liceoartisticolisippo-ta
» » How Late It Was, How Late

How Late It Was, How Late ebook

by James Kelman


How late it was, how late is a 1994 stream of consciousness novel written by Scottish writer James Kelman. The Glasgow-centred work is written in a working class Scottish dialect, and follows Sammy, a shoplifter and ex-convict.

How late it was, how late is a 1994 stream of consciousness novel written by Scottish writer James Kelman. It won the 1994 Booker Prize. Sammy awakens in a lane one morning after a two-day drinking binge, and gets into a fight with some plainclothes policemen, called in Glaswegian dialect, 'sodjers'

Its raw vernacular and comfortless story put many readers off, but this is a brilliant novel.

Its raw vernacular and comfortless story put many readers off, but this is a brilliant novel. Even in 1994, the general reaction was far from rapturous.

Feb 01, 2016 Fabian rated it really liked it. Very few books can make a plateau-styled plot like this one enticing.

From the moment Sammy wakes slumped in a park corner, stiff and sore after a two-day drinking binge and wearing another man's shoes, James Kelman's Booker Prize-winning novel How Late it Was, How Late loosens a torrent of furious ess prose that never lets u. as uplifting a novel as one could ever hope to read" (Sunday Telegraph).

For example I never doubted that the 1994 winner, James Kelman's How Late It Was, How Late was worthwhile. Indeed, if you are looking for that sort of book, it’s not only difficult but impossible, because it is not that sort of book. It is a long internal monologue in the third person (rather like Roddy Doyle’s Paula Spencer) by Glaswegian Sammy, as he struggles to come to terms with sudden blindness. It is ‘gritty’ (a word used by liberal newspapers to describe something with lots of swearing), it is implausible, almost nothing happens, and it took me longer to read than any other book this year. He wasnay feeling so hot. Before he had been good.

It is a series of reflections as he sits in jail, contemplating his fate. He had been in trouble before, but this time it's different, the latest brawl with police cost him his eyesight

Top. American Libraries Canadian Libraries Universal Library Community Texts Project Gutenberg Biodiversity Heritage Library Children's Library. It is a series of reflections as he sits in jail, contemplating his fate. He had been in trouble before, but this time it's different, the latest brawl with police cost him his eyesight. Now in addition to all his other troubles he is blind. Man Booker Prize for Fiction, 1994.

James Kelman's best book ye.  . The Guardian. as uplifting a novel as one could ever hope to read. A passionate, scintillating, brilliant song of a book. Gritty, realistic and bleak, but the overall tone is strangely positive

In the first paragragraph of James Kelman's extraordinary new novel, a compelling voice insists: 'There's something wrong; there's .

In the first paragragraph of James Kelman's extraordinary new novel, a compelling voice insists: 'There's something wrong; there's something far far wrong. It is the opening chorus of what amounts to a book-length incantation, an epic singing of a few days in the life of Sammy Samuels, unlikely hero, ex- con, full time job-seeker, man-about- the-rougher-streets of Glasgow.

Nicola Pitchford, ‘How Late It Was for England: James Kelman’s Scottish Booker Prize’, Contemporary Literature, vol. 41(1) (2000), p. 71. oogle Scholar. Bakhtin, ‘Discourse in the Novel’, in The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays, ed.

How Late it Was How Late
Jark
Ah, dear, how to write a review of a novel in which over half the words are unrepeatable in an Amazon review? The irony is that it's the lovely, chanting, profane interior monologue of the book that wins one over. From starter's orders here, we are inside the mind of a Glaswegian no-account who has lost his sight after having been "done in" by the police. He has also lost his girlfriend, his memory, and, to a certain extent, his mind.

But what a lovely, melodic mind it is! For all the talk of the book's roughness and the vulgarity of its language, it is intrinsically a sweet book - the poor bloke who never had a chance, blinded, left lovelorn, up against everything the world has to throw at him. Added to this is Sammy's perspective on the world. There's precious little self-pity in it.

So, we listen in on Sammy's thoughts as the bureaucracy, the police, the doctor, the lawyer all try to take him down. The recurrent image is of a wounded animal, defanged by blindness, beating the bars of the cage of this world with the mop handle with which he makes do for a cane, all the while drifting in a melodious incantation of meditation. I didn't want to put this book down. When I finally came to the end, I felt like saying to Sammy what he says to his son:

"The worst of all this is saying cheerio to the likes of yerself, but what can ye do, ye've got to batter on, know what I'm saying, ye've got to batter on."

Aye, Sammy, don't we all?
Sorryyy
I LOVE this book. Great for those days you need to hate life but love that you hate it.
Foginn
"No frigate like a book to take us lands away," said Emily Dickinson. Oh my, she's right. There are other worlds out there, lots of them. Kelman's book takes us to one, a unique one, right in the middle of Glasgow, in fact in the outer limits of consciousness somewhere - in the mind of a low-life petty thief named Sammy who stupidly assaulted two policemen and got beaten so badly by them that he is blinded. After that, everything in this book is generated, more or less, in Sammy's head as interior monologue (not stream of consciousness as others say) or by the speech of the characters Sammy deals with. Those characters do plenty of talking with an extremely limited vocabulary that nevertheless has an amazing expressive range proving, again, that Scotland is a nation of talkers, great talkers. It is also a welfare state with lots of red tape and institutionalized dullness. So much so that Sammy's difficulties with the DSS Central Medical board and with the DSS in general call into question the Scottish I.Q. and raise the query that they might have there some institutional madness as serious as that discussed in Bleak House. Some advice: Donay be turned off by ye Scottish dialect. Read the first three pages aloud. Aw fine. Aye, they make sense. Ah stories, man, stories, life's full of stories, there to help ye out. Aye right pal okay.
Voodoogore
It took me a while to get used to the Scottish phrasing and accent, but this is definitely one of the most compelling novels I have read in a very long time. Sammy is an astonishing character: Full of good and evil, full of sympathy and loathing. He is a fascinating antihero, wish his story could have gone on forever. Pick up this book, be determined that you can get through the 'language,' and you will be rewarded with one of the most challenging, expressive, and engrossing tales you have ever read.
elektron
I remember the first time I visited Glasgow and was very taken with the accent, most notably the fact that my taxi driver stopped at least 10 times to ask women for directions to where I was going, and addressed them all as "hey hen". If you're unfazed by profanities and have managed to understand an episode of Rab C.Nesbitt on TV then this is well worth a read. I'm docking it a star because it comes to an abrupt end which left me wanting to know more.
Rare
An incredible account of a Scottish man's life and adolescence in a local vernacular. Very deserving of the Booker Prize. I have recently ordered all his other books available on Amazon. Thank you for your continuing great service to your customers.
Faulkree
I think it isn't written in English. Maybe it's Scottish that I don't understand...if I had known about it, I wouldn't have bought it
I ordered this to learn more about modern-day Scotland, and because it was a Booker awardee I expected something interesting. I'm disappointed on both counts. The first several pages are probably the most vulgar, obscene screed I've ever seen and that was enough for me. I put it down and won't return to it unless I exhaust the thousands of good, useful books available. Yes, available about Scotland, too. I don't like the cover either.
How Late It Was, How Late ebook
Author:
James Kelman
Category:
Fashion
Subcat:
EPUB size:
1891 kb
FB2 size:
1331 kb
DJVU size:
1875 kb
Language:
Publisher:
Vintage; New Ed edition (1995)
Pages:
374 pages
Rating:
4.1
Other formats:
rtf lit doc txt
© 2018-2020 Copyrights
All rights reserved. liceoartisticolisippo-ta.it | Privacy Policy | DMCA | Contacts