The Mookse and the Gripes discussion
This topic is about
The Future Future
The Goldsmiths Prize
>
2023 Goldsmiths shortlist - The Future Future
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Hugh, Active moderator
(new)
Oct 04, 2023 12:39PM
Mod
The Future Future by Adam Thirlwell
reply
|
flag
On the positive side this was less sex-obsessed that some of the author's previous work (which I had found a little puerile). It's an oddly detached work though - reminded me more of Tom McCarthy who was previously shortlisted for the prize the same year as Thirlwell.
My take: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And for those into podcasts - Thirlwell with Adam Biles from Shakespeare & Co: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com...
Just looking back at his previous Goldsmith shortlisted book - Lurid and Cute. It has an average Goodreads rating of just over 2.5 which is really bad by GR standards - but that’s actually flattered by ratings without reviews.
From some quick totting up I make the average ranking from the 40 or so actual reviews as a shade under 2 stars.
That’s astonishing.
It was an interestingly book in that it was supposed to get that reaction. From my review:The full quote in the novel from which the title is taken is much more representative of the tone of the book, but presumably the title "Gruesome, Tender, Needy, Sleazy, Boring, Lurid & Cute.” was rejected by the publishers as less commercial.
It's not that Thirlwell is a bad writer. It's just that he, rather deliberately, even provocatively, writes bad books.
Overall I think it was tremendous fun … to write
