The city of London appears as a character in this humorous novel. It is portrayed almost like a human body, displaying signs of renewal and decay, with a clogged digestive tract, bottlenecks and congestion. It is a city of obsessives, of insouciant sadists, of innocents. It is bleeding London.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
A journey of revenge takes Mick Wilton to London, whose streets he stumbles through as he searches for six men said to have raped his girlfriend. Also out prowling is Stuart London, a man obsessed with walking every street of the city whose name he bears. A Japanese-British woman named Judy Tanaka, who works in a bookstore specializing in London lore, is avid to add more lovers to her personalized map of sexual conquests. How, why, and when these three characters meet makes for a circuitous ramble through England's great city. Mick's acts of revenge, which vary from cruel to comic to kinky, will not please everyone, yet oddly enough by the story's end, most readers will find themselves respecting him as an ethical man. A book whose setting becomes as much a character as the people who pepper its pages, Bleeding London is dark, droll, and suspenseful. British author Nicholson has ten novels to his credit, including Still Life with Volkswagens (LJ 8/95). Recommended for general fiction collections.?Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
The prolific Nicholson's (Footsucker, 1996, etc.) 11th novel is a savagely funny, wayward, loving celebration of London's enchantments and strangeness. The power of an ancient city to seduce is demonstrated in the lives of three vividly particularized characters: Mick, a bright, laconic tough from Sheffield who has come to London seeking revenge on a group of men who, he believes, raped his stripper girlfriend; Judy, a young woman of mixed parentage (her father is Japanese, her mother British) attempting to make this city she obsessively loves her own; and Stuart, the urbane, self-satisfied head of an agency that offers an exotic array of walking tours. Anxious to find some new way to demonstrate his idiosyncratic mastery of London, Stuart hits on the idea of walking every one of its streets, a project that--if he walks ten miles a day, five days a week--should take some three years. Mick, meanwhile, who at first has a provincial's undisguised dislike and distrust of the vast, chaotic city, finds himself disturbed and intrigued by it as he goes in search of his miscreants. These parallel quests, each increasingly quixotic, allow Nicholson to poke satiric fun at London's citizens, catalogue some lively fragments of its history and geography, and anatomize the ways in which we make a city our own. In the end, Mick finds himself liberated by the possibilities of life in the city; Stuart, made arrogant by his supposed mastery of it, is grimly humbled; and Judy hits upon a weirdly transcendent way of making herself permanently one with it. The plot takes a while to build up speed, and the unfiltered blizzard of facts about London is sometimes dizzying, but Nicholson's satirical eye, his obvious love of the city, and his skill at fielding odd, convincing characters overcome any problems. A delightful fiction, and a wonderfully exasperated love letter to a great city. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A dark delight!,
This review is from: Bleeding London (Hardcover)
Bleeding London is one of the quirkiest, darkest and funniest novels I have ever read! (That says a lot, for I have read thousands of novels.) It focuses on various characters whose experiences in London are both sinister and funny. Mick, Judy and Stuart are quite different, but are somehow brought together in strange ways. They all have a different take on London -- Londoners feeling foreign in their natural habitat while out-of-towners see it as an exciting and daring challenge. Nicholson does a great job with the description of a big city. As a New York City native, I am able to identify with the story line and the dark message the author is sending. The backdrop of London is different from all of the other British novels I have read -- it shows a more realistic view of the city. Thought provoking and darkly funny, Bleeding London should be read by those who enjoy a unique literary experience.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, sexy and highly entertaining.,
By
This review is from: Bleeding London (Paperback)
I have never been to London nor am I interested in the city. However, I don't feel lost at all when reading this superb fiction. This isn't a book about London per se. It doesn't feel like a travel book at all. The stories could easily take place elsewhere in the world, New York, Los Angeles, Paris... I've read Footsucker by Nicholson which, by the way, is also a highly enjoyable book. Bleeding London, in comparison with Footsucker, is more complex and more involved. Three seemingly unrelated eccentric characters are manifesting their eccentricities in parallel, and sometimes their path are crossed. Nicholson is quite skillful in writing black comedies. If you're interested in his books, this is a good starting point.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Throughly engrossing and entertaining,
By shortcinema (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bleeding London (Hardcover)
I just finished an uncorrected proof of this book. I had a hard time putting it down. Mr. Nicholson's writing is very visual. The characters were so well written (even the minor ones) that I not only could picture them in my mind I felt that I have actually met a few of them in my lifetime. I could not say that the book was wickedly funny. But I did found myself reacting out loud on the subway. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves cities. This book doesn't only describe people's love and or hate of London but touches upon emotions felt by anyone who has spent some time if not all their lives in a large city. I have never heard of Geoff Nicholson before but look forward to running into (maybe seeking out) his work again.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Listmania!
|
|
