I ask Oscar how I could be a better guardian and he does his special concentrating face. 'Well,' the little philosopher says at last. 'You should send me to bed earlier. I shouldn't eat so many chips and you shouldn't let me watch so many 12 and 15 DVDs. And you should get a cleaner in.' Jesus. Why does everyone reckon they're the boss of me? I say, 'Perhaps you should take some responsibility for yourself big man.' He fixes me with a stern look. 'Billy, I'm six.' Billy's Mum is dead. He knows - because he reads about it in magazines - that people die every day in ways that are more random and tragic and stupid than hers, but for nineteen-year-old Billy and his little brother, Oscar, their mother's death in a bungled street robbery is the most random and tragic and stupid thing that could possibly have happened to them.
A raw, funny and heartfelt book, full of surprising tenderness and hope - a fine achievement A.L. Kennedy I loved this book for its touching, truthful - sometimes shocking - and painfully funny portrayal of two brothers struggling to stay together after the death of their mother. It's a paean of praise for the other side of contemporary youth, the side that, with all its foibles and failures, is still driven by love and connection Mavis Cheek I don't know how he does it, but Stephen May manages to balance hilarity and sadness in nearly every sentence of this deftly comic, completely engaging and at times absolutely hair-raising novel. Life! Death! Prizes! deserves every one of its exclamation marks Suzanne Berne, author of the Orange Prize-winning A Crime in the Neighborhood Echoes of J.D. Salinger and Dave Eggars, this is a book about boys, brotherhood, teenage heroism and confusion. It is happy, sad and good. Stephen May is a major new talent, sharply observant of the human condition Monique Roffey, author of White Woman on the Green Bicycle, shortlisted for Orange Prize Stephen May has the sharp eye of David Nicholls and the verve of Kate Atkinson Suzannah Dunn, author of The Confession of Katharine Howard A heartbreaking tale, propulsively told. By turns bleak, funny, and tender, Life! Death! Prizes! is an intoxicating gulp of a novel Christopher Wakling, author of What I Did Full of surprises, this acutely observed story of grief and love begins bleakly, ends up full of compassion and has great deal to say about modern families and the world we live in en route. It's a real achievement, and introduces Stephen May as a talent to be reckoned with Melvin Burgess Gritty, witty, uplifting, sharp - it reminded me of Nick Hornby in its portrayal of modern family in all its glorious chaos Kate Long Stephen May's writing is muscular, tender and touching Willy Russell
Shortlisted for Costa Novel Award 2012.
Title: Life! Death! Prizes!
Subtitle:
Contributors:
By (author)
Stephen May
ISBN 13: 9781408819135
ISBN 10: 1408819139
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication Date: 1/05/2012
Place of Publication:
London,
United Kingdom
Edition:
BIC Subjects:
Modern fiction
NBS Classification: General & Literary Fiction
Dewey Classification:
823.92
(DC23)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Height: 234mm
Width: 153mm