Scan barcode
A review by kjcharles
An Unreliable Guide to London by Nikesh Shukla, Gareth E. Rees, Noo Saro-Wiwa, Stephanie Victoire, Will Wiles, Gary Budden, M. John Harrison, Salena Godden, Tim Wells, Eley Williams, Irenosen Okojie, George F, Tim Burrows, Yvvette Edwards, Courttia Newland, Chloe Aridjis, Juliet Jacques, Koye Oyedeji, Kit Caless, Aki Schilz, Sunny Singh, Paul Ewen
A brilliant, brilliant collection. Stories about London, divided into north, east, south, and west (and it means those parts; no central London/Oxford Street/Tower nonsense, but the parts actual people actually live), some fantastical, some realistic, all bizarre and grimy as the city itself. I've never read anything quite so much in the spirit of the place, even when the stories are as gloriously implausible as the one about the man hunting a huge purple cryptid swan at Brentford Ait, let alone the painful tale of a Muslim frightened to report a suspicious package near Wormwood Scrubs.
I don't even know how this works if you don't live here. Is the long extended riff on Staples Corner (and how we can know it) applicable to other shopping hellholes under flyovers? I don't know because I have the misfortune to live near Staples Corner, and the descriptions of the surreal penitential nature of going there and the existential dread that surrounds it might have been plucked from my own scarred psyche.
This unreliable guide is self-described as "Bad advice -- Limited scope -- No practical use", but if you want to know what London i>feels like, in its diversity and resentment and odd corners and constant churn, this is the book.
I don't even know how this works if you don't live here. Is the long extended riff on Staples Corner (and how we can know it) applicable to other shopping hellholes under flyovers? I don't know because I have the misfortune to live near Staples Corner, and the descriptions of the surreal penitential nature of going there and the existential dread that surrounds it might have been plucked from my own scarred psyche.
Customers enter the store straight after you, but you know there were only the two of you in that car park. These other customers fom on entry, visitors from a world you are not privy to. The carpet is womb-red. The air is artificial and warm. The atmosphere flickers.
This unreliable guide is self-described as "Bad advice -- Limited scope -- No practical use", but if you want to know what London i>feels like, in its diversity and resentment and odd corners and constant churn, this is the book.