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'Just Looking'
In the near future, four very different people meet on a cruise ship off the French coast. Over time, all four will get involved in very different ways with a network of avowedly neo-Fascist parties that are expanding throughout Europe. Eventually, the four main characters will end up discovering the horrific hidden agenda of this network.
'Just Looking' is a black comedy.
'Just Looking' is a black comedy.
369 pages, Paperback
Published December 22, 2022
2 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Tree
40 books10 followersMatthew Tree (Londres, 30 de desembre de 1958) és un escriptor anglès en català. Va aprendre català el 1979 i en l'actualitat viu a Banyoles, després d'anar a viure a Barcelona el 1984. Escriptor i defensor de la llengua catalana, ha col·laborat en diverses publicacions i emissores de ràdio (RAC 1, Catalunya Ràdio o Ràdio Contrabanda) i televisió tant angleses com catalanes. En televisió ha col·laborat en el programa La cosa nostra, d'Andreu Buenafuente, ha protagonitzat el programa sobre Catalunya, Passatgers i forma part del programa cultural en anglès amb subtítols en català The weekly mag de la Xarxa de Comunicació Local. La seva activitat en l'àmbit de la premsa escrita s'estén, entre altres, a publicacions com El Punt Avui, a l'apartat d'opinió, i a la revista en anglès Catalonia Today, en les quals hi publica regularment els seus articles.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 8, 2023
A dystopic not so distant future, where Europeans repeat the mistakes from the past. The author whirls yet again around one of his favourite topics: totalitarisms, fascism and the struggle to fight against far-right propaganda.
March 22, 2023
A wonderful and harrowing book. Disturbing and moving, Settembrini and Naptha. The story starts on a cruise ship with lots of drinking, humour, and social commentary. It ends with burning corpses and death. It is brilliantly and engagingly written and highlights the slippery slope of far-right messaging that gets more sinister as time and events progress. Highly recommended!
October 13, 2023
[From: https://bretthetherington.substack.co...]
If there's ever been a more timely book than this blackest of comedies then I certainly don't know what it is.
With ultra right-wingers taking charge from Bucharest to Bombay and across so much of the planet, Matthew Tree has (almost prophet-like) brought this disturbing phenomenon to France, Europe's intellectual home.
And there's always some stimulating linguistic gymnastics when you read a Matthew Tree book.
He uses the word "nitid" to describe how "autumn strollers looked in the autumn light." Yes, I had to look that one up too.
Another personal favourite was his reference to a character's "post-coitalish sadness."
It's those little touches I enjoy so much about Tree's work.
The keen observation that makes for such pinpoint terms such as "The Common Sense Alliance," "We Are England" and their slogan "You Know We Make Sense."
That kind of political cant, he sums up so well, recognizing that it's so often "tailored to sound rational and scientific." He even had these far-rightists winning a mayoral election in Milton Keynes (where I once lived!)
The now-accurate predictions made in this book are not just political though.
Climate crisis events are a backdrop to events that take place in sometimes the most genteel of locations.
Of course, immigrants and refugees are only a problem that gets reported when the well-off are ruffled and middle-class people's cosy routines are shaken up. (A casual proposal for white plastic roses attached to prisoner's uniforms was one of the greatest ironies.)
Ultimately, this book succeeds so nicely because the neo-Fascist party it shows from the inside is completely believable. And that is done without a trace of melodrama or exaggeration.
If there's ever been a more timely book than this blackest of comedies then I certainly don't know what it is.
With ultra right-wingers taking charge from Bucharest to Bombay and across so much of the planet, Matthew Tree has (almost prophet-like) brought this disturbing phenomenon to France, Europe's intellectual home.
And there's always some stimulating linguistic gymnastics when you read a Matthew Tree book.
He uses the word "nitid" to describe how "autumn strollers looked in the autumn light." Yes, I had to look that one up too.
Another personal favourite was his reference to a character's "post-coitalish sadness."
It's those little touches I enjoy so much about Tree's work.
The keen observation that makes for such pinpoint terms such as "The Common Sense Alliance," "We Are England" and their slogan "You Know We Make Sense."
That kind of political cant, he sums up so well, recognizing that it's so often "tailored to sound rational and scientific." He even had these far-rightists winning a mayoral election in Milton Keynes (where I once lived!)
The now-accurate predictions made in this book are not just political though.
Climate crisis events are a backdrop to events that take place in sometimes the most genteel of locations.
Of course, immigrants and refugees are only a problem that gets reported when the well-off are ruffled and middle-class people's cosy routines are shaken up. (A casual proposal for white plastic roses attached to prisoner's uniforms was one of the greatest ironies.)
Ultimately, this book succeeds so nicely because the neo-Fascist party it shows from the inside is completely believable. And that is done without a trace of melodrama or exaggeration.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews