Welcome to Litsy!

This story is chaotic by design and yet the author subtly connects seemingly random and disparate people and events. Every city has different experiences depending upon one's situation and this novel showed a completely different side of London. I read this during the protests following the murder of George Floyd and saw many parallels.

I can't comment honestly on this one, because almost all my books are audio (disabling illness). There are multiple narrators, at least three of whom are young racialized London men...and I can't understand what they're saying! (I'm Canadian.) At least, not unless I'm totally concentrating as I might when reading French. (The Belfast woman no problem.)

A little throwback, Who else has read it?

http://paperbacksocial.com/2019/10/24/in-our-mad-and-furious-city-guy-gunaratne-...

The story was raw, very alive, very of the time and very well paced. Needed even – there‘s nothing else that I‘ve read that captures that specific moment in time in London when there was a public nervousness about extremism and the radicalization of young men.

Adding to my overflowing #TBR at the #UWRF 😬. This is Guy reading from his novel that is now a #mustread for me.

Electrifying debut novel set in the estates and tower blocks of Neasden where a bewildering mix of ethnicities and religions jostle and sometimes clash. A virtuoso performance in which the varied speech patterns, slang and patois of each character is perfectly rendered. It's not an easy read nor a comfortable one but it shines a light on people middle-class literary culture usually ignores. Great.

Good reviews on Litsy, I hope to get to this soonish. 🤞

Three teenage boys in London got sucked into the tensed and violence of a riot.

#ayupaugust #ipredictariot

A book that slowly pulls you into the lives of people to the point that the final chapter i found v moving. This is a book that relishes the diversity of city life but doesnt shy away from the conflicts that brings due to intolerance as 3 friends and 2 adults tell their story against a background of the murder of a British soldier on a London Street + subsequent racist backlash echoes 2 other historic stories. I loved this so was sorry to finish.

Guy Gunaratne‘s stylish debut literary novel about life and race on a working class estate (long listed for the 2018 Man Booker Prize) authentically conveys the language of the people who love there and the pressures of fundamentalism and those who use it for their own ends but the story is thin and driven by coincidence, the historical sections are heavy-handed and the friendship between the three boys is superficial at best.

This book is fierce! There's a lot of writing about race and religion at the moment, but not an awful lot from the UK perspective (that I'm aware of). This book makes you sit up and pay attention. With multitude narratives and the way it all comes together, it has a similar feel to Tommy Orange's There There. Very impressed.

IT‘S NEW BOOK DAY! There are...not a lot of books out today. But here are two that came out recently that I have enjoyed! 📚
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Next Tuesday is Christmas, and the first Tuesday of 2019 is New Year‘s Day. But hold on to your butts, because January 8th hits the ground running!🎉🎉🎉
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So basically, you have three weeks to read everything you own before the 2019 books show up to knock the socks off your brain. Good luck. 😝

I loved this. The use of multiple voices from different generations was really effective in showing how the same struggles come up time and time again. Every voice was unique and the tension was literally felt through the pages. It‘s gritty and bleak but the writing is at times poetic. #newin2018 #booked2018

Multiple viewpoints from a present day London neighborhood, with issues of racism, classism, and rising fundamentalism. And friendship! One of the books long but not shortlisted for the Man Booker.

I enjoyed this book a lot tho I do see why others made the shortlist instead of it. Sometimes I find with books like this with lots of protagonists it‘s hard to care about them all equally, you find yourself looking forward to some people and speeding through others (I call it game of thrones syndrome 😂), the writing was absolutely amazing though and I enjoyed reading it.

I‘m reading so slowly atm, new job just stealing all my hours and I‘m constantly exhausted. Guess this is what being a grownup is like when you have to spend so long on trains 😟 still ploughing away with this one

My post work reward today 😊😊😊

I‘ve managed to do audiobooks since starting new job but the same is NOT true of physical books. It‘s a pity cause this novel is so good and it deserves better than to be read in tiny bits and pieces and damaged at the bottom of my backpack. I doubt I‘ll make it through the Man Booker list now - I might be a mainly audiobook reader until I get my schedule under control. Never commuted before and it‘s killing me 😬

Next up on my Man Booker Long List reading - a debut novel following 5 friends in London over two days”. Ok- bracing myself.. Let‘s do this thing!

Books for breakfast #manbookerlonglist #manbooker2018

This is another timely book from the Booker longlist. Centered around a government housing project and three young men. When anti-Muslim protestors threaten their neighborhood, the consequences are severe for one of them. Also interspersed are narratives from two older individuals who have faced similar issues in the past. I admired the way the author was able to make each character‘s voice distinct. Not an optimistic book, but good observations.

Only a few pages in but this is already something really special. The #manbookerlonglist has so many incredible books this year I have no idea how they‘ll choose the shortlist!

Next up! If I read fast I think I can get through the last two for #manbooker2018 before the shortlist is announced - just this and Sabrina to go and I own copies of both of them

Friday night reading. Gorgeous prose 💕 #2018manbookerprizelonglist

In the acknowledgements, the author wrote,”sometimes beauty is found in downright, ugly, painful and most neglected of spaces.” It‘s sums up this beautifully written heartbreaking story. I could hear each characters‘ voices, which made it that much harder. It deserves to be on the Booker Longlist and SHOULD be on the shortlist too. Damn, this book is brilliant! #bookerlonglist @manbookerprize

Day-amn! This is on the Booker Longlist, and I think it‘s got a really good shot. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Yeah, this definitely feels like this year‘s Man Booker winner. At once urgent and timeless, Gunaratne writes of the current rising tensions and nativism but also tells the stories of the parents of the main characters to remind us that we‘ve seen it all before. This is all nothing new, but only a repeating cycle of what has come before. It is bleak, and beautiful, and brilliant. Booker prize 7/13

New in the library pile...

#ManBooker2018 book 6

This is a political very relevant book about live in modern London. The Estate consists of some buildings surrounding a square where local youngsters meet. All of them English yet with roots in another country or religion. You can feel the tension in the community building up. Things spin out of control mad and furiously. A plot that could happen in any European city these days. A scary thought. One of my favorites so far.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Easier for me to photograph this book than write a review somehow. This is a very accomplished debut novel. The voices of disaffected youth are pitch perfect. It explores in interesting ways the tug of radicalisation and violence and not just from one religion. I loved the introduction to Grime and I enjoyed dissecting the South London slang. Another very politically on point book from this years Booker longlist.

Loving this #BookMail 📚📚📚 Thanks to Book Depository I got the UK version a ways ahead of the US release 🤗

I was just accepted into a year-long workshop taught by Lynn Steger Strong so I wanted to buy her book (top left).

Julie Buntin (author of Marlena) recommended Captive Audience months ago & it was on sale so I finally picked it up.

I can‘t stop talking about how much I liked Ottessa Moshfegh‘s new novel so I gladly snatched up Eileen.

This book will win this year's Booker prize - cutting-edge fiction, fresh, poetic and current. Gunaratne talks about the sources of and connections between hate and fear, and while the story is set in modern-day London, its wisdom expands way beyond the city limits . #manbooker2018 #mbp2018 #finestfiction #indiebuddyreads

Author perfectly captures the growing hostility towards the immigrants and the consequences of this intolerances-in the way youngsters thinks, how they are searching for the way out, how they lives in this situation into which they are forced. Youngsters born in the country where they are living, and who are still relegated to the edge of the society because of their roots, skin color, religion... and not belonging neither here nor there. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

My sister bought me this signed book as she thought I might enjoy it! 😍

In episode 17, we hear from @guygunaratne about the impetus for his brilliant and acclaimed novel IN OUR MAD AND FURIOUS CITY, what he‘s learned about storytelling from Grime music and from his work as a documentary maker, and more.
https://britlitblog.com/2018/05/17/brit-lit-podcast-episode-17-uncomfortable-emp...

The cover of this book reminds me of #ChasingPavements even though I doubt the storyline fits the song. I just got this and I can't stop looking at the cover, which is so striking. #AdelesMayMashup @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @vkois88

First British ARC of the Brit Lit Podcast era! Very exciting.