Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Though of course the premise of this sounded interesting enough for me to pick it up in the first place, I was still surprised by how much I liked it. It's unusual — not because of being written in dialect, but because of how that is combined with its stream of conscious delivery, no chapters, and the main character is blind. It's good. And darkly funny at times. I'm glad I read it.
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How intriguing it is, how intriguing
Glaswegian 90's lower-class dialect
A lack of punctuation; maybe utter disdain, for quotation marks & chapters for there are neither
Is it character or plot drive - honestly I don't know... plot?
fits and starts, pacing that hurtles then crawls. I do appreciate the unpredictable nature
Sooo many freakin' questions
a sudden onset of blindness and the largely everyday functionality and practicality repercussions are painful and enthralling.
this breaks so many rules (typical literary one as well as just those of my liking) and yet... I really, really liked it.
Glaswegian 90's lower-class dialect
A lack of punctuation; maybe utter disdain, for quotation marks & chapters for there are neither
Is it character or plot drive - honestly I don't know... plot?
fits and starts, pacing that hurtles then crawls. I do appreciate the unpredictable nature
Sooo many freakin' questions
a sudden onset of blindness and the largely everyday functionality and practicality repercussions are painful and enthralling.
this breaks so many rules (typical literary one as well as just those of my liking) and yet... I really, really liked it.
Have you ever met a Glaswegian who wasn't complaining? "The weather's shite, sob sob, the sodjers beat me, boo hoo, the gers lost again, wah wah, I've gone blind." I was 35 pages in and I flicked to the back to check how many pages there are because, seriously, how long can you write stream-of-consciousness Scottish dialect about a guy who's gone blind? 380 pages, apparently. But nah it picks up, you get to love the guy, he's adorable.
I regret this book whic
This is a really weird book and it's the second time I've read it. I very seldom reread books. It's a stream of consciousness in a Scottish dialect but you quickly get used to it and it has a sort of mesmerizing effect on the reader. I can't actually say exactly why, but I really do like this book. It's one of the weirdest book I've ever read.
This is a really weird book and it's the second time I've read it. I very seldom reread books. It's a stream of consciousness in a Scottish dialect but you quickly get used to it and it has a sort of mesmerizing effect on the reader. I can't actually say exactly why, but I really do like this book. It's one of the weirdest book I've ever read.
I must say this was a bit of a bother to read.... but I still gave it 5 stars.... Why? There's no chance of forgetting Sammy's struggles or the wild, lifelike prose... to say that this is an uncomfortable read is an understatement.. It's claustrophobic, inward looking and dark... but the realities of Sammy's struggles aside, there's a raw humanity that shines through... every few pages I would make comparisons to other books.. some obvious and some not so... The Woman in the Dunes, Blindness, A Brief History of Seven Killings.... all in all, a worthy read but maybe not so much for a beach holiday..
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
found the pace of this really slow but really enjoyed the glaswegian stream of consciousness form and the raising of class issues and highlighting of division that sammy experiences as a working class ex-con in the social services system. quite an easy wee read , even if nothing really happens in it. don’t go reading this hoping for closure or expecting any answers to any of the questions raised because you won’t get any… 3 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Minor: Sexual content
I just read this novel for the second time and enjoyed it a lot. The first Kelman book I read was A Dissafection, back when I was on my year abroad in Odessa in 1995. Upon my return I got How Late it Was, How Late and liked it a little better.
The novel is written in the Glasgow dialect, which is very close to the Ayrshire dialect that I grew up with. It's partly the poetry of that language that really appeals to me. Having studied linguistics and socio-linguistics probably makes the book more appealing to me than it might to others, as well as the fact that I do not have any trouble with comprehension (as when I read A Clockwork Orange because I speak Russian - not sure if that spoiled that for me but that's another story for another time).
The story is a slice of life, social realism in great form. It doesn't have a traditional beginning, middle and end, rather it portrays the events that surround the main character, the bold Sammy, over a period of a few days. He gets into a scrape with the sodjers (the police) early on and winds up blind. We then follow his journey through the police cells, the benefits offices, medical assessors and such like.
I would certainly class this novel as literature rather than throwaway. I'm not sure how enjoyable it would be for anyone that struggled with the dialect but I'd be interested to know.
The novel is written in the Glasgow dialect, which is very close to the Ayrshire dialect that I grew up with. It's partly the poetry of that language that really appeals to me. Having studied linguistics and socio-linguistics probably makes the book more appealing to me than it might to others, as well as the fact that I do not have any trouble with comprehension (as when I read A Clockwork Orange because I speak Russian - not sure if that spoiled that for me but that's another story for another time).
The story is a slice of life, social realism in great form. It doesn't have a traditional beginning, middle and end, rather it portrays the events that surround the main character, the bold Sammy, over a period of a few days. He gets into a scrape with the sodjers (the police) early on and winds up blind. We then follow his journey through the police cells, the benefits offices, medical assessors and such like.
I would certainly class this novel as literature rather than throwaway. I'm not sure how enjoyable it would be for anyone that struggled with the dialect but I'd be interested to know.
Not as difficult to read as Trainspotting, but the stream of consciousness narration might have made the rhythm of the Glasgow dialect easier to pick up on. It also made it impossible to put the book down. It's hard to bounce in and out of someone's mind.
Really enjoyed this one, but don't read it if you want any resolutions. Sammy doesn't know what he's doing, so don't expect to figure it out either. In other words, you never find out what happened to Helen, nor what happened to Sammy during his lost weekend. (Because Sammy doesn't want to find out).
Really enjoyed this one, but don't read it if you want any resolutions. Sammy doesn't know what he's doing, so don't expect to figure it out either. In other words, you never find out what happened to Helen, nor what happened to Sammy during his lost weekend. (Because Sammy doesn't want to find out).