MP for Finchley) deserves at the very least some no-nonsense euthanasia of the sort that used to be regularly meted out by NKVD operatives back in the day. Sadly, poor John just turns the other cheek, in the manner of that sandal-wearing individual whose equally bizarre exploits are recounted in another work of fiction, namely the New Testament.
The Dig Street universe is far-fetched and somewhat whimsical in nature, with a dash of transvestism thrown in for good measure. For a tale set in 2006, porno mags are still in vogue, whereas I always assumed that free Internet porn had done away with such old fashioned and expensive publications. Having said that, the three bozos (Gabby, Glyn, and John) do seem to lack computer access so I suppose it makes sense in this particular story world. Besides, this is a fantasy world where, for instance, the security camera in the local NatEast bank can be switched off with relative ease, where the main character can suddenly obtain a £100,000 overdraft facility, and where there are no mobile phones to be seen at all, apart from the lads in the Chicken Hamlet takeaway in Chapter 56. It’s even set in a fictional London borough called Leytonstow.
Benny the security guard from Sierra Leone seems a bit too fluent in the English language for my liking, but I’ll let that pass. As for Eric Beardmore’s transformation, or for that matter, Alan Povey’s, I didn’t buy either of them. It’s a shame that the delightful Lois went missing for a large chunk of the novel as I definitely wanted to see more of her. Mistakes are thankfully few and far between: “We three wound our away through a crowd…” [p. 167]; “…would consist of me bring able…” [p. 276]; “Do we have we a deal?” [p. 407]
If you’re in the market for something to make you snigger, this might be it.
April 23, 2021
The Dig Street Festival is beyond quirky – it is a surreal, madcap adventure through the streets of the fictional borough of Leytonstow, led by our narrator, John Torrington, a man who finds himself on the fringes of society, and his ‘found family’, Glyn and Gabby, two of the best characters I have come across for a long time.
A lot happens in this book, most of it completely bizarre, and at times it almost feels overstuffed with incidents. But for me, this is all part of the fun – the novel has a breathless excitement that carries you along, no matter how strange things gets. I was very happy to willingly suspend my disbelief and follow John, Glyn and the wonderful, beautiful Gabby as they try to save their crumbling home, Clements Markham House, uncover nefarious schemes at the DIY store where John and Glyn (and briefly, Gabby!) work, and suddenly find themselves artificially rich beyond their wildest dreams.
Dig Street is masses of fun, but it also has both brains and heart. Glyn in particular is a really interesting character – at first I didn’t warm to him, falling head over heels for the childish, naive, gorgeous Gabby instead, but as the novel progressed, Glyn’s eccentric wisdom and oddly peaceful acceptance of his own quirks and mores grew on me, and I think there is something very profound about him as a character. Which seems an odd thing to say about a man whose defining characteristic is his penchant for gentlemen’s magazines of a certain genre, but then, this is an odd book.
The Dig Street Festival is also a brilliant exploration of male friendship, subverting norms and expectations at every turn, and, wonderfully, showing three men who love each other and hug each other and despair of each other with a depth of feeling that is rarely shown in fiction. The trio at the heart of the novel is the emotional core from which all the crazy adventures spiral out, and I loved to see it.
The novel is highly original, and it doesn’t bear direct comparison with much else that I have read, but I was reminded at times of Drew Gummerson’s equally quirky and hilarious Seven Nights at the Flamingo Hotel, which I read last year. What these books share, I think, is a determination to forge their own path, to explore characters who don’t fit neatly into predefined boxes, and, perhaps most importantly, to have FUN with the story and with language and ideas. It is no coincidence that they’re both published by wonderful indie presses. We need books like this, to push the boundaries, to be playful and funny and wise all at once, to show the beating human heart beneath the oddness. John, Glyn and Gabby (oh Gabby, I’m so fond of you still) may not be the characters you’re expecting from your fiction, but, my god, they are the characters we need.
A lot happens in this book, most of it completely bizarre, and at times it almost feels overstuffed with incidents. But for me, this is all part of the fun – the novel has a breathless excitement that carries you along, no matter how strange things gets. I was very happy to willingly suspend my disbelief and follow John, Glyn and the wonderful, beautiful Gabby as they try to save their crumbling home, Clements Markham House, uncover nefarious schemes at the DIY store where John and Glyn (and briefly, Gabby!) work, and suddenly find themselves artificially rich beyond their wildest dreams.
Dig Street is masses of fun, but it also has both brains and heart. Glyn in particular is a really interesting character – at first I didn’t warm to him, falling head over heels for the childish, naive, gorgeous Gabby instead, but as the novel progressed, Glyn’s eccentric wisdom and oddly peaceful acceptance of his own quirks and mores grew on me, and I think there is something very profound about him as a character. Which seems an odd thing to say about a man whose defining characteristic is his penchant for gentlemen’s magazines of a certain genre, but then, this is an odd book.
The Dig Street Festival is also a brilliant exploration of male friendship, subverting norms and expectations at every turn, and, wonderfully, showing three men who love each other and hug each other and despair of each other with a depth of feeling that is rarely shown in fiction. The trio at the heart of the novel is the emotional core from which all the crazy adventures spiral out, and I loved to see it.
The novel is highly original, and it doesn’t bear direct comparison with much else that I have read, but I was reminded at times of Drew Gummerson’s equally quirky and hilarious Seven Nights at the Flamingo Hotel, which I read last year. What these books share, I think, is a determination to forge their own path, to explore characters who don’t fit neatly into predefined boxes, and, perhaps most importantly, to have FUN with the story and with language and ideas. It is no coincidence that they’re both published by wonderful indie presses. We need books like this, to push the boundaries, to be playful and funny and wise all at once, to show the beating human heart beneath the oddness. John, Glyn and Gabby (oh Gabby, I’m so fond of you still) may not be the characters you’re expecting from your fiction, but, my god, they are the characters we need.
July 14, 2021
It’s probably fair to say that The Dig Street Festival is some way from my comfort zone when it comes to reading. And it’s probably also the right time to admit that due to this I was fairly adamant quite early on that it was not a book for me.
Thankfully, that changed. I took a deep breath, suspended belief and thoughts of everything else, focused and found myself settling into what will be hard pressed to be superseded as the most unique book I will read this year.
The Dig Street Festival is quite a ride. Wholly unpredictable, deliciously bonkers and yet filled with surprising depth and emotion, the almost paternally tender relationship between the main character John Torrington and his friends Glyn and Gabby being a particular highlight. Together, the find themselves either by chance or design in the most bizarre of situations leading to genuinely laugh out loud moments.
At it’s core, this is a satirical look at society in modern day Britain, and in this vein, it works really well. John is a working class man, a trolley pusher and mopper-upper at the local DIY store, and society dictates that he be pigeon-holed and be defined by this position. Class and wealth rules the roost. However much John himself may rail against this, his intelligence and potential patently obvious to the reader, it becomes obvious at the point where he meets some rather rude posh-boys that he himself suffers from a lack of confidence in his own abilities. You can almost feel his character disintegrate under their glare. I hated them and for me, this was a really hard chapter to read so that it became a pivotal moment for me. By the chapters end I was going wherever John took me as his most willing champion.
Suddenly wealthy beyond his wildest dreams thanks to a flurry of credit offers, he determines to challenge the norm by organising an ‘urban love revolution’, and I read the ensuing chaos with many a chortle. Honestly, the author – despite taking imagination to wild extremes, writes with such engaging, unforced humour that I found myself completely onboard.
The Dig Street Festival won’t be for everyone, something I know the author has publicly voiced. However, I would say that it will likely be for more people than he thinks. I, for one was utterly charmed (sometimes in the most weird of circumstances) by the core three characters, the witty narrative and the refreshing journey the novel took me on. Whilst I’m not going to rush out and buy piles of satirical, social novels to fill my bookshelves – I will look forward to reading more from Chris Walsh in future.
Thankfully, that changed. I took a deep breath, suspended belief and thoughts of everything else, focused and found myself settling into what will be hard pressed to be superseded as the most unique book I will read this year.
The Dig Street Festival is quite a ride. Wholly unpredictable, deliciously bonkers and yet filled with surprising depth and emotion, the almost paternally tender relationship between the main character John Torrington and his friends Glyn and Gabby being a particular highlight. Together, the find themselves either by chance or design in the most bizarre of situations leading to genuinely laugh out loud moments.
At it’s core, this is a satirical look at society in modern day Britain, and in this vein, it works really well. John is a working class man, a trolley pusher and mopper-upper at the local DIY store, and society dictates that he be pigeon-holed and be defined by this position. Class and wealth rules the roost. However much John himself may rail against this, his intelligence and potential patently obvious to the reader, it becomes obvious at the point where he meets some rather rude posh-boys that he himself suffers from a lack of confidence in his own abilities. You can almost feel his character disintegrate under their glare. I hated them and for me, this was a really hard chapter to read so that it became a pivotal moment for me. By the chapters end I was going wherever John took me as his most willing champion.
Suddenly wealthy beyond his wildest dreams thanks to a flurry of credit offers, he determines to challenge the norm by organising an ‘urban love revolution’, and I read the ensuing chaos with many a chortle. Honestly, the author – despite taking imagination to wild extremes, writes with such engaging, unforced humour that I found myself completely onboard.
The Dig Street Festival won’t be for everyone, something I know the author has publicly voiced. However, I would say that it will likely be for more people than he thinks. I, for one was utterly charmed (sometimes in the most weird of circumstances) by the core three characters, the witty narrative and the refreshing journey the novel took me on. Whilst I’m not going to rush out and buy piles of satirical, social novels to fill my bookshelves – I will look forward to reading more from Chris Walsh in future.
April 28, 2021
Dig Street Festival: A Novel by Chris Walsh is a rather funny and a little bit crazy but you can't help but smile through it.
It’s 2006 in the fictional East London borough of Leytonstow. The UK’s pub smoking ban is about to happen, and thirty-eight-and-a-half year old John Torrington, a mopper and trolley collector at his local DIY store, is secretly in love with the stylish, beautiful, and middle-class barmaid Lois. John and his hapless, strange, and down-on-their-luck friends, Gabby Longfeather and Glyn Hopkins, live in Clements Markham House – a semi-derelict Edwardian villa divided into unsanitary bedsits, and (mis)managed by the shrewd, Dickensian business man, Mr Kapoor.
Mr Kapoor weirdly makes him credit- worthy John surprises absolutely everyone by telling them he will organise an amazing 'Urban Love Revolution' (the Dig Street Fesival really). Johns plans take a different turn when he finds out dark secrets st the D.I.Y store and also Mr Kapoor's plans to make Markham House more upmarket, with no thought to anyone living there.
John is a man who has dreams of bigger things and still lives his life following his normal routine, the same things constantly...day after day. He is so busy doing his daydreaming he has a tendency to be blinkered to things happening in front of him.
His friends are as quirky as him and they all live together in the same shabby building. They are such a lovely group even with their idiosyncrasies and everything going against them. John is willing to do almost anything for them and they for him too. The characters are all the misfits of society but they are so genuine and I love the fact that they have the biggest hearts. When John discovers dodgy dealing with Markham House and at work too, it's up to them to right the wrongs (not forgetting John needs to show Lois he is worth her time too).
A story that is a mix up of the zaniest programmes I have seen in the past but with its own twist. There are moments of the story are so sweet and warm that you spend your time feeling all warm and cosy. The next page you are laughing your head off.
Chris Walsh has written a novel that filled me with happiness and laughter. A story I didn't want to leave as it means I had to let go of three friends I felt I had made on this journey we had been on.
Thanks to Emma at Damp Pebbles Blog Tours and Louise Walters Books for the copy of the book.
It’s 2006 in the fictional East London borough of Leytonstow. The UK’s pub smoking ban is about to happen, and thirty-eight-and-a-half year old John Torrington, a mopper and trolley collector at his local DIY store, is secretly in love with the stylish, beautiful, and middle-class barmaid Lois. John and his hapless, strange, and down-on-their-luck friends, Gabby Longfeather and Glyn Hopkins, live in Clements Markham House – a semi-derelict Edwardian villa divided into unsanitary bedsits, and (mis)managed by the shrewd, Dickensian business man, Mr Kapoor.
Mr Kapoor weirdly makes him credit- worthy John surprises absolutely everyone by telling them he will organise an amazing 'Urban Love Revolution' (the Dig Street Fesival really). Johns plans take a different turn when he finds out dark secrets st the D.I.Y store and also Mr Kapoor's plans to make Markham House more upmarket, with no thought to anyone living there.
John is a man who has dreams of bigger things and still lives his life following his normal routine, the same things constantly...day after day. He is so busy doing his daydreaming he has a tendency to be blinkered to things happening in front of him.
His friends are as quirky as him and they all live together in the same shabby building. They are such a lovely group even with their idiosyncrasies and everything going against them. John is willing to do almost anything for them and they for him too. The characters are all the misfits of society but they are so genuine and I love the fact that they have the biggest hearts. When John discovers dodgy dealing with Markham House and at work too, it's up to them to right the wrongs (not forgetting John needs to show Lois he is worth her time too).
A story that is a mix up of the zaniest programmes I have seen in the past but with its own twist. There are moments of the story are so sweet and warm that you spend your time feeling all warm and cosy. The next page you are laughing your head off.
Chris Walsh has written a novel that filled me with happiness and laughter. A story I didn't want to leave as it means I had to let go of three friends I felt I had made on this journey we had been on.
Thanks to Emma at Damp Pebbles Blog Tours and Louise Walters Books for the copy of the book.
April 12, 2021
It’s been a while since I’ve properly laughed at a book, and I mean really laughed – this one has just topped the funny list for me! I’ve had so many thoughts throughout reading this; it’s peculiar and rather eccentric in parts, but it’s also incredibly deep, entertaining and full of life.
Chris Walsh has to be one of the best writers of humourous fiction I’ve ever come across, and this book is all the proof you’ll need! He’s not only perfected British humour and succeeded in making me laugh out loud on numerous occasions, but his talent also covers phenomenal character creation and development, as well as the creation of an epic story line like no other. The book can get heavy in parts and there is a lot to take on board and process, but I urge you to give it time and attention. Despite The Dig Street Festival not getting the coverage I was expecting, I did really enjoy the unexpected direction the story took. This book will not only make you think about life in a whole new way, but you’ll end the book with the biggest smile. Thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end and completely immersing – an absolute corker of a book!
You can read my full review over on my blog: https://aquintillionwords.com/2021/04...
Chris Walsh has to be one of the best writers of humourous fiction I’ve ever come across, and this book is all the proof you’ll need! He’s not only perfected British humour and succeeded in making me laugh out loud on numerous occasions, but his talent also covers phenomenal character creation and development, as well as the creation of an epic story line like no other. The book can get heavy in parts and there is a lot to take on board and process, but I urge you to give it time and attention. Despite The Dig Street Festival not getting the coverage I was expecting, I did really enjoy the unexpected direction the story took. This book will not only make you think about life in a whole new way, but you’ll end the book with the biggest smile. Thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end and completely immersing – an absolute corker of a book!
You can read my full review over on my blog: https://aquintillionwords.com/2021/04...
May 2, 2021
Many thanks to Damppebbles Blog Tours and Chris Walsh for providing me with a digital copy of The Dig Street Festival with a request for an honest review.
The Dig Street Festival is a brilliant tale of the lower echelons of society. Chris Walsh does an impeccable job of giving the reader odd characters to root for. The way the story unfolds is fantastic. Things that seemingly have nothing to do with each other come full circle in the end. Fascinating!
John, Glyn, and Gabby live ordinary lives and do the same thing every day. They are rather boring for central characters. However, tieing them into the secondary character’s stories, you get one compelling book.
Unfortunately, the festival was a big distraction that didn’t interest me. The festival was such a big part of the story, but it didn’t further the story for me in any way. I wanted more of the backstories.
Even though I didn’t care for the bigger picture of the book, I still loved the book. I read it through in one day because I had to know more. It is for this reason that I award The Dig Street Festival 4 out of 5 stars. If you get the chance to read this one, I suggest you do so.
The Dig Street Festival is a brilliant tale of the lower echelons of society. Chris Walsh does an impeccable job of giving the reader odd characters to root for. The way the story unfolds is fantastic. Things that seemingly have nothing to do with each other come full circle in the end. Fascinating!
John, Glyn, and Gabby live ordinary lives and do the same thing every day. They are rather boring for central characters. However, tieing them into the secondary character’s stories, you get one compelling book.
Unfortunately, the festival was a big distraction that didn’t interest me. The festival was such a big part of the story, but it didn’t further the story for me in any way. I wanted more of the backstories.
Even though I didn’t care for the bigger picture of the book, I still loved the book. I read it through in one day because I had to know more. It is for this reason that I award The Dig Street Festival 4 out of 5 stars. If you get the chance to read this one, I suggest you do so.
April 24, 2021
If you like your prose deep, chewy, layered, satirical and Rabelaisian, this is the book for you.
Different from anything I've read in a long time. An endearing trio of main characters.
I rarely read books twice but think I might make an exception in this case because I think there'll be a whole other layer of discovery on second reading.
Different from anything I've read in a long time. An endearing trio of main characters.
I rarely read books twice but think I might make an exception in this case because I think there'll be a whole other layer of discovery on second reading.
October 13, 2021
An enjoyable, funny & surreal story. It has great characters, love, pathos and is wonderfully grounded in the reality of life in Britain in the 2000s. I loved the description of looking at the jobs board in the Job Centre. How I remember those days! It's these funny-sad details that give the book its texture and weight.
February 15, 2022
I've never read anything like this before. It's surreal and yet real, completely unbelievable but in a completely believable way. It's like a fantasy world set in the real world. Most importantly, it is hugely entertaining, and I'll definitely be reading future books by Chris Walsh.
June 3, 2021
Really imaginative and original in the vein of The Goons and The Young Ones and all kinds of surreal sitcoms with a healthy dose of Larkin and heavy metal thrown in.
May 9, 2021
Really enjoyable debut novel. It reminded me of a surreal mix of Three Men In A Boat, the songs of Half Man Half Biscuit, Confederacy Of Dunces and The Young Ones with the apocalyptic feeling of Godley and Creme’s triple album Consequences.
There's a world weary imagination and a fierce cynicism battling with a redemptive faith in humanity.
The only reason it lost a star was the length - I thought the last quarter could have been trimmed a little - but that's a personal thing. I've just bought another copy to give to a friend because it feels unlike any other book I've read in a long time.
There's a world weary imagination and a fierce cynicism battling with a redemptive faith in humanity.
The only reason it lost a star was the length - I thought the last quarter could have been trimmed a little - but that's a personal thing. I've just bought another copy to give to a friend because it feels unlike any other book I've read in a long time.
May 6, 2021
A bizarre, unique and original story that is by turns, hilarious, heartbreaking, chaotic and deeply profound.
Chapter one left me thinking 'what on earth is this?' but I had to keep turning the pages until soon I was lost in a parallel universe that enveloped me when I was reading it, and kept me thinking about it when I wasn't - the mark of a truly great story.
Chris Walsh writes with a razor sharp perception and the confidence of someone who knows well the human condition. This is reflected in characters that are well-rounded, dialogue that is authentic and situations that are surreal and at the same time believable.
The Dig Street Festival is a 21st Century fable, and by far the best book I have read in a long, long time. Very, VERY highly recommended.
Chapter one left me thinking 'what on earth is this?' but I had to keep turning the pages until soon I was lost in a parallel universe that enveloped me when I was reading it, and kept me thinking about it when I wasn't - the mark of a truly great story.
Chris Walsh writes with a razor sharp perception and the confidence of someone who knows well the human condition. This is reflected in characters that are well-rounded, dialogue that is authentic and situations that are surreal and at the same time believable.
The Dig Street Festival is a 21st Century fable, and by far the best book I have read in a long, long time. Very, VERY highly recommended.
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