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We Are Made of Diamond Stuff
We Are Made of Diamond Stuff | Isabel Waidner
4 posts | 2 read | 2 to read
We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff is an innovative and critically British novel, taking issue with the dream of national belonging. Set on the Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England, it collides literary aesthetics with contemporary working class cultures and attitudes (B.S. Johnson and Reebok classics), works with themes of empire, embodiment and resistance, and interrogates autobiographical material including the queer migrant experience. "Isabel Waidner will save the nation & save our souls." Joanna Walsh "We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff evokes a topsy-turvy, highly animated world to explore a declining empire's hopelessly fucked up inequities of class, race, queerness, and immigration status. At one point the narrator (who looks like Eleven from Stranger Things but who happens to be 36) blurts out, "Where's reality, I want to change it." This is one of the saddest lines I've ever read, perfectly rearticulating the "no there there" anxiety that Gertrude Stein attributed to modern life a century ago. In a world in which everything is stacked against them, Isabel Waidner's resourceful characters survive, not just physically but spiritually as well. Despite their unflinching vision into virulent social practices, they never lose heart." Dodie Bellamy
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review
rockpools
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Pickpick

So, how do you fancy a SURREAL experimental take on the queer working-class immigrant experience in Brexit Britain, set in a dead-end seaside hotel on the Isle of Wight? With reeboks and polar bears?

It‘s political and funny and angry and utterly out-there, and I enjoyed it, despite HUGE reservations going in. And it kind-of made sense too! Unexpected.

Having said all that, I have no idea who I‘d recommend this to!

Cinfhen Another FABULOUS review!!! Fun choice for #Booked2022 😃 2y
squirrelbrain Sounds *incredibly* weird! 2y
See All 9 Comments
batsy Great review! I have them on my TBR because I've seen lots of praise, but I'm also intimidated/scared 😅 2y
rockpools @Cinfhen Thanks Cindy 😁. I was v chuffed to tick another #Booked2022 prompt! 2y
rockpools @squirrelbrain That would be a fair and accurate description! 2y
rockpools @batsy Go for it! I found it a lot less intimidating than I expected. And it is only 110 pages. The references they use, I don‘t think they actually expect anyone to have read/been aware of (which made it a lot easier for me)! I don‘t know how well it will translate for you not based in the UK - there is a LOT of tiny stuff that‘s very specific to here, that might be more of a problem than the way-out-weird stuff. 2y
Cathythoughts Great review 👍🏻♥️ 2y
batsy @rockpools Thanks for the tip! I'll keep that in mind when I get to it. Sounds like it might be a bit of a Googley book for me :) 2y
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rockpools
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She is exploring the possibility of them fixing the boiler in exchange for their squid-. No!, I say. The polar bears are novelists, the reeboks are poets, it is not within their remit nor skill set to fix an English boiler!

🐻‍❄️ 🦑 🦌 ✍🏻🚰🤯

And again, what AM I reading?! I‘m possibly enjoying this so far, but it has potential to be WILDLY annoying. Will let you know. Did you ever read this @jhod

TrishB I‘m scratching my head! 2y
jenniferw88 😂😂😂 2y
rockpools @TrishB @TrishB @jenniferw88 I quite like the idea of a polar bear fixing the heating, to be honest. But I‘d rather pay 💰 than 🦑… Perfectly normal reading!! 2y
39 likes4 comments
review
imyril
Panpan

If you like your fiction surreal, referential and political this may be more up your street than it was mine. It‘s all about class struggle and self sabotage, and erm hungry leopards (maybe). Great themes, but the execution left me cold and irritable.

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jhod
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And now the #goldsmithsprize2019 shortlist announced! Not heard of three of these!

Cathythoughts Very good. Must investigate 5y
64 likes1 comment